Could Trump Be Misunderstood?

It’s no secret, to anybody that knows me, the low opinion I have of the current occupant of our White House. But considering what’s been going on these past several days, I’m wondering if I haven’t misunderstood Trump?

Is it possible he really isn’t what he appears? Maybe he’s not an incompetent demagogue stirring up radical right-wing fanatics? Is it possible that he’s really working a secret master plan that’s about to launch a one-thousand year Liberal utopia in America?

Recent Events

In the on-going coronavirus pandemic, Trump and his advisers seem to have consistently been wrong. At every step, when faced with a range of options, they’ve chosen the option most likely to make things worse. By worse, I mean, increase the American coronavirus body count and weaken our economy. To the casual observer, they’ve been extremely effective at being incompetent. But maybe there’s something deeper going on?

A few days ago, we had an amazing display of right-wing stupid all across this great country. Like this zombie movie scene look-alike in Ohio…

…and a more conventional display of right-wing madness like this, in Michigan…

…consisting of gun-toting overweight white dudes cosplaying soldiers. These fine folks all descended on several state capitols to protest being forced to stay the fuck home. Never mind that staying the fuck home is a medical quarantine intended to keep people from catching a deadly virus and dying. These people considered quarantine a serious restriction on their personal civil liberties and wanted their duly-elected government officials to know that. Apparently even wearing medical face masks were too much imposition on their civil liberties.

Considering that these quarantine lock-downs were recommended by all U.S. medical experts including the Center for Disease Control (CDC), one would think our president would support the lock-downs. Perhaps, our president could have tweeted “Stay the fuck home so we get this pandemic under control”? Or something like that? Instead, Trump tweeted:

Editors Note: Regretfully, when Twitter closed trump’s account on January 8, 2021, his choice tweets supporting violent action against state governments disappeared. These are screen captures taken before his words disappeared from history.

Which seems to be supporting the protesters, openly agitating them into more protests and possibly even acts of violence. This raises the question: Is our president openly encouraging sedition against the United States? Many people are now saying Trump encourages violence from his followers as a means of winning elections. Could he really be trying to start a civil war? Is he taking orders from Russia to weaken our country?

An Alternate Possibility

Maybe there’s an alternate possibility to encouraging supporters into fomenting Insurrection and using violence against Democratic state governors. Perhaps, Trump is really trying to draw them out? Perhaps Trump wants these people, nominally his most loyal supporters, to show themselves? He’s getting them out of hiding and into the streets laden with the heavy scent of coronavirus looking for more hosts to infect?

We Liberals tend to jokingly refer to right-wingers as “Drinking the Kool Aid,” but perhaps this is a modern version? Is it possible Trump is actually trying to spread the coronavirus – to his most loyal followers? Perhaps, by spreading the coronavirus to his own followers he’s really trying to reduce the number of people voting Republican and weaken their party?

This would be a truly diabolical plot, a conspiracy well worthy of a James Bond movie. The political impact would be earth-shaking. As it is, Trump received 2.87 million votes fewer votes than his opponent in the 2016 election. By reducing the numbers of people voting Republican, he’s practically ensuring Democratic candidates will sweep the next election.

Once Democratic candidates take control of government, one big push will be to make it easier for people to vote. Republicans already accept that allowing more people to vote decreases their chances of winning. So, the long-term impact would be Democratic candidates winning elections, make voting easier, thereby ushering in a 1000-year era of Liberal utopia.

Can this really be what Trump is planning? Could he be plotting to use the coronavirus and the natural propensity for his supporters to wallow in stupid, to eliminate Republican voters? Could Trump really want to usher in a Democratic-led era of peace and prosperity show-casing balanced budgets and a strong social safety net? Is is possible Trump has been a closet Democrat all along, playing a long game of three-dimensional chess while the rest of the world has been playing tic-tac-toe?

Conclusion

I’m not sure whether this alternative possibility is more, or less, unsettling than thinking Trump is attempting to foment the second American civil war. I do know; something has gone very wrong in America. I don’t see any way this current slide into chaos will end well for us.