President Donald Trump is flailing badly in the polls and he knows it, so he’s desperately grasping at any straw that can keep him from losing, The New York Times reports. That includes such frenzied moves as trying to delay the November election (which he can’t do, fortunately) and calling at least one Republican senator for just about the dumbest reason possible: keeping names of Confederate generals on military bases.

That speaks to an epic level of desperation.

The NYT’s Maggie Haberman reports science-denying snowball fan Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) was sitting inside a Washington, D.C. Italian restaurant Wednesday evening when he received a phone call from the president. Trump was actually so loud that someone nearby was able to record it, Raw Story reports.

During the phone call, Inhofe promised to kill any bills that would remove the names of any Confederate generals currently gracing military bases.

According to The NYT:

“The conversation, overhead and recorded by someone in the room, ranged from a discussion about Anthony Tata, the retired Army brigadier general whose nomination for a top Pentagon policy position has become complicated, to Mr. Trump’s desire to preserve the name of Robert E. Lee, a Confederate general, on a military base.”

“We’re gonna keep the name of Robert E. Lee?” Trump reportedly asked.

“Just trust me, I’ll make it happen,” Inhofe replied.

At one point, Inhofe said he doesn’t believe in “Cancel Culture,” and Trump prattled on about Twitter.

“I had about 95,000 positive retweets on that. That’s a lot,” he said, referring to a tweet he posted last Friday.

The U.S. is in the midst of a devastating pandemic. People have lost their livelihoods, family members, friends, and many are facing homelessness. Nearly 157,000 people have died and that’s this is the hill Trump is willing to die on: Preventing military bases from removing the names of racist military generals.

I can’t even with this. I just can’t.

As Raw Story reminds us, the Senate has already passed a defense reauthorization measure that authorizes changing the names of military bases named after Confederate generals. The measure at 86 to 14, passed but Trump is already threatening to veto it. With such a wide margin, however, Trump’s veto could (and should) be overridden.

Then the conversation turned to Gen. Tata, and the possibility of someone “resigning” and how to appoint that person to another position. But like so many of Trump’s favorite people, this general is another nutter who called former President Barack Obama “a terrorist leader” and has habitually attacked Muslim people on Twitter.

It’s going to be interesting how history will portray the Trump administration. I’m sure it won’t be a flattering portrayal.