Defiant, Now Infected: Trump Is a Morality Tale

[Zorro]

The president has the coronavirus. Let’s learn from that.

By Frank Bruni

It’s a measure of the cynicism that has infected American politics — and, yes, me — that among my initial reactions to the news that President Trump had tested positive for the coronavirus was: Are we sure? Can we trust that? A man who so frequently and flamboyantly plays the victim, and who has been prophylactically compiling ways to explain away or dispute a projected election loss to Joe Biden, is now being forced off the campaign trail, which will be a monster of an excuse.

I couldn’t help thinking that.

I couldn’t help thinking, too, about karma, and I immediately felt and still feel petty for that. Trump has spent much of the past six months, during which more than 200,000 Americans died of causes related to the coronavirus, downplaying the pandemic, flinging out false reassurances and refusing to abide by the very public health guidelines that officials in his own government were fervently promoting.

He didn’t wear a mask. He encouraged large gatherings — including the Tulsa, Okla., rally that Herman Cain attended before falling sick with the coronavirus and dying, and his big convention speech, at which hundreds and even thousands of people, many without any facial covering, packed in tight. At the first presidential debate on Tuesday night, he mocked Biden for so often wearing a mask, suggesting that it was a sign of … what? Timidity? Weakness? Vogueishness? Moral vanity?

With Trump it can be hard to know, and it’s hard to know whether his own defiance was a kind of wishful thinking about the coronavirus’s true prevalence, a reflection of his belief in his own physical invincibility, some combination of the two or none of the above.

But it’s easy to identify the morals of this story.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/02/opinion/trump-positive-coronavirus.html

[Toorich]

1. ....."Whom the gods would destroy

..... they first make mad."* - Prometheus

* or infect with covid.

[ResistantAmerican17]

2. Oh, so now these motherfuckers are all about testing and contact tracing.

Selfish pieces of shit through and through. For the rest of us—“slow the testing down”, “it’s no worse than the flu”, “it’s a hoax”, “nobody gets it”.. Fuck. Every. Last. Magat.

[HariSeldon]

3. With apologies to Jim Croce

You don't tug on Superman's cape.
You don't spit into the wind.
You'd better wear your mask when you get together
Or your outlook is awfully grim.
Mm m mmm mm m m m m m mm.

[Skittles]

5. nicely done

welcome to DU

[Nitram]

4. It isn't a morality tale. It is a sordid, deep dive into an ocean of shit.