Now we know

Yesterday's release of excerpts from conversations that journalist Bob Woodward conducted with President Trump revealed damning testimony by the President himself.  We already know that the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic has been lacking, but now we learn that the President knew and understood not only the gravity of the pandemic, but how the disease would spread in airborne fashion and not just by direct contact with infected persons and surfaces.  He also acknowledged that the disease affects more than just the elderly, and included children and young adults.

It's hard to know what this means for the near future, since we're less than sixty days from Election Day (less if you consider the number of states allowing expanded mail-in or early voting).  I saw a few commentators saying last night that this will likely affect Trump like the Access Hollywood tape--some will be momentarily horrified, but that things will return to something close to normal in a few days.  Others seemed to think that his chances for reelection will diminish dramatically with the revelations that he knew what we were facing and still did little in response.

There are many more revelatory comments within these interviews, as we're all hearing on multiple news outlets.

But that's not all.  Alongside these bombshells we have these items, among many others:

A whistleblower came forward and accused the Department of Homeland Security of forcing him to conceal or alter reports of Russian election interference by instead implicating China and Iran, so that the department's statements better match the President's public comments.

The Department of Justice is now representing the President in a defamation suit filed by a woman who accused him of sexual misconduct twenty-plus years ago.

The President is now routinely advising his rallygoing supporters to vote by mail AND appear at the polls in person on Election Day to ensure their votes are counted.  That's a felony in most places.

And his derogatory comments about deceased, missing and wounded military veterans have been broadly shared.

And on and on and on.

It's not only an embarrassing and ineffective way to govern, it's exhausting to citizens who try to stay informed and want to know that the President is doing his job.

I honestly don't know if Trump will win reelection or lose, and if he loses, whether he'll accept the will of the people and leave honorably or make a huge stink and refuse to accept the results.

We'll know soon enough.