As of today, August 6, 2020, the United States has had a grand total of 4.8 million cases of COVID-19. That number represents almost 54,000 more cases than the previous day.
The Lincoln Project — of whom Florida’s very own Rick Wilson is a member — recently put out this amusing long-form ad (it’s 6 minutes, 25 seconds, but worth it) titled Wake Up.
It tells the story of a Republican voter who had a bad accident three and a half years ago and has just come back to consciousness. His family has gathered around him to tell him what’s happened since the accident, and well, hilarity/anxiety ensues.
Jonathan Swan *is* the face of 2020. Tap to see at full size.
You’ve probably heard about DonaldTrump’strainwreckinterview on Axios, but in case you haven’t seen it yet, I’ve posted it below for your…information? Entertainment? Abject horror at the fact that this jabroni is the head of the executive branch, has (hopefully well-managed) access to the nuclear codes, and a fanatical following of a sizeable chunk of the more aggrieved, hostile, gullible population of the U.S.?
The parking lot at the Publix at Dale Mabry and South Village, sometime around September/October 2016: I’m getting groceries at our then-regular grocery store (this is when we lived in Carrollwood) when a MAGA-capped guy in truck with Trump stickers throws an empty beer can at me, missing by a mile. “Go back to where you came from,” he yells, to which I reply “Learn to throw like a man!” as I pull out my phone. He drives off.
Charlotte Douglas International airport, October 2016: I’m traveling to my new job at the company formerly known as SMARTRAC, and a guy in line at Carolina Pit BBQ in a MAGA cap yells something I can’t quite hear at me. I walk toward him, asking in my best radio voice, “Would you mind repeating that?” As I close in, it become apparent that I’m a head taller — he bought into the stereotype that Asian men are meek and short — and he starts high-tailing it in the opposite direction, presumably towards his gate. He loses his place in line, I take it, and enjoy some barbecue.
This sort of courage/cowardice is consistent with a couple of contradictory mindsets:
Tap to see the contrast between idealized fantasy and sad reality at full size.
It seems that the saying “Adult life is like high school, except that there’s more money involved” turned out to be true. High school is where you learn that the self-aggrandizing are often the most insecure, that guys who treat girls terribly are terrible people, and that bullies at craven cowards at heart.
Another great high school truth: The people who spend the most time proclaiming about how strong a man they are turn out to be the weakest, most unmanly men. The only worse people are those who latch onto those fakers, in the hopes of illuminating their dreary lives, even if it’s with only a few rays of that false glory.
With that in mind — along with the really sad photo of Trump attempting to deal with an easy baseball toss that most hospitalized people would be able to catch — here are some articles about the Trump “manliness” fantasy versus the sad reality.
The Week —The Least Macho President
“The guy who hates handshakes because he’s scared of germs claims he would stop a school shooting “even if I didn’t have a weapon.” His supporters hail him as the savior of masculinity. But his machismo, like everything else about him, is a charade. Trump is not the savior of masculinity. He is a parody of it.”
The Bulwark — Is Donald Trump Manly?
“Suffice it to say that the insecure, thin-skinned, self-fellating, crybaby bully in the Oval Office was not what Kipling had in mind [in reference to Kipling’s famous poem, If].”
Ms. — Donald Trump and the Tragedy of Failed “Masculine” Leadership
“It is beyond tragic that the most powerful man in the world is such a small man, utterly incapable of rising to the occasion and providing the leadership this catastrophe so desperately requires.”
Washington Post — The weird masculinity of Donald Trump
“Donald Trump bears very little in common with any actual woman I know. But, oddly, he has a lot in common with the basest, most unfair stereotypes of femininity. He is ruled by feelings rather than facts. He is fickle, gossipy and easily grossed out. He uses florid language, like “beautiful” and “perfect,” and says he and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un “fell in love.” He deals with adversity like a Mean Girl with a burn book, via insults and freeze-outs. For any Neanderthal who has ever feared electing a female president because what if she’s too cranky when she’s on her period — congratulations. For approximately 1,300 days, you have had a menstruating man in the Oval Office.”
And finally, here’s one from an unlikely source: National Review — Trump and Masculinity: “I’ve been arguing for a long time now that one of the problems with Trumpism is the way people feel the need to redefine their definitions of good character so that Trump can clear the bar. It’s like cutting a yardstick down to two feet so you can call something a yard long.”
“The masculinity that Donald Trump represents is not representative of what conservatives used to mean by good character. And to suggest otherwise trims another couple inches off the yardstick.”
Yes, I wrote about The Daily Show’s Heroes of the Pandumbic video back in April — a mere four months ago — but it’s worth watching again, considering that:
