Unpublished editorial

Lights, please?

Today, in Minneapolis and some 3,100 other locations, millions upon millions of Americans will protest the Trump administration and its transformation of our government.

Minnesotans know what they are protesting; but in the major media, we see articles asking, “What is No Kings really all about?”

I believe I can answer.

Disarming the Electorate

Trump greatly admires leaders who exercise total control over their citizenry (Putin, Kim, etc.). Deemed a lame duck on Inauguration Day, his combined behaviors since then suggest that Trump would like to engineer such a permanent position for himself. (The “third term” talk was always real and never a joke.)

How could he gain such control? He has to see the strategic advantage the unelected “mullahs” have over an American president, who must simultaneously pursue his agenda and calm the fears of a nervous electorate. 

But what if the electorate were removed from the equation? What if Trump knew that no election, revolt, foreign attack, or batch of files could dislodge him from power? What if, instead of threatening his end, the next election could be brought under “Republican control”, as he puts it, meaning MAGA control?

Enter the SAVE Act. If passed, Trump has crowed that the law will limit voting like never before and guarantee fifty years of Republican rule. In his mind, it is a weapon to use against Democrats. But it has been suggested by others that the law will stifle rural Republican votes as well. 

Perhaps any vote not tallied is considered a win for Republicans. If that’s the case, the Supreme Court appears ready to help by limiting mail-in votes to those received by election day. Then there’s Trump’s tirades against mail-in voting itself (he just voted by mail in Florida), his threats of deploying ICE to polling stations, and new “stop the steal”-type ballot seizure activity by his FBI/DHS in Georgia. 

It reminds us of all the lies, voting machine shenanigans and baseless lawsuits attempting to disenfranchise swing state voters in 2021.

If Republicans win this November, expect no problems. If not, get ready for “Stop the Steal 2”.

War to Nowhere?

As for the here and now, some believe that Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu doesn’t see war as a means to an end—that instead, war itself is the policy. Trump, in choosing to join Israel’s forever conflict with Iran, is denying his political base, expending supposedly scarce U.S. munitions at an alarming rate, and emptying other active theaters (such as the Gulf of Mexico) of American forces, in order to accomplish…what? Does the America First crowd even care?

Meanwhile, Trump says he may “take” Cuba.

Trump knows the mullahs will never cede power as long as they can hold it. And they will hold it, because decades of oppression and violence against their own population has eliminated all significant domestic opposition, while armed gangs enforce that truth daily on the streets of Tehran.

Whether such “leadership” is legitimate or not depends on your point of view. I’m becoming convinced that Trump and his MAGA lieutenants are less offended by the strong-arm approach to governing than they are envious of its undeniable staying power. 

Such power is also wielded, of course, by Trump heroes Kim and Putin, as well as other, lesser authoritarians. It’s true of the Cuban regime. It was becoming true for Maduro. Such men are not “left” or “right”. They fight for unassailable power. 

MAGA Won’t Protect What Trump Doesn’t Care About

I know what my country is about. Does Trump—and therefore MAGA—agree? With the anti-voter SAVE Act and other GOP barriers; with pointless militarized occupations of “Democrat cities”; with endless rhetoric demonizing the “violent left” and “deranged” judges; with retributive prosecutions of political opponents by Justice Department loyalists; with conspiracy theory-laced government Web sites; with constant threats to the NATO alliance and European “allies”; with official  xenophobia toward Islam amid celebrations of white Christian identity—culminating in this war of aggression prosecuted by a nakedly evangelical and creepily bloodthirsty Pentagon—I would say no. 

Defending democratic norms and rule of law, ensuring domestic tranquility, protecting human rights, and honoring his leadership responsibilities in both NATO and the liberal-democratic world order are simply not on Trump’s agenda. 

That’s why we protest.