I saw President Donald Trump’s October 2, 2020, 12:54 a.m. tweet announcing he and Melania had tested positive for coronavirus soon after it was issued. I posted from my phone with one eye open at 1:09 a.m.
It was strange because I wasn’t watching Twitter. Something startled me out of sleep, I looked at the phone, and there it was.
A range of emotions came over me, most of which weren’t about Trump individually.
I saw someone tweet about E-6Bs in the air over the east and west coasts, capable of communicating with our nuclear ballistic missile submarines around the globe even if D.C. were destroyed in a preemptive nuclear strike. I hadn’t heard of those before. It turns out they were not launched in response to Trump’s diagnosis, but they are impressive examples not just of the military power this nation holds, but of the fact that there are people who stand guard over us while we sleep, mostly unseen, unknown, and unthanked. I thank them for their service.
Throughout the day, those positive emotions of country flowed despite the despicable celebrations and hopes for Trump’s death by so many ‘blue check marks’ and others whose hatred for Trump has destroyed their own humanity.
The death of a president in office is a national tragedy. I would have said the same thing if Obama had died in office, despite my years of opposition to him.
It took me until the evening to source that deeply embedded emotion.
John F. Kennedy was assassinated when I was four years old. It was the first emotion I remember — Being that young I’m not sure if I remember the event, or remember what my mother told me about the emotion I felt. She wrote out and mailed a two-or-three sentence note I ‘dictated’ to the Kennedy children telling them I felt sorry that they lost their dad. She made a copy of the note and showed it to me repeatedly over the decades. I have the note somewhere, but it’s one of those things I find when I’m not looking for it, and can’t find when I am looking for it.
The news unearthed that emotion, much as did other events such as the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan.
Statistically, Trump has a 95% or better likelihood of survival and recovery. Yet the emotions are there.
It’s not about Trump the individual, it’s about the country. I wish more people understood that, but I can’t say I’m surprised in this political culture.
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