Just when I think there is nothing new in Donald Trump's puny bag of tricks, that his meager vocabulary of insults has been exhausted, that we've heard all his dog whistles, he says something that makes me need to stop and think.
A week or so ago, he began to call his people "warriors." It wasn't a brilliant compliment and I didn't pay much attention until he said it again. And again. He was saying it about people who were fighting for the right to get their hair cut and go to the beach. The danger lies in its very absurdity. As I ruminate about it today, I am convinced that this is the way he is going to win in November.
The economy is in the toilet. People are dying by the hundreds because if it doesn't profit Donald Trump, he doesn't see it. And we are mostly shut up in our homes, worried about running out of disinfectant and getting angry at those who go out without wearing masks.
Donald Trump doesn't wear a mask. His protection is his power. He is able to put on a face of fearlessness for his followers, making the rest of us seem like cowards. Tough, he is not. He gets tested frequently because, as he asserted yesterday when his valet tested positive, it is everybody else's job to keep him safe.
It amazes me how invulnerable he has been to coronavirus. It will be interesting to see how he reacts to his brush with it. I am guessing that he will deal with it the way he deals with every damn thing in his life that gets in his way: by bullying it. So far, for some insane reason, it has worked.
If he continues to have meetings and go out in public unscathed, his message to his people will be a powerful one.
"Fight for me."
We saw it when he pit his adoring fans against his own government by inciting them to protest the governors -- Democratic governors -- who refused to open for business. They came out just the way he would have wanted them to in his fantasies, carrying guns and maskless. Fearless for Trump.
They are hearing his message loud and clear. The scientists in his government say to continue to social distance and to wear masks, but, he said, he probably won't, because how would it look when he met with world leaders if he wore a mask? How clever to pit himself -- the real warrior -- against his own government. People who are angry about what they have lost over the past months can't blame Trump, because his government is also trying to hold him hostage. But he won't let them.
He knows the mob mentality; he has been using it successfully since he came down the escalator to address the crowd, many of whom he had paid to be there, in 2015. He didn't invent astroturfing, but he knows how to use it.
He may claim he has "the best words," but his vocabulary is so limited that we could play Trump Bingo when we listen to him. What he is doing, though, is instinctively brilliant. He throws out a word and listens for the reaction. He even admits that he is waiting to hear how the crowd reacts. "Make America Great Again." "Drain the Swamp." "Lock her up." It's behavioral conditioning pure and simple, and nobody really knows, or cares, who is conditioning whom.
We know that Trump is basically a stupid man. He has learned how to succeed by watching the behaviors -- and more important, the reactions to behaviors -- of others. He knows how to bully, and he knows to never back down. As long as he can toss out blame, no matter how ridiculous and illogical, he can win.
And, just as Rick Perry's broken clock is right once a day, if Donald Trump tosses out enough taunts and attacks, some will hit home. And just as vulnerable as he is to flattery, he knows he can manipulate his people by building them up.
Hence, warriors.
They are fighting for haircuts. They are fighting for the right to go to the beach. They are fighting for jobs. And they are fighting for Trump, who, after all, is fighting his own government for them. And if they get sick, they are doing it to save him.
All the damn way to November 3.
On the other side, we are the worriers. We listen to science, and we think about future consequences. We are willing to make sacrifices for the survival of others. We have done what I never thought I would see. We have holed up in our homes for months, stayed away from loved ones, and yes, cut our own damn hair, for the greater good.
And that has fostered a lot of fear.
What would we do at this point to stay safe? We've already thrown in with the scientists, and we've listened to the tallies of death and disease daily. We walk around with sanitizer if we walk around at all.
What happens in November, when the Trump warriors and the covid worriers have decisions to make about whether to get out and elect our next president? The republicans already know how to suppress the vote; they've been working at it successfully for years. On their side is loyalty to a leader, on our side is loyalty to our loved ones. Trump is incrementally getting his people out breaking the law, carrying guns and attitude, fearless because Trump is fearless. He is not really fearless, but it is a persona he has developed his entire life, even convincing himself.
So if the republicans can squash attempts to mail in voting, whether by finally destroying the postal service or just banning it outright, they will do it. If we have to go out and stand in line to vote -- which too many of us refuse to do even in the best of times -- will we do it? Are we so afraid of covid that we will forego our democracy?
In other parts of the world there are people who truly risk their lives when they go out to vote, even in societies so corrupt that the outcome is a given, and the penalties for fighting for that right are harsh. Will we stay home because we fear contagion from a virus?
Or will we stop worrying and do whatever it takes to get the thugs out of office? Will our leaders start to send messages to us telling us to get out and vote -- yes, safely, but even if it means standing in a line for hours -- because Donald Trump is banking on us being too afraid to fight against him?
We need to assume that our corrupt government will make it as difficult as possible for us to get out and vote. And that is exactly why we need to redouble our efforts, and overcome our fears, in November.
