After Donald Trump’s gaslighting of America with his lies about the deadliness and the extent of the COVID-19 pandemic — as well as about his commitment to predict preexisting conditions while his Justice Department brings a case to end them and the rest of Obamacare to the Supreme Court — it’s difficult to accept any message concerning health and well-being issued by his administration.
Hence, suspicions were raised when NBC White House correspondent Kelly O’Donnell sent out this otherwise seemingly innocuous tweet this morning.
Trump campaign manager says “Donald Trump is alive and well”
— Kelly O'Donnell (@KellyO) November 5, 2020
The response that this post attracted demonstrates just how fragile a state the mental health of much of our nation has descended to in the Trump era.
Outside of the usual partisan sniping about Trump’s own psychological fitness, his COVID scare, and his intermittent signs of transient ischemic attacks, since election day no one had been raising any significant questions about the president’s medical condition and few had doubted his continued existence on this planet.
The fact that Trump’s campaign manager — presumably Bill Stepien — felt the need to reassure the president’s followers of his continued well-being somehow felt off, like someone was proving the answer to a question that nobody asked.
Twitter denizens, inured to Trump’s mendacity and malfeasance, smelled something fishy in the unsolicited assertion about the president’s health.
They immediately responded with conspiracy theories that rivaled the most outlandish promoted by Trump himself.
ohmigod he committed suicide didn't he https://t.co/XqZPRxlrNe
— 2022 US House Candidate Richard Butt (@tacticaldipshit) November 5, 2020
https://twitter.com/jaricadavis/status/1324376832427393025?s=20
I'm not saying Trump is dead, but this certainly isn't the kind of news they would share with people if they knew he was alive.
— Larkspur Flower (@InfiniLarkspur) November 5, 2020
Add your name to states not to cave Trump. COUNT EVERY VOTE!
— the robyn weapon (extreme) (@nononoagh) November 5, 2020
https://twitter.com/liz_ostrom/status/1324376672456577025?s=20
Define "well"
— Peter Harris (@2peterharris) November 5, 2020
they couldn't hide him being dead, i think the "well" is the lie
— pja (@PJAxemurderer) November 5, 2020
they couldn't hide him being dead, i think the "well" is the lie
— pja (@PJAxemurderer) November 5, 2020
Don't be cruel.
By getting our hopes up, I mean.
— Seytom (@Seytom1) November 5, 2020
https://twitter.com/KJan1056/status/1324379771485196296?s=20
Yes, folks, this is how far we’ve fallen as a nation as we sit on pins and needles waiting for the final tally in an election that deflated the hopes of progressives with a clear indication that half of the country is in dire need of psychological and moral counseling.
On the left, people are clutching after any shred of hope that our long national nightmare may soon be over, waiting anxiously for every new voting tally update from Nevada, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, and North Carolina.
On the right, the MAGA fans are convinced of the vitality and ultimate invincibility of the man who allows them to feel OK about their racism and xenophobia and their ability to luxuriate in their selfishness.
Meanwhile, a few sensible Americans look at the statement from Trump’s campaign manager and wonder whether he is simply referring to the president’s chances of an electoral win rather than his actual physical and mental health.
That disparity in interpretation— as wide as any differences in perception since the blind men and the elephant — is the perfect encapsulation of 2020 for future historians to ponder.
Follow Vinnie Longobardo on Twitter.
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