First, a word about the very long delay since my last post in April. Fortunately I never got Covid, but I did get discouraged by the pandemic and everything else going on, on top of the feeling that I was pretty much talking to myself on here (which is still the case), and it was hard to come up with anything substantially new to say about the idiot-in-chief. Now being so close to the election and with things heating up on every front, I am back on, at least for now.

I was actually in the middle of writing this blog when the news about Hope Hicks and then Trump and his wife broke, since which things have been evolving rapidly, with Trump now hospitalized and multiple other people including two Republican senators who attended the recent White House Supreme Court justice nomination event also testing positive, with likely more to come. This all certainly refocuses unprecedented emphasis on the pandemic and Trump et al’s mishandling of it, particularly in the West Wing, where social distancing is difficult, testing has reportedly been spotty and masks have reportedly been discouraged! Even if Trump does well, this will likely mean giving up at least a third of his in-person campaigning before the election. I have to say, this is absolutely poetic justice!! This will certainly dominate the news for the foreseeable future, and it will be very interesting to see if and how this changes Trump’s downplaying of the virus when he gets back to campaigning. Of course in the (less likely) event that Trump has a severe or prolonged illness or dies, everything will change. And we need to hope that Biden and Harris stay healthy!

On to the high anxiety. Over the past month or so things have gotten increasingly truly terrifying in terms of the election becoming a totally unprecedented national catastrophe. One might have thought that having Biden still leading in the polls would be sufficiently encouraging, but NOOO!  Even self-delusional Trump must realize despite all his bluster and projected confidence that he is poised to lose, and not surprisingly, he will resort to ANY possible means to win, no matter how illegal, unethical or destructive. First there is the real possibility of Trump and his cronies including AG Barr, rigging/stealing the election through various means of voter suppression. Trump has already gotten his postmaster general to drastically sabotage the Postal Service(!!) in order to delay and disqualify a potentially large number of predominantly Democratic mail-in ballots (to the extent that mail within my own city which used to take one or two business days now takes up to 13 days!). There are also multiple Republican and Trump campaign lawsuits trying to prevent a number of states from expanding mail-in voting and extending the delivery date for such ballots. This suppression is also happening on the state level, such as Texas governor Abbot’s new shameful order to allow only a single drop-off box for mail ballots in each county, including massive metropolitan areas. Then there are Trump’s relentless and baseless accusations of widespread mail-in voter fraud and of Democratic illegal activities to steal the election, convincing his cult supporters that the only way he can lose the election is if it is rigged, thus delegitimizing the election results in the minds of a significant percentage of the public should he lose. Compounding that is Trump’s unprecedented and very alarming refusal to commit to abide by the election results, to pledge a peaceful transition of power if he loses, or even to call for his supporters to remain peaceful in that event! All of these things are setting the stage and expectations for numerous and possibly prolonged lawsuits challenging the election results in probably multiple swing states, which could end up in the Trump-packed Supreme Court. The Trump campaign has even reportedly been considering trying to get Republican-controlled state legislatures in swing states to overturn contested election results and appoint Trump electors themselves, which is apparently constitutionally allowed but may violate federal election laws. Equally frightening is the prospect of widespread civil unrest and violence, possibly encouraged by Mr. Law and Order himself if it looks like he has lost. In summary, on top of a devastating pandemic and related recession, we are probably barreling toward an unprecedented election-related catastrophe and possible constitutional crisis, all of Trump’s making, and all of which will absolutely delight Trump’s buddies like Putin! It feels like watching an inevitable high-casualty train crash in slow motion! High anxiety indeed!!