In Front of Our Noses: An Unprofessional and Unserious President

“To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle.”-George Orwell.

For previous entries, click here.

I am still digesting the ongoing events in California, but want to draw attention to a small yet telling moment from President Trump’s Truth Social post aimed at Governor Newsom of California. Indeed, this is the kind of thing this series of posts is really aimed at: getting us to look at specific transgressions against normal governance and behavior that we have gotten inured to.

Ok, so here we have an escalating set of confrontations between protestors and law enforcement in one of America’s most populated counties, and the President of the United States thinks this is a good time to call names and to hurl insults.

While this is normal for Trump, as he has behaved this way before, this is not normal in the context of American history, nor should it be the kind of behavior we should expect from adults in positions of power and authority. It should not be ignored or dismissed as “Trump being Trump” or the like.

But beyond the juvenility of it all, I will again remind everyone of the subtitle of Jason Stanley’s book, How Fascism Works, which is “The Politics of Us and Them.”

Trump constantly practices the politics of us versus them. Quite obviously, he does so with immigrants, and we are seeing this play out in Compton and Paramount and across the country. But it is worth noting that he does it, as he is with Newsom and Bass, with politicians outside his party (or anyone who doesn’t behave the way he wants), even when he is supposed to be acting as the head of the national government. Instead, he always acts as the head of his own political movement.

Here’s a follow-up post, which is chock-full of lies and half-truths (for example, the Guard has just been mobilized and has a limited support role, so what “great job” could they have done? And the assertion of paid troublemakers is baseless). There is also the irony of declaring masks at protests verboten. How about banning them for ICE agents conducting snatch and grabs?

And, of course, more insulting of the people he should be working with.

None of this shows a man interested in governing. But it does show a man interested in deepening us-versus-them divisions in American political life as well as one who thinks that force makes right.