Donald Trump is truly panicking
In the wake of learning that the Mueller Report contains damaging information about Trump & Co., the Tangerine Nightmare himself has been acting cornered. He’s scaled back some spectacularly unpopular plans like shutting down the US-Mexico border and destroying the Affordable Care Act, and he’s even indicated serious interest in stepping back from his trade war with China. Now though, we can see that the White House has a new strategy afoot.
Strictly speaking, “new” isn’t exactly correct. The ouster of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, at first glance, seems to be no different from a typical Trump official purge. The problem, however, is that it isn’t. Trump’s panic from the revelations about the Mueller Report this past week has engendered a renewed interest in surrounding himself with stooges who will rubber stamp his every belch. Kirstjen Nielsen, reportedly, was not working up to Trump’s or Stephen Miller’s draconian immigration policy standards, and was thus discarded. The New York Times reported that Trump is preparing to oust more Department of Homeland Security officials who, unfortunately, will likely be replaced by extremists who ascribe to the Stephen Miller philosophy of immigration ystem deconstruction. What in the world is he trying to do here?
Simple. Trump is grappling onto the core tenet by which he won many votes in 2016 – racism. Trump’s incessant drumbeat of “illegal migrants” and “caravans” still riles his base and keeps them loyal. In doing this, he’s attempting to forestall the inevitable and create a human buffer between him and justice. This also has the effect of ingratiating his TV babysitters at Fox News, who thrive on fearmongering and sowing xenophobia. This probably sickens you, but the silver lining is that this is just about all he has left. Yes-men will do all they can to have his and Stephen Miller’s policies come to fruition, but the court system has proven robust enough to stymie any real progression into the deconstruction of our immigration system.
Donald Trump is truly panicking here. If the famously myopic and ass-witted Trump can see that there’s a very real and near threat to his presidency, then we might have just earned a modicum of ease. What desperate move he tries next is anyone’s guess, but the pressure that the House majority, some of the Senate, various investigations, and many of you (the public) have been putting on Trump is clearly working and it cannot end. Call your Senators and demand that they support the release of the full Mueller Report. It turns out that being held accountable is Trump’s most wretched nightmare, so let’s keep on it.
Democracy thrives in snarkiness