September Song

Read it and weep.

I mean that literally. You weep, I weep, Jesus fucking wept. https://t.co/ZCplnOi6ME

— Jeff B. tried to do his best, but he could not (@EsotericCD) June 3, 2021

Jesus wept, indeed:

I can attest, from speaking to an array of different sources, that Donald Trump does indeed believe quite genuinely that he — along with former senators David Perdue and Martha McSally — will be “reinstated” to office this summer after “audits” of the 2020 elections in Arizona, Georgia, and a handful of other states have been completed. I can attest, too, that Trump is trying hard to recruit journalists, politicians, and other influential figures to promulgate this belief — not as a fundraising tool or an infantile bit of trolling or a trial balloon, but as a fact.

And really, this shouldn't have to be said, but maybe once in a while the cold hard facts need an airing:

The scale of Trump’s delusion is quite startling. This is not merely an eccentric interpretation of the facts or an interesting foible, nor is it an irrelevant example of anguished post-presidency chatter. It is a rejection of reality, a rejection of law, and, ultimately, a rejection of the entire system of American government. There is no Reinstatement Clause within the United States Constitution. Hell, there is nothing even approximating a Reinstatement Clause within the United States Constitution. The election has been certified, Joe Biden is the president, and, until 2024, that is all there is to it. It does not matter what one’s view of Trump is. It does not matter whether one voted for or against Trump. It does not matter whether one views Trump’s role within the Republican Party favorably or unfavorably. We are talking here about cold, hard, neutral facts that obtain irrespective of one’s preferences; it is not too much to ask that the former head of the executive branch should understand them.

Just how far out there is Trump’s theory? Consider that, even if it were true that the 2020 election had been stolen — which it is absolutely not — his belief would still be absurd. It could be confirmed tomorrow that agents working for a combination of al-Qaeda, Venezuela, and George Soros had hacked into every single voting machine in the country and altered the totals by tens of millions, and it would remain the case there is no mechanism within the American legal order for a do-over of any sort. In such an eventuality, there would be indictments, an impeachment drive, and a constitutional crisis. But, however bad it got, Donald Trump would not be “reinstated” to the presidency. That is not how America works, how America has ever worked, or how America can ever work. American politicians do not lose their reelection races only to be reinstalled later on, as might the second-place horse in a race whose winner was disqualified. The idea is otherworldly and obscene. 

I'm not a fan of armchair psychoanalysis, but this really does seem to be the only explanation for Trump's statements at this point:

Trump’s connection to reality is transient based on the degree to which the external world validates or invalidates his idealized self. When he feels severe threats/injury (losing, criticism, accountability) his solipsism is exposed. Nothing of meaning exists except himself.

— AntiNarcopathyPharmD (@narceducator) June 3, 2021

And the days dwindle down

To a precious few

September, November 

The fact that this can't happen and won't happen has not reassured many people that it's still somehow dangerous for the former POTUS to be talking this way. For the life of me, I can't understand why.

Are people really surprised that Trump thinks he’s going to be reinstated in August? You realize he’s nuts, right?

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 3, 2021

Precisely. Long past time to acknowledge that. He's mad as old King George, except he's neither a king nor a President anymore. Whatever it takes to make the GOP give up on him is the GOP's problem. At this point, the fact they won't give up on Trump makes me give up on them, too. I mean, if at this point you can't recognize the ex-emperor is buck nekkid and stark staring mad, I don't know what use you are to the public good, either.