Hard on the heels of the entire debate debacle, comes President Trump's COVID-19 diagnosis and treatment. I was angered and frustrated by the debate, I was determined to put it out of mind. However, my feelings about Trump's inevitable illness include sadness, sadness for the nation, as well as – I'll admit it – a sense of satisfaction. After all, given his negligent attitude and actions, he was bound to get sick.
But there is violence in action, and there is violence in thought. A few days ago, we were talking to friends, and I said (we all said) that I believed in non-violence. My friend said, well sure, but if someone threatened your wife you wouldn't walk away. Of course, there's truth in that; I believe, ethically, you should protect yourself and your loved ones. But I hope I'd do everything I could to hold onto my principles before essentially being forced to break them.
So I stuttered, and did not respond; I gave my friend a funny look, maybe a grimace. I asked myself, to what extreme does this apply? I've been rolling that idea around in my head for a few days. It's a version of the trolley problem: do I use or wish for violence to prevent more violence? Or, if you had a time machine, would you go back and kill baby Hitler? And to what level does Trump fall? How are we supposed to feel when something horrible happens to a horrible person? Should we wish for it even if we would never act on that wish?
Now Trump has COVID, and if anyone is to blame, it's clearly Trump. If he can't keep himself or his own staff safe, how is he going to keep a nation safe?
As I said before, Trump is my schoolyard bully. I suspect he's the bully for a lot of people. When the bully is out sick, I assume a general sense of relief in the schoolyard. He is a significant reason, or a symptom of the reason, I left the United States to live in Portugal. Rather than staying and fighting, we walked away.
On principle, I don't wish Trump ill. But for the sake of the country and the world, I find it difficult to wish him well. Then again, Trump's health is not up to me, it's up to him. With his carelessness and thoughtlessness, it's hard to imagine a good outcome.
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