I think we would all like to be surprised by Donald Trump. All it would take is some sign of just plain old goodness and caring — caring for someone other than himself. But this is the stuff of fairy tales.
Right now, Trump is doing his usual two-step — and a possible third step — to guarantee his continued support. Step 1: Lie, promise and bribe. In other words, be fake nice, Trump-style. Step 2: Go into full revenge mode, hunting down enemies, real and perceived. Step 3: Possibly extend his revenge to the whole country.
Step 1: Trump claims, despite the facts, that the economy has never been stronger, that inflation is way down and that gas and diesel prices will come down soon. They are up temporarily only because he had to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear bomb. Meantime, as a goodwill gesture, he is sending everyone $90 immediately and another $5,000 if he wins both the House of Representatives and Senate.
Step 2: Trump claims that the country has been invaded by Black and Brown immigrants. To save the country, he is rounding up all undocumented immigrants, especially the criminals — “the worst of the worst” — and deporting them. (This is not true. According to the Cato Institute, only 30%-35% of people deported or detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have criminal convictions.) He is also going after all those whom, he claims, hate America, including those who have testified against him and who have said hateful things about him or have simply disagreed with him. Perhaps the most heinous of his actions, if true, is his role in reducing the effectiveness of Starlink and Starshield in helping Ukraine fight off the latest Russian attacks on civilians and energy infrastructure.
Step 3: If steps 1 and 2 don’t win him the support he craves, he may consider doing what Adolf Hitler tried to do when he realized World War II was lost, i.e., take revenge on his own country (what else is left to blame?). (See Paul Krugman’s Oct. 14 Substack.) I don’t even want to think what this might look like.
Frederick Longacre
Hockessin
Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.
