Trump’s Reichstag fire
In April, I wrote about Marinus van der Lubbe, the insane communist fanatic, who, 28 days into Adoph Hitler’s Chancellorship in 1933, decided to make a spectacular spectacle to prop up Germany’s communists. So, he burned down the 40-year-old Reichstag, the building where Germany’s legislative representatives met to debate and enact laws.
At the time, Hitler needed something to allow him to take complete control of the country. Although van der Lubbe’s spectacle was a one-man show, Hitler saw it as a perfect excuse by which to attack and eradicate Germany’s communists, who, in the 1932 elections, had taken 16.9% of the vote, or 100 seats in the Reichstag.
Hitler hated the communists nearly as much as he hated Jews. The Reichstag fire gave him the means to immediately pound them into oblivion. The next morning, he suspended several sections of the Weimar constitution, particularly those governing freedom of expression, freedom of the press, and freedom of assembly and association. He allowed police to detain people indefinitely without a court order. On that day, Hitler made plain his intention of destroying the Communists and anyone else who dared defy his plans. He included the Jews, specifically. “Our struggle must not be made dependent on judicial considerations,” he said.
This week, after a stern talking to by Stephen Miller, the man charged by Trump with carrying out his promise of deporting millions of immigrants, ICE thugs spread out across the country and went to work. Nowhere did they hit harder than in the nation’s second-largest city, Los Angeles. This prompted protests, which the Los Angeles police were perfectly capable of handling — and they did.
However, never one to miss an opportunity, Donald Trump decided the LA protests could be his Reichstag fire. On 7 June, he ordered 2,000 California National Guard troops and 700 Marines to deploy to Los Angeles to put down what he described as an “invasion and third-world lawlessness,” led by “insurrectionist mobs,” and that Los Angeles had been “invaded and occupied by Illegal Aliens and Criminals.”
Even before the National Guard troops arrived, the protests had quieted down. Mayor Karen Bass declared a curfew, Governor Gavin Newsom gave a televised speech on Tuesday night watched by more than 10 million Angelinos, the police arrested a few people violating the curfew, and the air seemed to go out of Donald Trump’s balloon. Nevertheless, on Wednesday, he ordered another 2,000 National Guard troops mobilized. It seems he is doing his level best to intimidate and provoke the people of Los Angeles into violent protests, which would then give him the chance to declare martial law and take over the city, then the state.
More and more, it appears the Trump Administration is flailing, despite the enormous harm it is doing to America and its allies. Every day seems like the Ted Mack Amateur Hour, except Ted Mack’s amateurs knew what they were doing.
Will Los Angeles stand peaceful in the face of the gleeful and cruel thuggery of the ICE bullies as they rip people from the streets? That is the question of the hour.
The Fort Bragg political rally
On Tuesday, the same day he was ordering more National Guard troops into Los Angeles to combat an imaginary “insurrectionist mob,” Donald Trump and his lap dog Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth took a quick trip to Fort Gragg, North Carolina, for a Presidential Address to the base’s soldiers. Except it wasn’t a presidential address — it was a Donald Trump political rally curated by the White House — and it wasn’t to the base’s soldiers — it was to a select group of the base’s soldiers who were handpicked for their political leanings and physical appearance. A communication with potential attendees asked for “no fat soldiers,” according to Military.com.
This was a staged event, a fake event just like the kind dictators around the world put together to make themselves seem powerful. As Dan Rather wrote in Steady,
So the mostly white, mostly male, exceptionally fit, pro-Trump troops booed when the president mentioned California Governor Gavin Newsom, President Joe Biden, and the press. They whooped and roared as Trump and Hegseth talked about ridding the military of “woke garbage” and “political correctness,” and reverting more military bases to pro-Confederate names, as Hegseth did with Fort Bragg.
A Trump merchandise table, set up at the rally, was busy selling MAGA necklaces and fake credit cards emblazoned with the slogan “White Privilege Card: Trumps Everything.”
A disgusting and shameful display.
Everyone loves a parade
Today is Donald Trump’s 79th birthday. Whoop-dee-doo, and Happy Birthday, Donny!
To celebrate, the president has decided to throw himself a ~$45 million parade in Washington, DC. It will be just like the ones you’ve seen in Moscow’s Red Square and North Korea’s Pyongyang’s Kim Il Sung Square — except ours will be better! Unfortunately for Trump, most of Congress will be skipping it. They say it’s a great idea, but they don’t want to be seen there as the tanks roll by, tearing up Constitution Avenue, and Air Force jets make flyovers.
Today’s day-long extravaganza on the National Mall will include the parade with 6,600 soldiers (who will, in Trump’s words, “bravely march down the streets.”), 150 vehicles, including 28 M1 Abrams tanks, 50 helicopters, and seven marching bands. There will be a post-parade concert, parachutists, and fireworks, as well as a festival with demonstrations, equipment displays, and food trucks. And let us not forget the merchants selling Trump bling and that “White Privilege Card.”
The highlight of the day may be the planned jump of the Army’s Golden Knights Parachute team. The team will perform a High Altitude Low Opening (HALO) jump, and, after landing, will present Trump with a flag they carried down. Something Trump can brag about every time he opens his mouth for a while. Swell.
The National Guard, of whom Trump has lately become so fond, will be there to keep the peace if protesters decide to make their presence felt.
The president told reporters at the White House on Wednesday that the parade would be a big celebration and protestors would not be welcome, according to NBC News.
Although nearby counterprotests are planned, including a mass march to the White House (might not be a good idea), I am fervently hoping protesters in DC can remain peaceful. If not, there could be blood in the streets as Trump will order Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to do his dirty work — and Hegseth will.
A land of 2,000 protests
The “No Kings” Nationwide Day of Defiance movement is holding protests across the country to coincide with the big birthday bash parade — up to 2,000 of them. A coalition of progressive political action groups is organizing Saturday’s demonstrations. The primary organizing group is the 50501 Movement, which stands for “50 states, 50 protests, one movement.”
Here in Massachusetts, demonstrations are planned in the Commonwealth’s largest cities — Boston, Worcester, and Springfield — as well as communities from Provincetown, in the east, to Pittsfield, in the west (near me), according to the No Kings website.
I think we can all agree — Saturday, Donald Trump’s 79th birthday, with its howitzers, tanks, parachute umps, and flyovers, and all manner of peaceful demonstrations across the country where citizens tell him what they think of him, will be one of the more interesting days in a presidential term chock-full of interesting days.
Let’s hope no one gets hurt.
