Evidently Trump is still smarting – not only from the way the media mocked him for hiding in the White House bunker from George Floyd anti-racism protesters, but also from the way ex-military leaders rebuked him for using US soldiers in that infamous photo-op.
He clearly hoped the latter would make him look like a military strongman, but it only gave the media cause to mock him even more as a military strawman. What’s more, fallout from duping serving military leaders into participating in his reality-TV stunt continues:
Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, apologized on Thursday for joining President Trump in a controversial walk to St. John’s Church in Washington, D.C., immediately after protesters were teargassed [to make way for Trump’s photo-op]. …
‘I should not have been there,’ Milley said. ‘My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics.
(Yahoo! News, June 11, 2020)
Yet, as former President Ronald Reagan might say, here he goes again:
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would not consider renaming a number of military bases that are currently named for Confederate military leaders after his defense and Army secretaries signaled they would be willing to discuss the issue earlier this week.
‘These Monumental and very Powerful Bases have become part of a Great American Heritage, and a history of Winning, Victory, and Freedom. The United States of America trained and deployed our HEROES on these Hallowed Grounds, and won two World Wars,’ Trump tweeted. ‘Therefore, my Administration will not even consider the renaming of these Magnificent and Fabled Military Installations.’
(USA Today, June 10, 2020)
Of course, that tweet is all too consistent with the kind of petty, self-pitying spite we’ve come to expect from Trump. But nothing betrays how racist his clinging to Confederate heritage is quite like even NASCAR letting it go:
Ahead of its Cup Series race Wednesday night in Martinsville, Virginia, NASCAR said it is banning the flying of Confederate flags at its races and other events.
‘The presence of the Confederate flag at NASCAR events runs contrary to our commitment to providing a welcoming and inclusive environment for all fans, our competitors and our industry,’ NASCAR said in a statement on its website.
(CNN, June 10, 2020)
If Trump had any common sense (or common decency), this kind of mockery and rebuke would humble him, compelling him to seek redemption (or better press at the very least). But nobody expects anything of the sort from him. No doubt that explains this extraordinary development:
The Republican-led Senate Armed Services Committee has approved an amendment to the annual defense policy bill that would require the Pentagon to rename bases and other assets that are named after Confederate military leaders. … The inclusion of the amendment to force the Pentagon to change the base names … potentially puts the White House on a collision course with Congress over what’s generally considered a must-pass bill. …
‘LET HIM VETO THE NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT OVER THIS ISSUE LET’S GO!’ Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) tweeted Wednesday night in response to the news about the amendment on base names.
(The Hill, June 11, 2020)
Meanwhile, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is trolling Trump. Only that explains Biden stoking fears about him laying the groundwork to “steal this election.”
Granted, Trump is predictable, stupid, and craven enough to try. And we saw a preview play out in Georgia on Tuesday:
Georgia’s statewide primary elections on Tuesday were overwhelmed by a full-scale meltdown of new voting systems put in place after widespread claims of voter suppression during the state’s 2018 governor’s election.
Some people gave up and left before casting a ballot, and concerns spread that the problems would disenfranchise untold voters, particularly African-Americans. Predominantly black areas experienced some of the worst problems.
(The New York Times, June 11, 2020)
Now all Trump has to do is get his apparatchiks to execute that kind of de facto voter suppression in blue states across the country on Election Day and his re-election would be assured. But Democrats saw this coming four years ago. So WTF!
Perhaps you’ve noticed that former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams has been campaigning for vice president. In fact, she predicated her two-year audition for the eventual Democratic nominee on finding ways to circumvent Republican efforts to suppress the votes of black folks. Yet this was the best she could do … in her own state?!
She’s still blaming the Georgia secretary of state. This, even though the person holding that position today is not the same as the one who held it when she blamed the secretary of state for her famous loss in 2018. Before this there was little to no chance that Biden would pick her as his running mate. Now there’s none.
But frankly, if they allow Trump to pull this off in November, all of this marching in the name of George Floyd and for the cause of racial justice will have been in vain … too.
That said, it’s an open secret here in Washington, DC, that he is held in restive contempt among this country’s leaders in law enforcement (FBI), the military, the judiciary, and, yes, even the secret service.
Hell, no less a person than George F. Will, the disaffected “conscience of the Republican Party,” is convinced that leaders of the GOP are just waiting like rats to jump ship.
Alas, if/when he loses, Trump will foment chaos. It’s what he does. But, if there’s any indication that Biden won by just one electoral vote, inexorable forces will array and align for Inauguration Day to proceed as scheduled on January 20, 2021. And, at the appointed hour, Chief Justice John Roberts will be all too happy to swear in Biden as the 46th president of the United States.
If Trump isn’t gone by then, President Biden will be all too happy to order the secret service to escort him (tweeting and screaming) from the White House. And, trust me, they will be all too happy to comply.
Therefore, as Trump continues hurtling towards re-election, relying solely on Kool-Aid drinking (white) evangelicals and Tiki-Torch carrying racists, November 3 can’t get here soon enough.
Related commentaries:
Charlottesville tiki torch racists… evangelicals…
George Floyd anti-racism protests…