By Colleen O’Connor
What a week.
It started with a lackluster debate; then the President walking out of a 60- Minutes’ interview; continued with Trump, suggesting anew, that he might not accept a peaceful transfer of power.
Next came the late-breaking Axios report that, if Trump is re-elected, “he’ll move to immediately fire FBI Director Christopher Wray and also expects to replace CIA Director Gina Haspel and Defense Secretary Mark Esper.”
Then there is COVID-19. Friday’s news; over 83,000 new confirmed cases across the country, topping the U.S.’s previous single-day record of 75,687 in June.
These record-breaking counts keep mounting as does the public backlash.
New York’s Times Square lit up with a pair of neon-lit pair of billboards, featuring Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner. Both, in unflattering poses, alongside insensitive quotes amid the over 220,000 COVID U.S. death count.
Unhappy, the Kushners threatened to sue the sponsors; the GOP’s anti-Trump Lincoln Club. “If these billboard ads are not immediately removed, we will sue you for what will doubtless be enormous compensatory and punitive damages,” warned Ivanka and Jared’s attorney.
The Lincoln Project’s response, “The billboards stay. There must be accountability for the lying and deaths — this is just the start.”
Late Saturday night, the COVID headlines struck Team Trump again.
Despite efforts to keep the information secret, reports surfaced that Vice-President Pence’s Chief of Staff, Marc Short, and closest political aide, Marty Obt, both tested positive for COVID-19. That makes a total of at least 5 Pence staffers infected thus far, including his “body man.”
By Sunday, the number of Americans dead from the virus climbed to 224,751.
To pivot from the “COVID, COVID, COVID” bad news infecting the President’s re-election campaign, Trump pivoted to a truly bonkers foreign policy move.
Not to ask the Russians for help. Oddly, Putin has momentarily changed sides. He contradicted Trump and defended Biden, saying there was nothing criminal in Hunter Biden’s past business ties with Ukraine or Russia.
So, Trump turned to the Saudis and invited the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salma, to “a big, beautiful” post-election party. One only needs to remember the horrific murder of journalist, Kamal Khashoggi, to grasp the inappropriateness of this move.
Meanwhile, Trump continues to hold multiple rallies a day, with thousands of non-mask-wearing fans, crammed tightly together.
And his Chief of Staff now admits, “We are not going to control the Pandemic.”
Surrender is understandable as the polls show the Trump brand deeply underwater.
And the virus did it to him.
No surprise there. As this author wrote last June:
“2020 Election: It’s Not Biden vs. Trump, It’s COVID-19 vs. Trump”, “The pandemic is the real threat to Trump. Not Biden. “Stealth-like; deadly; seemingly unstoppable; and wielding an invisible army of carriers. It affects everyone.
“Coronavirus-19 has bigger Nielsen ratings and more frightening plots than any TV show; higher daily counts of infections, hospitalizations, and deaths than our last 4 wars combined; plus, a gripping and undecipherable strategy as yet unknown.
COVID-19 is its own horror story. Riveting, revolting and revolutionizing once normal existence.”
Even more true today.
What’s a flailing President to do? He has already abandoned any pretext of governance and gutted all he can via Executive orders.
The paperwork for the pardons are probably already in the safe. Surely, he will pardon himself; then his immediate family members; his more corrupt Cabinet and staff members; notorious friends; biggest contributors who face legal and/or financial jeopardy; and other co-conspirators.
Even his niece, Mary Trump acknowledges that if Trump loses he is going to jail.
However, the interregnum between the final vote counts and the swearing-in of the next President is fraught with serious danger.
Just today, Trump’s re-election campaign has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to block North Carolina’s absentee ballot plan. Cue the GOP Senate’s rush to confirm Judge Barrett. Appealing non-stop to the Supreme Court, is designed to indefinitely delay any accountability.
Now, the supervillains, Trump and COVID-19 are reaching maximum fury; with serious risks of violence and more deaths ahead.
Trump’s disgraced 2016 campaign adviser, Roger Stone, has begged Trump to seize “total power.” Code for what exactly? Martial law? A strategy Trump would embrace unreservedly.
Who better than the arsonist to fight the fire with more fire?
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