If I were Donald Trump and afraid I might lose the November election, this is what I’d do:<\/p>\n
1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I would encourage these riots (and looting) with my rhetoric.<\/p>\n
2.\u00a0 \u00a0 My tweets and speeches will encourage more violence and hence amplify the protests and riots. They’ll spread to more cities.<\/p>\n
3.\u00a0 \u00a0 I’d argue that the local police and the various national guards the Governors have called up are not capable of protecting our citizenry.<\/p>\n
4.\u00a0 \u00a0That would give me the justification for invoking laws that would allow me to bring in the military to “control” the expanding riots.<\/p>\n
5.\u00a0 \u00a0That will further inflame passions and worsen the riots.<\/p>\n
6.\u00a0 \u00a0 As the riots expanded, I\u2019d use the troops to take control.<\/p>\n
7.\u00a0 \u00a0I’d argue that a time of crisis was not the time to hold elections. I’d postpone the November election.<\/p>\n
8.\u00a0 \u00a0 And keep postponing the election.\u00a0 Hence I could keep myself in power as president.<\/p>\n
9.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Then as “President for Life” (like Xi and others I admire), I’d argue that <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 “Only I, Donald Trump, can save the democracy. Hence I need to be President for Life to accomplish all that hard work, including giving blacks proper and equal justice.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Black anger matters\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Two disturbing statistics:<\/p>\n + In 2014, African Americans were 2.3 million, or 34%, of the total 6.8 million correctional population in the U.S. African Americans are incarcerated at more than five<\/strong> times the rate of whites.<\/p>\n + Wealth for white households is ten<\/strong> times greater for whites on average than for blacks.<\/p>\n Bad police action continues<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n + A Louisville policeman shot and killed a black man.<\/p>\n + Two New York City police patrol cars willfully drove into peaceful protesters on national TV.<\/p>\n + Protesters were injured in Washington’s Lafayette Park last night as it was cleared to allow President Trump to stage a photo op in front of the damaged church, next to the White House.<\/p>\n + Six Atlanta police officers were charged after tasing protesters.<\/p>\n New York retail<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Retail was meant to open next Monday for curbside pickup.<\/p>\n Now most of it won’t. Every Manhattan retail store of value has had its windows smashed, its merchandise looted and now it’s plywooded up.<\/p>\n Fear is high. There are forty or so construction workers erecting a protective metal structure around the big glass Apple store on Fifth Avenue opposite the Plaza Hotel.<\/p>\n Last night the huge Macys store on 34th Street was looted.<\/p>\n New York City is now Plywood City.<\/p>\n If the looters get the supermarkets tonight, the City’s remaining residences could be in for a little dieting.<\/p>\n Minneapolis<\/b><\/span>\u00a0has a solution<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Charge the other three policemen who helped murder George Floyd.<\/p>\n What are they waiting for?<\/p>\n My friends and family in Australia<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n They’re aghast at what’s going on here. I explain to them that:<\/p>\n +\u00a0America was founded on violence, against the British, against native Americans, against Mexicans and blacks. At the time of the Civil War, there were four million black slaves in the south. They were the south’s biggest “asset, its biggest source of wealth. Slaves built the plantations and the glorious Southern mansions we see in movies.<\/p>\n + Trump has encouraged and condoned violence. But nothing that has happened to America recently — the virus, 106,000 dead from Covid-19, violence against blacks, and 40 million unemployed — is his fault.<\/p>\n To get re-elected, Trump will blame the Chinese for the virus and our massive unemployment, and blacks for the violence.<\/p>\n He will save us.<\/p>\n But I’m not in the prediction business any longer.<\/p>\n An Amazing world<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Think of the amazing technology that has brought us live video reporting from streets all over this country. Think of the fast Internet that many of us enjoy which allow us to Zoom with our families and friends. Think of the software that companies like Zscalier and Salesforce and many others provide us the ability to work productively at home.<\/p>\n It’s a truly wonderful world — if only we could get more people to join it.<\/p>\n