The ‘Prophet’ Takes Ill
‘Hubris’ is an ancient Greek term for pride and ego supplanting common sense. Covid-19 denier Donald J. Trump is a classic example.
He and wife Melania are now isolated, suffering from what are described as ‘mild symptoms’ of the Covid-19 virus. At 73 years old and 60 lbs. overweight, Trump’s Covid symptoms may be serious rather than minor. What’s more, the Covid virus often scars the body, causing long-term damage to the lungs, heart, eyes and brain.
‘Hubris’ means scorning the dangers of Covid and trying to blame it all on China, refusing to wear a mask or sanitize hands, and encouraging one’s not so bright followers to congregate and ignore the deadly virus. No need to create a panic that would dampen the pumped-up stock market, a key Trump main claim to success.
Now, one wonders what Trump’s religious followers will say about this turn of events. In certain rural circles, Trump is venerated as a demi-saint or the reincarnation of Biblical Queen Esther of Israel, according to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, an ardent fundamentalist and aspirant to future Republican Party leadership.
One big reason that Trump kept telling his devotees not to wear protective masks was that Jesus would protect them from the plague. ‘Real men and women don’t need to wear masks. That’s for lefty Democrat sissies.’
Trump assured his minions there was no danger in congregating. Nor in not wearing masks and drinking beer with the boys. Doing so became a badge of Republican machismo. Similar beliefs were held in Congo where I saw stone-age Simba warriors bedecked with ju-ju amulets that allegedly protected the wearers from the white-man’s bullets. They did not.
The realization that other Republican Party bigwigs became infected with Covid at a White House garden party is either comical or just plain dumb. Trump apparently knew he was getting ill yet still circuited among his garden party guests.
Who else one wonders will be the next to come down with the virus that Trump calls ‘the China flu.’ One might better call it the Make America Great again flu. Such hubris, recklessness and irresponsibility are staggering.
Watching Trump ‘debate’ Joe Biden last week made me deeply worried about his health, both physical and mental. He was behaving like what the French call
an `enrage´.
But showman Trump just managed the feat of making the growing scandal over this tiny federal tax payments and his untruths about his net worth simply vanish. All eyes are fixed on Walter Reed Hospital – where I was sent while in the Army- and will be on his triumphant home coming scheduled shortly.
Trump is now blustering that Covid, which has killed over 210,000 Americans alone – is inconsequential and not to be feared. His drive-by appearance in front of the hospital was designed to lift the spirits of his followers. Among them, an unmasked jamboree of his evangelical followers just outside the White House and Walter Reed Hospital as more of Trump’s staff come down with the virus.
I’ve taken some of the drugs that Trump is being given while covering bush wars in Africa. The steroids alone make you irrational and paranoid. The man with his finger on the nuclear button is now full of them.
