In the fall of 1989, the Warsaw Pact was crumbling to dust. Peaceful protests, backed by the underground Catholic Church and Gorbachev's doctrines of glasnost and perestroika, had undermined decades of authoritarian, even totalitarian, rule in eastern Europe. One holdout was Nicolae Ceausescu in Romania. Unlike the other governments, Ceausescu believed in the "Chinese Solution" to protests, modeled on Tiananmen Square. In the town of Timisoara, security forces opened fire on protesters and killed many. A few days later, when Ceausescu spoke before a large crowd, the crowd started heckling him. Eventually, his face frozen in fear, he retreated inside the building.
Ceausescu was relying the projection of strength to hold on to power. The moment he looked weak, that projection faltered and collapsed.
Covid has provided Trump with his Ceausescu moment.
We know from his many statements and his behavior that Trump admires authoritarian leaders. He loves the projection of strength and cults of personality that they build around themselves. From wanting a military parade to his volkstrum rallies, Trump has tried to project an aura of hypermasculine strength. For a majority of the country, this has always been a sick joke, but for a segment of men - especially, but not exclusively white men - it has resonated. White supremacy has always been linked to this idea of performative masculinity, and so has Trump's "stories" about "big strong men with tears in their eyes" coming up to him and telling him they love him. If you want to know why Trump has any support among Blacks and Hispanic voters, look to this appeal to strength.
By following Trump, you tap into that boastful, masculine projection of strength. These are the same people who have a small arsenal in their homes because "muh penis."
Trump understands this viscerally, and that is why he had his "Covita Moment," but Covid doesn't care about your stage managed photo op. Trump's visible wheezing and gasping for air belies his projection of strength. Why has he been Tweeting even more maniacally than before? Because he knows he looks weak and weakness gets dictators killed or would-be dictators buried in an electoral landslide of contempt.
Trump is desperate to return to the campaign trail and soothing ego baths of his volkstrum rallies. The best result for us would be that Trump comes out on stage in Florida (his apparent choice) and faints. He collapses in a coughing spasm and has to be helped off stage. His demented ramblings trail off into silence.
Trump is losing. Biden looks to have a ten point lead, which puts Georgia, Texas, Kansas, Ohio and maybe South Carolina in play. We need an electoral wipe-out to destroy Trumpism. The GOP needs to understand the long term lack of viability of racist, sexist populism.
Trump needs to get in front of the cameras and look weak, just like Ceausescu. Then we can pull the trigger on election day.
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