Trump Said Two Things Today You Need to Know

The best single afternoon journalist on TV, Nicolle Wallace is having one of those shows that ought to be required viewing for all citizens. As per usual, it isn’t just Nicolle saying a ton of smart shit, while being the girl your mom wanted you to bring home. It is Steve Schmidt, quickly becoming a very necessary American, and “Donny” Deutsch who has a way of taking what you previously thought to be rather bland and making it hit the gut, that are also at their sharpest.

Somehow, I have blogged twice today on things Trump has done lately, and not known that last night, Trump said; “Democrats hate the police.”

What.The.F*ck.

“Democrats hate the police,” says the man who has pretty well called the entire FBI a criminal organization plotting a coup against Jeffersonian democracy as funded by the Clinton Foundation. I believe it was Steve Schmidt who noted the quote first. He surely did note the implications.

This is what DICTATORS DO!

Trump has already said that the press is the “enemy of the people,” something also done by every dictator, ever. Now, he is taking it upon himself to declare that Democrats are the enemy of all law-abiding Americans, because we hate the police. 

The sad part is, the line surely got a ton of applause. After all, who really wants to think about the difference Democrats see between hating it when a police officer (individually) shoots an unarmed black man without cause, and hating America’s finest (collectively). Every single run-in I have had with “the police” has involved me either A) doing something wrong, i.e. driving 10 mph above the speed limit, or B) been wonderful, i.e. introducing my then 5 year old daughter to a policeman and saying “Their favorite job is to help kids” while winking at him. He got down low and smiled and said: “That’s right, it’s actually the only part of my job I really really like.” He gave her a big smile and a sticker, then shook my hand. Me, yes – me, Democrat, hating the police. 

But, you can’t be a real dictator without making all the folks opposed to you the enemy of the people who are on board with every breath you take. You can’t make your supporters truly hate your opponents without giving them many good reasons. Even things blatantly stupid on their face will do, when they’re looking for a reason.

Next, Donny noted that Harley Davidson’s announcement that they were moving some manufacturing offshore, specifically because of the Trump tariffs, has also shaken Trump’s inner-dictatorial urges. To wit:

A Harley-Davidson should never be built in another country-never! Their employees and customers are already very angry at them. If they move, watch, it will be the beginning of the end – they surrendered, they quit! The Aura will be gone and they will be taxed like never before!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 26, 2018

In case it need be said, I don’t want to see Harley-Davidson move out of the country any more than I hate police. But, as Donny pointed out, this is now the president of the United States attempting to dictate to Harley-Davidson where they will or will not build their motorcycles. Trump later said in a meeting that Harley-Davidson isn’t moving because of the tariffs, they’re using it as an excuse. Well, maybe. That would make absolutely zero sense since I don’t tend to associate Harleys with Democrats, but who the hell knows? None of us are in that boardroom, and that’s sort of the point in the United States. We believe in free-enterprise and getting government out of the boardroom (and bedroom, for that matter).

Not Trump.

Donny Deutsch was having none of it, pointing out that this is what dictators do. They intimidate private industry, and attempt to galvanize their “base” against the company that now has god knows how many Trump voters contemplating never buying a Harley again. They punish companies that dare to go against the program by urging a base to consider boycotting a company.

That’s a decision Harley buyers might’ve come to anyway, especially upon the announcement. But that’s not the point. The point is that this is a president so far beyond the bounds of where normal presidents stick their nose, so far over the line of democratically elected leaders, so high on his own pure power, that nothing is off-limits anymore.

Democracies don’t die overnight, they fall one domino at a time, and we ought to watch each little fall. I say that because I do have a little good news from the show. A full 50% of Americans believe that the country is taking steps away from democracy and toward authoritarianism. By god that’s the best news I’ve heard all day! Weird as it is to say, it means that people are, in fact, paying attention.

Hence, because you are paying attention, I thought you needed to know these two – otherwise small things – on an otherwise normal day, in the most abnormal, and dangerous, presidency.