The republic in flames
Trump has found his Roy Cohn ... The Pussy Grabber waves a bible ... Sacking inspectors general en masse ... Grifters united ... Attempts to politicise the armed services ... Roger Fitch files from Washington
"He Is Even Dumber Than We Thought" - New Republic headline.
"As limited as his mental capacity is, he needs no assistance in thinking of ways to grab things that he wants, whether it is vaginas or political power, legal limitations be damned" - Justia.
"Trump is a 'predator' who 'would be in prison' if he hadn't been born rich" - clinical psychiatrist.
"Trump has reached the 'mad emperor' stage, and it's terrifying to behold" - Guardian headline.
Abetted by Attorney General William Barr (a man compared to Carl Schmitt and Roy Cohn), Donald Trump has long searched for a Reichstag Fire to further his authoritarian agenda (more here), and he thought he'd found one in the George Floyd protests sweeping the US.
It started with his (disputed) discovery that he controlled the District of Columbia National Guard, and might bring in out-of-state National Guards. Immediately, America's infantile president was like a child with a new toy: a new weapon to use, not just against demonstrators, but also the media.
On June first, Trump emerged from his White House bunker. His usual Schutzstaffel augmented with a mysterious unmarked paramilitary force (either an FBI hostage rescue team or Bureau of Prisons Special Operations Response Team), America's Caudillo strode across Pennsylvania Avenue to St John's Church, followed by his AG, his defence secretary and worst of all, a fatigue-clad (now contrite) head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
St John's precincts had been violently cleared of peaceful demonstrators by the thuggish AG; in the space provided, a photo-op was staged. Having just promised to send in the army, America's godless leader now stood before the church brandishing a bible, a repudiation of separation of church and state as well as freedom of assembly.
The Episcopal bishop was outraged, but Trump was unrepentant, having recently claimed the non-existent power to force states to open churches.
Trump with his Schutzstaffel - on the way to church
It seemed a simple stunt designed to beat up the president's bestial "base", but Americans were alarmed by a new danger: a politicised military, as quickly recognised by the military itself. An earlier military showdown in Washington (in 1932) ended badly for another Republican president.
Was this threatened coup the moment the shameless president went too far for the tolerant (race-aside) Americans? His polls sank. Ex-officials and some Republican senators began speaking out. More here.
• • •
It should have happened sooner. Behind the theatre, there is nothing innocent about Trump's flagrant deregulatory corruption and criminal mischief. The president is using the pandemic pretext to kill health and environmental regulations, even flout court orders, while ingratiating himself with supporters by funding church salaries, tormenting sexual minorities and reviving barbaric hunting practices.
Every lever of government has been corruptly co-opted, and even alternative civil institutions of the Republican Party have been subverted: the Federalist Society has become a Trump tool rather than a vehicle for conservative legal sentiment. More here.
Ransacking the republic has required the removal of inspectors general en masse. These "Stalinist" purges should be a national scandal; their purpose, other than revenge (the Intelligence IG who forwarded the Ukraine extortion whistleblower's account to congress) and punishment, is to forestall any investigations of the president, at least until after the election.
The first high-level victim was the Office of Personnel Management chief; others followed, including Glenn Fine, the newly-named IG charged with oversight of disbursal of the corona virus appropriations, and the IGs for both Defence (also Glenn Fine) and the State Department.
It's not just IGs being sacked, witness Rick Bright, an official who declined to recommend the dangerous anti-malarial drug Trump had been spruiking, along with other nostrums peddled by his mates.
deVos: regulations to protect dodgy "educational" institutions
For some of Trump's new placemen - who often have conflicts of interest - it's a prize: a mediocre Texas congressman, John Ratcliffe, was awarded Chief of Intelligence for obstructing Trump's impeachment.
The president also believes in looking after grifters like himself. New regulations cobbled together by his odious Education Secretary Betsy deVos are designed to protect proprietors of unscrupulous "colleges" like Trump University from student actions and remedies. Congress overturned her regulations, but Trump vetoed the disallowance (more deVos skulduggery here).
• • •
Some discern a constructive abdication by Trump of his constitutional role as president. Why doesn't he just retire, go back to shady real estate deals, TV shows and personal (as opposed to public) branding?
Admittedly, if he clings to power four more years, lots of criminal statutes of limitations will run out.
He'd also have more time to settle old scores before he leaves, e.g, bring back unrestrained defamation (unless he's the target), although this could backfire.
America: The Smoking Ruin
As it is, he's hurting The Party, and looks like taking the senate down with him.
Either way, the country will be a smoking ruin when he goes.
