Will Donald Trump Be the Death of Me? Pardon My Rant as I Shelter in Place — and Wind Up Praying for the President. Day 11

Yes. This One’s Going to Be a Rant. My apologies to friends and fans who have their reasons for supporting Donald Trump. I’d like these posts to bring people together, but I can’t keep writing them without revealing how worried I am about the state of democracy in the US — and the lives of the 327 million people who live here.

Sheltering at Home Day 11. Friday, March 27, 2020

Will Donald Trump be the death of me?

He might.

In the face of a fast-spreading COVID-19 virus, Donald Trump has dragged his feet on organizing nationwide shelter-in-place measures. He has resisted coordinating production of tests, ventilators and protective equipment. He has refused to acknowledge that a few tough strategies, promptly applied, could save thousands — millions? — of lives.

Including mine.

Including yours.

Dying is bad enough. It’s another thing to contemplate dying as a result of incompetence in the White House.

Donald Trump Fiddles While You Burn With a 103-Degree Fever

But maybe you’d rather not read about Donald Trump. Maybe you’ve had enough of that man. Maybe you’re tired of turning on the TV to see Trump fiddling while you or yours burn with a 103-degree fever

And so, if you’d rather skip this post and come back tomorrow for something cheerier, go in peace.

Truth is, I’d rather not be writing this post at all.

For four-plus years, Donald Trump has been playing us. He thinks of himself, not as the person responsible for keeping the American project alive and afloat. He fancies himself a bigger-than-life character on a TV reality show.

My strategy, as a result, has been to keep Donald Trump off this blog. Deprive him of that oxygen. But now, in the interest of being transparent about where I stand on the current state of things, I have to speak my mind.

Donald Trump is not qualified to be president. He is incompetent. He is unscrupulous. He is ignorant. He can’t think straight. He has an uncomfortable relationship with reality and truth. He’s not above abusing his power as president (as outlined in the Mueller report and congressional impeachment hearings).

Worst of all, Donald Trump in his three years as president has systematically — intentionally? — endangered America’s hard-won democracy and rule of law.

Will Donald Trump Be the Death of Me?

And now, Donald Trump has upped the ante. With his slow-walk of nationwide pandemic measures, he has endangered, not just the American way of life, but our very lives. My life and the lives of the people I love. And the lives of millions of others — boomers, yes. But also millennials, twenty-somethings, teenagers.

Nancy Pelosi finds it possible to pray for Donald Trump. I don’t know how she does it. At the end of a meeting with friends from church last month, I resolved to follow her lead and pray for Donald Trump. I didn’t know whether it would do Trump any good. But I knew it would do me some good.

I’ve thought of that vow off and on in the weeks since. But I have not acted on it. I have not been able to pray for Donald Trump. Unlike Pelosi — and Mitt Romney — my faith is feeble: I have just enough of it to sense what the right thing to do might be, but not necessarily enough to act on it.

Is Donald Trump Projecting Again?

I notice that Donald Trump has a way of projecting his feelings — the weaknesses he won’t cop to — onto others: Lyin’ Ted Cruz. Crooked Hilary Clinton. Cryin’ Chuck Schumer.

During Monday’s Fox News town hall, we got a glimpse into what Donald Trump might be feeling this week. Regarding the social distancing so many epidemiologists are pressing for, he said: “You’re going to lose more people by putting a country into a massive recession or depression. You’re going to lose people. You’re going to have suicides by the thousands.”

What’s going on here? Is this Donald Trump projecting again? Does he really worry that the economic stress of the coronavirus shut-downs would lead to a national epidemic of suicidal despair? Or, is he afraid that shut-downs will lead to his financial ruin?

And without his much-vaunted wealth, what is Donald Trump anyway? I’m wondering, is Donald Trump . . .

. . . suicidal?

That pause was me praying for the president.

If you can bear to read another post about Donald Trump, go to “Donald Trump Played Me. Here’s How.”  

Is you’d rather smile, go to  “Wedding Dress Shopping. When Your Daughter Lets You Tag Along.”   

Or, “Shopping for a Mother-of-the-Groom Dress. Is That Me in the Mirror?  Or Is That Somebody’s Grandmother?”   

And, “When Your Six-Year-Old Wants to Talk Money.”