I believe I’ve made this observation before, but I want to repeat myself, so when it happens, like Trump I can say “I told you so”. What brought this to mind was the editorial in this morning’s Boston Globe, which, in the course of dissing Trump’s twitter mania, made oblique reference to an extremely troubling aspect of the mind of Trump:
One interesting question is why Trump dropped the pretense about the ban. Is this merely a case of a president who can’t keep his story straight? Did Trump decide he wanted to strike a resonant chord with his base, legal consequences be damned? Or has he made a more complex calculation that tweeting now will let him say “I told you so” if the Supreme Court doesn’t reinstate his order and a terrorist attack somehow involving one of those Muslim nations then occurs in the United States? The profound cynicism shown by this administration about governing makes nearly anything possible.
via The Boston Globe
If a president were to intentionally embark upon a course of conduct designed to induce a terrorist act, he or she could hardly improve on Trump’s behavior over the course of the last few months. It is safe to conclude that Trump wants a terrorist attack. Moreover, I think we can safely conclude that some of those around him, such as Steve Bannon, would welcome such an attack too. After all, a few American lives (so long as they themselves are spared) is a small price to pay for the opportunity to increase the fear level here at home. What an opportunity to destroy the remnants of our civil liberties and our republican (mind that small “r”) form of government. Remember how Bush seized the opportunity afforded by 9/11 to grab power and run roughshod over our liberties? Multiply that by 10, and you come close to what you’d get from Trump. No doubt they would count on the reaction being like it was after 9/11: total support for the president.
Ah, but there might be the rub. It would be ever so helpful if the Democrats would help inoculate the body politic against fascism by claiming loud and long right now that Trump wants a terror attack here. But obviously they would never do such a thing, unless Trump is quite explicit in a pre-attack tweet. Far be it from the Democrats to be so impolite, not to mention speak with one voice. But there is still a shred of hope. When the attack comes, Trump will make George W look like Lincoln. The first thing he’ll do is crow about how right he was to want a travel ban, etc. Remember his self congratulatory tweet after the Orlando shooting? If he’s obnoxious enough, and given his already low popularity, he may not be able to parlay the attack into a safe, secure fascistic dictatorship.
A terror incident would suit Trump’s purposes as much, if not more than, it would suit the purposes of the terrorists. At bottom, they are not enemies, they are allies. Each gets something they want out of terrorism.
Caveat: It need hardly be said that when I use the word “terrorism” I refer only to actions taken by dark skinned persons of the Muslim faith. When white men do these things it is because they are screwed up disturbed loners. In such cases, the proper response is to urge all Americans to carry guns at all times, because then nothing could possibly go wrong.
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