Dem
47
GOP
53
No, not that they are both sinking ships. Well, that's not the commonality we had in mind, at least.
Some readers will know that the wreck of the Titanic was discovered in 1985 by a team led by Commander Robert Ballard (ret.). It has come out that there was a bit more to the story. It turns out that what they were really looking for was the Heart of the Ocean, a 56-carat blue diamond that went down with the ship, and that is worth millions.
Er, wait. We seem to have gotten our notes mixed up. Actually, what Ballard and his team were looking for was: (1) the remains of two U.S. nuclear subs that sank in the North Atlantic, and (2) any general intel that might be useful in the ongoing Cold War against Russia. Ballard was delighted to find Titanic, but that was not his actual mission.
If, in 1989, you had said "You know, the operation that found Titanic was actually a top-secret military operation that was really trying to find the wrecks of the USS Thresher and the USS Scorpion," you probably would have been advised to loosen your tinfoil helmet. But now, that's just... the facts. It's not too common, but sometimes a conspiracy theory ceases to be a theory.
That brings us to Donald Trump, who has been the subject of his very own conspiracy theory this week. A couple of weeks ago, people spotted dark bruises on his hands, of exactly the same sort that Elizabeth II had on HER hands just a couple of days before she went to the great big castle in the sky. And then, in contrast to his usual highly visible life (lots of public events, lots of social media), Trump basically dropped off the radar for 6 days. This gave rise to conspiratorial thinking that he was either: (1) undergoing a procedure, (2) very ill, or (3) already dead. This spread far and wide enough that #TRUMPDIED was trending on eX-Twitter, and that he (or someone working for him) had to hop on his ailing social media platform to declare, in all caps, "NEVER FELT BETTER IN MY LIFE."
It's not at all surprising that this sort of conspiratorial thinking took hold. World leaders in general, and presidents in particular, need to project strength. So, they pretty much all lie about their health when it's less than stellar. And now, the U.S. has spent nearly a decade under the leadership of two presidents who were clearly giving a false (or VERY false) impression of their well-being. Trump is particularly problematic on this front. Has he EVER provided a health update that was truthful? It's been lies on top of lies on top of lies ever since the obviously phony "best health of any president ever" Harold Bornstein letter in 2015.
Since we ended up with a bit of a "health" focus today, we thought we would pass this story along. We do not believe that Trump is dead, and that he's been convincingly replaced by a doppelganger, or very well executed fake AI video footage, or anything like that. But if it eventually came out that he actually did have some sort of procedure last week? We would not be the least bit surprised. Meanwhile, he does not look great these days, including in the brief footage of him heading to the golf course on Labor Day, that was disseminated to prove he isn't dead. He shuffles his feet, and is stooped over, and looks all of his 79 years and then some. If there is something seriously wrong, the world will not receive confirmation until... well, the moment President Vance is sworn in. But it's far from impossible there really is something seriously wrong. Jerry Nadler showed real leadership when he opted out when he could have stayed in. Dianne Feinstein did not. Will Trump turn over the reins when he is no longer able to do the job? We wouldn't bet on it. (Z)