Lawless Trump demands law and order on campuses
Friends,
Trump yesterday urged college presidents to be tougher on students protesting the war in Gaza, calling them “raging lunatics.” He continued: “To every college president, I say remove the encampments immediately. Vanquish the radicals and take back our campuses for all of the normal students.”
Trump’s law-and-order message about the protests is at odds with his lawless presidential campaign — which is centered on his baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him, that the January 6 rioters were “patriots,” and that Biden is behind Trump’s current federal and state prosecutions.
On Tuesday, Judge Juan M. Merchan, who is presiding over Trump’s trial for election fraud, found Trump in contempt of court for attacking witnesses and jurors and warned he might jail Trump if his attacks on the judge, prosecutors, and witnesses continued.
Trump does not rule out the possibility of political violence around the election. “If we don’t win, you know, it depends,” he says. He claimed on Truth Social that a stolen election “allows for the termination of all rules, regulations and articles, even those found in the Constitution.”
“He’s in full war mode,” says his former adviser and occasional confidant Stephen Bannon. Trump’s sense of the state of the country is “quite apocalyptic. That’s where Trump’s heart is. That’s where his obsession is.”
This morning, President Biden, commenting on student protests around the country, said “peaceful protest is in the best tradition of how Americans respond to consequential issues,” but noted that “there is not a right to cause chaos” and “it’s against the law when violence occurs. Destroying property is not a peaceful protest.”
Biden is working behind the scenes to get humanitarian aid to Gaza and stop Netanyahu from ordering an attack on Rafah. I wish he would condition further aid to Israel on a ceasefire in Gaza.
When voters tell pollsters they think Trump is “stronger” than Biden on foreign policy or the economy, the “strength” they feel comes from the emotions Trump stirs up — rage, ferocity, vindictiveness, and anger. These emotions are connected to brute strength.
Trump gets attention because the media lives off emotive messaging. The more charged the message, the more likely viewers will stop scrolling. The fiercer the words, the more likely readers will take notice.
Everything Trump says and posts is designed to spur an emotional reaction. His anger, ridicule, and vindictiveness are intended to elicit immediate, passionate responses. They don’t inform. They don’t truthfully explain. They just stir up.
Biden projects strength the old-fashioned way — through measured leadership. But mature and responsible leadership doesn’t break through today’s media and reach today’s public nearly as well as brute strength.
So what’s the answer? Not for Biden (or his Democratic allies and surrogates) to abandon facts, data, analysis, and reasoned argument.
The best response is for Biden to continue the hard work of governing, including putting maximum pressure on Netanyahu to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza.
Biden and other Democrats must draw the starkest possible contrast between Trump’s unhinged childishness and Biden’s competent adulthood.
Rather than sell Biden’s policies, sell Biden’s character. Rather than dispute Trump’s arguments, condemn his temperament.
And ask Americans the following question: Do they want a sociopathic infant at the helm again, or a sane grown-up?
What I don’t understand is why Biden doesn’t make aid to Israel conditional to pursuing a cease fire and two state solution
Thank you Prof. Reich for pointing out the infantile behavior of Donald Trump. The challenge, so much of our media is promoting such infantile behavior with hardly a note that what ?Trump is doing and proposing is toddleresque and not what respectful leaders do and say. Beyond a few journalists and commentators, Trump's whining, complaining, insulting, and ignoring of the facts are just a normal way of running for office. They cover Trump more than Biden/Harris and call Trump's trial in New York "a hush money trial." In reality it is a "cooking the books for personal and electoral gain" trial. For years, the folks who attend Trump's rallies have demonstrated that they do not hear what Trump says. They react to Trump's bluster, a few code words, and the idea that Trump is strong. When interviewed even right after the rally, they can't state one specific thing that Trump stands for, or if they happen to come up with something it is superficial, like he hates immigration. Last week, the Supreme Court conservatives talked as though they thought Trump had a case for immunity for his crimes and tried to justify such a ridiculous position with gobbledygook that was supposed to sound scholarly but really sounded stupid and toddleresque (what would a future president do if they thought they could be prosecuted after leaving office for something he did in office?). Yo Mr. Alito, maybe he would not commit the crimes he could be prosecuted for. Oh wait, that might just bee too difficult for Alito to comprehend. I guess it's not 17th century enough for his stuck brain. I don't know how to wake this nation up before we lose what we have. Over the centuries, states have proven over and over, they do not care much for people's rights if those rights get in the way of the few rich white men in charge. Up until now, during my lifetime, when it comes to rights, I would go with the federal government over most state governments, and our state governments prove I am right over and over, almost daily. We need our federal government stepping in more often to curb the bad state legislative and judicial behavior.