Bluster's Last Stand
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Take a look at that picture above. What do you see?
Something outrageous? Something sacrilegious? Something un-American?
No argument here. But I’m going to invite you to look beyond…to a moment in the not-too-distant future. To see what I see. Sure, maybe I’m delusional. But I’m propelling myself six months forward and looking back at what this pathetic moment really meant.
It’s bluster’s last stand.
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I think you know the context to the picture. Trump ordered U.S. military personnel to use tear gas and flash-bang grenades to force peaceful, decidedly non-violent protesters out of Lafayette Park, directly across the street from the White House. All this so Trump could parade a troop of his lackeys to the front of an historic, boarded-up church where he did nothing more than hole up a Bible...just as naturally as if someone had placed dog excrement in his bare hands.
So, yeah, wrong on so many levels.
First, let’s consider who’s alongside him. To the far left, U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr—the nation’s chief law enforcement officer who personally detonated the Special Counsel’s investigation into the Trump/Russia impeachment by issuing a “summary” of his own definition before Robert Mueller had a chance to say a word.
This week, the Attorney General of the state of Minnesota delivered a devastating lesson to Barr on how someone with that title is supposed to act. Barr is a pasty old conservative white guy. His time is coming to an end.
Next, aside Trump, is House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who earned his stripes with a series of bogus Benghazi investigations which he claimed defeated Hillary Clinton. He’s Trump’s kind of guy, he’s old, white, and pasty. But his time is coming to an end.
Finally, on the other side is his new Press Secretary, Kayleigh McEnany. She’s white, but definitely not old or male. She’ll no doubt be around for a while spinning right-wing fantasies, like she did cheerleading the Obama birther insanity. She was inserted into this photo op to demonstrate the GOP’s commitment to diversity. Good job.
But I’ve left out the star of the show, the king of pasty old white guys, DJT. And this is where the meaning of this moment became clear.
While his federal forces on horseback were stampeding peaceful citizens out of the way, Trump made tough guy remarks about law and order and second amendment rights. All this before the short walk--without the sustenance of a single Big Mac—to the site of the Bible stunt.
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What was going on here? Oh, fearless leader, why did you feel the need to rally the gun nuts? Why the echo from the Nixon “law and order” days? And above all, why that ghastly dog shit Bible thing?
Think about it. What was he going for here? Doesn’t he already have the support of every single gun nut? Of every single “kill the looters” Fox News aficionado? Of every last one of the moronic hillbilly evangelicals? Why take this moment to go at them again?
Well…I think you know the answer. You may think Trump is so stupid he doesn’t even read. But the man can read poll numbers. And what he’s seeing in those numbers is reflected in those desperate acts. At a time when he should be focused on expanding from his yahoo base…he’s instead trying to shore it up.
Remember when we wondered how he’d react if faced with a real crisis? Now we know. But more importantly, so does of growing number of people who voted for him four years ago.
By week’s end, the looting was over. The visiting thugs had their spring wear. The people left on the streets—the young, the old, the members of every race—were there in support of systemic change in the way they are policed. Why can’t we achieve equality in law enforcement?
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Trump’s greatest asset in the election was to numb people into indifference or false equivalency—“hey, I may be bad, but so is the other guy!”
America’s not taking that bait. George Floyd’s murder may be the most consequential in American history since the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. But not just because it speaks to racism. But because it’s bringing together a new generation of young Americans who find racism as relevant as polio. For them, it doesn’t matter—so let’s get rid of it and move on.
And those pasty old white guys will soon be left behind. Good riddance.
America will defeat you.
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