You Are There

What kind of a day was it in Trump World?  A day like any other.  The only difference was...You Are There.

So, Trump himself broke news about whether or not he had a series of mini-strokes by bringing up that, according to him, he didn't have a series of mini-strokes.  Given his history of projecting and lying, this denial might be true, but it must be taken with a ton of skepticism.  Mainly though, it's really never a great idea for a candidate to bring up on his own the question of whether he had a series of mini-strokes.  As a result, that not only was a discuss all day, it's going to be part of the discussion until Election Day.

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Lost in the discussion of Trump talking about whether he had a series of mini-strokes or not is that in his tweet he never denied that when he went to the hospital vice president Pence was put on alert. 

For the record, you don't put a Vice President on standby alert that he might be sworn in as President of the United States for nothing more than a general physical.

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When vice president Pence did an interview during the day on "Fox News" he was given several opportunities to deny that he was actually put on standby alert that he might be sworn in as president.  Given how easily pretty much everyone in this administration lies, including Pence, it would have been the simplest thing to deny the story, whether it was or even wasn't true.  But on the final attempt by the "Fox News" reporter to give him a chance to deny it, the best Pence could muster was -- "I don’t recall being told to be on ‘standby.'” 

Now, me, I think I'd remember being told by the Secret Service to be on standby that I might have to be sworn in as President of the United States.  

But in fairness, that's just me...

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In the morning, Trump told a gaggle or reporters about some apparent conspiracy of Antifa where Antifa people were headed...well, wherever.  No, really, he said, "wherever."  It began yesterday when said, "They came from a certain city, and this person was coming to the Republican National Convention."  But then today, when the story fell about, he gave it another go, and this time said about the supposed Antifa plane that, no, it wasn't coming to Washington, rather it was "going from Washington to wherever."

For the record, the story about this supposed Antifa plane is from a conspiracy group a month ago.  And it was already debunked.

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Ah, but who cares about debunked and conspiracy groups.  This was Trump's mystical Antifa plane, and he was going to stick with it.  So, he went into detail.  And described it all, never mind that it's been debunked and isn't true --

"A person was on a plane, said there were about six people like that person, more or less, and what happened is the entire plane filled up with the looters, the anarchists, rioters, people looking for trouble. The person felt very uncomfortable on the plane."

Yes, I know, one might wonder how a person would know that the people on a mythical plane were, in fact, actually "looters, anarchists, rioters, people looking for trouble" before the fact?  Well, perhaps the reason this person -- who knows who this person was, perhaps it was 'John Barron,' Trump's alter ego from decades earlier -- knew they were looters, rioters and anarchists is because they were all wearing their name tags.

And by the way, this person - maybe, in fairness, it wasn't 'John Barron,' but rather Trump's often-mentioned friend without a last name, 'Jim' - was probably uncomfortable because all those rioters and looters on the mythical plane weren't wearing face marks.

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Watch this without laughing.It’s not possible.He’s the President of the Untied States of America... pic.twitter.com/UofWPJLiju— Rex Chapman???? (@RexChapman) September 1, 2020

"Big bags of soup."  No, really.

When watching Trump melt down over the "big bags of soup," I kept flashing to 'Captain Queeg' in The Caine Mutiny and waited for Trump to take out three, steel ball bearings, roll them around in his tiny hand and say "I knew they hid the strawberries, but I was too clever for them, oh, yes, I knew, and I knew I would find them scientifically..."

There's another possibility, of course.  And my theory here is that when Trump talked about "Big bags of soup," it wasn't him beings nuts, but  really just product placement for Goya.

"And if you are going to throw a big bag of soup, make it Goya.  That's Goya, the finest in big bags of soup.  And my favorite soup.  You should try it, too.  That's the fine line of Goya soups.  Now featuring posole."

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And speaking of Antifa, since this is Trump World after all, so you know there had to be more.  But Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) announced that he has called for there to be a subpoena for Antifa plane records, hotel records, all travel records and all funding....

What I'm sure most sane people understand is that Antifa is not an organization.  It is a movement -- like environmentalism.  And the Antifa movement stands for anti-fascist, which one would think is a Good Thing to most Americans.  So, y'know, it's like really heard to subpoena plane records and hotel records for a movement.  

What I'm waiting for, though, is for Rand Paul and Trump to claim that the Antiffa server is missing at the mythical Antifa headquarters.

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Then there's the story that Elliott Broidy, one of Trump's top fundraisers, and the former Finance Chairman of the Republican National Committee is about to be indicted.

I'm trying to find out the over/under on when Trump will start denying that he knows the guy.

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And finally, there was a news story that Nancy Pelosi is being criticized for going into a hair salon in San Francisco when only outdoor haircuts are allowed in California. Speaker Pelosi said the business told her they were allowed by the city to have one customer at a time and offered to let her come in under very restrictive conditions.  Republicans jumped on this as hypocritical.

Oh, for goodness sake.  Let's say, for the sake of argument, that this was hypocritical.  Let's say it was even grossly hypocritical.   If the business was allowed to do this, and it was done safely, than no, it's not hypocritical at at all -- but, okay, let's say it is.  Trump periodically holds huge rallies with thousands of people, often indoors, and with people sitting side-by-side and also without masks being required.  And among the many people we know who have gotten infected -- and who likely infected others -- are  members of the Secret Service and Herman Cain died. But one salon visit complying with the safety rules that, for the sake of argument, was "hypocritical." But completely safe, legal, and with one customer at a time.  O freaking horrors!

The hand-wringing outrage is enough to congeal the soul.  

188,900 Americans have died, so far.  

I'm only surprised that Republicans also didn't cry, "But her emails...!!!"

Apparently, the concept of perspective has disappeared for some people.  But then, I guess when you have no other serious arguments on your side, and can't go with pandemic, massive unemployment, collapsed economy, children not able to go to school, and the head of your party melting down over big bags of soup and mythical Antifa airplanes, while defending vigilantes with illegal semi-automatic rifles indicted for intentional homicide, and one of your top fundraisers is about to be indicted, you go with...a safe, legal visit to the hair salon.

If Republicans wrung their hands, moaned to the sky and cared just as much about the 6,257,571 Americans infected and 188,900 who are dead, maybe things never would have gotten this bad.

And that was just one day in Trump World.  A day like any other.  The only different is that You Are There.  Unfortunately.