[Noam Chomsky] The President, The Pandemic & the Election

We are in “unchartered territory,” as the media incessantly remind us. We are on the eve of an election amidst a pandemic. The president has declared in advance that the election is a “hoax,” it is “rigged.” He would not even commit to saying he would honor the outcome. “We’ll see what happens,” he says. He knew early on how deadly the coronavirus was, telling Bob Woodward it’s a “killer“ and a “plague.” And yet in public continued with happy talk: “It’ll just go away…It’s fading…And we have it totally under control.” In addition to a colossal Covid-19 failure he has whipped some of his supporters into a frenzy. Vigilante groups, men with guns threaten to kidnap governors. Things are not just getting “curiouser and curiouser” as Alice would say but more and more dangerous.