Donald Trump is back at it as the executive producer and star of a reality TV show.
Last time it was The Apprentice, with Trump starring as a tycoon.
This time it is Democratic Disorder, with Trump as provocateur, pretending to be peacemaker.
Trump has a strategy for re-election: Send paramilitary forces to provoke protesters in Democratic cities, scare the suburbs, win on platform of restoring order.
Most of the cast members in Trump's new show are playing their expected roles. There is one big exception, the "Wall of Moms." They are messing up Trump's show by changing the story line.
Black Lives Matter protests after the death of George Floyd evolved into a more general unrest and protest, involving policing, racial grievances, and amorphous generational discontent. Loosely affiliated groups Antifa and a Youth Liberation Army inspire people, primarily young and male, to vandalize, spread graffiti, break windows and doors on federal buildings, and in some cases, throw projectiles at police. It is enough to create a scene of disorder.
That is the backdrop. Trump has gone to work making this into a TV show that will get him re-elected. Trump is trying to change the story from the virus into a better one for him.
The New York Times reported:
"President Trump plans to deploy federal law enforcement to Chicago and threatened on Monday to send agents to other major cities--all controlled by Democrats.... Federal agents in Portland have snatched protesters off the streets and thrown them into unmarked vehicles without explaining why they were being detained."
Trump screwed up the virus response. At first it looked promising as a tactic--minimize and hope it goes away, don't over-react. The gamble failed. The virus spread. Unemployment is back up, people are getting sick in swing states, people cannot get test or test results.
The virus story is a loser for Trump. Disorder in Democratic cities is a winner.
The virus story is a loser for Trump. Disorder in Democratic cities is a winner. Swing voters don't want disorder, and he can blame disorder on Democratic officeholders and people over-reacting to alleged racial grievance. Trump's challenge was to keep the protests alive.
To make sure Antifa, and youth gangs showed up to be the scary bad guys Trump sent in federal police costumed and outfitted to trigger anti-fascist fear factor. They came in black unmarked vehicles. They wear camouflage. They do mysterious, brutal things. They get photographed beating guiltless people. They haul people away to secret places, who are then returned to tell their story. It seems weird and dark. This is exactly the behavior one would do to trigger circulation of the "we are on the brink of fascism" meme.
Trump's military did not need to be mysteriously ominous. This is stagecraft. Oregon's Attorney General, the ACLU, federal Democratic officeholders are all upset, as they should be. Para-military policing is a provocation. The responsible parties filed lawsuits and demanded investigations. More important to Trump, the protest groups took the bait. See! Fascism! The result is more violence, bigger protest groups later into the night, now with a new target and cause.
Fox News knows what to do to play their part in the new show. A broken window and spray paint and protesters walking in nighttime streets are better visuals and a more appropriate Breaking News! story that whether or not Trump wears a mask. It is the "A" block on cable news.
Trump has his starring role: the law and order tough guy who puts down the revolt. The sides line up perfectly, so Trump can talk about violence, not race. The fact that the Antifa and Youth Liberation gangs are gangs of whites, not blacks, is inconvenient, but white protesters, some of whom do illegal acts are chanting "Black Lives Matter" some of the time. It is enough. These violent people are "Biden's America," Trump says, and he will protect us from the violence Biden tolerates.
There is one big spoiler in the group, the Wall of Moms. Groups of women, primarily wearing yellow, have shown up as peacemakers, and protectors of the protests, standing between the protesters and the federal para-military troops. Their presence re-defines the story. They, not the police, become the voice of the suburbs. They are the normal, good people, who want peace, safety, and order, the people that suburban voters can identify with. They aren't joining the federal officers; they are standing between them and the protesters. This redefines the federal officers in military gear as provocateurs sent by Trump, agitators, not peacemakers.
In 2016 enough people thought Trump was a hell raiser who would drain the swamp and make some good changes. Now Trump's flamboyant, aggressive style is being understood as creating discord. The Moms did important work in Portland. They changed the show. If they stick around, and if similar Moms groups arise in other cities, Trump will need to cancel his new show. Instead of elevating his campaign, it will further sink it.
Let's see if Moms groups show up elsewhere.
4 comments:
Good tactic by the moms, but they are going to have to stay longer, possibly even all night.
There was plenty of violent footage from later on last night.
Great analysis, Peter. You said, "More important to Trump, the protest groups took the bait. See! Fascism! The result is more violence, bigger protest groups later into the night, now with a new target and cause." Protesters who fall for this will only contribute to the problem. Also, do not discount agent provocateurs that have been operating since time immemorial. Folks should google Executive Order on Protecting American Monuments, Memorials, and Statues and Combating Recent Criminal Violence" issued on June 26 and which provided the groundwork for the state terrorism Portland is experiencing courtesy of Trump's DHS Stasi.
Right wingers should be just as concerned about the usurpation of state sovereignty (courtesy of the AUMF, "Authorization to Use Military Force," passed after 9/11)...think Malhuer. This policy vastly expanded the President's ability to wage war, most recently observed in the assasination of Soleimani by drone in Iraq. The war on terror has come home; I think they call that karma.
We need the FEMININE to replace our self-destructive patriarchy. Men need to access the positive feminine qualities in themselves. We need to elect powerful women (not Thatcher/Clinton types) to office. (Look at who leads the most successful countries in response to the pandemic.) Trump is counting on a Hobbesian world view: "when citizens are insecure and at the same time driven by competitive aspirations, they yearn for political stability rather than civic engagement, protection rather than political involvement." (Thomas Hobbes) Those brave, moma-bear women ain't no "soccer moms." "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." (Shakespeare)
Andy Seles
PLO terrorists hide among the general population so that it makes it difficult to root them out (and eliminate them). Antifa has adopted the same tactic.
Antifa thugs have now recruited misguided young women to be their "shields". Antifa plans on hiding behind the skirts of women, who are being used. These are naive, White women who don't have a clue about the real world, and what Black Lives Matter stands for. Most of these women have been brainwashed, and many come from lives of privilege. They wouldn't know a ghetto if it hit them in the face. Hiding behind girls has become the new tactic of Antifa and BLM.
It won't work. These women aren't "arrest free zones", or "sanctuary zones". Their naivete is overwhelming. They foolishly think that they can stop the cops. In actuality, they are accessories to criminal activities, and they should be arrested.
Next, I expect Antifa to hide behind children. "Antifa is for the children".
Trump is doing a good job. The Feds should prosecute Ted Wheeler and Kate Brown for being accessories to criminal activities. They've been derelict.
You may be right, however I have my doubts.
I think it can just as easily be an overreaction, seen as necessary to soothe the base, but incompetent and politically short sighted. These events will have a long tail of prosecutions, journalism, and political ads featuring Nazi Germany footage.
I call backfire...
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