Here comes Donald Trump’s big attempt at faking a power play
When the Trump regime wrongly arrested a Wisconsin circuit court judge two weeks ago (yes, that was only two weeks ago), I wrote that it was an attempt at faking a power play. Trump was, as usual, picking on someone smaller than him. He wanted to make it look like he might be willing to arrest the Supreme Court, in the hope that the implied threat would make him look powerful and would cause everyone to cower.
By now we know that Trump’s stunt didn’t really work. No one cowered. No judges said “please don’t hurt us.” If anything it prompted judges to take an even firmer position on the side of the rule of law. Whenever Trump tries to fake a power play these days, it never goes as planned. But now he’s trying again.
When Newark Mayor Ras Baraka attempted to join members of Congress for their tour an ICE immigrant detention facility yesterday, the Trump regime had him arrested. This is egregious to put it mildly. Baraka was, obviously, a guest of the members of Congress. He isn’t guilty of anything, he’s already been released, and any charges against him will go nowhere.
But note that the Trump regime didn’t try to arrest the members of Congress who were showed up to tour the facility. No, Trump is afraid of picking on someone his own size. He always has been. So he and his regime settled for arresting a mayor no one outside of New Jersey has even heard of.
Yet again, Trump is trying to give the false appearance of a power play by making a small move against a small target, and hoping that everyone involved will mistake it for a big move against a big target. But by now we all know Trump’s limited bag of tricks. And he seems incapable of learning any new ones.
