Despite having suffered the worst 100-day start in presidential history, despite having taken foreign dignitaries to his luxury hotel, lining his personal pockets, and having spent one day on his private golf courses for every five days he’s been in office, despite having absolutely no legislative record so far, and despite having the lowest-ever approval ratings at the start of a presidency, Donald Trump can be president of the United States for as long as he wants the job.
Let me say that again: Donald Trump can remain president as long as he wants to, even after his second term expires, no matter what the Constitution says, because at the rate he’s going there will be some catastrophic emergency which will require the suspension of the Constitution, or the imposition of a state of emergency “until we figure out what’s going on,” before The Donald leaves office. If left to him, he’s never leaving that office.
You see, 42 percent of the American electorate supports Trump. Those people are tired of seeing black people standing up, making decisions, looking like they’re running the country. Trump has put the kibosh on all of that. He has trashed everything President Obama did while he was in office. He’s tried to undo everything, and make mockery of just about everyone black who’s come into his view — Susan Rice, the Congressional Black Caucus, even journalist April Ryan.
Those Trump diehards don’t pay any attention to the details. All they see is their guy, putting some uppity black person back “in their place.” The Trump loyalists love it! So what if he makes a mistake here or there, sends the “armada” south toward Australia instead of north toward Korea? It doesn’t matter. His intentions are good. He means well … he means well for white people, and they understand that and they get it.
When folks say there was a racist, “dog whistle” campaign, they’re correct. There was a message that was being spoken all through the campaign, the transition and now this presidency, that the ears of some white people are attuned to, while black folks just don’t get it. Even college-educated whites, and white females got the message. A majority of white women — 53 percent — voted for the guy who said women will let a pervert like him “grab their p—” so long as he’s a celebrity.
Throughout the campaign, Trump maintained 42 percent (or so) public support, like he does now. At least 94 percent of those who voted for him say they are satisfied with his poor performance. He’s their “white” guy.
Anybody who can say, “I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters,” as Trump said at a campaign rally almost a year before the election, is never going to willingly, peacefully leave office, and his diehard supporters will take up arms to defend him, even if the courts and the Congress say otherwise. Some of them are just itching to take up arms to protect their movement, and “kill them some darkie terrorists.”
These are the last days. My friend, the late Lawrence Guyot, from down in Pass Christian, Mississippi used to say that this country does not have any problem that cannot be fixed by voting. I can’t imagine what Guyot would make out of this situation, but I’m afraid the United States now has a president for life, and we’ll all come to see that there is nothing which can be done about it at the ballot box.
Comparisons of this Trump regime with the double-speak, “alternative facts” world of George Orwell’s dystopian novel “1984” are common and correct. But look at how the Pigs in Orwell’s “Animal Farm,” rode into power on animal anti-human “populism.” The slogan was “Four legs good. Two legs bad,” until after the Revolution, the pigs moved into the farmhouse and started walking on their hind legs. They changed the slogan.
Trump rode into office promising to “Make America first,” stay out of overseas wars, and to “drain the swamp” that is the Washington political environment. Well, since he’s been in office he’s gratuitously sent missiles and dropped bombs on countries which are no threat to the U.S., and he has conspicuously stocked “the swamp” with billionaire alligators from big-money Wall Street firms.
He leads the cheer announcing he’s saved 700 factory jobs, and then fires 30,000 federal workers. And you think he’s going to let go of his government job? Fuhgeddaboudit! Despite his low approval ratings, he’s president for life.