For Trump, Lying Is a Super Power
He will use deception to keep
his bungled response to Covid-19 from ruining his re-election chances.
Opinion Columnist
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After Donald Trump’s
ridiculous and dangerous suggestion last week that household disinfectants
injected into people’s bodies might be a treatment for Covid-19, Republicans
intensified their hand-wringing over whether his daily briefings were doing
more harm — to his political fortunes and theirs — than good.
“In 2006, anger at
President George W. Bush and unease with the Iraq war propelled Democrats to
reclaim Congress; two years later they captured the presidency thanks to the
same anti-incumbent themes and an unexpected crisis that accelerated their
advantage, the economic collapse of 2008. The two elections were effectively a
single continuous rejection of Republican rule, as some in the G.O.P. fear 2018
and 2020 could become in a worst-case scenario.”
When the “Access
Hollywood” tape, on which Trump bragged about groping and sexually assaulting
women, came out, Republicans were worried. They began to openly reject him.
Some called for him to drop out of the race.
“But the image of
Republicans running for the exits, a month before a presidential election, is
as extraordinary as a party’s nominee using vulgar, violent language that
seemed to reduce an entire gender to sexual anatomy. And this time, no amount
of spin seems sufficient to control the damage Mr. Trump has wrought.”
“Nobody has more respect for women than I do.”
This says nothing of
the fact that within hours of the “Access Hollywood” tape being made public,
the first of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta’s stolen emails began to be released
by WikiLeaks.
“Trump’s numbers remained stable thanks to the loyalty of the Republican base, a fact that could give pause to party leaders considering publicly abandoning the nominee.“
I say all this to
say: Don’t fall prey to false hope that defeating Trump will be easy, that his
horrifically incompetent response to the coronavirus has doomed him. It hasn’t.
Trump will fight with everything he has to the bitter end to stay in power. He
will never admit any fault. He will lie and lie and lie and lie some more. And
the people who support him will stick with him every step of the way.
“Mark my words: I think he is gonna try to kick back the election somehow, come up with some rationale why it can’t be held.”
Charles
Blow joined The Times in 1994 and became an Opinion columnist in 2008. He is
also a television commentator and writes often about politics, social justice
and vulnerable communities. @CharlesMBlow • Facebook