It can be difficult to assess the most inane and ridiculous news story of the not-yet-completed year, but this is surely it. "SharpieGate" fully captures the malignant narcissistic drive of our Sociopath-In-Chief. It also reveals a couple of other themes: to what lengths sycophants will go to accommodate this nitwit's resistance to admitting a mistake; and how Trump's staff is handling his public persona.
As you probably know, SharpieGate began last Sunday when President Trumplethinskin gave a brief public statement regarding Hurricane Dorian and its projected destructive path. He warned the state of Alabama to brace for the hurricane's impact. The problem was that Alabama was not on the projected path of the storm.
And so throughout this week, Trump has been ridiculed for his mistake. But Trump being Trump, he can never admit error, and so he predictably double-downed. Yes, Alabama WAS SO in the path! Yes, it was, TOO!! Cascades of incredulous media responses showed the hurricane path map from last Sunday, which clearly showed that Alabama could relax: Dorian wasn't coming anywhere near it.
All this served to boil over Trump's anger like the lidded pot that contained the bunny in "Fatal Attraction". It was a full-on tweet offensive all week. He couldn't let it go. And by insisting he was right the whole time, it enabled many to check out the story (which would have died and gone away in the 24-hour news cycle, like most of his Trump transgression stories) and see what a doofus he is.
At best, Trump's Alabama blunder was predicated on a previous Wednesday projected map which included a small portion of southeast Alabama. Maybe it stuck in his head (hard to imagine anything sticking in there). Or, probably, he simply used that outdated forecast map when he made his Sunday statement, instead of using the most up-to-date map.
Then on Wednesday, September 4, Trump presented to a breathless nation his now infamous Sharpie forecast map of Dorian's path, calculated on Thursday, August 29. Added onto the NOAA's "cone of possible storm path" was an additional black outlined bubble that was drawn to include far southeast Alabama. He claimed he'd been told that 'Bama had a "95% chance of being hit".
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/09/04/president-trump-shows-doctored-hurricane-chart-was-it-cover-up-alabama-twitter-flub/
Of course, this wonderful image of a Sharpie-created outline where no NOAA forecast existed laid the Prez open to a tsunami of ridicule. "SharpieGate" was created!
And because it's well-known that Trump favors using a Sharpie over a crayon or any other writing instrument, speculation rose that he had created the Alabama bubble of projected destruction.
All this gave birth to a remarkable and really splendid barrage of memes. (My favorites will follow what comes next here...) And it's important to note that he was carrying forth with this defense days after Dorian had moved up the Florida coast towards the Carolinas. Everything was about Alabama. Everyone else, not so much (also, Bahama's apocalyptic event - no word on US assistance yet).
Today, there are reports that the NOAA upper management has now backed Trump's assertion that Alabama lay in the path of danger. NOAA climatologists and scientists are aghast and appalled. But it becomes very clear what happened. The NOAA spokesperson is a Trump appointee... and had been a member of his Trump Inaugural Committee. 'Nuff said:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/09/07/noaas-support-president-trump-over-its-own-scientists-provokes-mass-uproar-weather-community/
So there is the sycophant angle, which is sadly predictable. But what is really interesting is how Trump is being managed in his public appearances. His stupid, if brief, public bellowing about Alabama have been among the few Real Time show-ups that he's done recently. In fact, over the last 10 DAYS he has accumulated just 2 HOURS of public exposure. Something is seriously wrong with this dude, and I don't mean attitude-wise. There might be a real health-related issue that is requiring significantly limited and managed exposure to The Outside World. More on this for the next Kibitz.
But now, as promised, here are my favorite SharpieGate memes. Enjoy!!
Oh, this could go on forever. Until next time...
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