Week of 09/09/2019

“Sharpiegate” Is A Disgrace To Us All
– by David Matthews 2

It was said in the mid-1800’s that if you did something that brought a rebuke or penalty against you, your name was crossed out with a black mark.

How ironic, then, to know that the latest debacle that brings shame to the United States involves a black Sharpie marker.

For those not in the know, this past Labor Day Weekend was filled with uncertainty as Hurricane Dorian – a Category 5 storm – approached the United States.  Speculation models were all over the place at one point.  But as the Labor Day approached, the models made it clear that the storm would stay around the Atlantic coastline.

However, a certain orange-skinned narcissist decided to give the people in Alabama fair warning that Dorian was headed their way as well.

“In addition to Florida - South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama, will most likely be hit (much) harder than anticipated. Looking like one of the largest hurricanes ever. Already category 5.”

Except that wasn’t true.  The models at the time all said it wouldn’t even reach Alabama.

For most people, this would be just a flub.  He mis-tweeted!  That’s all!

But we are talking Narcissist President Donald Trump.  He tweets and his cult followers obey.  Markets rise and fall because of what he throws a tantrum over.

So to prevent a needless panic of Alabama myrmidons evacuating when they didn’t have to, the National Weather Service issued an official statement saying that, no, Alabama was *not* going to be affected by Dorian.

Again, for most people, this would be just a flub.  Leave it be.  Not Narcissist Trump.  He can never be wrong about anything.  Ever.

So Narcissist Trump pulled out a forecast map, which someone altered with a black marker to include Alabama to supposedly “prove” him right.  Something that is supposedly against the law.  But, when has that ever stopped President Queeg?

Then on September 6^th, an “anonymous spokesperson” in the Birmingham office of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration then “corrected” the National Weather Service and declared Narcissist Trump was right all along.

Except, again, he wasn’t.

It should be noted that there is no director of NOAA right now.  There is an “acting” director who was picked by Narcissist Trump.  And there is supposedly a directive that was issued after Narcissist Trump’s Twitter-fail that ordered NOAA officials to *never* say anything that would contradict Trump.  Ever.

Now... there is a part of this commentator that really should not be fazed at this latest embarrassing egomaniacal situation.  I’ve studied psychology, sociology, human behavior, criminology, and I know that this is how a narcissist with power behaves.  People like Narcissist Trump cannot stand to be made to look wrong and will do everything in their power to validate themselves, including getting others to lie.  I know this.  I have seen it on more than one occasion in my life.

And yet, *I am* bothered by this!  Because now Narcissist Trump is bringing in people that should be trusted to validate his delusions and his lies.  It’s one thing to bring in lawyers and so-called “political experts”.  Lawyers lie.  Political advisors lie as well.  They are known for lying and getting away with it.  And it’s also understandable when Narcissist Trump and his cohorts attack science when the science doesn’t support his assertions.  We see this with the subject of climate change.

But let’s get brutally honest here... what we are seeing now is the blatant co-opting of science – specifically the science of weather – to suit the whims of an egomaniacal narcissistic populist who cannot stand being proven wrong about anything.  These are people that we are supposed to trust, above and beyond anyone else in government.

What’s the danger, you ask?  Let’s suppose Narcissist Trump doesn’t want to be bothered by news of intense thunderstorms and possible tornadoes while he’s golfing (and, really, when isn’t he?) so he issues a Tweet that says the Midwest will be clear and sunny with no storms.  NOAA has decreed that they can’t make Trump look wrong.  So do you really think they’re going to issue severe storm warnings and tornado watches and tornado warnings if it means making Narcissist Trump look wrong after he declared that the weather would be nice and fine?  That’s a decision that puts countless numbers of people at risk if there is a severe storm or tornado that hits.

And I’ll tell you exactly what Narcissist Trump would say if that situation would occur.  He’d shrug and say “Who knew?  Who knew?  Nobody knew!  Nobody!”  How do I know this?  Because he’s done that in the past!

This “sharpiegate” situation is a huge black mark on America.  As long as Narcissist Trump is in office, and as long as his cadre of “acting” toadies are where they are now, there is no trust anymore.  Everything is now politicized.  The “official” weather is whatever Narcissist Trump tweets now.  We can’t even trust the weather people anymore.  We will have to second-guess them for the duration. 

Will it rain tomorrow?  Who knows?