The pyre of Denethor

You thought that this unparalleled year of mayhem, disaster and suffering is AD 2020.  But maybe we're living through TA 3019.

Yeah, ok, we've got a pandemic, with the virus now apparently intent on making the White House the newest hot spot.  And we've got a cratered economy.  And hurricanes (put on your seatbelt again, Louisiana).  And wildfires.  And we're all going to seed in our homes.  Meanwhile, government aid both for individuals and businesses is in peril, and in some cases ran out quite a long time ago.  People are not asking, "Should I rebalance my retirement investments this coming year?"  No, they are asking, "How many more days can I bleed red ink from this business before I have to lay off all my employees and declare bankruptcy?"  And, "How many more times can I miss my mortgage payment before we lose our home?"  And, "Will my children get any dinner tonight?"

It's enough to make one feel that a terrible host from Minas Morgul has swarmed across the Great River, taken the Causeway forts, burst through the surrounding walls at many places, and filled the Pelennor fields, from which the invaders have mounted a terrifying siege and assault upon the capital city.  The Nazgul upon their monstrous winged steeds are spreading dread from above with their piercing cries, the outermost ring of the city is on fire, and the city gates have been smashed.

If all that were going on, it would seem to be about the worst possible time for the Steward of Gondor to abandon the raging battle and decide instead to carry his wounded son to the Houses of the Dead, and lay him upon a table piled high with firewood and drenched in oil, preparatory to burning the two of them alive.   It would be difficult to imagine a less helpful or more futile act, or a more brazen dereliction of responsibility.

That memorable scene from The Lord of the Rings came to mind when I heard the puzzling, frustrating, mind-boggling news today that President Trump, newly (and likely prematurely) back in the White House after his brief round of treatment for COVID-19 at Walter Reed, has taken up the battle against the pandemic by ... unilaterally breaking off negotiations with Democratic leadership for a new and much-needed round of economic aid for individuals and businesses.  This comes at a time when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had been negotiating for days to reach agreement on aid for the American people and their employers.  

In an e-newsletter I receive from PBS NewsHour, Lisa Desjardins recaps the likely effects of this decision:

• On people: government aid, currently at $300-$400/week under an executive order, will run out in a few weeks.  The two sides had been negotiating to keep similar amounts flowing to the 11 million unemployed.  But as a result of the president's action today, that amount will get knocked down to an average of $180/week.
• On businesses: applications to the Paycheck Protection Program ended two months ago.  Without this deal, the program will not be extended.  Restaurants and other venues that had been relying on outdoor dining and entertainment are now facing cold-weather season in the North.  And airlines are planning to furlough tens of thousands of employees.
• On schools: School districts, and I believe private schools as well, were to receive $100 billion in aid which could be used for deep cleaning and distance learning.  That money now won't be coming
• On coronavirus testing: Lawmakers were said to be close to agreeing on $75 billion in funding for testing when the president pulled the plug.

Forgot to mention: this is all on the eve of a national election.  Desjardins also looked at some of the political impacts of this decision.  She notes,

Roughly a dozen Democratic and Republican sources at the Capitol told the Newshour the president’s decision was “confusing” and did not have a clear political upside for him or his party.

Until today, Republicans had argued that Democrats were the prime obstacle in the way of a COVID relief deal. But the president’s decision to so publicly walk away, reminiscent of his handling of the 2018 shutdown, placed the responsibility (and the blame) firmly on his shoulders.

Trump’s move could help vulnerable Democrats, who can argue they are solutions-oriented while Republicans are playing politics with critical coronavirus aid.

If there is any political sense to this decision, I can't see it.  The president's chances of reelection grow dimmer with each passing day and each new poll showing him trailing in key swing states.  But a president, at least a conventional president, doesn't only run for re-election on his own behalf; he also is the leader of his party, and much beyond the presidential race depends on his efforts and his success.  To name one obvious instance, majority control of the Senate rides on the outcome of the November election - and the prospects for the GOP retaining control were not good, even before this policy announcement.

Now that the president is back on his feet (or in his recliner watching Fox News and tweeting a lot), he apparently has decided, If I'm going to go down, I'm going to take the entire party down with me, too.  

In one of those little pearls of wisdom which the wizard Gandalf was wont to drop throughout the book, he admonishes Denethor, "Authority is not given to you, Steward of Gondor, to order the hour of your death.  And only the heathen kings, under the domination of the Dark Power, did thus, slaying themselves in pride and despair, murdering their kin to ease their own death."

 From here, it looks as though the president had laid, not only himself, but his entire party, upon the woodpile, and is about to thrust the torch into it.  And not a Gandalf, not a Peregrin Took, not a Beregond of the Guard in sight to intervene.