“Those whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.”
To clarify, that’s mad as in insane, not mad as in angry. Otherwise there would be a great deal more destruction going on.
This quote is often attributed to Euripides, but it actually dates back only three or four hundred years, appearing in Longfellow’s “Masque of Pandora” in 1875 and in right-wing British M.P. Enoch Powell’s anti-immigration “Rivers of Blood” speech in 1968. “Whom Gods Destroy” was even the title of a 1969 “Star Trek” episode.
And then there is Donald Trump.
The word “mad” could apply to him in both ways, both insane and angry, in his response to his loss to Joe Biden. His anger has been obvious. He was complaining about the election being fraudulent, even before the votes were cast. He insisted weeks before the election that the only way he would lose was if the Democrats cheated in the election.
As for the insane part, we’re two weeks past the election. The results weren’t particularly close. Yet Trump continues stating again and again that “I won the election.”
That might not mean much in itself, but it’s translating into actions that are hurting the country. Since Trump has refused to concede the election, he is also forbidding government departments from working with Biden’s people to facilitate the transition from Trump to Biden.
In fact, he hasn’t been doing anything except watching television, tweeting and playing golf. He apparently hasn’t attended any meetings of the coronavirus task force in the last five months, and the only time he has made a statement to the press was late last week when he tried to take credit for the announcement that Pfizer had come up with a vaccine.
He didn’t take any questions.
It’s all about him now. Just as it always has been.
Trump may be a total narcissist, but I think we would at least like to believe he wouldn’t kill people to get his way. But in refusing to work with Biden’s people, he is making it certain that the government won’t be issuing any mandates, or even guidelines, to reduce the spread of the virus.
There’s a tremendous irony in this, especially since the people who are most likely to suffer from this failure are those who have supported Trump.
I saw a news story the other day about a man who had died of Covid-19 in South Dakota. The doctor said the man’s last words were that this couldn’t be happening because the virus was fake.
I suppose I could say it was his own fault for believing Trump, but I don’t think being fooled or swindled should be punishable by a death sentence. You can say what you want about stupid or gullible, but not everyone is extremely intelligent, and people who aren’t smart pay the price in so many other ways.
What I would imagine is disturbing to many of them is seeing their hero with the facade down. That won’t change. This is the Donald Trump we will be seeing from now on, the one he managed to keep concealed for so long.
I don’t know if the gods are trying to destroy him, but they sure have made him mad.