Conspiracy theories are now spreading faster than the COVID virus itself. There are those who think Trump is faking his diagnosis and others who think he is faking his recovery. What about that ego trip he took in his car while hospitalized> The misinformation age we have been living in for these past 4 years has soared to new levels with Trump testing positive for COVID 19.
And now this pathological liar who has long driven me nuts has turned me into one of those conspiracy nuts.
No, I’m not wearing a tinfoil hat.
Yet.
I’m still confident that in 1969 Buzz Aldrich took one small step for man one giant leap for mankind from the surface of the moon and not from studio lot just as I’m certain there are no lizard people disguised as corporate leaders.
But in the Trumpian age of untruths, the news of Trump’s COVID19 diagnosis and subsequent hospitalization has caused my mind to race into all sorts of speculation and convoluted theories. American’s imaginations are running wild especially when little and confusing information is given
The fact is there is nothing I trust about what we have been fed.
The flood of speculative commentary on social media is not exclusive to one particular side of the political aisle. There are doubters and conspiracy theorists on both sides, each seeking out and promoting information that confirms their respective biases about the world.
The deluge of conspiracy theories about Trump’s positive test comes against a mountainous backdrop of misinformation built by the president himself. After a steady diet of fabrications and falsehoods is it any wonder conspiracies are thriving, encouraged by the president himself.
When it comes to conspiracy theories there are so many you can choose one from column A and 2 from column B.
Fake News
Researchers at Cornell University recently published a study showing that Mr. Trump was the single largest driver of false and misleading information about the coronavirus. Trump has repeatedly misled the public about the pandemic having consistently denied or downplayed science regarding the spread of this virus, questioning the need for masks and promoting fake cures.
Is it any wonder that critics of Trump like myself are questioning the legitimacy of his illness after years of him spreading lies and misinformation about everything.
Is this just another manipulative distraction to change and control a narrative that was spiraling perilously downward for Trump right before his diagnosis? The news cycle changed on a dime. Taxes? Melania’s vile tape, Disasterous debate? Falling poll numbers? Fuggedaboutit. Might he be lying about his diagnosis for the sake of a political gain with about a month to go before Election Day?
But we aren’t the only folks circulating conspiracy theories about the situation.
QAnon signs at Trump Rally
On the flip side, followers of extremist groups like QAnonn have connected a variety of falsehoods about the roots of the pandemic to explain Trump’s illness to fit into their false premise.
They attempted to decode the wording of his tweet announcing he had COVID as a sign that the president was poised to arrest Trump’s nemesis Hillary Clinton who was falsely accused of involvement in a cabal of satanic Democrats running a secret child-sex trafficking ring. They suggested, that Trump actually doesn’t have the virus at all but was sending a message that he’s about to go on a mission to root out the evil group.
Fools Rush In
Who is the fool in all this? Are we all being fooled?
We may have once been justified in believing Abraham Lincoln’s familiar maxim “You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.”
Until Donald Trump, this has been the foundation belief of American democracy.
Lincoln’s slogan rests on 2 assumptions.
First that there is a clear and visible distinction between sham and reality, between the lies a demagogue would have us believe and the truths which are there all the time. Second that the people tend to prefer reality to sham, that if offered a choice between a simple truth and a contrived image they will prefer the truth.
Neither of these any longer fit the facts. Not because people are less intelligent or more dishonest. We now have a demagogue in the White House who has blurred the edges of reality.
We cannot say with certainty that we are being fooled. It is not entirely inaccurate to say we are being “informed.” By whom and to what end?
One thing is true. This pseudo president creating pseudo-news has created genuine chaos and disruption.
For Trump, the image is the thing.
Its purpose to overshadow reality. In Trumpland images displace ideals. Ideals are created by tradition history or God. It is not ambiguous, It something to strive for. He trucks in illusions, an image we have mistaken for reality.
Now we find ourselves caught in this thicket of unreality that Trump has constructed which stands between us and the facts of life. Each in our own way is struggling to extract ourselves from it but he keeps ensnaring us.
This has brought us to this unprecedented opportunity to deceive ourselves and befog our experiences. I will not be an accessory to this great hoax of our age.
Count me in the skeptic’s column.
© Sally Edelstein and Envisioning The American Dream, 2020. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Sally Edelstein and Envisioning The American Dream with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Envisioning The American Dream 
Sad to say, this is an ongoing story. Every day reveals new depths of the insanity we’re saddled with. Vote as if you life depended on it.
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In the 12 hours from when this has been written, we’ve been witness to Trump’s pathetic attempt at showmanship and manipulation as he highjacked the news with his WH balcony stunt. The day is still young.
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Sally, I do not believe the president getting COVID-19 is fake. It is further damaging to his mishandling of the pandemic and CNN did a poll saying 2/3 of Americans think he handled his illness poorly. Yet, it also highlights the president’s sociopathic bent on people who support him – his base at the pep rallies in February and later after he knew COVID-19 was dangerous and could be transferred airborne, the donors at Bedminster after he knew Hope Hicks was ill, the SCOTUS nomination announcement, the staff on a daily basis, where he and other senior members ridicule junior members for wearing masks. Who does that?
The conspiracies that are not talked about are happening right in front of us. The president crushing any public servant who dares raise concerns (check out “The Comey Rules” on HBO for examples), the blind eye the Republican Senators and House members turn to the president’s firing of Inspectors General and people who testified at great risk, the fact the GOP led Senate Intelligence who said the Mueller report was appropriate but did not go far enough with routine contact with a Russian agent and Trump’s campaign manager…..
When Congress does not follow due process, take it to the bank, it is political. This is the most corrupt and deceitful president in my lifetime. Keith
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The rumors swirling around his COVID diagnosis are merely symptomatic of the climate of deceit that is the very definition of this administration. It doesn’t speak well to the credibility of the current occupant of the WH that so many people don’t believe he actually contracted COVID but is using it for some sort of election ploy. When I speak about not supporting this hoax I meant the entire Trump presidency. His specific behavior around COVID has been irresponsible, to put it mildly, unconscionable, and frankly criminal.
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Sally, this headline in the Cincinnati Enquirer from today may be of interest: “Mitch McConnell says he hasn’t visited White House since August because of lax COVID rules.” Keith
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I am still banging my head Sally… well literally speaking. I told my wife I was not going watch the news, but I know I won’t keep this promise. How addictive this has been since 2015!
Maybe if we all stop watching the news, this will just go away?
This is just like skin cancer. Trump was just a mole in 2015. The cancer has spreading more and more ever since. Sadly Sally I think it is now too late.
It is what it is…
Footnote… Trump did a great impersonification of John Wayne.
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Your analogy of Trump as cancer is an apt one. He was just supposed to be a minor mole that we could have easily removed, but he metastasized into stage 4 cancer destroying everything in his wake. The news keeps breaking on an hourly basis it seems, and it is hard to remove oneself from it.
I thought Trump an amalgam of both Mussolini and John Wayne.
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I was thinking about John Wayne when I saw the clip of Trump removing his mask and catching up his breath… That was a defiant message he was sending. About my promise Sally, I intend to keep it.
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The sad and true nature of some politicians who will say anything to keep their job…
Source: news media
At a debate in Des Moines, Iowa, on Saturday night, Republican Sen. Joni Ernst apologized to health care workers for having expressed doubt about the veracity of Covid-19 death statistics.
“I am so sorry that my words may have offended you,” she said. “I know that you are tremendous workers. You are essential workers. You are providing care for our loved ones every single day.”
Ernst, once such a favorite for re-election that the state’s most prominent Democrats chose not to run, is now trailing challenger Theresa Greenfield by several points in most recent polls.
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Ernst is a horror or as you correctly point out will say anything especially when their poll numbers don’t look great. All the Republicans in Congress should be scared.
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COVID-19 is picking up speed in Quebec even though most people here have been following social distanciation and have been wearing masks. A few recalcitrant people were enough to have cases jumped from less than 100 to more than 1000 a day. Opening schools has not helped also.
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I am so sorry to hear that, thats a pretty big spike, considering there has been such a good record of compliance. That is why EVERYONE must comply, wear masks, and social distance.
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Some people will “get it” when they “get hit” by the virus.
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