The U.S. president is in the hospital with Covid-19, and it is easy to get caught up in discussions such as the one Paul wanted to have last night, about whether this is GOOD or BAD for the election (he says bad, because of The Sympathy Vote, which is not something I’m familiar with). And I have seen articles about how our country doesn’t have a system set up for what happens if a candidate is no longer a candidate when there is an election in less than a month, and about what MIGHT happen, given that we don’t have set rules. It’s dramatic, unsettling stuff.
Stuff like that is interesting to think about, and I do think the people who have the power to do so should fix that gap in election policy, especially now that we’re apparently trying to beat our record every year for Oldest Candidate, but I found I was getting caught up in it as if this were a strategy game in which I had to FIGURE OUT and then HOPE FOR the path to the best outcome. But…my thoughts and hopes have no effect on anything. So I don’t have to figure out what would be best and root for that—and in fact, none of us KNOW what’s best, we can only guess (and how many things in our lives have seemed Bad at the time, and then turned out in the long run to be Good, Actually? And vice versa, where something that seemed so Good ended up being Bad, Actually? LOTS), and none of us would be able to influence things for the best even if we did know. All we can do is wait for things to unfold. It can feel like powerlessness/helplessness, but it can also feel like we can stop trying to keep the airplane aloft with our minds.
“We can stop trying to keep the airplane aloft with our minds.“
Thank you for putting into words exactly how I feel in these types of conversations lately. In the midst of all the other nonsense we took on a major home renovation and had a conversation at dinner the other night about a mistake that was spotted by us, the nonprofessional armchair contractors and about halfway through it I realized that even if we figured out a solution we aren’t the ones who would implement it so why waste the energy discussing all the ways the problem could be solved? I think my brain is reaching (has reached?) a point of extreme fatigue and just cannot anymore.
You said something at the beginning of this about how there will be famous people who get sick and die from this. And now its happening and just so sad that we’re still in this place with no end in sight. I think we have to face the possibility of a delayed election, which would be terrible in my opinion. We just need to get him out as soon as possible.
I have no doubt he will try to delay the election. In fact, when it first came out that he was exposed, I wondered if it was just a ploy to delay the election. BUT HE CANNOT DO THAT. Now, I realize this country is run by a bunch of people that don’t agree with laws, so who knows I guess?
As far as how this affects the election, my thought is that there isn’t much sympathy vote to be had. But I do worry about if for some reason Pence is at the top of the ticket. I think there are some disenfranchised Republicans who may vote for Pence at the top of the ticket.
What irritates me greatly is that if Biden had come down with it and had been shipped off to the freaking hospital, there’s no way he’d still be the candidate and Trump would literally be dancing on his grave. I’m also irritated because the Biden/Harris people have done a pretty decent job of trying to keep themselves and others healthy while campaigning. And then all of those fools come into the debate and don’t wear masks and generally don’t give a crap about anyone else.
31 days until I find out if I seriously need an escape plan out of this country because I can’t take this for 4 more years. I just can’t. Or maybe instead of an escape plan, I can just go to a White House event and hope it takes me out quickly.
The election has already begun. Don’t see how you can delay it.
3-2-1… let the conspiracy theories begin (actually, I’m certain that they’ll already be in full flow) about how this is likely to be a WH power play to generate sympathy votes; release Trump from the onerous debates; delay/postpone the election; open a window for various appeals etc etc. Dispiriting.
but neither unlikely nor out of character. sigh. considering literally everything else HAS BEEN that, how does one know? It does beautifully give us a real, contemporary example of the boy who cried wolf.
I love this post so much.
I just honestly hope he dies and then whatever the fallout, at least he is no longer president. (But I’m Canadian). And I don’t even feel guilty about hoping for that.
We need him to be gravely ill for like 32 more days, then…
Pence would be so much worse as President, though. He’s a hateful, regressive person who also has enough political savvy to GET THINGS DONE. It would be bad. So I hope Trump lives long enough to be thoroughly trounced in the election and then I don’t care what happens to him.
YES. Everything you just said!
This is so helpful. I was getting extremely caught up in similar speculation all day Friday, which led me to haunt the blogs and Twitter feeds I frequent as if other people would have the answers, which obviously wasn’t helpful because we really don’t know and can’t control the outcome anyway. But I couldn’t put the weird feeling into words as you did so eloquently.
I DID avoid Facebook because I realized that I didn’t really care what anybody else I knew thought about this. My husband is a “we shouldn’t wish for anyone’s death” type of person, and I was having trouble reconciling his opinion with the opinions of other people I respect saying that to hope/pray for the President’s recovery when FASCISM and FACIST TAKEOVER and AREN’T YOU PAYING ATTENTION is basically saying you support fascism, and it was all making me incredibly stressed out until I realized that all this very online-ness has made me feel like I have to have an opinion and it has to be shared and I have to listen to other people’s opinions and … I just don’t. I don’t have to adopt anybody else’s feelings or opinions about this but mine, and I don’t have to share or settle on feeling one particular way. I am not very good at being a “live in the moment” kind of person typically, but I think this is the perfect occasion for it.
I am not wishing for his death. I am wishing for him to learn something.
I am not hopeful.
And if you do the math, he’s worse than bin Laden, so I am not going to waste my spiritual growth energy on wishing this guy well.
I hope Barron turns out OK.
Trying to follow the news updates on his health condition is like trying to figure out if Kim Jong Un is alive and well. Conflicting reports, contradictory statements, videos strategically timed to show everything is just fine, nothing to see here! I mentioned that to my Trump supporter father and he immediately responded with “He is absolutely fine, the doctors say he is doing great!” but I guess when you only watch Fox News no one questions the transparancy of the administration.
I love your tactful post title: “US president.” He is basically Voldemort.
The most important thing to remember, I think, is that what would normally be done in national political situations such as our current one no longer applies with the govt as it currently stands. We cannot overlook the clusterfuck of that. We are in new and dangerous times.
I voted today. And gave a satisfactory review of my vote, which also covers my beloved IL senator, so I am feeling like I have done Something. Now I just have to wait and hope that Biden wins and he wins by a landslide.
I thought of a good thing (for you and maybe all of us) his covid diagnosis did: they cancelled the next debate!