One thing can be said about President Donald Trump for sure: He is not stupid. Throughout his entire life he has been playing his opponents like a fiddle.
What has the string of debtors left unpaid ever been able to do to his reputation? He is so adept at cheating that he has even been able to infect his public political campaign with the same virus: unpaid bills. Unbelievably, many cities are still waiting to collect unpaid bills left behind by his campaign rallies.
Gosh. Wasn't he even able to get elected to the Office of President of the United States-as a totally unprepared, non-politician to boot? This is still the most powerful public position on earth.
There are many unanswered questions about his life and his actions.
It is puzzling why so many lies in so few years.
This conundrum might eventually be resolved by the discovery that he had to cover the perjury-a Federal crime-he committed when he took the oath of office. He swore to defend and protect the Constitution of the United States, while knowing that, calling upon Russia to deliver "all those emails," he had betrayed the Constitution and the interests of the American people.
Why can he not show any empathy? Ever.
Why does he have such pity for himself?
Why does he not want to disclose his tax returns?
Why do followers believe in his promises, when he has not delivered benefits for them, but only for himself, his relatives, and his friends? And the Federal deficit has exploded.
Why his decision to go to Tulsa?
Under intense pressure, he has uncharacteristically postponed the date, but why does he still insist on the place?
He might be ignorant. But his aides certainly are not. And he has many aides, he is not running the country alone.
When we blame him for his decisions, we might remember that he is surrounded by experts and supporters by legions who are benefiting from the "executive decisions" he takes.
At least one of his aides must have recited for him the history of Tulsa. Tulsa? This is site of the Tulsa Massacre, the site of one of the worst incidents of racial violence in U.S. history. Hundreds of African Americans were killed and thousands were left homeless. Why? Why this mayhem? All was fueled by a characteristic accusation, later ascertained in a court of law to be a lie, of a black teenager sexually assaulting a white woman.
So, why the decision to go there?
I am afraid that President Trump is hoping to finally obtain the biggest bang, a violent explosion from the bomb he has been playing with all along ever since the days after the Inaugural Address, when he signed his discriminatory Muslim Ban that divided the country across racial lines; the card he has been playing ever since the Charlottesville march.
The card is racism. And we know it, because as an inveterate liar, he has been saying all along the he is "the least racist person there is anywhere in the world." He and his supporters double down on this fundamental issue significantly reminding us that, with their very presence at the White House, he has allowed (!?) his favorite daughter to marry a Jew.
That is the card that he is showing, while pretending not-playing it, racism.
Why racism? Well, the answer is well known to Putin and his enablers. As has been widely reported and confirmed in the Muller Report (Vol. I, 1-4, 14-35; Vol. I, 1-5, 36-50), racism was the main visiting card used by Russian propaganda bots to shift allegiance from Clinton to Trump all through the 2016 electoral campaign.
Racism is the raw wound in our minds and our hearts. Racism is our "original sin."
So, why go to Tulsa for his first campaign rally after the lockdown? Tulsa? The site of the Tulsa Massacre, the site of one of the worst incidents of racial violence in U.S. history?
On the surface, the answer is clear: to foment division in our country.
But the racism card is isolating him more and more from the American public. Indeed, there are small but evident decreases in his support base.
President Trump is seeing that even the killing of George Floyd, rather than dividing the country-and the whole wide world-, is uniting the "people."
What to do? He must change tactics. He has evidently decided that he ultimately has to count on white supremacists-they are racists after all.
Supremacists do not talk much. They enforce their assumed superiority through a whole range of measures that go from verbal assaults to bullyism to the use of physical force. Hence, the lynching of black people. Hence, police brutality.
To enlarge his base, to involve in his schemes those who are in the middle, all those who are still uncertain of the past and the future, he must be playing his last card.
He must rely on violent protest, so the country will allow him to dominate the streets.
He has many times invoked the use of force to protect his position.
That he personally believes in violence there is no doubt. There is not a two-bit dictator he has not cuddled. He openly admires Kim Jong-un, because, as a young 27-year-old dictator, he executed his uncle to consolidate his power.
Is he now hoping for violence to finally save him once and for all?
Is he being a provocateur-in-chief?
By going to Tulsa, is President Trump inflaming supporters and antagonists at the same time?
Just asking.
Let them have a party.
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This piece is not against Trump or the supremacists, and certainly not against MAGA people. It is for America and all that this country stands for.
Let me repeat: "A look at his face while he held up his hand to swear his oath of office reveals a very unhappy man" By general admission, Donald Trump has not had one happy day in the White House. August Senators, for his own good, thank him for his services - and ask him to resign." What can he do to you? Remember the rhyme "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never break me."
My understanding of how to deal with supremacists is "through love, toward the beloved community." That is the only way. Otherwise, they will always be with us.
I have written more extensively about MAGA people elsewhere. Here is the gist of what I wrote:
"The affections that hold MAGA People together are the resentments and the afflictions that society inflicts upon them" vast tracts of land" are still controlled by few people and rich corporations" people tend to be corralled into crowded lots. MAGA People's lives are being eviscerated when money is lent to people with money on easy terms and the people without money are left to pay outrageous interest. MAGA People's lives are being eviscerated whenever two mega corporations are glued together; then the few gain more power and the people within and without both corporations suffer many afflictions. MAGA People's lives are being eviscerated by robots that take their jobs, their livelihood, away."
What does America stand for? Ah, the confusion! Forever, it seems, I have answered this question by recommending a deep study of the thought of four American giants: Benjamin Franklin, Henry George, Louis D. Brandeis, and Louis O. Kelso.
A clarification is perhaps due: Forget Keynes; forget Hayek.
