Thinking back to Senior and Blow!

SATURDAY, APRIL 25, 2020

Wallace, Stokols won't ask: For what it's worth, Dr. Trump's (latest) miracle cure is featured today, above the fold, on the front pages of the New York Times and the Washington Post.

So, at least, there's that.

That said, our thoughts this morning drifted back to Jennifer Senior's column.

The column appeared in the hard-copy New York Times on Tuesday, April 6. Predictably, it triggered no further discussion.

In her column, Senior asked if President Donald J. Trump is mentally ill. More precisely, she seemed to offer a diagnosis. She said or suggested that Trump suffers from the condition technically known as "narcissistic personality disorder."

Completely predictably, Senior's column triggered no further discussion. Led by a January 2018 editorial in Senior's own New York Times, our high-end journalists and high-end news orgs have agreed on a certain course:

The Goldwater Rule must remain in effect. There must be no discussion of the psychiatric or psychological states of our political leaders.

Early this morning, our thoughts also drifted back to Charles Blow's column.

His column appeared in the hard-copy New York Times this past Tuesday, April 20. Predictably, it triggered no further discussion.

In his column, Blow argued, with great cogency, that Donald Trump's daily prime-time TV shows shouldn't be televised.

Others may disagree, of course. But no such discussion occurred.

In large part, we thought of these columns on this beautiful, chilly morning because of a pseudo-discussion we saw yesterday on cable. For today, we aren't going to transcribe it for you, though we may do so next week.

In this pseudo-discussion, Nicole Wallace and Eli Stokols pseudo-discussed the difficulty of covering Trump's daily "briefings." As the pair pretended to discuss this alleged problem, we couldn't help noting the following facts:

Neither party raised the possibility that the briefings shouldn't be aired at all. Also, neither party discussed the possibility that something is clinically wrong with the person at issue—that Trump may be mentally ill.

Wallace and Stokols ostentatiously praised each other for the depth of their ruminations. But neither party mentioned wither of these possibilities.

"Man [sic] is the rational animal," Aristotle is said to have said. Top major expert anthropologists now largely reject that claim.

Several have told us that "man" has actually turned out to be "the animal which is hard-wired to avoid real discussion." We recalled this claim as we watched Williams and Stokols pretend to discuss Thursday's gonzo events.

Commander Trump has now said that he was simply being sarcastic when he made his latest sad remarks during Thursday's prime time program. It has also been suggested that the commander will no longer conduct these daily prime-time programs.

That remains to be seen. But it's amazing to see the way our top journalists keep staging pseudo-discussions, in which every question is picked apart except the questions which matter.

Is something wrong with Donald J. Trump? On April 6, Senior said something is plainly wrong.

She said it in the New York Times. It produced no further discussion.

For ourselves, we heard a bit of "Rosebud" in the president's attempt to pose, once again, as a brilliant man of science. Here's the way our our out-on-his-feet Palooka-in-chief started Thursday's discussion:

TRUMP (4/23/20): Thank you very much. So I asked Bill a question that probably some of you are thinking of, if you’re totally into that world, which I find to be very interesting.

Stating the obvious, no one was thinking of the ridiculous questions which followed—no one but Donald J. Trump.

That said, Trump was rather plainly posing as a man of science. He'd done the same thing, way back when, on his trip to the CDC to straighten everything out.

That trip occurred on Friday, March 6. Trump made the following sad remarks, explaining how brilliant he is:

TRUMP (3/6/20): We’re prepared for anything. We’re prepared. We are, really, very highly prepared for anything. And in a short period of time—I mean, what they’ve done is very incredible. And I’ve seen what they’ve done back there. It’s really incredible.

REPORTER: And just from a health perspective—

TRUMP: And, by the way, NIH, what they’ve done—I spent time over there—and I like this stuff.

You know, my uncle was a great person. He was at MIT. He taught at MIT for, I think, like a record number of years. He was a great super-genius. Dr. John Trump.

I like this stuff. I really get it. People are surprised that I understand it. Every one of these doctors said, “How do you know so much about this?” Maybe I have a natural ability. Maybe I should have done that instead of running for president.

But you know what? What they’ve done is very incredible. I understand that whole world. I love that world. I really do. I love that world.

His uncle was a great super-genius—and so, it seemed, was Our Trump. That same sad person was speaking last Thursday as he made his absurd remarks.

For ourselves, we hear a bit of "Rosebud" in such pitiful, clueless remarks. We feel sorry for such anyone who is so delusional—so detached from the normal understandings of "the family of man [sic]."

We can almost find ourselves thinking that this sad, delusional person is among "the many others who were but a few of the butchered and betrayed and martyred children of the Earth." That said, the person is question holds the nuclear codes. He started threatening Iran this week, but even this won't make our journalists discuss the questions at hand.

("Man is the animal which can't seem to focus," one top expert has said.)

We'd like to hear Yale's Bandy X. Lee speak about Trump's mental state. We'd like to hear her thoughts about a person whose overpowering sense of inferiority is so baldly transparent.

We'd like to hear Dr. Lee speak. There could be respectful ways to do that, but our upper-end journalists have agreed that such a thing mustn't occur.

One top expert spoke to us about this problem last night. Sometimes, this renowned major expert said, if it weren't for all the forbidden discussions, there would be no discussions at all!

Improvements from the Fake News: On his trip to the CDC, Donald J. Trump said this:

"Anybody that needs a test can have a test."

That was a delusional (if somewhat imprecise) claim, but that's what he actually said. But within the Fake News, pundits routinely say that Trump said this:

"Anyone who wants a test can get a test."

That isn't what he actually said, but it's better than what he actually said! For that reason, in time-honored fashion, the new improved claim took hold.

How long did it take for this transcription error to take hold? Go ahead—just click here.

That headline appeared the very next day. People, we're just saying!