Over at the National Review, the sometimes sensible Jonah Goldberg (but only sometimes) has a cri de cœur so poignant that I feel I have to give poor Jonah a helping hand. In a bitterly worded piece, Jonah explains the suffering he endures watching President Trump’s daily briefings on the coronavirus: “I hate them with a kind of loathing I have not experienced before.” Since these events can ramble on for two hours or more, every day, well, that’s a lotta loathing, and I feel for Jonah. As he says, in a crisis it’s “natural” for Americans to want to rally around the president, but right now, well
[I]t is beyond outrageous that Americans have to witness the spectacle of public-health officials’ tailoring their responses to questions so as to not offend the president. It’s the pandemic version of Kremlinology, parsing the statements of responsible officials for hints of the truth beneath the boilerplate praise and line-toeing.
It’s even worse that we have to put up with a president who answers questions off the cuff without regard for facts or concern for how what he is saying might be misinterpreted. Add in his incessant dedication to petty grievances, partisan puffery, and chest-beating braggadocio, along with all of the obligatory obsequiousness he requires of officials who know far more than he does. Together, these things create an affirmative need to call out the nonsense, because the nonsense isn’t just annoying; it’s dangerous.
Damn straight it is, and it’s been that way ever since Big Donnie stepped into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. But Jonah misinterprets the motivation of his former comrades who tell him to get with the program and back the president no matter what.
For the past three years, as a conservative who just can’t board the Trump Train, I’ve been urged by people, including friends, to put my personal feelings aside and support the president. Such demands to become a cheerleader were easy to dismiss during a time of peace and prosperity as mere exhortations for partisan loyalty.
But this is a different time, and it’s a real dilemma. Do you go along, even at the margins, with the fiction that Trump is up to this challenge? Or do you shine a light on his inadequacy?
The thing is, Jonah, your friends don’t think that the fact that Donald Trump has the soul of a corrupted two year old is a bad thing. They think it’s a good thing! They think it’s the only thing! The only thing that can save us! Your party has become the feast of unreason, Jonah, and it’s time you got up from the table.
The problem is Trump is a BULLY that will beat you to a pulp physically & emotionally if you cross him. The truth is everything about Trump is a 1,000 times worse than you think. Read the book “FEAR”!