Do you believe in magic?

Alfred Hitchcock, Rear Window.

 

You folks know that Fox calling Arizona didn't change the results of the election, right?https://t.co/1F7gYX8blJ pic.twitter.com/CKd5cG6KfG

— Steve M. (@nomoremister) November 15, 2020

You know what this is? It's the horse race metaphor, and the lack of practice in sober thinking. Of course people know perfectly well that all of the ballots have already been cast, and nothing that happens after the polls close is going to change them, but that's not what they see, as they're watching the returns on TV: they're experiencing a moment in which the situation is constantly changing, and one candidate is "pulling ahead" while the other one is "falling behind".

It's like the GIF above, where you read the turn of James Stewart's head as a response to a noise and the cut to the window scene as showing the source of the noise toward which he turned, the cause of his head turn—it's easy to understand that the two segments weren't really filmed at the same time, and what he's really turning toward is Hitchcock's instructions; but you have to think about it, and that isn't what a life of film watching accustoms you to doing—the normal thing is to ignore the editing and absorb the intended narrative.

A very stable genius like Donald Trump, who's always lived on the cusp between reality and media, who never quite thought he had even had an experience until he read about it on Page Six and literally became something like a billionaire by appearing on television pretending to be a billionaire, whose sense of self-worth is. by now completely tied to the concept of ratings, can't even be made to understand it's impossible for Fox calling Arizona to change the overall election results. But perfectly ordinary people, used to TV, may not try to understand it, absorbed as they are in the narrative of Trump getting stabbed in the back by the news network for which he has done so much, and won't listen if you try to explain it, not because they're too dumb but because they're too emotionally invested in the story.

Who says Trump has accomplished nothing in his presidency? Here's something he can honestly take pride in: He's a "golden goose" who made a lot of money for Fox News. https://t.co/9aIT88kMJW pic.twitter.com/0AiJ2gXzbF

— Rank Democracy (@Yastreblyansky) November 13, 2020

Literary Corner: Tests Aren't Necessarily Great

Our emperor was lamenting the vagaries of coronavirus testing, which don't always come out the same way, "all of a sudden", "out of the blue", "for some reason":

The Whole Concept of Tests

by Donald J. Trump 

well I don't know much about it
does anybody want to talk about it
she's a wonderful young woman Katie
she tested very good for a long period of time
and then all of a sudden she tested positive

she hasn't come into contact with me
spends some time with the vice president
it's I believe the press person right
so she tested positive out of the blue

this is why the whole concept of
tests aren't necessarily great
the tests are perfect but something can happen
between the test where it's good and then something happens
where all of a sudden she was tested very recently and tested negative
and then today I guess for some reason she tested positive

so Mike knows about it and Mike has done what he has to do
I think he's on an airplane going to some faraway place

Foils! Cursed Again!

Via SevenDaysVT.

Bernie Sanders is pushing hard for a single payer healthcare plan - a curse on the U.S. & its people...

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 14, 2017

...I told Republicans to approve healthcare fast or this would happen. But don't worry, I will veto because I love our country & its people.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 14, 2017

Is this the sound of thinking, in some respect? What does Trump think is going on here? How does he think things happen? What does he think might require him to use his veto power, that wouldn't have happened if the Republicans had succeeding in getting a something through the Senate? Is the single-payer proposal a kind of asteroid homing in on America, through Bernie's diabolical will, that the Senate Republicans could have deflected by quick action? But it's not really a problem because Trump can deal with it now?

Does he think the Republican failure to pass one of their stupid Repeal 'n' Replace bills means the Republican majority will now be forced to pass a single-payer plan against their own will? Does he think, a little less crazily, that because of their failure voters will ineluctably give us a Democratic Congress next year, which will ineluctably pass that Berniecare bill, forcing Trump to veto it, which he wouldn't but for the lucky fact that he loves our country?
 
Is it a real curse? Like, "I, Bernie, ask the powers of Evil, Hecate, Eris, and Dis, to inflict the horrors of single-payer upon the wicked Americans!" "No!" cries Trump, "Never, you hate-filled monster, not while I'm alive!" What universe does he come from, and how can we get him back there?