The subtext behind Donald Trump’s latest pivot isn’t so subtle but you wouldn’t know that from a lot of the media’s coverage. Trump went from pretending to take the COVID-19 epidemic seriously to cheerleading racists for rioting, rooting on gun violence and rallying revolts against Democratic governors who won’t re-open the economy and help him get re-elected…at the expense of thousands of American lives
The subtext is shouting…Trump is very afraid right now that he’ll lose re-election in November.
What is going on now is akin to someone losing at Monopoly then kicking the board over and howling that everyone is cheating anyhow. By throwing the game into chaos…they never lose and can claim they actually won.
Even though it is plainly apparent that Trump has been using lies, fabrications, propaganda and demonizing of others as being fully responsible for all of his failings on COVID-19, the mainstream media still seems far too pliant, willing to be a megaphone for his lies and propaganda. Yep, those dubbed by Trump as “enemies of the people” are nevertheless echoing his easily-proven lies and false narratives to the public.
Trump officially began his rollout of this latest Chaos Strategy, kicking over the game board, when he first claimed that he was king and ruled over Governors and states. There was some pushback on that even by some Republicans so he defaulted to the cowardly, “I will allow Governors to make their own decisions.” This is like saying, “I will allow the Earth to continue orbiting the Sun (though Trump probably thinks the Sun orbits around the Earth).” The naked childishness and insecurity of Trump that was revealed by this wasn’t given much discussion in the media, the focus was more simplistic about the 10th Amendment and the president not having the power to do so. Not about how desperate he is not to look as powerless as he ultimately is when it comes to Governors. Trump needs to enhance in his cultists that he is all-powerful so this lame attempt to insist he is, should have been laid bare to the public.
By missing this, the media has missed what’s really going on with the dangerous and malicious campaign he’s now engaged in, conducted without doubt by Trump and his campaign team and advisors trying to rescue his re-election.
His declaration of being king-like over governors was followed the next day by Trump announcing that he is also all-powerful over Congress and may choose to shut it down because they’re not focusing on approving his nominees for office and courts. Yes, it is natural to become outraged that in the middle of a pandemic, Trump is hollering about the priority being his TV ratings, his popularity on Facebook, ending the US Postal Service, his power as a tyrant to control all governors and states and his fabricated power to dispose of Congress.
And that’s the idea. His agenda is pushed forward while the nation is focused elsewhere, fearful about the pandemic and the economy, most people react to the latest tyrannical move by Trump instead of putting all his moves together and seeing the big picture of the plan he’s executing.
And his latest move really tips his hand. But instead of exposing it like responsible journalists, the media primarily acts like a bystander texting it verbatim on their phones.
Today, Trump tweeted the following:
This comes on the heels of protests in Michigan against Governor Whitmer for protecting her state from the spread of COVID-19, as most of the rest of the states are, by ordering citizens who don’t have essential jobs to stay at home.
Here are photos of that protest that will help give some perspective about what is really behind the protest:
What is very important to know about this protest is that it obviously wasn’t spontaneous or grassroots. It was organized by an ultra-conservative, pro-Trump group connected to…Betsy DeVos and her family. And likely, other wealthy extremist groups like the Kochs.
Remember the phony Brooks Brothers protest in Florida during the 2000 Election that was staged and successfully stopped the recount that Gore would have won (and won the presidency)? Remember the Tea Party protests when President Obama took office who furiously railed against the deficit, spending and Obamacare (now that Trump has added trillions to spending and deficits and people depend on the ACA, they’ve miraculously disappeared)?
Yeah, that’s what’s happening right now. This is part of the plan, Trump’s collaborating with his extremist, wealthy supporters to finance an independent army of rebellion against democratically elected officials who won’t follow his commands (hopefully they’re just waving around guns to threaten and intimidate, not to use) to overthrow the independence and power of Democratic governors and other elected officials.
Again, Trump and his crony DeVos are literally behind the creation of an anti-democratic mob spread across multiple states to cause havoc and undermine the power of those he sees as political adversaries (and not supporting his re-election). This is textbook fascism. Private armies serving Dear Leader? We’ve seen the cossacks in Russia serving Putin this way and attacking people seen as opposing him, Trump now has his own cossacks.
Remember, this is just part of the big picture that is visible to any who choose to see it. Trump is staring at criminal prosecution if he loses in November and polls are showing that it is becoming more and more likely which is making him more desperate and fearful.
This looks more like the last stage of a coup. Consolidating power in himself, becoming a genuine dictator with Congress disempowered and the courts as his puppets. Discrediting belief in the truth by attacking the press as fake, rigging elections with voter suppression, Russian-aided disinformation on social media and shutting down the postal service which means shutting down voting by mail. And raising a fascist, well-armed militia to stand against his political enemies.
The feints over declaring power over Governors and shutting down Congress so he can further rig the courts are meant to reinforce in his cultish followers that he is and should be all-powerful (as he stated this week as well). It is part of the psychological preparation of his followers and the public, for his actually stepping into the role of a dictator and his cult followers protecting him in that role as his brownshirts (see the photos above).
Look around the world and you’ll see leaders grabbing power right now and in many cases, such as in Hungary, ending democracy under the guise of protecting the country from a pandemic. This is how dictators take over democracies. When there is chaos, the opportunities for seizing power greatly increase (ask 1930’s Germany about that).
Donald Trump is seeing now that he can’t win if the election in November if it’s held fairly. So he and his mob have decided that he needs to kick the board over. Chaos is needed. An astroturf civil uprising, financed and given marching orders by Trump and his wealthy klan, is an ideal tool to destroy any remaining sense of normalcy in our society and democracy. And it is also a powerful tool to rally behind him if he does lose and declares the election was rigged and he actually won re-election. Does anyone doubt that this fascist army Trump commands, won’t descend on DC and “protest” while heavily armed, that Trump was cheated and America was betrayed by the “fake” results of the election?
And even though this is all pretty obvious, we’ve been here before with wealthy extremist Republicans financing protest mobs to overturn our democracy, yet the media is reporting this repetition of history as if it’s never happened before.
Even so-called moderate outlets like MSNBC are reporting on these protests like they’re legitimate grassroots rallies. Brian “Lied About Being Shot At” Williams even insisted that he saw this movement growing…on Fox News. Well of course! They were in cahoots with the Brooks Brothers “rioting”, the Tea Party rioting and now this latest paid-for, dirty-money-financed, mercenary Army of the Ignorant who are so blinded by their hatred, they are willing to die from COVID-19 and not be paid a penny by the wealthy who are using them like pawns, just so they can own the libs.
The media has a very urgent responsibility right now. They need to stop live broadcasting Trump’s daily propaganda rallies and stop promoting his lies and chaos to the country. They can just sum up any facts in the propaganda event afterwords…if there ever are any facts presented.
The media needs to expose these protests as propaganda stunts, financed and organized by wealthy extremists in bed with Trump (even Melania won’t put up with that). They also need to characterize fascist-financed protests as the danger they are to our democracy.
The media also needs to paint the big picture of what all of this power-grabbing by Trump and his constant threats to our democracy portray, how they all fit together into an overall theme at least, if claiming it to be a strategy (which is what it really is) is too provocative for them. And that theme is very simply, thwarting and hobbling democracy.
In the meantime, it is up to the public to resist the media’s simplistic role as a “magaphone” for Trump’s propaganda, fear-mongering and conditioning of his cultists and the American public for a new Civil War that provides enough chaos for him to seize authoritarian power to “rescue us” from the madness he’s intentionally let loose on the country.
The headline should read: “Factions Within MPLS Police Enact Plan to Incite Race War.” But it won’t. Even though we all know. Look at the video! The four cop insurrectionists aren’t reacting to the sit, they created one, and are working according to a plan. And Trump tastes blood. Every racist bone in his body wants to see more deaths. Instead of defending people who are oppressed, he threatens to use the military to slaughter them. Oh yeah, it’s not his national guard. Another lie, with intent to kill. Hey Donald! You missed your insulin injection. What’s the matter – chicken?
Margaret Chase Smith was a strong Republican who defined the GOP as the “champion of unity and prudence.” She placed the party in the lineage of Abraham Lincoln. But it was the time of McCarthyism and its concomitant “tea partyism 50’s style. As the tone of her party got nastier and nastier and the damage deeper and deeper she wrote these words (and used them in speeches every chance she got: “I don’t want to see the Republican Party rise to victory on the four horses of calumny: fear, ignorance, bigotry and smear.” 70 plus years ago.
In her time the press (the principle media outlet with radio second and tv third) faced the same kind of challenges that your excellent post delineates so well. They rose to the challenge despite threats from the right on many levels. But for a while the question of whether they would was very much open and unsettled.
Good pick, I remember reading about Smith and her very prescient quote, even more meaningful today.
A big difference in the press back then and today is that most press is corporate-owned and has adversarial interests, serving the public and serving corporate shareholders.
So MSNBC, for example, refuses to stop broadcasting the literally dangerous propaganda episodes daily by Trump because they must serve the earnings and ratings for Comcast. Despite many hosts there and many viewers urging them to stop. Interestingly, CNN has cut away from the Trump segments and tuned back in when the medical officials are talking so that of course is very appreciated.
What is working in the favor of the majority who see Trump as the ignorant monster that he is, is that Trump has been self-destructing his facade of competence and responsibility during these daily broadcasts so the net result is that Trump is the only politician in America who has seen no long term bump and maybe even a decline in approval (while most governors are seeing a 60% – 80% approval of how they are handling the pandemic).
Some journalists are standing up to Trump, he’s undercutting himself and come November, the CBO predicts a loss of GDP around -5.6% and unemployment in around 16%: https://www.usnews.com/news/economy/articles/2020-04-24/cbo-coronavirus-will-keep-unemployment-north-of-10-this-year-and-next
And Trump thought he’d brag about the Obama economy he inherited to win re-election? Now what? Trump has no argument for 4 more years for anyone but his cultists and they’re not enough for him to win.
No president could win re-election with a pandemic they’ve helped create, 50,000 Americans dead and counting, 16% unemployment, a loss of 5.6% in GDP and plunged into a severe recession.
Trump may try some desperate things but he won’t survive this election as long as everyone goes out to vote as if their lives depend on it…since they do.
Great stuff. At the rate they are intentionally exposing themselves, the wingnuts may be too sick in six months to bother anyone. Or win an election!
Thanks Steppenwolf!
Actually, it may only be a matter of weeks until these racist, hateful pawns of wealthy extremists including Trump, are thinned from the herd.
The cynicism is amazing, Trump and his wealthy klansmen don’t care that they are killing their supporters to advance their desperation of rescuing the economy and thus, Trump’s re-election chances.
But no matter how many sacrifices they make to their Demon of Greed, the economy is not going to rebound this year, not out of recession. So the people they’re killing is for marginal results if that.
More likely, these rallies of morons will cause a new round of self-isolation in the US, more in Red States. Which will make the economy worse.
And the bottom line is, except for the morons in Red states (many thoughtful people in Red states who are too smart to endanger themselves), when their economies are opened back up…most people are still not going to restaurants, movies, concerts, sports events or airports for a long time anyway because they will still be worried to do so. Even if the curve is bent, COVID-19 is still out there, infecting and killing people and a resurgence is likely too.
Trump will sacrifice any amount of lives to stand on them and declare he’s “on top of things” but there is nothing he can do to have a strong economy in November, we will still be in recession until at least late 2021, his main argument for re-election is now gone. Both the bear market and high unemployment will be on him in Nov.
He’s going down…as long as we can prevent him from corrupting the election which he is dedicated to doing.