Slip Sliding Away

More of the Same:  Nothing much changed this weekend; the coronavirus is still raging, especially in those early to open states, it’s even back in parts of China; another Black man was shot, this time in Atlanta in what appears to be still another case of excessive police action; and Trump is still Trump. Friday Fox News aired Trump’s interview with Harris Faulkner.  No doubt Trump thought that sitting down with a Black, female Fox correspondent would provide him with an opportunity to shine. Suffice it to say it didn’t.  During that interview though he said that “generally speaking chokeholds should end”  he revealed his true feelings by quickly adding that the “concept of a chokehold sounds so innocent, so perfect.”  He said that he's done more for the Black community than any president with the possible exception of Abraham Lincoln, but then added that though Lincoln “did good” …. it’s always questionable, you know the end result.” Faulkner responded to that bizarre word jumble by staring him down and pointing out that “we are free,”  Trump shrugged, as if to say, that’s the problem.  Trump followed up that performance with another one that set the twitterverse ablaze.  On Saturday, he gave a speech to West Point graduates, one that he insisted on delivering in person, forcing the whole class to return to the academy to sit in quarantine for fourteen days.  He stuck with his usual nonsense, another Stephen Miller special where he repeated that upon taking office he’d found the military totally depleted and it was only because of him that they now had bullets but we’re used to that, it was his obvious physical limitations that caused twitter to go nuts.  He had trouble lifting a glass of water to his lips while speaking and then when leaving the stage required assistance while descending a gradually descending ramp.  Those obvious infirmities might have gotten lost in the news cycle, particularly given the Atlanta shooting, but Trump, who’d spent the 2016 campaign harping about Hillary Clinton’s health and who is now going after “sleepy” Joe, was so freaked out about suggestions that he was suffering from dementia or some other age related infirmity that yesterday, his 74^th birthday, he tweet defended his performance, saying that the ramp had been very slippery, that the last thing he wanted to do was give the “fake” press an opportunity to see him fall, and that anyway he’d run like a gazelle down the last ten feet.  For the record, the ramp was dry and he most definitely didn’t run anywhere and we still don’t know anything about that emergency trip he made to Walter Reed medical center six months ago.  Despite the rampant virus, Trump still plans to return to the campaign trail this week but now instead of holding his rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma on the Juneteenth emancipation holiday, he’s moved it a day to June 20.  The virus will still be raging, the 19,000 or so attendees who will be crammed into an indoor arena and who probably won’t be wearing masks will still have to sign liability waivers, but the rally will go on, despite the objection of Tulsa’s chief public health official.  And if you know any Black actors who are interested in attending, direct them to Craigslist where the Trump campaign team is running ads promising payment for the “right” kinds of potential attendees, well maybe not so right, the ad also says that in lieu of payment, interested potential attendees can get credit for community service.    

Et Cetera: On the racial equality/policing front, the Republican party’s sole Black Senator, South Carolina’s Tim Scott spent his Sunday on the morning news circuit trying to explain how he’s going to get the rest of his party to agree with those lefties in the much more diverse House to agree on reform, that’s the House with one Black Republican Congressman who is leaving at the end of this term.  That’s not to say that nothing will happen, a number of other Republican Senators have actually been expressing their concerns, agreeing about things like renaming bases and moving Trump’s rally away from the emancipation day holiday, but don’t be surprised if the ultimate resolution is some data gathering combined with a study commission of some sort instead of substantive federal action.  In other political news, Trump’s mishandling of the policing issue, demonstrations and the virus do seem to be taking a toll on his polling numbers as well as on the polling numbers of his echo chamber.  A recent poll shows Iowa’s Senator Joni Ernst down a few points to her Democratic challenger Theresa Greenfield, though that’s within the margin of error, it’s  a notable decline for Ernst who’s viewed as a shining star in the Republican party from a state that Trump easily won in 2016.  Another recent poll shows Trump in a dead heat with Biden in Arkansas of all places, there’s no way that Biden will really win Arkansas, after all Senator Cotton, of the call out the active military to bash those demonstrators fame,  is running for reelection there unopposed.  That poll, unlike the Iowa one, is probably an outlier but just the fact that it looks close in Arkansas has got to be freaking Trump out.  To that end, Trump isn’t making any effort to expand his base but is still working on solidifying it with the evangelists so on Friday night, during Gay Pride month on the anniversary of the Pulse Nightclub murder spree, the administration announced the elimination of Obamacare’s health care protections for transgender people. Not all that surprising since the Trump administration continues to ban the flying of the rainbow flag at US Embassies around the world but still it does make you wonder about the types of people who stay up at night thinking about ways to make life tough for those who already have it difficult enough.  On the world front, North Korea is no longer talking to South Korea and has given up on anything but increasing the nuclear arsenal that’s been increasing during Kim Jong un’s faux lovefest with pen pal Trump  and Greece has announced that visitors from high virus countries will not be welcome anytime soon.  So cancel that trip to Mykonos because the US is most certainly one of those verboten countries.   As to COVID, the Surgeon General says wear a mask, they don’t infringe but do provide more freedom to move around more safely, but Trump’s still not listening and sadly a lot of people out there are looking for him to set an example.  As if.