Eighty days ago, at the beginning of June, President Trump stood in front of a church in Washington DC and held up a bible. Upside-down. He also told the governors they "have to dominate" the protestors, and a moment when events in the US became really dark. There were nearly two million cases of COVID-19 in the US (now there are nearly six million). It was an image and a marker in time that allowed me to reflect on the eighty days prior to the beginning of June:
Time shrinks, and it is incredible to consider the last three months: coronavirus, financial crash, pandemic, lockdown, armed 're-open' protests, record unemployment, a self-medicating president, locusts, murder hornets, a super-cyclone, racially-suspect police brutality and killings, protests against racism and police brutality, looting, more police brutality, more protests against racism and police brutality, loss of autonomy in Hong Kong, a 20,000 ton Arctic oil spill, mass graves, nation-wide memorials and funerals, and (now) executive threats of martial law.
Less than three months, really.
None of those horrible things from March-April-May have necessarily gone away, especially with the ever-increasing pandemic totals and the recent shooting in Wisconsin. But, for June-July-August, we must add to the preposterous list: massive lightning storms sparking dozens of devastating wildfires in California, an unprecedented double-hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico, the intentional destruction of the US Postal Service, severe weather and historic flooding in China, an explosion in the port of Beirut setting off a wave of violent government protests, an oil tanker's grounding and splitting near Mauritius, the poisoning of a leading critic of Russian leader Putin, an illegitimate election in Belarus and the violent suppression of protests, Trump's threats to shut down TikTok and WeChat, lawsuits against the Trump Administration by TikTok and WeChat, and an asteroid's passing anxiously close to the Earth on the day before the US elections.
While facing these calamities, Trump's selfish inaction and divisive 'domination' only serve to worsen the effects and create an atmosphere of hopeless panic. Knowing you're not the only one freaking out while Trump golfs provides some comfort. Here are some sobering but good reads:
- My Son Is Looking to Me for Answers—And I Don’t Have Them Anymore, Uri Friedman, The Atlantic
- I’m a Mail Carrier, and Trump Is Definitely Trying to Affect the Election, Anonymous/Editors, LEVEL/Medium
- The American Dream, Ashleigh Kane, Dazed & Confused ("Obituaries" website)
Taking a bright neon-yellow hi-liter to the divisiveness is a recent poll from CBS News. The results quantify and provide scale for the political and cultural schism in the US. There are two Americas and two national realities, and the differences between them are now enormous:
For most Republicans, America is a nation where the economy is still fairly good, where the effort to handle the coronavirus is going at least somewhat well and the president is doing a very good job on it. For them, the virus elicits less concern in the first place. They believe the 170,000 fatalities is an overstated count and one which, for many, can so far be considered acceptable. And it is a nation where, for an overwhelming number of Republicans, there has been too much focus on racial discrimination of late.
reporter: During the pandemic, the QAnon movement appears to be gaining a lot of followers. Can you talk about what you think about that, and what you have to say to people who are following this movement right now?Trump: Well I don’t know much about the movement other than I understand they like me very much, which I appreciate. But I don’t know much about the movement. I have heard that it is gaining in popularity and, from what I hear, these are people that … don’t like seeing what’s going on in places like Portland, in places like Chicago and New York, and other cities and states. And I’ve heard these are people that love our country and they just don’t like seeing it. So I don't know, really, anything about it other than they do supposedly like me.reporter: At the crux of the theory is this belief that you are secretly saving the world from this satanic cult of pedophiles and cannibals. Does that sound like something you are behind?Trump: Well, I haven’t heard that, but is that supposed to be a bad thing or a good thing? [reporters gasp, laugh] If I can help save the world from problems, I’m willing to do it. I’m willing to put myself out there. And we are actually. We're saving the world from a radical-left philosophy that will destroy this country. And when this country is gone the rest of the world would follow.
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