Trump’s Last Stand
When President Trump ordered federal forces to clear a crowd of protestors in Washington DC, close to the White House, to facilitate a photo-op at the recently vandalised St. John’s Church back in June, the world witnessed some of the harshest police protest clearing tactics recently seen in the Western world.
And in the midst of national COVID-19 lockdowns, we witnessed the chilling murder of George Floyd, that erupted into the Black Lives Matter protests that have effected profound change in the conversation about race and privilege both in the US and here in the UK, and have begun long overdue reforms against police powers and protection from prosecution in the aftermath of fatal police encounters, too often in communities of colour.
Amongst all the grief and protesting we also bore witness to shocking acts of media suppression, even against mainstream media outlets, including the arrest live on air of CNN reporter Jim Acosta during the Black Lives Matter protests in Minneapolis. These shocking and unprecedented acts provided a unique window into the authoritarian leadership bent of the commander-in-chief.
Back in early 2020, few would have predicted such a profound collapse of support for Trump in the lead up to the 2020 Presidential elections. But his botched, confused and inept handling of the COVID-19 pandemic has finally exposed him as the ill equip and politically inexperienced business magnate and reality TV veteran that America propelled into the White House back in 2016.
And, as his support continues to fall, Trump has utilised his usual divisive political playbook to focus on the so called ‘radical left’, or progressive voices of colour, the voices of the youth and other liberal groups opposed to Trump’s extreme right-wing agenda that attempts to close borders, defund social programmes, gift tax breaks to the wealthy, make irreversible cuts to government departments and affect regime change in Venezuela, Syria, Iran and China.
As protestors began their campaign to tear down statues commemorating slave traders and anti-abolitionists, Trump pledged to setup a park where these ‘heroes’ could be commemorated.
It should be clearer than day now that Trump is a racist; a white supremacist, who pines for the days when America was majority white, ruled by white politicians, for the benefit of the majority white elites.
And now Trump is deploying his army of federal police to harass and detain BLM protestors in Portland Oregon, against the wishes of both the mayor of Portland and the governor of Oregon.
Every week I’m shocked by what I see in the United States. This once great country is rapidly falling down a path of authoritarianism and isolation. And, with only a few months until the Presidential elections, I’m sure we’ll see a steady escalation of federal tactics against Trump’s political opponents, accompanied by ever increasing and desperate moves by the president to hold onto office and secure a second term in the White House.
Good luck America! We’ll be watching (albeit somewhat uncomfortably …)
