MANSFIELD: Whatever You Do, Please Don’t Stop

Photo: Eden, Janine and Jim/Creative Commons

 

As much as it might rankle me and cause my blood to boil when I see losers, bigots and plain ‘ol nut cases marching through the streets of American cities carrying Nazi flags, I want them to continue to do so, and my position has nothing to do with protecting their First Amendment rights. No, it’s because these assorted kooks and clowns have become the best organizing tools progressives have had since the election, and are forcing Trump’s soft supporters — the less wacky — to choose sides, and few care to be on the side of Nazis.

Trump’s comment that some of the members of group of torch-bearing racists were “nice people” will prove to be the petard that his presidency is finally hoisted upon … this is the one statement that he’s not going to be allowed to take back or forget. There can be no such thing as a “nice” Nazi and anyone marching alongside individuals carrying perhaps the most universally repugnant and reviled symbol the world has ever known are just as culpable as the person carrying the despised flag.

Of course Trump is now attempting to pivot away from his support of these alt-right groups that occupy the fringe of his base, but this bell of his stupid comments will prove to be too difficult to un-ring. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t trying, tweeting out this past Saturday (in response to 40,000 citizens showing up on Boston Commons to shout down less than two dozen bigots) that he wanted “… to applaud the many protestors in Boston who are speaking out against bigotry and hate. Our country will soon come together as one.” Really?

I know that on at least eight or nine other occasions Trump has stepped in dog shit, only to have one of his flunkies scrape it off of his shoe and allow him to move on. But this time is different because wealthy Republican donors and the CEOs of some of the country’s largest corporations are jumping ship. The former don’t care to be on the wrong side of history and the latter don’t want an increasingly angry public to quit buying the products they sell. In other words, this time Trump is becoming too uncomfortably hot of a commodity to continue to stand behind.

But as much as we might like to witness it, he’s not going to be tarred, feathered and run out of Washington any time soon. He’s not going to step down, nor will weak-kneed senators begin publically grumbling about impeachment … that will only happen when the voters back home call for their heads on platters.

Still, his ability to get his agendas — initiatives that would further cripple those Americans most in need — through Congress is becoming increasingly slim. No matter how many new chiefs of staff or other fireman are brought on board to put out the fires and quell the disarray, the White House will remain in turmoil because the narcissist occupying the Oval Office will continue to erupt by posting mindboggling tweets … the pattern is now too firmly set. The problem isn’t with the staff … it’s with the so-called leader.

Trump is setting himself up to be continually ignored by those serving under him. Remember the tweet about transgender individuals serving in the military? The generals said “That was a tweet, not an order,” and that was the end of it. Similar to the initiative to force states to go along with his witch hunt for illegal voters … nothing came of that either as attorneys general and election officials from across the country by and large simply refused to turn over voter rolls.

While the national nightmare certainly isn’t over by any means, Trump will become increasingly marginalized, perhaps to the point where he might simply throw his hands up and walk away from the job. Now that would be a great outcome, wouldn’t it?

From CoolCleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author at http://NeighborhoodSolutionsInc.com.

 

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