BREAKING NEWS: A psychotic administration? No, a criminal one.
The medical site WebMD defines psychosis as “a condition that affects the way your brain processes information. It causes you to lose touch with reality. You might see, hear, or believe things that aren’t real.”
The Trump administration has been saying things that are divorced from reality since the first day when it tried to convince the world—contrary to clear aerial photographic evidence to the contrary—that the crowd that attended the Trump inauguration was bigger than the one that greeted Obama.
Ever since, Trump has been saying things that aren’t real or true. The administration has given an extraordinary boost to the fact-checking profession, second only to that it has given the undertaking profession.
Even among this administration’s welter of lies, lies that include all three types described by Mark Twain—lies, damned lies, and statistics—the ones about COVID-19 stand out as especially brazen and damnable.
When the White House puts out a statement that is the exact opposite of reality, like the claim that the administration ended the Coronavirus epidemic—just when the country recorded the highest number of new COVID cases in one day of any country ever—it’s tempting to call this a psychotic administration. That would be an error.
Psychotics generally are not held criminally responsible for their actions because they really believe his/her brain is receiving radio transmission from aliens commanding them to commit crimes and kill people. Trump and his supporting cast of liars know the truth about COVID-19 perfectly well and always have.
As early as January 25, the New York Times reported that a dangerous new virus was killing people in China. By that time, the vast U.S. intelligence apparatus—seventeen major agencies with top notch technical, monetary, and human resources—not only knew about the outbreak but also raised a loud alarm in briefings to the president and to Congress.
As Bob Woodward’s tape recordings make clear, the president knew early on about the lethality and highly contagious nature of the virus. He chose to lie about it to the American people and take over the management of COVID-19 from the scientists to ensure nothing was done to fight it effectively and so that the lie would not be contradicted by those with authoritative knowledge. Trump didn’t want to do what needed to be done because he feared it might hurt the economy, his only argument for reelection. That’s a dastardly and deadly calculation but perfectly in line with the president’s colossal selfishness.
Criminals sometimes pretend to be psychotic to avoid responsibility. This seems to be what the administration is trying to do now. It’s a tactic that seldom works for criminals and it isn’t working for Trump. The tragedy is that there are still plenty of people who believe the president and risk death by showing up at his super-spreader rallies. Holding them shows the president’s criminality. Attending them demonstrates the cavalier imbecility of his most fanatical supporters.
A psychotic administration? No, a criminal administration.
