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“Drinking the Kool-Aid.”
It’s an expression that originated in 1978 after the shocking events in Jonestown, Guyana when, as History.com describes it, “more than 900 members of an American cult called the Peoples Temple died in a mass suicide-murder under the direction of their leader Jim Jones.”
“Drinking the Kool-Aid.”
The expression, though historically inaccurate, originally meant any form of cultish devotion in which people were willing to follow their leader blindly even when he made demands that defied commonsense, requiring them to risk danger or even death.
Over the years, usage of the expression has expanded. It is now used more casually, to include extreme devotion to a company or a technology or a cause.
An example of that usage is when, in a taped conversation for his new book Rage, Bob Woodward asked Donald Trump: “Do you think there is systematic or institutional racism in this country?” To which Trump replied:
“You really drank the Kool-Aid, didn’t you?”
So, with apologies to Kool-Aid the actual brand that wasn’t actually associated with the original Jonestown, it’s fair to say Trump knows all about “Kool-Aid.”
As Trump resumed indoor “Super Spreader” rallies in Nevada and Arizona this month, many on Twitter noted that Trump’s “friend” Herman Cain could not be reached for comment.
Cain signed his waiver to excuse Trump of any liability for his possibly contracting COVID-19 before he attended Trump’s “Coronapalooza” event in Tulsa on June 20th.
“You really drank the Kool-Aid, didn’t you?”
Cain recorded this video on June 25th, five days after he attended the Tulsa rally, by which time he was likely already infected:
He begins by saying: “You know we’re going to tell you the truth. We’re going to give you the facts.” Cain goes on to deliver a set of Herman Cain-style facts about why it is safe for states to re-open their economies — emphasizing that states don’t need “panic and shut down their economy” just because those pesky cases are going up. He does promote social distancing and mask-wearing, but he didn’t always practice what he preached, especially when he wanted to show his loyalty to Dear Leader.
Cain was hospitalized July 1st and died of COVID-19 on July 30th.
Three weeks after Trump’s Tulsa event, Oklahoma reported record high COVID-19 numbers, with the MAGA rally being seen as a contributing factor. Clearly, it was extremely irresponsible for Trump to have held that rally in June. Following the death of Herman Cain, it’s criminally negligent that he’s doing the same kind of thing in September.
“It goes through air, Bob.”
Bob Woodward’s book takes us back further, to the start of the outbreak, answering the all-important question: what did the President know and when did he know it?
Answer: He knew a lot. And he knew it early.
On January 28, national security adviser Robert O’Brien told Trump: “This will be the biggest national security threat you face in your presidency.”
On February 7, after a phone call with Chinese President Xi, Trump told Woodward he knew exactly how dangerous it was:
“You just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed.”
More than seven months after that conversation with Bob Woodward—after months of Trump lies, misinformation put out by his top aides, knowingly amplified by Fox News, compounded by incompetence, sullied by relentless corruption—200,000 Americans are already dead.
Trump knew how deadly the threat was and failed in his most sacred duty to protect America.
Trump hid the truth and kept hiding it even as tens of thousands died preventable deaths.
And now that he has been fully exposed, Trump is not backing off. With the remorselessness of a psychopath he is pushing toward the Election Day finish line by demanding even more high-risk displays of obedience from his cultish followers.
Would a normal person go through with ego-stroking events like the ones Trump just held in Nevada and Arizona if they knew with virtual certainty they would be spreading a deadly disease that would kill at least some attendees and likely many more as it gets carried home to families and communities?
As Rob Reiner puts it:
Trump told a reporter in Nevada that he’s taking every precaution to protect himself from the virus that is surely circulating at his rallies. Because he knows the virus is “horrible” and “vicious” and airborne and easily transmissible. These rallies are drawing crowds from far and wide—with people driving long distances or even flying to be at them. Because even in a year of unprecedented death, despair and devastation, they still want to cling to the belief that Dear Leader knows what he’s doing.
And at this cult massacre, the leader doesn’t even need to serve the Kool-Aid in a cup.
“It goes through air, Bob.”
The election is just weeks away. In the midst of the pandemic and the economic crisis, it’s an “all-hands-on-deck” moment for US democracy. Not everyone can afford a subscription to a newsletter like this right now. That’s why I’m making all issues free until the election. But if you can afford to support on a month-to-month or annual basis, today’s a great time to subscribe. Thanks!
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