It’s never been about policy for Trump. It’s always been about winning. Just winning. Nothing more, except an all-consuming need to undo everything from the Obama administration.

It’s spiteful. It’s been four years of wasted time. There cannot be four more years of whatever else this has been.

Barring a miracle, Ms. Barrett will be confirmed, on a straight party line vote. The Supreme Court will have a clear majority of conservative justices, and the potential will exist for minority rule to continue for years to come.

So even if Trump loses, the damage will have been done. He will leave his mark, but only as some pathetic accidental tourist who succeeded in making it that much easier for us to hate each other.

What is the Wall Street Journal talking about? Sweden’s response to the pandemic is not to be held up as a model for the world. It’s not all about paying lip service to protecting the vulnerable while making sure that the economy gets most of the attention. Herd immunity is lazy and reckless.

And grow up, Lebron. I’m weary of hearing you complain about being disrespected. I really hate that word, but I disrespect you more every day, mainly because you seem to always need so much respect. You’ve left your mark, your place in NBA history has long been assured. So why the insecurity? You’ve always fancied yourself a messiah of sorts. Maybe you should bring your talents to another city and see if you can bless a new locale with your presence. Or maybe it’s time to just walk away and get on with the next chapter, if you can envision one.

Maybe this is how things are for someone who lands on the big stage right out of high school.

Where does the militia mindset come from? What sets people on a path of suspicion and paranoia?

Does it have its roots in white supremacy? Is it more complicated than that? In some ways, it seems like there’s something more at play than just racist tendencies, though that would be enough. It’s difficult not to think that these people have been brainwashed somehow, easily led astray.

Do they feel big and powerful shouldering an AR-15 or some other ridiculous weapon? Were they at one time in the armed forces, or are they just soldier wannabes– all the weapons, none of the real commitment and patriotism? Do they think they’re heroes of some sort?

Other than an outsized and irrational aversion to authority, what could possibly possess someone to want to overthrow the government? What’s their vision? What is it that they want to restore? Or do they just relish the chaos and the chance to brandish a weapon? What’s their endgame? We should know these things, because Donald Trump told these people to stand back and stand by.

Did the Trump nightmare come about because in 2016 people decided their vote didn’t matter, people just took their toys and went home? Bernie supporters turned spiteful and actually voted for Trump? It’s looking like apathy won’t be an issue this time around. Over seventy times more people have already voted than in 2016 at this point– 5 million plus, probably 6 million by now.

If I heard this correctly, Trump won the electoral college in 2016 with an advantage of around 80,000 votes spread over 3 states. Perhaps this is what happens when people take their toys and go home.

Right now, the polling is in Biden’s favor, but of course this is going to change. The numbers will most likely tighten up. Things aren’t looking good for DJT at the moment, and it makes me fearful for what his campaign and foreign influences will yet try. We have to be vigilant.

Stephen Miller has tested positive. Trump appears to be lighting up Twitter and making rash decisions, perhaps brought on by the cocktail of experimental treatments, including dexamethasone, he’s being given. Or maybe it’s just more Trump being Trump.

His circle of associates and advisors is being isolated. His ability to govern, or whatever this is, is being crippled and compromised. High-ranking military officials are in quarantine. Several heads of intelligence organizations are going over or around Trump to assure the public that we can have faith in the election process.

Though it sounds simplistic and naive, there are signs that the real America is emerging to fight this hideous malignancy that is the Trump administration. One can only hope that the dominoes continue to fall, and this house built on sand is unceremoniously washed into the sea.

Trump is back in the White House, as of last night. Yay.

In a made-for-TV moment, he climbed quite a few steps after getting out of Marine 1, turned to the cameras, ripped off his mask, and stood there defiantly. Quite the scene. Except it was pretty obvious that he was out of breath– probably because he’s a 74-year old clinically obese man who doesn’t exercise much. But certain reporters seized on the moment and played up the possibility—likelihood?!–  that he was still suffering the effects of covid. And he is still being treated. And he is still contagious.

He went back in the White House without a mask, certainly having been briefed that others in his circle have contracted the virus- including Chris Christy, Kayleigh McEnany, Mike Lee, and Kellyanne Conway. As for Stephen Miller? The virus will not affect him like it does everyone else. Covid-19 would only make him stronger. It takes precautions against him.

Craziness. Trump has the gall and tone deafness to tell the public not to be afraid of covid, while benefiting from treatments very few others on earth can access with such ready availability. So in the lead-up to election day, now we get a more ornery and annoying version of someone who was already these things in excess.

One of the casualties of the Trump reign is the quickness with which we can go to a place of skepticism and distrust. For example, it would surprise me only a little if we learn that Trump’s covid-19 diagnosis was an elaborate sham. Just something to make him appear leader-like, a changed man, as having had an epiphany. And all in time to give folks a chance to change their minds about him before November 3. There seems to be no bridge too far for this outfit.

Given what’s unfolded since the announcement of his diagnosis, though, it appears he has indeed contracted the virus. And he or someone close to him may have contributed to additional spread among key figures in his administration. Way to go, folks.

The only thing that might change is a perspective that arrives way too late. He will not change a bit.

Strength doesn’t look like someone who just rants and raves and tries to talk tough. That’s not strength. That’s more the glorified antics of a playground bully who’s had his fifteen minutes, who’s afraid of spending his life in obscurity, scratching and clawing for relevance and a way to stay visible. Or to stay out of jail.

And since when is “domination” a desirable trait in what was hoped to be an edifying exchange of ideas? Do people really just want to be entertained? Do they need a winner more than they need an opportunity to learn where the potential Leader of the Free World stands on the issues?

Trump might have dominated, but he looked like a fool. And he didn’t say anything of great significance, other than give license to a hate group, and provide confirmation to all who believe that he really doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

Perhaps fear is our main stumbling block. How can people be so fearful of difference and change? Do we come by it naturally, is it born of an innate selfishness? Or do we learn it by listening to our lazy, opinionated, insulated elders and the loudest misinformed voices among us? Can it be addressed with education and venturing beyond our own zip codes, by seeing a bit of the world beyond our doorsteps?

The irony here, or one of them, is that the “proof,” the reasoning behind such narrowness, is fueled by the Bible– more accurately, influenced by an incomplete, unexamined, selective reading of scripture. You can’t claim you embrace a sanctity for life- at least unborn life- and also support violence or just act indifferently toward people who have a different skin color or religion than you. You can’t be against abortion and for taking away peoples’ healthcare- especially under the odious and convenient guise of unconstitutionality. You can’t pick and choose your own personal moral high ground.

There is a refusal to acknowledge a certain commonality and universality of the human experience, of human need. There is a desire for things to be simple, clear-cut, un-messy, homeostatic.

Life is seldom that way.

So Donald and Melania have tested positive for covid-19.

Really? Or is this some sort of distraction, another campaign stunt? What, if anything, does this mean? Are they lying about it? Why now? What’s the strategic significance of this?

News reports hinted at this possibility last night by saying Hope Hicks, a close aid, had tested positive, and both Trumps were in close quarters with her, not wearing a mask or social distancing.

The headline is they’re positive, but really? And so what? I’m sure they’ll be just fine. If needed, they’ll both get treatments few others have at their disposal. They will move beyond this and Trump will brag about doing his part for herd immunity, offering that “it wasn’t that bad.”

Dems in state legislatures better not take their eyes off the ball. Hear that, Pennsylvania? Because Trump and his Z-Team are up to something.