Little Dictator
Newspaper’s used to call it the “silly season”. It’s August: folks are on vacation, or finishing up Little League season, or getting ready to go back to school. Congress is on recess (no, they don’t have swings or a giant slide). The weather is hot, and humid; and as George Gershwin put it, “…the living is easy”.
It used to be a time when odd stories about UFO’s, or crazy Amish mothers who try to kill their families, or lost French Bulldogs wandering the countryside led the headlines. But this is the “Age of Trump”, and there’s no “oxygen” left in the room for Amish mothers or “Frenchies” (those are true, sad stories, by the way). Instead, day after day, the President of the United States puts on his own “show”. And he fills all the air time; all the time.
David Ignatius, a highly respected foreign affairs columnist for the Washington Post, made the point, after yesterday’s edition of the “Trump Show”. Trump talked about everything. He’s sending the National Guard into an unwilling Chicago. He’s criminalized US flag burning. And, Trump thinks he stopped “seven” wars in the last six months (it was six, maybe five, and if you ask the nations involved, maybe none). Then, Trump hinted of a future visit to North Korea. As Ignatius said, “tune in again tomorrow to see Donald Trump with his friend Kim Jong Un!!”. It’s not The Apprentice, it’s more like a modernized Little Dictator. (Oh, yes, he did talk about becoming a dictator as well).
Sitting on the Dock
It’s overwhelming, and it leaves little time for any other political news in the world. To keep the pressure on, last night Trump claimed to fire a Federal Reserve Governor, one of the board members who helps regulate the economy. Because he “tweeted it” on Truth Social, why then it must be true, (even if he can’t). Oh, and there was an executive order to banning cashless bail, another “law” the President doesn’t have the power to enforce. But it makes a good headline.
It’s a tsunami of information, like drinking from a fire hose. It’s a beer-boiled brats overflow of junk on a hot stove. And it’s hard to keep track of what happened, what’s going on, what’s real, and what’s coming up next. We need summer time, “the living is easy”; some “yacht rock” Christopher Cross Sailing, and a seat on the dock with feet dangling. Instead we get this.
It’s not a coincidence, or a “happenstance”, that this is all happening right now. Congress is really on recess, and so is the Supreme Court (and many other Federal judges). There’s actually no one on “duty” to counter all of the executive action by Trump, clearly orchestrated by the person in the pale blue suit, the “right hand man” of the President, Stephen Miller. So, while Chris Cross croons in the background (you should have clicked the link!!), let’s look at what’s really important.
Democratic Cities
The President’s attempt to militarize law enforcement is more than scary. We know that the National Guard in first Los Angeles, and now Washington, aren’t doing more than “appearing”. Sure, there are armored vehicles outside of Union Station, and troops wandering Dupont Circle. But they look more like sailors on shore leave than “police”, and don’t have the legal authority to take action anyway.
So what are they doing? The armed forces on the streets of American cities, even if they can’t do much, is the image that the Trump team wants. Those “crime-ridden cities”, run by not just Democrats, but invariably Black Democrats, “are out of control”, they say. Except, they aren’t. But the presence of Federalized troops in US cities is MAGA’s way of saying, “There will be no ‘Blue Bubbles’ of safety. We, MAGA, will go anywhere, and do anything (ICE) to achieve our goal.”
Tiananmen Square
If the Democratic state governors and mayors won’t kowtow to Trump, then he will attempt to Federalize their cities. It’s all highly extra-legal. In any normal time, Federal judges up through the Supreme Court would stop this on a dime. But, this is the age of Trump, and, while we can be sure there will be District Judges who will stand up, we cannot depend on the Supreme Court. Maybe they will, eventually, but it might be two or three years down the road. The damage will be done.
Maybe it’s time to pull a Tiananmen Square, and lay down in front of a military column moving into Chicago, or Baltimore, or some other city in a Democratic state with a Black mayor. Direct action seems “right”, but it also is exactly what Mr. Miller wants. To prove MAGA “manhood”, he’d order the column to roll right over the bodies, just like China in 1989.
Or maybe it’s time for Governors to refuse nationalization of their Guards, like Wes Moore plans to do in Maryland. And if Stephen Miller tries to use “Red State” Guards to enforce MAGA rule?
Gee, what’s the definition of a Civil War??
