Trump has threatened to call out the Army to suppress violence in the demonstrations following George Floyd's death. He specifically wants to completely "dominate" persons he has called terrorists to protect the good people of America. He has warned that should governors not act in accordance with his view of how this should be handled, he will order in the US Army against their advice.
The persons advising Trump would no doubt see reason in this approach. The calculus is simple - violent demonstrators hurt peaceful citizens and destroy property...those peaceful persons will want it stopped, and they vote....soldiers can stop it...send them in. The result should be a bump at the polls, which of course is what this is really all about.
The people Americans normally look to in order to deal with theft and vandalism are the police. Where the violence has been considered extreme, governors have already called up their National Guard to assist.
So, we have soldiers on the streets of the Good Ole' US of A, some called out by nervous governors, and many more threatened by the President of the United States. When discussion fails and outrage follows, soldiers are apparently the solution.
A simple question....
What if the show of force backfires and the protestors don't go home?
The protests in Hong Kong went on literally for months. There are tens of millions of unemployed Americans now who have nothing to do and nothing to lose.
Is the United States ready for soldiers in their streets, not for hours, but for months?
I am especially worried about July 4th.
Will the US military be deployed in the streets across that country to quell demonstrations on a day that is sacred to Americans?
Soldiers carry AR-15s. Will people be shot on that sacred day? Worse, will the shooters be White and victims be Black?
I watched Trump's speech yesterday. It was very well done...his supporters would have been delighted. But if you watched it, did you catch the cryptic reference to Second Amendment rights?
For Trump's supporters, the Second Amendment encompasses their vision of their relationship with the government and with society itself - they have the right to bear arms, so they have the right to take up arms if they think they need to for political reasons as well as to protect themselves.
Part of society is demonstrating against police racism, and against racism writ large. Trump has recommended absolutely nothing to quell racism, but he wants the army to stop it, and he has also cryptically called out others to act by referring to this right.
Do you understand that by referring to the Second Amendment in these circumstances the President of the United States has also implicitly called out White vigilantes to help deal with the Black "problem"? - Trump was channelling his inner KKK...
While looting is likely a local phenomena wherever it has been occurring, there are also obviously foreign-inspired agitators behind much of this violence. The violence and the foreign entity - let's call it Russia - aim at dividing the USA. This malignant force is in league with a president who has always seen political gain in division.
A real president would be searching ways to heal his nation. This man can't wait to start counting body bags.
"Democracy is talking itself to death. The people do not know what they want; they do not know what is the best for them. There is too much foolishness, too much lost motion. I have stopped the talk and the nonsense. I am a man of action. Democracy is beautiful in theory; in practice it is a fallacy. You in America will see that some day." - Mussolini
Oh, of course the S & P 500 just keeps moving up and up...one body bag at a time.
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