Monday
During the 2016 campaign, Donald Trump famously said that he could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and not lose any voters. Subsequent events have proved this to be an understatement. We now see that they will prove loyal even when he suggests they drink bleach, take unproven medications, and expose themselves to a deadly virus. It all reminds me of a scene in War and Peace.
Tolstoy is interested in Napoleon’s cult status. Napoleon was responsible for the deaths of somewhere between three and seven million soldiers and civilians, but early in the Russia campaign we see soldiers perform suicidal feats to demonstrate their love for him. The actors in this case are Polish Uhlans or light cavalry.
Standing on the banks of the Nemen River, Napoleon sends an order that the Uhlans are to find a place to ford and join him. The following extraordinary scene subsequently takes place:
The colonel of the Polish Uhlans, a handsome old man, flushed and, fumbling in his speech from excitement, asked the aide-de-camp whether he would be permitted to swim the river with his Uhlans instead of seeking a ford. In evident fear of refusal, like a boy asking for permission to get on a horse, he begged to be allowed to swim across the river before the Emperor’s eyes. The aide-de-camp replied that probably the Emperor would not be displeased at this excess of zeal.
As soon as the aide-de-camp had said this, the old mustached officer, with happy face and sparkling eyes, raised his saber, shouted “Vivat!” and, commanding the Uhlans to follow him, spurred his horse and galloped into the river. He gave an angry thrust to his horse, which had grown restive under him, and plunged into the water, heading for the deepest part where the current was swift. Hundreds of Uhlans galloped in after him. It was cold and uncanny in the rapid current in the middle of the stream, and the Uhlans caught hold of one another as they fell off their horses. Some of the horses were drowned and some of the men; the others tried to swim on, some in the saddle and some clinging to their horses’ manes. They tried to make their way forward to the opposite bank and, though there was a ford one third of a mile away, were proud that they were swimming and drowning in this river under the eyes of the man who sat on the log and was not even looking at what they were doing. When the aide-de-camp, having returned and choosing an opportune moment, ventured to draw the Emperor’s attention to the devotion of the Poles to his person, the little man in the gray overcoat got up and, having summoned Berthier, began pacing up and down the bank with him, giving him instructions and occasionally glancing disapprovingly at the drowning Uhlans who distracted his attention.
For him it was no new conviction that his presence in any part of the world, from Africa to the steppes of Muscovy alike, was enough to dumfound people and impel them to insane self-oblivion. He called for his horse and rode to his quarters.
One would think that the drownings and the emperor’s lack of empathy would cool the ardor of his fans. One would think that 67,000 (and climbing) coronavirus fatalities, along with Trump’s narcissism, would cause his supporters to think twice. One would be wrong. Trump’s 40% base seems steady as ever with yahoos brandishing AK-47s (“very good people,” according to Trump) storm the Michigan state house to “liberate Michigan” from a governor trying to keep people well. Those who survive the Nemen crossing, meanwhile, continue to cheer the Emperor:
Some forty Uhlans were drowned in the river, though boats were sent to their assistance. The majority struggled back to the bank from which they had started. The colonel and some of his men got across and with difficulty clambered out on the further bank. And as soon as they had got out, in their soaked and streaming clothes, they shouted “Vivat!” and looked ecstatically at the spot where Napoleon had been but where he no longer was and at that moment considered themselves happy.
Napoleon awards the Polish colonel the Legion d’honneur, and Trump awarded radio host Rush Limbaugh, who declared Covid-19 to be no worse than the flu, the Presidential Medal of Honor. At least the colonel exposes himself to the same dangers as his followers, unlike Limbaugh and Fox’s Tucker Carlson and Laura Igraham, who urge from their infection-protected studios that the country be reopened. The rightwing media is inciting their listeners to plunge into the flood.
Tolstoy concludes his chapter with the Latin inscription, “Quos vult perdere dementat,” meaning “Those whom (God) wishes to destroy he drives mad.” We’re about ready to see how many of Trump’s mad supporters will be destroyed—and how many nurses, doctors, store clerks, meat packers, transit workers, and senior care residents they will take down with them.
Their “insane self-oblivion” is meant to demonstrate their love for big brother.
