(I’m writing these pieces because I believe I can help some confused and frightened people understand the insane whirlwind our politics have become. The Pandemic and the political crisis has opened up a past chapter in my life- political writer and media critic – and offered me what is perhaps one of the last chances I will have to use it. Free at last, I can write what I believe is the truth, on my blog of all places.  Call it my Last Hurrah.  I hope it is helpful.)

First, one should remember that whenever President Trump thinks he is in trouble, he finds ways to draw attention to himself, even in the most irresponsible, dishonest, and hateful ways.

His cardinal rule is to control the narrative about himself, and never let anyone else take it from him. That is the core of his brilliant and unprecedented climb to power.

Whenever he fails to distract, bad news bubbles to the surface. When he does distract, it goes away. There’s no secret to it; you can see it every single day on your screens.

It’s a simple formula, but it has nearly vanquished our existing political structure and turned to once-powerful press core to blubbering jelly.

Modern journalists have no memory and little courage.

These wonderful traits have been taken from them by corporate budget choppers. The people who depend on them become their slaves.

Thomas Paine couldn’t get a job on any cable news channel for five minutes, he told way too much truth.

With a complicit and corporate (and profitable) screen and digital media, the President has never yet failed to do this. And today was another very clear example of how he does. Call it Trump 101.

This week, the narrative emerging in Washington was of a President who failed to lead in a time of great crisis; of a President vulnerable in the coming election, a President who is desperate to leave this troublesome Pandemic behind him and distract his followers with something else, like his next planned booming economy.

All he needs to do it is to get off on a different track and stop worrying about all those poor and dying service workers and old people. He’s off to a good start.

Over the last couple of days and his sons have accused Barack Obama and Joe Biden of being criminal conspirators (his son Donald suggested he was also a pedophile.)

His increasingly vicious, groundless – and often, unhinged –  tweets have demanded that the Justice Department investigate both men for criminal activity just months before a bitterly-contested and almost certainly close election.

But I forget myself. He is not unhinged. He is very hinged, much more so that the people who flail at him to no particular avail.

At any other time, in any different context, this behavior of a political leader would in itself be a criminal offense.

But this is our time, and this is the Trump Era.

He is redefining both morality and truth at the same time and has millions of so-called Christians marching along with him. You cannot call this man crazy, you cannot call him stupid.

In recent days, his campaign to criminalize his political opponents has faltered. Key Republican senators said they wouldn’t go along with it, and his very loyal Attorney General stunned Washington this afternoon by announcing he wouldn’t be a part of it.

Every political reporter who is awake knew that a Distraction Bomb was coming, some shocking announcement out of the blue that was unexpected irresponsible and difficult to refute. Not one could write what they all knew – he didn’t take those pills.

Hate him all you want, but give him this. He knows how to produce riveting TV day after day. The ghosts of Dr. Phil are everywhere.

Late this afternoon, President Trump insisted on yet another rambling and inarticulate way that he has been taking the very controversial drug hydroxychloroquine.

But headlines don’t ramble: “Trump Is Taking Hydroxychloroquine,” was the headline on CNN. I could hardly find the Barr story. Believe me, it was the more important one.

Trump seemed boastful about it, even though every medical study has shown it’s not effective against the coronavirus and may be dangerous, especially to people like the President, who has heart disease.

He reminds me of my brother, boasting all the time about what a tough guy he is. But who is he really convincing?

Look at me, Trump seemed to be saying, I am tough; this is no big deal. All the health care workers are doing it. I’ve been taking it for weeks! Really? The publicity addict who tells secrets to the Russians live on TV kept it a secret from us all that time?

Okay, here’s something new: if you don’t want to drink some bleach, here’s some medicine that might hurt your heart, or even kill you. Screw Pandemics.

The President and his allies have been touting this drug for weeks as part of a campaign to convince America that the virus was not especially dangerous and could be pre-empted or wiped out altogether by various miracle and mostly untested drugs.

This medicine has been used to treat malaria for 20 years; there is no evidence at all; it will cure the coronavirus. There is a lot of evidence that it doesn’t.

So I believe I can help explain this if you are open to it. If not, I made sure to put up some cute animal photos.

There is no way this President, this man, took this dangerous medicine. There is social media and cable media truth. I know his White House physician says he agreed to prescript the drug, but we know what this President demands of the people around him.

I’m sorry, but I don’t believe his doctor either.

And then there is truth, the truth we see for ourselves.

No responsible doctor in the White House would give it to him or permit him to take it. No military doctor examining him would dare to contradict him. We know what happens to people like that. Just ask the former Dr. Fauci.

But then, does it matter if it is true?

Nothing is more important than his feeding of the next news cycle, certainly not the lives of innocent and trusting people.

This is a man who dodged the draft with the help of his rich father, who is an admitted germaphobe, who hasn’t left the White House in months to meet with health care workers or coronavirus family victims, who has heart disease and suffers from obesity.

Are we supposed to believe a man who is too insecure about his masculinity to put a mask on is going to take a risk that almost every respectable doctor or scientist in America has been warning against?

Even Trump’s pals on Fox News have stopped prompting or even mentioning hydroxychloroquine, which is suspected of killing several people who took it.

Why would he secretly start taking it and blurt this out at a meeting of restaurant executives? Remember those awful press conferences. This drug was discussed almost every single day.

Although he presents himself as a brave man, he is not; he is a narcissistic man and a rainmaker who has shown us again and again that he will dominate every news cycle, no matter what.

He takes no personal risks of any kind. There are no limits to his willingness to lie. All it takes is no shame.

Tonight, he did it again. He captured the narrative and the news cycle for a couple of days.

Part of Trump’s savviness is his willingness to lie about things that are difficult to prove false. No Navy doctor is going to contradict him at the risk of his career, and they can all claim the doctor-client privilege is pressed.

Most of us would be afraid to face these people after we lied about them, but this President does not restrict himself in that way.

Even when the truth comes out, which it almost certainly will one day, the polis are numb to it, what’s another lie?

Nobody is talking about the botched Pandemic, which has killed more than 80,000 Americans. Nobody is talking about Joe Biden’s polls. Nobody is talking about Barack Obama’s criticism of President Trump.

I’m trying to picture what Joe Biden sounds like.

In the coming days and weeks, questions will be raised about whether President Trump really is taking this medication. But it is almost impossible to resolve,  just another burr under the saddle, another plot his supporters can dismiss. Stop picking on the day.

People are free to hate Trump or anyone else if they wish, I’m not Pope Francis. But my purpose in writing these pieces is not to hate him, or even harm him, but to explain him.

If you can look away from the lies and cruelty and irresponsibility, that is up to you, it is on you now. You probably know what I know.

As for me, I’m going with the truth. I think it always wins. A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes,” said Mark Twain. And that was a hundred years before social media and the Internet.

As time goes on, the President has to go farther and farther over the top to keep the light on him. I believe he is going too far, even some of his very loyal followers tell me they are starting to gag on his never-ending drama and rage.

Sooner or later, he will get too close to the sun and melt.

I respect people for their choices, even when they are different from mine.

But this President is pushing my tolerance and our moral compasses to new levels of depravation. That is a choice everyone will have to make for themselves and answer themselves.

The now compliant corporate media takes the bait every time, high ratings, expensive ads, huge profits.  Be careful about letting it get into your head and take over.

I doubt there is a reporter in that press conference who believes this unwaveringly self-serving man would endanger himself in that way by taking this medicine. But in the modern world, they have been turned into querulous, sputtering mutes.

Trump has mastered the art of acting tough, but not the difficulty of being tough.

This is the man who just a few weeks ago, talked warmly about the possibilities of drinking bleach to cure the virus, a statement that would have knocked an elephant off his feet, but just a few days later, is hardly remembered.

That was a half-dozen press conference ago.

So before people start getting angry or upset, I want to toss in my two cents from my tiny farm in upstate New York. Don’t go for it.  I might be proven wrong,  I have often been wrong, but I am not afraid to stick my neck out, and if I am wrong, I will happily own it.

I guess that is my idea of being tough. I am very responsible for what I write.

I don’t think I’m wrong. I was always a betting man, and I was pretty good at it. This man has not been taking hydroxychloroquine.

Pay attention instead to the extraordinary press conference Attorney General Barr held this afternoon in which he promised that the criminal justice system would not be used to persecute political opponents.

If the news can’t follow the real news, at least we can.

You might have missed the latest Trump headline grab, but Attorney General Barr is the one that will make some history if he’s telling the truth this time. The President just lost his best campaign trick.

Watch for all the no comments and contradictions over the next few days, wait for the next shocking outrage to take us away from this one. He’s got a million of ’em.

And don’t fret so much.

Just vote and remember that people like this are legion all throughout our history. As the Greeks said, the Mad Kings always find a way to blow themselves up.