People Were Bored With Jim Jones Jr.

6/18/2020

Jim Jones and his followers, November, 1978

People were restless -- yawning, stretching, looking around.
Donald Trump, the latter-day Jim Jones, who would lead his people into a vicious pandemic, was losing his audience.
That's what the TV screen was telling me Saturday as Trump ran out of material, ran out of juice. Maybe it was the blue seats in the upper deck yawning down on him that took away his edge.
He was alone out there, dying, as they say in show biz.
People were breathing on each other, taking the chance of a fatal dose of the virus he does not take seriously.
What was worse was the ennui of the faithful, who had driven all that way to downtown Tulsa, braving the fears of violence and huge crowds -- and now they seemed to be thinking about whether they could get their car out of the parking lot and head for home.
He had nothing for them.
That doesn't mean Trump won't do scandalous things, violent things, in days to come, when he can take out his anger on his staff, his enemies, the American people, aided by the Lickspittles of the Year, Barr and Pompeo. He will fire people, sure, but deep down he knows that the polls and Joe Biden and the honest investigators and even the Supreme Court are on to him.
He tried to wing it once too often, and on Saturday night he came up empty.
* * *
(The following is my original essay leading up to the Tulsa yawner:)
Jim Jones picked Guyana.
Donald Trump is, you might say, dead set on Tulsa.

Having a bad month with that mean Supreme Court, Trump is mimicking that old-time religion -- trying to hold an old-fashioned tent revival for the faithful in an arena in Tulsa on Saturday, during a pandemic.

Trump is losing in the national polls plus polls of most swing states, and if he loses the election he knows that dozens of legal challenges are waiting. Even if he has no stomach or brains for it, he needs this job.

As of Friday, Trump was going ahead with the mass meeting of Coronavirus microbes while nags like Dr. Anthony Fauci tried to remind him that the pandemic is still on, and while cases are spiking in red states that "opened up" without precautions.

Of course, Trump is already responsible for thousands of deaths because he ignored the warnings early in the year. Any executive would already be indicted, probably convicted, of wilful malfeasance. Instead, he gets crowds at his rallies.

Putting 19,000 people in an arena could be injurious to their health and exponentially that of many thousands more outside.

The result would be on a much higher scale than Jim Jones' pouring the poisoned Kool-Aid for his American followers in far-off Guyana on Nov, 18, 1978, leaving 909 dead, including himself.

For whatever reason, Trump has the same messianic appeal to his people that the charismatic preacher from California had back in the ‘70s.

The son of Jim Jones, Stephan Jones, who happened to be away from the Jonestown compound on Kool-Aid Day back in 1978, has been comparing Trump and Jones for years.

“I see so many parallels it’s ridiculous,” Stephan Jones told Susie Meister in Medium.com in 2018. The son said that Trump, like Jim Jones, is a narcissist and relies on similar manipulation tactics.

“My dad would meet someone, quickly read what you feared most and what you wanted most, and convince you that he was the one to save you from one and give you the other,” Stephan Jones said.

Trump, who needs to feel big about everything he does, might be heading for a much higher figure than Jones achieved.

There are some sensible people out there: themayor of Tulsa, a Republican, wants this thing called off, and conservative doctors and lawyers went to court to block this health hazard, but the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the rally could go ahead.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/19/us/juneteenth-2020.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage#link-76b469ca

There are indications the regular ushers and other workers at the arena might decline to show up because of the danger, leaving "security" in the hands of volunteers, most of whom do not have the sense to avoid crowds, much less control one.

Another person who has seen the light is Trump’s 11-day-wonder of a press secretary, Anthony Scaramucci.

I wonder whether Rep. Jackie Speier of California makes the connection between Jones and Trump. At Jonestown, Speier took five bullets in an ambush when she accompanied her boss, Rep. Leo Ryan, who was investigating the Californians said to be in danger there. Ryan died but Speier survived 10 operations and in 2008 was elected to Congress from the same region as her late boss. She is one of the most stable and subtle critics of Trump.

Trump may have prevailed in this legal effort to spread the word -- and the virus -- so gratuitously, but with the Supreme Court making decisions that rebuke him and relatives and aides writing books critical of him, deep down he may understand that he has been found out.

An arena full of potential virus carriers could be the new version of poisoned Kool Aid. This could be his way out.
                              *     *       *
How this rally came about:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/18/us/politics/trump-rally-tulsa-juneteenth.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

Scaramucci and Trump:
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/458555-scaramucci-compares-trump-to-jonestown-cult-leader-its-like-a-hostage

Stephan Jones on his father and Trump:
https://medium.com/@susiemeister/the-legacy-of-jim-jones-and-the-cult-of-donald-trump-116fd56aa612

Rep. Jackie Speier of California:
https://www.sonomanews.com/article/news/jackie-speier-to-talk-height-of-corruption-under-trump/

Donald Trump spreads the word....and the microbes

John McDermott

6/19/2020 08:56:05 am

A chilling and appropriate comparison. Two cults. Jim Jones was increasingly delusional didn't actually give a shit about his followers. Trump is holding this rally in a state he knows he will win no matter what, so if people get sick or die because they attend this rally it won't make any difference to his chances of carrying the state. At least Jim Jones went down with his victims. Trump has them sign a release and stay well out of his personal space.

bruce

6/19/2020 09:31:09 am

john,

agree with everything you've written, but the most amazin' thing is the line....in a state he knows he will win no matter what'...

that can't possibly be true in a sane, rational world.

but the usa seems the opposite of that..

i guess there are some idiots here in the security threat known as canada who like him, but i haven't come across one.....could be some in alberta.

not being a resident or citizen of the great republic it is truly gobsmacking to watch trump's reign or error continue steamrolling the country month after month after month.

how this revolting human being became potus is a stain on the 'folks' that will remain for a long long time.

i can't envision what will happen if he slimes his way to another term.

or, for that matter, what will happen between november 4-january 20 if he loses.

it'll be a mess 'the likes of which have never been seen before' as
the thing that walks, sort of, like a man would say.

bruce

George

6/19/2020 09:32:11 am

John, you were living in The City in 78? Your long time there makes you aware of the facts. I was covering religion that year and was more involved in writing about the two new popes, but i surely read about Jones and his base in the Bay Area. GV

Alan Rubin link

6/19/2020 11:17:19 am

George, your comparison of Jones and Trump as two blind cultists is agonizingly accurate.

It is difficult to confront untruths and move forward in an age where gross ignorance among “so called” leaders is often the norm.

Today’s NYT is a melting pot of what is happening:

John Bolton is the Model of a Trump Sellout by John Gans
Why Juneteenth Matters by Jamelle Bouie

WNBA Guard Renee Montgomery Will Skip Season to Work on Social Causes. She had previously taken time off to support a black man on death row. The league and her team support her

Regardless of what the NFL and its owners are currently saying, they missed their opportunity when Kapernick first took the knee.

On a positive note, it bodes well for the future to see so many young people of all stripes speak out for justice.

Randolph

6/21/2020 12:33:31 pm

George,
You are on top of your game! Your comparison of Jones and the Orange Headed Monster is spot on.

For some time I’ve been aware of the parallels between the current administration and the Nazis of the 1930s. Joseph Goebbels, The propaganda minister for Hitler created the playbook that is being used in the White House. The president and his henchmen, such as Steven Miller, are capable of committing atrocities on a global scale.

Thanks again for putting the truth out there.

And yes...... Happy Father’s Day
R

bruce

6/21/2020 03:55:17 pm

randolph,

g'day.

goebbels was very good at what he did and many germans were hypnotized by hitler's oratory.

however, my go to nazi for explaining how to get the 'folks' lined up behind hitler, er, trump.

think mexicans, the wall, the caravan, antifa, canada as a national security threat and keep on going until you collapse from lack of sleep.

i'm sure most of george's blog readers have seen this but....

april 18, 1946

....... Naturally, the common people don't want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship.

Gilbert: There is one difference. In a democracy, the people have some say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the United States only Congress can declare wars.

Göring: Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.

bruce

Randolph

6/21/2020 04:29:05 pm

Bruce,

Yep.... the Goring game plan is in place.
It is scary to recognize how easy the herd can be led into the Abyss.
RF

bruce

6/21/2020 05:05:11 pm

randolph,

tis.

we'll know in 4 1/2 months.

bruce

Comments are closed.

QUOTES

Measuring Covid Deaths, by David Leonhardt. July 17, 2023. NYT online.
The United States has reached a milestone in the long struggle against Covid: The total number of Americans dying each day — from any cause — is no longer historically abnormal….

After three horrific years, in which Covid has killed more than one million Americans and transformed parts of daily life, the virus has turned into an ordinary illness.

The progress stems mostly from three factors:
First, about three-quarters of U.S. adults have received at least one vaccine shot.
Second, more than three-quarters of Americans have been infected with Covid, providing natural immunity from future symptoms. (About 97 percent of adults fall into at least one of those first two categories.)
Third, post-infection treatments like Paxlovid, which can reduce the severity of symptoms, became widely available last year.
“Nearly every death is preventable,” Dr. Ashish Jha, who was until recently President Biden’s top Covid adviser, told me. “We are at a point where almost everybody who’s up to date on their vaccines and gets treated if they have Covid, they rarely end up in the hospital, they almost never die.”

That is also true for most high-risk people, Jha pointed out, including older adults — like his parents, who are in their 80s — and people whose immune systems are compromised. “Even for most — not all but most —immuno-compromised people, vaccines are actually still quite effective at preventing against serious illness,” he said. “There has been a lot of bad information out there that somehow if you’re immuno-compromised that vaccines don’t work.”

That excess deaths have fallen close to zero helps make this point: If Covid were still a dire threat to large numbers of people, that would show up in the data.

One point of confusion, I think, has been the way that many Americans — including we in the media — have talked about the immuno-compromised. They are a more diverse group than casual discussion often imagines.

Most immuno-compromised people are at little additional risk from Covid — even people with serious conditions, such as multiple sclerosis or a history of many cancers. A much smaller group, such as people who have received kidney transplants or are undergoing active chemotherapy, face higher risks.

Covid’s toll, to be clear, has not fallen to zero. The C.D.C.’s main Covid webpage estimates that about 80 people per day have been dying from the virus in recent weeks, which is equal to about 1 percent of overall daily deaths.

The official number is probably an exaggeration because it includes some people who had virus when they died even though it was not the underlying cause of death. Other C.D.C. data suggests that almost one-third of official recent Covid deaths have fallen into this category. A study published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases came to similar conclusions.

Dr. Shira Doron, the chief infection control officer at Tufts Medicine in Massachusetts, told me that “age is clearly the most substantial risk factor.” Covid’s victims are both older and disproportionately unvaccinated. Given the politics of vaccination, the recent victims are also disproportionately
Republican and white.

Each of these deaths is a tragedy. The deaths that were preventable — because somebody had not received available vaccines and treatments — seem particularly tragic. (Here’s a Times guide to help you think about when to get your next booster shot.)
***

From the great Maureen Dowd:

As I write this, I’m in a deserted newsroom in The Times’s D.C. office. After working at home for two years during Covid, I was elated to get back, so I could wander around and pick up the latest scoop.
But in the last year, there has been only a smattering of people whenever I’m here, with row upon row of empty desks. Sometimes a larger group gets lured in for a meeting with a platter of bagels."

--- Dowd writes about the lost world of journalists clustered in newsrooms at all hours, smoking, drinking, gossipping, making phone calls, typing, editing.
***
"Putting out the paper," we called it.
Much more than nostalgia.
---https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/29/opinion/journalism-newsroom.html

People Were Bored With Jim Jones Jr.

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