This is a major cause for concern. But then, anything Trump gets in his mostly-empty head is a cause for concern. We’ve had test cases that seem to be exactly what he wants. But if it gets worse…. From CNN:
President Donald Trump and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker are each the type of foe the other loves to hate. On one level, their escalating showdown over the president’s threat to send the National Guard onto the streets of Chicago is a convenient political feud. Trump thrives when he has an enemy to target. His political appeal is based on the premise that he is stronger than anyone who tries to challenge or restrain him. Pritzker is a potential Democratic presidential hopeful.
We all know, ad nauseam, what Trump thinks of Democrats. We all know he’ll take any opportunity to stomp on them. But Pritzker is pushing back in no uncertain terms. He won’t back down to Trump. Governor Pritzker isn’t playing games. He stood up and sheltered Texas Democrats under the gerrymandering. He is standing up to Trump.
But this clash runs deeper than a short-term political spat. It might develop into a full-blown crisis between a Republican White House and a major Democratic-run city and state. Likely legal challenges could turn on core values of republicanism in a dispute between a president with a monarchical sense of power and a state that rejects federal duress. When Pritzker on Monday told Trump, “Do not come to Chicago. You are neither wanted here nor needed here,” he was echoing tensions fundamental to the American system of governance that were stirred at notable moments of US history.
Trump wants to take over Chicago. He’s had a thing for that city starting way back in 2016. So, it isn’t one of Trump’s fly-by-night ideas. He wants Chicago. He *really* wants Chicago. Well, they’re telling him not just no, but HELL NO. The governor isn’t about to back down, and neither is the city. Chicago could not be done under a specious excuse like he did for LA and Washington, DC. But dementia-man will find *some* sort of excuse.
But his motives might raise fewer questions if he were also targeting violent cities in GOP-run states. Indeed, CNN’s Marshall Cohen reported that at least 10 cities in states whose GOP governors sent Guard troops to Washington had higher rates of violent crime and homicide than the nation’s capital last year. But then, Trump often proposes radical solutions to reasonable questions that call into doubt his respect for the law and the Constitution. His crime crackdowns look likely to take the country up to that line again.
Mercy. I have a bad feeling about this. Trump is likely to head into Chicago and other Democratic areas no matter what. If he overrides the governor and mayor of Chicago and anywhere else, it’s a major step on the way to martial law for the *country*. That‘s even worse. 3 years and 5 months to survive.
Friends, I know everybody begs you for money. I promise you that of all of the outlets bugging you for spare change, we are the smallest and the hardest working. We’re a bunch of old, disabled people, except one writer in his mid-50s. But the rest of us are in our sixties and seventies, and this is a labor of love. All we’re asking for is the ability to continue our quest to tell the truth about Trump and ensure democracy survives. If you can help, please do. Thanks. Ursula
Herr Grump, its apparent, will muck rake and scheme, to expedite ascent up that sketchy leaning tower of babel he’s building, one very wrong wrung at a time.