A Perfect Example of Leadership, Not

Political leadership can be tricky. But in the end, it comes down to recognizing what people need, and what they don't.

That's why 45's stunt of sending federal forces of some kind, with some authorization, into large cities as an indication of "law and order" won't work. It won't work because it isn't needed. It's overkill. It's going to make him look like a glutton, and a desperate one.

If any suburbs needed protection, those of Charlottesville, Virginia would have qualified in 2017, when neo-Nazis came and demonstrated their hate, brandishing weapons. Instead, he said there were very good people on both sides, as pandering as anyone could have been.

As you recall, a counterdemonstrator was killed by one of these knuckleheads who ran her over with his car. No regrets enamanated from 45, either.

So when he now vows to clean up whatever trouble there happens to be in Portland, OR, without being asked for, it of course takes the guardrails off of the Constitution, especially the Tenth Amendment, which allows states to govern themselves without interference--formerly a Republican watchword--and that part of the document normalized by assuming that federal forces will be called into action when requested, and not until then. So there's very little 'law' at work, and all kinds of 'order.'

45 is doing so to selected cities with selected Democratic mayors, so to prove to the public, especially those living in the immediate suburbs, that now they don't have anything to worry about, that only Republicans are strong enough to control our cities. Except for one thing: None of those suburbs have been threatened. There might have been demonstrations in some of them, sure, but there were demonstrations in all kinds of cities of all kinds of sizes all over the country in the wake of George Floyd's death.

Port Washington, Wisconsin, had a demonstration, but that isn't a suburb; it's 25 miles north of Milwaukee. Shawano, Wisconsin, too, which is about 40 miles west of Green Bay. There was even a demonstration in Hayward, Wisconsin, at least three hours from any kind of major metropolitan area. I may be wrong, but I didn't hear anything close to any violence or destruction happening in any of those places. Is the mayor a Republican or a Democrat? Asking for a friend. Does it matter? Asking for myself.

This effort to distort reality and make people bend toward believing it takes a very persuasive person. 45 is getting a little short on that nowadays. Now he wears a mask, and calls it "patriotic." Never mind calling it healthy: What about four months ago, when it would have done him some good? People can see through things like that. He doesn't seem to understand that his credibility, like those of other politicians, comes and goes. And it's been seeping away since the virus hit the fan.

Calling something patriotic doesn't make it so. Calling something a danger doesn't make it so. The latest toady to serve as his Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows, suggested that federal forces might come to Milwaukee. There haven't been demonstrations here in weeks now. What, exactly, will they be stopping? What, exactly, do I have to be afraid of?

Demonstrators came to my neighborhood, true. They marched, They made noise. They moved on. Nobody was hurt. No violence took place. Nothing got broken. Yes, there were broken windows and some looting elsewhere in town, but it ended as soon as it started: nothing extended, nothing lasted.

What they did was exercise their First Amendment rights, which were respected. That was an excellent example of what a free society does. But that scares 45 because the demonstrators questioned what the police do and why. That threatens his idea of "law and order" because, to him, the police are supposed to do whatever they want, never mind the rule of law and people's rights.

So he thinks he can scare people into changing their minds. And he'll scare them, all right. Scare them right to the polls in November, where hopefully, they will reject his crazy rantings and ravings.

Security doesn't come from a police state, which is what he'd prefer. Security comes from the people themselves, respecting each other. A nation that relies on the cops that much isn't strong. In fact, it's weak. It's dependent. It's tottering.

Nobody's saying we don't have issues, and at times a problem with too much violence; Chicago's murder problems are a good example. But bringing in Homeland Security agents to patrol and/or arrest perpetrators is nothing more than a display of force that cannot last. The House of Representatives, after all, is controlled by Democrats, at least one of whom, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, won't be bullied into caving into a wild-eyed president's cravings. After all, the Congress can cut off the funding for this nonsense. Don't be surprised if those conversations aren't already happening.

Security will be a card that 45 will play from here to the election. The Democrats must respond by defining what security really is. If they can do that, they will take the last strategy out of his hand and cruise to victory. If not, this thing could still be close. But with his abysmal performance on the virus, I wonder if enough of the public will scare quite so easily.

Be well. Be careful. Wear a mask. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.


Mister Mark