— Grotesque. That’s probably the best term to describe the appalling events surrounding Comrade Trump’s photo-op. The modern definition of ‘grotesque’ connotes something that’s distorted and unnatural in shape or size, something abnormal or incongruous, something hideous, ugly, but oddly compelling. The term carries slightly different meanings in art and literature, but the general idea is the same. It comes from the Latin grotta, referring to a cave, and was originally used to describe uncouth paintings discovered on the walls of excavated Roman ruins.

I came across ‘grotesque’ yesterday morning in an opinion piece by a WaPo fashion writer. She included descriptions of what the participants of the photo-op wore. Ivanka: “black cropped pants and blazer…a very large white handbag…a matching face mask with tiny metallic stars.” AG Barr: “slack-jawed in an open-collar shirt, no tie. His jacket was open.” Press secretary McEnany: “a closefitting double-breasted blazer with gold metallic buttons and skinny trousers. She was perched atop a pair of stiletto pumps.” But she ends with this astute observation:

The picture he orchestrated shows no hint of a commander in chief rising above or binding up anything. The photograph doesn’t convey power or competence. From every angle, in every iteration, it’s an image of a whitewashed group turning a deaf ear to a country convulsing over racial injustice.

— This reminds me. I’ve reached a point at which it’s difficult for me to watch US network television shows. It’s not so much that the shows are bad, but that almost every woman actor in a major role looks like a model. European television tends to cast actors who look like real people. It makes television more believable (which, I admit, is ridiculous). Why can’t American television cast actors based on their acting ability instead of on their appearance?

— On Tuesday, Congressman Steve King of Iowa was defeated in a primary race by an equally feral Republican who is canny enough NOT to say the stupid shit out loud. Somebody on Facebook noted the “competition for dumbest man in Congress just fell off a few levels.” Which made me think of Louie Gohmert, about whom I’ve written before.

I once devised a Gohmert Stupidity Scale to describe Republican stupidity. It was based on the Richter Scale for earthquakes. For example, a Gohmert 2 event would denote a minor stupid GOP action that would be felt slightly by some people, but cause no damage to buildings. A Gohmert 5 tremblor would be felt widely, causing damage of varying severity to poorly constructed social structures. Zero to slight damage to all other social institutions.

Trump’s photo-op was a Gohmert 8 event. Widespread major damage, traditional social structures likely to be destroyed. Moderate to heavy damage even to sturdiest disaster-resistant social institutions. Felt across extremely large regions.

— I’ve heard this story from a number of different sources over the years. I’ve never researched it, so I don’t know if it’s true or if it’s an urban myth but I think it’s revealing regardless. It’s about the last time the Insurrection Act of 1807 (the Act Trump has threatened to use) was implemented. That was in 1992, the Rodney King riots. Some nearby US Marine units were ordered to accompany LAPD officers on their calls. One police officer (with a pair of Marine riflemen) responded to a domestic disturbance call. As they approached the house, they heard a couple of shots fired. The police officer pulled his sidearm and told the Marines, “Cover me.”

And here’s the problem. To the police officer, ‘cover me’ means ‘draw your weapons and be prepared in case you need to use them.’ But to a Marine, ‘cover me’ means laying down a barrage of covering fire to allow their squadmates to advance. Which is what they did. They started shooting the shit out of the house. Luckily, nobody was killed, but it shows one of the many problems of having military personnel try to do a policing job.

— I’ve been thinking a lot about moral courage lately. Or the lack of it. I’m absolutely certain there are people in the Trump administration (and in Congress) who know Trump is corrupt, inept, and generally unfit to serve as POTUS, but refuse to act. That’s moral cowardice. I’m glad that Gen. James ‘Better Late than Never’ Mattis finally spoke up, but I wish he hadn’t waited until things got this ugly. The time to do the right thing is when you recognize it’s the right thing to do. Mattis resigned, but sat quietly until yesterday.

Compare him to US Navy Capt. Brett Crozier, who was relieved of his command of the USS Theodore Roosevelt after writing a letter asking for help regarding the safety of his crew during a Covid-19 outbreak. He knew when he released that letter that he was ruining his career, but it was the right thing to do for his crew. So he did it. He didn’t wait until the death toll on his ship had hit a critical stage.

And I think about Dashiell Hammett and his civil rights and anti-fascist activities in the 1950s. He’d been subpoenaed to testify about a list of contributors to a bail fund (it was used to bail out suspected communists). Hammett refused to supply any information, and was found in contempt of court. He did six months in a federal prison rather than reveal the names of contributors. Prison, Lillian Hellman said, “had made a thin man thinner, a sick man sicker.” Hammett’s health never recovered.

Two years later, Hammett was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee and again he refused to cooperate, knowing it might send him back to prison. He later said, “I don’t let cops or judges tell me what I think democracy is.” That’s moral courage.

— As I write this, we have 109,204 confirmed Covid-19 deaths in the United States. The actual number of Covid-19 deaths is undoubtedly higher. There were 1134 new confirmed deaths yesterday. Despite the fact that a thousand Americans are dying every day, Covid-19 is largely being ignored by the Trump administration. Trump is bored with Covid-19. Besides folks were mean to him about it.

— That’s it. Random thoughts. Wash your hands. Wear a mask. Don’t be a dick.

Maybe it all comes down to this: Donald Trump is afraid of being laughed at. Maybe the underlying motive for much/most/all of his most astonishing, reprehensible behavior is just that he’s terrified of being embarrassed, of being publicly humiliated. Of being laughed at.

Take yesterday’s appalling photo-op. Throughout much of the day a big chunk of the online world devoted itself to mocking and laughing at Trump for turning off the lights at the White House and hiding in a basement bunker because angry protesters were at his doorstep. For example:

Trump drowned in scorn for turning off White House lights as if he ‘ran out of Snickers’ on Halloween.

Trump’s response? A short stupid speech followed by a long stupid walk for a photo-op. But that photo-op was made possible by his order to send uniformed goons to bully and beat and pepper spray peaceful protesters. It wasn’t just a photo-op; it was chest-thumping. It was a ‘show of strength’ by a coward entirely lacking in real strength. It was Trump saying, “Who’s hiding now, bitches? Who’s laughing now?”

He’d offered that same stop-the-laughing prescription to US governors earlier yesterday during his conference call. He said:

“It was incredible what happened in the state of Minnesota. They were a laughingstock, all over the world. They took over the police department. The police were running down the street, sirens blazing, the rest of them running, it was on camera. And then they wiped out, you probably have to build a new one. I’ve never seen anything like it and the whole world was laughing.”

The whole world, laughing. That’s the most humiliating thing possible. The fear of derisive laughter has been a constant theme in the Trumpverse. Back in 1987, when Trump first publicly considered running for president, he took out full page adverts in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Boston Globe saying, ‘The world is laughing at America’s politicians as we protect ships we don’t own, carrying oil we don’t need, destined for allies who won’t help.’

There’s reason to believe Trump actually decided to run for president after the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, in which he was the butt of jokes from both the MC Seth Meyers (“Donald Trump said recently he’s got a great relationship with ‘the blacks.’ Unless the Blacks are a family of white people, I bet he’s mistaken”) and, worse, President Obama (“[J]ust recently, in an episode of ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ — at the steakhouse, the men’s cooking team did not impress the judges from Omaha Steaks. And there was a lot of blame to go around. But you, Mr. Trump, recognized that the real problem was a lack of leadership. And so ultimately, you didn’t blame Lil Jon or Meatloaf. You fired Gary Busey. These are the kind of decisions that would keep me up at night”).

During his presidential campaign Trump often railed about the US being laughed at. NATO was laughing at us, he said. China, laughing at us. OPEC, the European Union, Japan, the Taliban, Mexico, ISIS, Russia — all of them, laughing at us. All that laughter would stop, he claimed, once he was elected president.

It hasn’t, of course. The laughter has increased. At first the laughter was because Trump is a buffoon. In the diplomatic world, he was laughed at because he’s an uncultured lout who’d weaseled his way into power. In the realm of domestic politics he was laughed at because he’s a pompous jackass who lacks even the most basic understanding of governance. The laughter never stopped, but now it’s often tinged with anxiety.

That anxiety is justified. Yesterday’s scene could have come from some absurdist comedy routine. The most irreligious president ever, moments after calling himself “ally of all peaceful protesters,” had police forcibly remove peaceful protesters (including members of the clergy and the press) from a public space in order to pose awkwardly in front of a church, holding a Bible, which he’s almost certainly never read and doesn’t believe in. Afterwards, he literally had men with riot shields line up so he could walk through them like some conquering hero in a Roman triumph. There’s some dark comedy in that moment — or there would be, if it wasn’t real.

The fact is, we have valid reasons to be nervous. Because 1) Trump is afraid, and 2) he has power, and 3) he’s willing to abuse it, because 4) Republicans in Congress lack the integrity and patriotism to oppose Trump’s lunatic abuse of power, and 5) some military leaders are apparently willing to give illegal orders and 6) some military personnel are apparently willing to follow illegal orders (as evidenced by the use of military helos last night to intimidate and harass protesters).

It’s crazy that we have to start asking ourselves questions like: Will some governors actually follow Trump’s demand to activate National Guard units to ‘dominate’ the ‘battle space’ of American cities? Will Trump actually send US military troops to ‘impose order’ in cities in states that have refused to activate the National Guard? Will military leaders be willing to order those troops to fire on civilians? Will those troops actually follow such orders?

The answers to those questions scare the hell out of me.

This shit just isn’t funny anymore. It turns out, it never was funny. We just didn’t know.