Date: 2024-07-26 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00019505
The Trump Saga
Top priority ... Golf!
Trump is losing, broke, and under intense fire. So what do you think he did today?
Peter Burgess
Things Trump could’ve been doing today:
Visiting wounded veterans at Walter Reed. Sure, it would be cynical as hell, but Trump isn’t afraid of cynical hypocritical bullshit, and his base would’ve eaten it up. He is under intense fire, key components of his dwindling base under pressure, and he could’ve pretended to give a shit by doing one of his patented photo ops at the nearby military hospital. Instead, he feeds into the narrative that he doesn’t give a shit about anyone but himself. Why would he spend time with suckers and losers, when he could be spending time with whoever those golfing buddies are—rich white winners, I’m sure.
Raising money. It certainly isn’t a good sign when your campaign goes dark on the air, and yet Trump doesn’t feel compelled to do anything about it. He could be calling his billionaire friends and leaning on them to drop some coin into his allied super pacs, or he could be asking his rabid base to send some small-dollar change his way. He could be doing in-person fundraisers, because we know he doesn’t give a damn about social distancing or even maintaining the pretenses of good Covid prevention actions.
Campaigning. Yes, Covid has made it more difficult to hold his patented Nurenmberg-style odes to white supremacy. Yes, he was mightily embarrassed by his disaster in Tulsa, in which he expected one million people to show up, and only 6,000 did. Oh yeah, and that rally likely killed one of his few Black supporters, Herman Cain. But he could still be making his presence known, doing small meet and greets and getting local press to cover it. But of course, he doesn’t do rallies for the local press. He does them to feed his ego. And if he can’t fill a stadium, apparently, he's just not interested.
So instead of doing things that could help him win, he’s playing golf, ignoring his fiefdom as it collapses under the weight of his own incompetence, hubris, and indifference.
Someone wrote on Twitter, and I wish I remembered who so I could give proper credit, but Trump’s actions make a lot more sense if you view them through this lease:
Trump isn’t trying to be reelected.
Trump is trying to stay in power.
Why do the things that would give him a fighting chance at the ballot box, when he’s more interested in cheating—inviting more Russian meddling, making it harder for people to vote, and sending every possible signal that he has no interest in leaving office even if he loses the election?