The Trump Regime, Chernobyl, And the Denial of Truth
When reality is inconvenient, corruption demands ignorance
I’ve been watching Chernobyl. I have the show on disc and on YouTube — I love it that much.
I bought it years ago on a whim, and after binging the entire thing, I instantly declared it one of my all-time favourites. It’s not always accurate, particularly with how it portrays real people like Lyudmila Ignatenko, but it remains a gripping and horrifyingly well-done portrayal of the disaster and what led up to it.
The main villain of the story is the corruption of the Soviet State, and how the denial of truth and inability to take ownership and accountability for mistakes can cause calamity.
I mentioned this to my spouse last night. He agreed.
“That’s where corruption inevitably leads. We’re seeing it in the U.S. right now.”
He’s right. He usually is about this kind of thing.
There’s an amazing monologue from the Chernobyl series where the main character, Valery Legasov — a fictionalized version of the real man — speaks about the consequences of lying and covering up important truths.
“To be a scientist is to be naive. We are so focused on our search for truth, we fail to consider how few actually want us to find it. But it is always there, whether we see it or not, whether we choose to or not. The truth doesn’t care about our needs or wants. It doesn’t care about our governments, our ideologies, our religions. It will lie in wait for all time. And this, at last, is the gift of Chernobyl. Where I once would fear the cost of truth, now I only ask. “What is the cost of lies?” — Valery Legasov (Chernobyl)
This is not a quote from the real man, but a fantastic monologue written for the show. Regardless of its historical accuracy, it speaks to the situation we’re witnessing right now in the highest echelons of power in some of the world's most powerful nations.
We saw it during the Pandemic, when denial of the severity of outbreaks led to millions of people dying who could have otherwise survived.
We see it in vaccine skepticism and alternative health practices like essential oils.
We see it every day as environmental protections are stripped away, polluting industries are deregulated to open up more profits, and Climate Change is publicly treated as a hoax.
We see it in obvious, ridiculous lies told by law enforcement and political spokesmen about the events leading up to extrajudicial killings by Federal agents. They can lie all they like about the victims deserving their murder, but that doesn’t change the facts.
Video evidence exists. They keep lying, and we keep calling them out on it. It never seems to matter; they get away with blatantly ignoring reality every time.
But reality still exists.
What’s happening to the economy is a clear sign of it. The politicians in the U.S. keep saying it’s great, it’s strong, look at the stock market!
Meanwhile, the average person on the street is comparing their pay cheque to the price of gas and groceries and feeling their blood run cold. Lies don’t get you very far when the truth is so hard to miss.
A great metaphor for the situation is the current state of the Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C. It used to be so beautiful. It was clear, clean, crisp and well-maintained.
Then Trump tried to make it into a propaganda statement, but he did it his usual way. He cut corners. He likes to ignore inconvenient realities and go with the cheaper option, thinking that makes him a good negotiator and a strong businessman.
In his mind, he’s so smart that reality will bend to his will and everything will just work out the way he imagines it.
Except that it won’t. Because that’s not how it works.
Trump wanted the pool to shine ‘American Flag Blue’ ahead of the 4th of July, intending it to make a grand propaganda image to represent his ‘Great America’ ideals. He spent around $14 million in taxpayer money to drain the pool and refinish it.
Two weeks after completion, it’s not blue. It’s green, and the paint is peeling off the bottom in huge strips due to the peroxide workers keep dumping in to try to kill off the exploding algae blooms.
The Reflecting Pool is a shallow, warm body of water in a swamp. Of course it can develop algae. It takes constant vigilance to keep it clear on a good day.
But going through a remodelling that dumps loads of chemical fertilizers, paints the bottom dark blue, which absorbs more heat, and doesn’t give sufficient time for the paint to cure? Well, that supercharged the blooms to an uncontrollable level.
The pool is currently a sickly, swampy green rather than the beautiful blue Trump wanted.
Anyone who knows anything about pool maintenance could have told him this would happen. It took only two weeks for it to get this bad. It’s probably going to cost millions more to fix and restore it to its original state.
Tourists are already taking chunks of the peeling paint as souvenirs.
There couldn’t be a more poignant, perfect illustration of the administration’s failings, or of the quote above.
Ignore reality at your peril. Whether you believe in it or not, it’s still there.
Solidarity wins.
That's why smart people don't like him.