Obfuscation, misinformation and doublespeak have characterized the Trump administration's response to COVID-19 almost since the beginning. The unpresident himself first denied, then downplayed, then ignored the virus. Until it came knocking at his door.
The first reported staff member to test positive was a presidential valet, who also happens to serve meals to the Denier-in-Command. Then came a spokesperson for the vice president, and now the top West Wing medical advisors have quarantined themselves. Yet the alleged leader of the country traipses around maskless, paying no attention to people from the CDC, who really do know what they're talking about.
Why is this important?
It's important because many of the Booboisie (Vox Populi, 5/6) are convinced they should follow his example, and they are a viral WMD waiting to infect God knows how many of their fellow Americans. Even a tiny bit, a smidgin, a soupçon of leadership from Washington urging followers to "do as the CDC says, not as I do," could potentially save many lives.
In the Louvre Museum in Paris is a painting by Antoine-Jean Gros¹ depicting Napoleon among plague victims in Jaffa (now in Israel). The general fearlessly reaches out with his bare hand to touch a victim's sore, a sure means of infection.
This is propaganda of the highest order. With this painting Gros effectively compared Napoleon with Jesus. The people of France would follow him anywhere.
Poor Trump has no Gros, no champion in the media who could give him the propaganda boost he so desperately craves. Even at the best of times he is not an inspirational person, not a leader to inspire sacrifice, not a charismatic figure to follow into battle. And no one can make him that.
What he can bring out, as I said a couple of days ago (5/8), is the "anger, racism, xenophobia and sense of disenfranchisement" that dwells in many of his supporters, and frequently erupts in violence.
Perhaps this is why his followers are drawn to him. Perhaps they sense that he shares those feelings. His actions and policies certainly reflect some commonality. Perhaps they don't want charisma. Perhaps they want someone like them: average, working class, conservative with traditional values, colorless and mediocre.
In Donald Trump they have certainly found that.
---Diogenes, 5/10/20
¹Central detail of Antoine-Jean Gros, Napoleon Among the Plague-Stricken at Jaffa, 1804.
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