Hit Job

It's TrumpWorld, so of course yesterday provided a galling number of pathetic new stories to write about.  So many to choose from, what to write about?

At another time, I'd write about Trump chastising top-notch journalist Yamiche Alcindor (or "you people, as he called the Black reporter) to "be nice" when asking questions.  This from the man who, after the Stoneman Douglas school shooting in Florida, said he would have run into the school to face the gunfire.  For the record, it is not a journalist's job to ask nice questions.  It's to ask whatever question is necessary to get a truthful answer -- and that is never more truth than during a crisis.

And at another time, I'd write about Trump coyly suggesting that doctors and nurses in New York City -- the people at the front line of the health pandemic who are risking their lives under horrific conditions getting worse daily -- might be stealing protective masks and selling them for profit on the side.  And that it's something that should be "looked into."  Really.  Honest.  This is sickeningly pathetic.

But instead, I've decided to post a couple of tweets Trump sent out that deal with nothing so direct about others.  However, it speaks totally to the core of the disaster that is Trump.  They are about him, him, him.  They are about something totally meaningless.  They are about something that is wrongheaded.  And they are not only about him, him, him, but about how great he supposedly is.

And for all that, they get us to the heart of why are here in this hell hole.

​The first tweet I saw was this --

Because the “Ratings” of my News Conferences etc. are so high, “Bachelor finale, Monday Night Football type numbers” according to the @nytimes, the Lamestream Media is going CRAZY. “Trump is reaching too many people, we must stop him.” said one lunatic. See you at 5:00 P.M.!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 29, 2020

​I swear with my hand on as many bibles as you want to bring to the evidence stand that when I first saw this, I thought it was a parody account. Or, if real, from two years ago. But neither are from the case.  As you can see at the bottom, it's from today and demented.

If "ratings" mattered in the environment we're in (and in clear to anyone sane that they don't), it would be be worth noting they're high for Trump because EVERY NEWS CHANNEL AND EVERY NETWORK AIRS THEM. NOTHING ELSE IS ON.  And... people tune in because they are dying for facts.

I was going to say "desperate for facts," but this seemed for blunt and accurate.

And then scrolling through Twitter, I came across this a few minutes later, with Trump quoting a news article that was about him --

“President Trump is a ratings hit. Since reviving the daily White House briefing Mr. Trump and his coronavirus updates have attracted an average audience of 8.5 million on cable news, roughly the viewership of the season finale of ‘The Bachelor.’ Numbers are continuing to rise...

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 29, 2020

This is not normal. Americans are dying -- of course people are watching!

Literally nothing else is on the news channels and networks during those press conferences -- of course people are watching!

People are pleading, terrified, gut-wrenchingly desperate for information -- of course people are watching!

Americans are DYING. But "President Trump is a ratings hit."

And that's why we are here. 

Forget the infections, pandemic, death, terror, unemployment, health disaster, economic disaster.  None of that matters.  Because --

"Trump is a ratings hit."  And his "Numbers are continuing to rise."

What numbers are also "continuing to rise" are the totals of infections and deaths.  

141,854 infections as I write this.
2,475 deaths.

A month ago, Trump said that there were just 15 infections, and no deaths, and it would all be gone soon like a "miracle."

141,854 infections.
2,475 deaths.

The numbers as you read this will be much higher already, only hours later.

But the good news is that Trump "is a ratings hit."

He must be so happy.

A hit.  It'll play for years on Broadway!  Except unfortunately Broadway is shut down because New York City has been devastated and overrun by growing infection and death.  And even more unfortunately, this show has taken itself on the road and is touring every state in the country.

A hit??  Yes -- yes, this is a hit , but not how Trump thinks.  This is a hit in the same way as if Trump took out a Mob contract on the American public.

But he's reveling in the attention and people watching.  All eyes in the nation are tuned in when he's at the podium, lying to the American public.  No maatter, the "numbers are continuing to rise."  It's the greatest news ever for him.

Imagine if it was a nuclear holocaust.  His ratings would be blown through the roof.