In the wake of the Republican National Convention, Trump and the right wing have fixated on a new campaign theme: fear.
Unable to provide any tangible solutions to the health crisis, economic crisis, or growing social unrest, Trump is now attempting to campaign as the only solution to this chaos he’s created. Even as armed convoys of Trump supporters flood in to cities, bringing weapons and gunfire, they also take to Twitter, claiming this “display of force” is the only way to create peace:
Waves of heavily armed Trump supporters flooded in to Portland last night. One stopped to talk to a local journalist:
By the end of the night, the unnamed man who refused the interview would be dead.
Chandler spoke of “stopping” what they viewed as chaotic and violent protests, but their presence certainly wasn’t peaceful:
While there is still some uncertainty about what, exactly, happened next, it appears as though the right wing mob continued to provoke and attack the local citizens of Portland. Specifically, they attacked with tear gas and mace, similar to the toxic chemicals that the police themselves have deployed:
In response, president Trump has tweeted nearly 100 times in the 24 hours since last night’s “Patriot Counter-Protest.” Each tweet is an incitement to further escalate the type of political violence we’ve seen this week:
Of course, Trump’s calls for law and order conveniently neglect that he has more influence over the course of this nation right now than anybody else. The America of 2020 is largely of his own creation – from the failed pandemic response, to the crippled economy, and even the protests turned increasingly to riots and partisan gunfights.
This chaos that Trump uses to stoke fear is the very chaos he’s creating. He wants us to think that re-electing him will restore law and order, but all it will do is encourage him to seize even more power through even more chaos.
More right wing violence. More preventable deaths. More jobs lost. More civil unrest. That’s what four more years of Trump looks like.