Dem
51
GOP
49
Maya Angelou put it very succinctly: "“When people show you who they are, believe them." On Saturday in Dayton, OH, while campaigning for Senate candidate Bernie Moreno (R), Donald Trump gave his take on immigrants: "I don't know if you call them people. In some cases they're not people, in my opinion. But I'm not allowed to say that because the radical left says that's a terrible thing to say." If they are not people, what are they? We know: vermin. He already told us. He previously said they were "poisoning the blood of our country."
Then Trump continued: "If I don't get elected, it's going to be a bloodbath for the whole—that's going to be the least of it. It's going to be a bloodbath for the country." He clearly sees the Jan. 6, 2021, coup attempt as the out-of-town tryout. The real show will begin on Jan. 6, 2025. Does he mean it? Angelou would say yes. Joe Biden's campaign spokesman, James Singer concurred: "This is who Donald Trump is." Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told CNN's Dana Bash yesterday: "We just have to win this election because he's even predicting a bloodbath." But Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) defended Trump, saying: "But you could also look up the definition of bloodbath, and it could be an economic disaster." In the next few days, we expect more Republicans to defend Trump. They are all scared witless of him.
Trump's calls for violence have not gone unnoticed by other candidates. Michele Morrow, who is the Republican nominee for superintendent of public instruction in North Carolina, has called for the execution of Hillary Clinton, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Anthony Fauci, Bill Gates, and Barack Obama. Specifically about Obama, she tweeted: "I prefer a Pay Per View of him in front of the firing squad. I do not want to waste another dime on supporting his life. We could make some money back from televising his death." In case you thought you missed something, no, Obama is not in prison and is not guilty or even accused of any crime, much less a capital crime. And it is not even known if Bill Gates is a Democrat or a Republican. But the base wants to put people in front of a firing squad, and Gates is famous and rich. Tough luck. North Carolina schools, which she calls indoctrination centers, aren't going to be the same if she wins.
Trump is clearly ramping up the rhetoric to work his base into a frenzy and make sure every last one of them votes. He doesn't care if that offends everyone else, as he believes that if all his supporters vote, that will be enough. It is an unusual strategy. Most politicians try to use dog whistles when getting controversial messages through to their base, but Trump doesn't care who hears him. He thinks it worked in 2016 so it will work again.
Trump was crude, as usual. He referred to Joe Biden as a "dumb son of a b**ch." When referring to Fulton County D.A. Fani Willis, he said: "It's spelled fanny, like your ass." He called the governor of California Gavin New-scum. He mocked Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D-IL) saying: "He wants to eat all the time. I'll have five burgers please. Who the hell orders five burgers?" Trump, svelte eater of health food that he is, never has more than two Big Macs at a sitting. Well, OK, maybe three.
What is also noteworthy is that Trump is going to run a very dark campaign, calling America a dystopian place, a real hellhole. This is a 180-degree turn from Ronald Reagan's "Morning in America" or Barack Obama's "Hope." Trump has a good feel for what his base wants. Many of them feel marginalized, unheard, and looked down upon, so to them, maybe America is a dystopian place. The ironic thing here is that many of his supporters live in quiet rural areas where people generally get along and neighbors help each other, hardly the dystopia Trump is imagining. Believing Trump requires them to have two contradictory visions of America in their heads at the same time.
It's all about Trump. All the time. He apparently forgot that the reason he came to Ohio was to campaign for wealthy Mercedes-Benz car dealer Moreno, who is running for the Senate in tomorrow's primary. Trump barely mentioned Moreno. Ohio is not a priority for the Trump campaign. What's going on here? Usually when you fly 1,000 miles from home to do something, you remember why you went there. Did he forget why he went to Ohio? We're not neurologists, so we are not going to attempt a remote diagnosis here. (V)