As we approach the November election, it has become clear that what we will see and hear from Donald Trump will become increasingly deranged. That was demonstrated during the first installment of his interview with Laura Ingraham when he peddled a known conspiracy theory.
The President claims people in the dark shadows who control the streets are really controlling Biden. He goes on to talk about a plane full of people wearing black uniforms but then says he can’t reveal anymore because it’s under investigation pic.twitter.com/AAk5GX0eWu
— Acyn (@Acyn) September 1, 2020
Demonstrating what it means to have someone that deranged in charge of the federal government, Trump announced that the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security would investigate “left-wing civil unrest” at his press conference on Monday, claiming that it was all a Democratic plot. Appearing on Tucker Carlson’s show, DHS Secretary Chad Wolf seemed to corroborate that announcement.
Acting DHS secretary says law enforcement is “working on” getting Black Lives Matter leaders arrested pic.twitter.com/KyFOFreB4C
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) September 1, 2020
None of those people mentioned that it was a Trump supporter with ties to right wing militia groups who opened fire on protesters in Kenosha, killing two people. That comes on the heels of a July report documenting that right wing extremists have become more lethal during Trump’s presidency, killing 87 Americans. Back in February, Christopher Wray elevated the FBI’s assessment of the threat posed by those groups to a “national threat priority” for fiscal year 2020.
According to Elizabeth Neumann, who served in the Trump administration as Assistant Secretary at DHS for Counterterrorism and Threat Prevention, she and her colleagues gathered data on the threat posed by right wing extremist groups and took it to the president. He wasn’t interested. But of course, now he’s focused all of the administration’s efforts on “left wing extremists.”
“When you face a grave threat like this, it is important for there to be clarity from the top and that the president will not call it out, I find it hugely ironic that he is now happy to use the term ‘domestic terrorism’… with regards to Antifa”- @NeuSummits w/ @NicolleDWallace pic.twitter.com/O2KzBBwR78
— Deadline White House (@DeadlineWH) September 1, 2020
These developments align with the kind of thing we’ve seen recently from the Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe and Attorney General Bill Barr. While it was important to hold people like John Kelly, Jeff Sessions, and Rex Tillerson accountable, Trump got rid of all of them and has filled his cabinet with loyalists who are willing to use all of the power of the federal bureaucracy to support the president’s delusions.
Of course, we’ve seen all of this before when it comes to Trump’s handling of foreign policy. For example, you might recall what former EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland told David Holmes in response to a question about why the president didn’t “give a sh*t about Ukraine.” Sondland said that Trump only cares about the “big stuff,” by which he meant the “big stuff” that benefits the president.
That is the big picture that we have to keep in mind because, as we approach the November election, we’re getting into extremely dangerous territory when a sitting president is willing to corrupt the entire federal bureaucracy to assist him in getting reelected.
