New York Times columnist Roger Cohen writing on demagogue and constant liar Donald "COVID Donnie" Trump's pathetic flailing as his hopes for reelection circle the drain:
"To see that child-man charlatan in the White House spouting lies yet again, asserting without a trace of evidence that 'If you count the legal vote I easily win,' claiming that 'I won Pennsylvania by a lot,' and Michigan and Georgia, too, was to be reminded of the American nightmare of these past four years that the American people seem to have brought to an end.
It was a nightmare in which truth died, decency was trampled, science was flouted, division was fanned and the American idea was desecrated, as President Trump wheedled his way into the minds of every American with an insidious cascade of self-obsessed posturing and manipulative untruth.
In a democracy, a beautiful idea for which so much blood has been shed over the centuries, every vote is counted and each vote counts. That is what happened in 2016, when President Trump won Michigan by 0.2 percentage points, Pennsylvania by 0.7 and Wisconsin by 0.8. What goes around comes around. The difference in 2020 is that the child-man cannot accept his treat being snatched away. A bully born on third base cannot play by the rules of the game and accept the sanctity of the electoral process and the law.
As I write, it appears that Joe Biden will be the 46th president of the United States.
There may be recounts. There will be legal challenges. But Trump’s attempted coup against democracy, for it is no less than that, will be resisted. The United States is far bigger than this little man." (our emphasis)
Perhaps not "far bigger," as some 70 million voted their base instincts, ignorance, anger and prejudices, supporting the cancer on our body politic.
Here's the Washington Post's Philip Kennicott on the truth of that America:
No matter what happens to Donald Trump or who assumes the presidency in January, we can say this: He brought the truth of America to the surface. I’ll leave his policies and his politics — to the extent that he ever had policies or coherent politics — to the pundits. As a critic, I can say that he embodied, embraced or inflamed almost everything ugly in American culture, past, present and perhaps future. He made it palpable and tangible even to people inclined to see the bright side of everything. That this week’s election wasn’t a repudiation of Trumpism, that some 6 million more Americans believe in it now compared with four years ago, is horrifying. But it’s also reality, and it’s always best to face reality.
Face it.
