I'm guessing you have followed the news for the last three years. Ask yourself: during that time, have you at some point, secretly hoped for something terrible to happen so that everyone would finally see that President Tremendous has no clothes and would be forced out of office?
I hate to disrupt you from your wishful daydreaming. The COVID-19 will not be the downfall of Donald J. Trump. Quite the contrary, it will make him stronger; for him, the ongoing crisis is The Perfect Storm! Just like the universe is finetuned to the extreme to support life on earth, this pandemic is perfectly designed for Trump.
For the longest time, supported by FOX-news, the President downplayed the "flu." The mainstream media mocked his stupidity, but it was not stupidity; it was a calculated political move typical for Trump.
In late February 2019, all was well, and there was nothing to worry about.
Big-rollers like Trump dare to go all-in based on the assumption that a worst-case scenario is exceptionally rare. Ebola, Sars, and the Swine Flu was all going to be the next bad thing, but the damage was minimal and could, fortunately, be shrugged off. Only some over-anxious epidemiologists, with their exponential infection calculations, lost some sleep over it. Trump bet that "this Corona thing" would deflate like Sanders's campaign, and he could once again laugh at a hoax created by the mainstream media.
What makes Trump an exceptional leader is that on those rare occasions when the worst-case scenario actually materializes, he has the extraordinary skill to ride it out, being shaken but not hurt. Most rats are sucked into the sewer never to be seen again when the toilet is flushed, but Trump just spins around awkwardly for a while and bounces right back up mightier than ever before.
Let's fast forward a few weeks from the time Trump was downplaying the issue to the time when it became apparent that the Coronavirus was something more serious. It was given a more proper name and declared a pandemic. While the media was screaming for Trump to pay the price for his blunders, the Wolf of Manhattan stood his ground and patiently waited for the optimal moment to react on it.
In a normal situation, the President would have been toast, crushed by the opposition. Just look at any of the multiple videos that so clearly demonstrate Trump's enormous gaffes. Surely the Democrats had finally gotten what they needed to beat him? What Trump knew was that if he got the timing right, the window of opportunity for the Democrats to hit back was going to be minimal.
The Democrats are exhausted. They have already unsuccessfully used two of their political lifelines in their attempts to get rid of the President. The Republican senators didn't even blink when the Mueller report with all its incriminating evidence was presented. When the Democrats later impeached the President, the Republican enablers in the Senate could no longer hold their laughter. Only one Republican voted against the King. Trump has forced the Democrats to accept their only remaining option: sending a 77-year old donkey into the election-octagon against the President.
Trump's patience paid off. While he goofed around throwing out distractions, the pandemic got some time to spread and freak people out, even the Republicans. Once the national emergency became severe enough, Trump made his move. The President quickly convinced The People that the nothing-burger had suddenly become a WAR! Once a President is able to pass that threshold, all previous mistakes are forgotten. While in war, everyone needs to look forward, there is no sense for the Democrats to complain about what Trump didn't do yesterday. The loyal FOX-news promptly jumped on the bandwagon.
Being defined as a War-President is the ultimate goal for any American politician and comes with some unalienable rights. You get the key to the federal reserve's printing press without hearing as much as a whimper about deficits and national debts. Not that the issue ever was much of a problem for Trump — another advantage for being a Republican President.
The states cannot handle the war on their own. They need leadership and especially resources from the federal government. Trump sits on the war chest and has the opportunity to force the US. Governors to beg him for help. Trump being Trump, all he asks in return, is for them to show a tiny bit of gratitude. Preferably publically and on their knees. Some people suggest that the color of the state might affect how much, and how quickly governmental assistance will arrive. This is not the time for resistance and criticism, this is a time when everyone needs to love AMERICA!
Many of us snort at the MAGA-soldier's naive and ignorant patriotism. But when push comes to shove, the vast majority of Americans, Democrats included, share those beliefs. They might have camouflaged it with sophisticated speech patterns, and a sliver of socialism, and some Obama-like quotes. But if the land of the free is ever under serious threat, they will bite their lip and bend the knee. They will sing the national anthem while Trump is harassing the flag — another advantage for being a Republican President.
Traditionally, the only threat facing a War-President is time. At some point, the people will grow tired of the war, and the vegan hippies will start marching in the streets. The willingness to send teenage soldiers to the other side of the world diminishes over time. Unless, of course, you never needed to start the war and send any soldiers overseas in the first place. What if you were attacked, due to no fault of your own, by an invisible enemy from China. Sing Hallelujah!
Trump has once again arisen like the Phoenix bird. No more screaming in front of the helicopter; he is back in the briefing room, not just as the President, but as the Commander-in-Chief leading the wartime Task Force. A new season of West Wing has begun, and Trump knows precisely what the script needs to keep the audience's attention. Some try to fight it, like Washington state radio, who won't air Trump's briefings because of false and misleading information. In today's information society, such resistance is futile and will make no difference. Trump doesn't only act more sober and presidential, but he is also more relaxed while doing it. He is evolving, he is winning, and he knows it.
Due to social distancing, the journalists in the pressroom are few and scattered; Trump is starting to regain control of a room where he previously was a disaster waiting to happen. While his minions stand and nod behind him, the world is listening attentively. Sure, the cosmopolitans and the international leaders laugh at him, but everyone knows that eventually, they will need America and their dollar. Besides, the more they hate him, the more convinced his base is that he is doing a great job — another advantage for being a Republican President.
Trump will never lose the essential 36,5% support he needs for his re-election. Especially not now when he can convince them that Obama's negligence is about to overload the healthcare system. The MAGA-soldiers will drink poison for him as one elderly couple already did. Apparently, they got confused about the possible cure Trump so eagerly promotes and ended up drinking parasite treatment for fish. The woman survived.
Trump's calculated risks have rewarded him with the ideal position. If the pandemic gets worse, like so many medical experts estimate, the authority of the War-President will just increase. However, if COVID-19 will go down in history as another disaster that never happened, Trump can, and will, take all of the credit.
Trump's success confirms once again that the art of statesmanship is brutal and not for the faint-hearted. Fraud and deceit more often than not pay off. The renaissance diplomat and author Niccolò Machiavelli's words are as accurate today as they were in the 16th century: "Knowing how to recognize an opportunity in war, and take it, benefits you more than anything else." Hold on to your hats, it's going to be a bumpy ride!
Niccolò Machiavelli 1469-1527
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