In his book Liars Circus, Carl Hoffman observes that it is difficult to sympathize with the “problems” of Trump supporters, since they feel no sympathy whatever for the difficulties of others. “Problems” are of course of a matter of degree; as Columbia University reported, although white people are suffering economically during the pandemic, they are still much less so than blacks and Hispanics. Yet white Trump supporters seem entirely oblivious, rather choosing to believe that their own security is “threatened” by any policy that “mistakenly” also helps minorities. That is the irony of Trump’s claim that he is doing “great” by blacks and Hispanics; his own supporters are comfortable in the fact that they know that he is in fact lying about wanting to "help" minorities (just look at what his White Civil Rights Division is doing), and he proves it by his racist dog whistling at every campaign rally.
Meanwhile there is a massive new outbreak of the coronavirus ripping through Europe, yet in the U.S. testing has decreased in some states, such as Texas, where there seems to be an effort to prevent the true positivity numbers from being far worse than it already is. In Florida, which had previously been seeing record daily increases in cases and deaths, we learn now that Trump’s chief science-denier--far-right partisan-political hack and looks-like-a-mob-boss Scott Atlas--conspired with Gov. Ron DeSantis to reduce testing in Florida to only those persons experiencing symptoms, thus allowing asymptomatic people to unknowingly spread the virus to others. We also have learned that Atlas did an interview with RT, a Russian government propaganda organ, in which he “helpfully” claimed that lockdowns were “killing people.”
I watched the new Sacha Baron Cohen film Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, which unlike the first film which simply poked fun at right-wing America, this time wore its contempt for it like a wet rag. At one point Borat enters a town that seems empty, until he encounters two of “America’s greatest scientists”--Jim and Jerry. What is more dangerous: the virus or the Democrats? Democrats. When did the COVID-19 start? “With the Democrats, with Obama... and I think it goes back to the Clintons...When they were also in office.” This, uh, Clinton, they make this plague? Yes. “Clintons are very evil. Extremely evil. Supposedly, they torture these kids. It gets their adrenaline flowing in their body. Mm-hmm. Then they take that out of their adren...Adrenal glands...Yeah....and then they drink their blood or that-that out of their... I've heard about things like that. Yeah. Hillary Clinton drink the, uh, blood of children? That's what we've heard. Yeah. I've heard. It's-it's been said. Yeah.”
Are people as dumb as all that? You betcha, and sometimes it hurts to learn that your “heroes” are that dumb--dumb enough to make fans wonder how dumb they themselves could be for hero-worshipping someone with such disturbing beliefs. Former Packer quarterback Brett Favre appeared on a town hall edition of “America This Week” and asked Trump "My question is the NBA and the NFL are struggling with lower ratings as fans clearly do not want political messaging mixed with their sports. So, how should the leagues support and promote an anti-racism position without becoming political and alienating fans?"
First off, right-wing America thinks anything that has to do with race is “political,” and I frankly see very little political messaging before, during or after games. I think it is all in Favre’ head, and he seems to be mistaking the “political messaging” of COVID-19 restrictions preventing fans from filling the stadiums with race, which apparently is high on his mind. In response, Trump didn’t even address Favre’s actual question, instead doing the usual racial dog whistle stuff: “They've got enough politics with me and with everybody else. And, they don’t want to see it with football or sports on Sunday or whenever they happen to be watching…especially when they’re making $10 million a year for something they’d be doing anyway for free if they weren’t in the league or the NFL or in the NBA."
Trump’s comment made no sense whatever, and it was interesting for someone who claimed that he wasn’t a “politician” to be here admitting that people are getting enough politics from him. Note that Trump did not actually offer any suggestion of how the NFL should promote anti-racism causes, yet this failure to answer his question apparently satisfied Favre:
My Vote is for what makes this country great, freedom of speech & religion, 2nd Amnd, hard working tax paying citizens, police & military. In this election, we have freedom of choice, which all should respect. For me & these principles, my Vote is for [Donald Trump].
Look, 99 percent of white people in Mississippi vote Republican, and the racial history of the state is well known and has changed little. We know that Favre was going to vote for Trump anyways, but did he have to make a fool of himself like Jack Nicklaus did by justifying his vote in a totally mendacious way? Are Democrats really against any of those things? Of course not. This election is about character and healing, and Favre is telling us that none of that matters. Again, Favre’s specific concern in his question to Trump had nothing to do with any of things in his post, and everything to do with his “discomfort” on racial issues. Favre isn’t a racist, but I certainly think he feels more “comfortable” when minorities know their “place,” and particularly should just keep quiet if they are making money.
Frankly, Favre should take his--and Trump’s--own advice. I’m not so sure it was making America “great” when Favre was expressing his “freedom of speech” when he allegedly sent an image of his private member to Jenn Sterger from his cell phone. Believe me I was vociferously defending Favre from the accusation and have the posts from late 2010 to prove it. But now I’m wondering exactly what kind of “freedom” is Favre’s actually “defending,” given the “character” of the man he thinks is fit to be reelected.
And, yes, the Packers lost at "home" to the previously 1-5 Vikings, which didn't help.
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