How does the most failed and hated president in U.S. history, who can't get beyond his mostly ignorant and brain-washed base, run for reelection? Short answer: fear and loathing plus racism, chaos and gaslighting... and domestic terrorism. Listen to this NPR report from Steve Innskeep with lifelong Republican and former Homeland Security Department assistant secretary of counterterrorism and threat preventionl Elizabeth Neumann who asserts, credibly, that the Trump regime is "creating the conditions for domestic extremism to flourish in the United States... and paving the way for even more violence." She told Innskeep that "It's his style. His style is chaos itself. And when you have chaos at the top of the federal government, that creates chaos throughout every other level of government. That means we cannot perform our security functions well. The first and primary job of a president, the first and primary job of the federal government, is to protect us."AP reporters Steve Peoples and Zeke Miller wrote that "After struggling for much of the year to settle on a clear and concise reelection message, President Donald Trump appears to have found his 2020 rallying cry. Four years ago, it was 'Build the Wall,' a simple yet coded mantra to white America that nonwhite outsiders threatened their way of life. This week, Trump has re-centered his campaign on another three-word phrase that carries a similar racial dynamic: 'Law and Order.' For much of the summer, the Republican president flirted with the bumper-sticker slogan championed by Richard Nixon and George Wallace in 1968. But Trump sharply increased his focus on law and order after a white police officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin, shot Jacob Blake, a Black man, multiple times last week as Blake’s three children watched, sparking protest-related violence.And, of course, he's blaming Democrats-- particularly Democratic mayors and, by extension, Biden-- for the breakdown of his somewhat warped version or law and order. But let's put aside the kind of crime his regime is steeped in and just take his own idea of crime into account. Cities have crime-- everywhere in the world. That's hardly news. Tulsa and Oklahoma City both have violent crime rates that are very high-- 1040.83 violent crimes per million residents in Tulsa and 787.34 violent crimes per million residents in OK City, higher than violent crime rates in New York (538.90 violent crimes per million residents) and San Francisco (715.0 violent crimes per million residents). Tulsa mayor G.T. Byrum and OK City mayor David Holt are Trumpist Republicans. New York and San Francisco both have Democratic mayors. Tulsa also has an extraordinarily high property crime rate. So do Miami, Omaha and Fresno, which also have Republican mayors. Their property crime rates are significantly higher than Chicago's, Dallas', or Los Angeles', all of which have Democratic mayors.No one in their right mind blames the high crime rates in Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Miami, Omaha and Fresno on their Republican mayors. But Trump blames crime in even "safer" cities on Democrats. That's who Trump is and how he tries manipulating voters. If the election is decided on his own record-- as a kind of referendum-- he will lose and lose big. There are very few states were his job approval numbers are higher than his disapproval numbers. And nationally, he is drowning in a toilet of disapproval. A recent poll for Politico by Morning Consult asked registered voters if they approve of disapprove. 24% said they strongly approve, 17% said they somewhat approve, 10% said they somewhat disapprove and 46% said they strongly disapprove. More important in terms of the election, among independent voters 12% said they strongly approve, 21% said they somewhat approve, 17% said they somewhat disapprove and 45% said they strongly disapprove.Yesterday, Utah Senator Mitt Romney (R) said that Trump's "comments and tweets over the past few days, including a retweet of a 2019 video clearly intended to further inflame racial tensions, are simply jaw-dropping." And not jaw-dropping in a good way.And, according to the NY Times with Biden vigorously, pressing his argument that Trump is failing the country with his handling of the coronavirus, and his irresponsible plans to rush into dangerous school reopening, Trump needs voters to focus on his cockamamie, manipulative version of crime in the streets rather than an actual pandemic that is impacting peoples' lives (and deaths).Reporting for Reuters after a new Ipsos poll came out yesterday, Chris Kahn, wrote that it isn't working for Trump. "Trump’s attempt to make civil unrest a central theme of his re-election campaign," he reported, "has yet to boost his political standing, as most Americans do not see crime as a major problem confronting the nation and a majority remain sympathetic to anti-racism protests."
[T]he poll showed the majority-- 78%-- remain “very” or “somewhat” concerned about the coronavirus. Nearly 60% said Trump is at least partly responsible for the protracted school and business closures due to the virus, as well as for the high number of coronavirus cases in the United States. More than 6 million Americans have been infected with the virus, more people than in any other country.By contrast, most Americans do not see crime as a major priority and do not think it is increasing in their communities, the poll showed.Only about 8% of American adults listed crime as a top priority for the country, compared with 30% who said it was the economy or jobs, and 16% who said it was the healthcare system."Fargo" Revisited by Nancy OhanianAnd 62% of registered voters, including 62% of Democrats and 65% of Republicans, said crime was not increasing in their communities.According to the poll, 53% of American adults said they remain sympathetic to people out protesting against racial inequality, nearly unchanged from 52% in a similar poll that ran in late July.While support for the protesters has declined overall since the immediate aftermath of the police killing in May of George Floyd in Minneapolis, which sparked a national conversation on race, the poll showed more than half of suburban Americans and more than half of undecided registered voters are still sympathetic to them.Trump and his Republican allies tried to re-focus the country’s attention on crime in America during their convention last week, as new confrontations erupted following the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, a crucial battleground that will help decide November’s election.Trump also has attempted to stoke fears, especially among suburban white voters, about crime-ridden cities and falsely asserted that Biden would “defund the police.” Biden has rejected that position.“No one will be safe in Biden’s America,” Trump said last week at the Republican national convention.Biden has pushed back, accusing Trump of stirring up racist fears in the U.S. in hopes of reviving his campaign.“The simple truth is Donald Trump failed to protect America. So now he’s trying to scare America,” Biden said in Pittsburgh this week.
