Tone Deaf Edition
APPROVAL ALERT AT PRESS TIME:
FiveThirtyEight Poll: 42.6% – down from 42.9% last week
Rasmussen Poll: 46% – same as last week
Welcome to Trumplandia, a place where with a bit of wit and snark, we keep the world caught up on all of the tasty Nuggets-O-Trump you may have heard about, but were too busy to care. Because most of this minutia occurs just below the massive headlines about the POTUS, it’s in a land of its own. Here, an infusion of social media, video clips and print media meld with our outdated political views to make more delicious “Fake News” about our Commander-in-Chief.
So just like the president, we start it all with a little tweet like this:
A Total Disconnect
The week of our Trump — May 23, 2020: Since he took office in January 2017, every American at one time or another has wished that someone, anyone, could get the cellphone out of President Donald J. Trump’s tiny, orange hands.
Used “hugely” to send out torrents of terrible tweets, Trump has often hailed the medium as everything from his personal megaphone to the preferred method for bypassing the “lame stream” media and speaking directly to his adoring public.
All of that changed this week when “Twitler” was flagged by the social media company for passing false information.
An angry and spiteful Trump came after his favorite social media platform and accused it of censorship and, of course, of having a partisan agenda. Trump threatened to somehow regulate Twitter and close it down for daring to point out his lies.
While Trump was preoccupied with the virtual world of social media, he missed the very real murder of a black Minnesota man who died while in police custody, sparking a national protest. The man, identified as George Floyd, 46, was arrested by police on Memorial Day allegedly on forgery charges. He died while in custody.
Cellphone video of the arrest and killing of Floyd emerged on social media showing a white police officer kneeling on Floyd’s neck for almost 10 minutes despite Floyd’s pleas that he could not breathe. The deadly, racially charged incident touched off four nights of protests in Minneapolis that later became the scene of riots, looting and arson.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey demanded the arrest of the officer seen kneeling on Floyd’s neck in the video. Identified as Officer Derek Chauvin, the 19-year veteran was shown in online videos surrounded and supported by three other officers, Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng, who are white, and Officer Tou Thao, who is of Asian descent. All four were fired for their role in Floyd’s death.
Yesterday, Chauvin was arrested and charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter. He was taken to Ramsey County Jail in St. Paul and will make his first court appearance on Monday at the Hennepin County Court.
Despite Chauvin’s arrest, protests and riots sprang up across America in cities including New York, Washington D.C., Los Angeles and Atlanta, with demonstrators clashing with police in some cases by throwing rocks and setting police vehicles on fire.
Floyd’s killing started innocently enough at a Cup Foods convenience store when officers responded to the report a customer trying to buy cigarettes with a counterfeit $20 bill. When police arrived they found Floyd seated in his truck with two friends. He was forcibly pulled from the vehicle and handcuffed.
According to reports, the 6’ 6” Floyd was made to sit on the sidewalk in handcuffs while awaiting transport to the police vehicle where a struggle allegedly ensued. Reports suggest that Floyd fell on the ground to avoid being placed in the police vehicle, and that is when the four officers began wrestling with him.
Chauvin then pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck, pinning him to the ground. He was supported by Lane, Kueng and Thao, who stood by and watched while Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck. When Floyd became unresponsive, he was transported to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The death of yet another black man at the hands of police struck a chord with a nation already dealing with historic unemployment and a pandemic that has keep them quarantined at home for the last two months or more.
Trump reacted to the death of Floyd by calling for an investigation into his death by the FBI, which of course was conveyed on Twitter. He also used social media to console the dead man’s family, but never addressed the overt racial overtones of the case.
On May 28, when all four officers were fired but free, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said the city was not rushing to charge any of the officers because of “other evidence that does not support a criminal charge.”
Freeman later backtracked on his statement, and yesterday said the arrest of Chauvin was done as fast as his office could. Charges were not brought against the other three officers.
Then, in the early morning hours of May 29, Trump decided to reflect on the riots in Minneapolis by threatening to calm angry protestors by shooting them down in the street. Referring to protesting Americans, some of whom were burning and looting the city, as “thugs,” Doomsday Donnie said the military was ready to shoot when people started to loot.
Trump reportedly borrowed the phrase from the tough talk of Miami Police Chief Walter Headley, who reveled in his use of police force in 1967. Believing he was somehow honoring Floyd’s family with the incendiary threat, Donnie posted the tweet just before 1 a.m.
The threat was not well received.
Twitter at first stayed on its game and censored the post, which was said to violate company policy for “glorifying violence.” The company however allowed the post to remain on the president’s feed, but would only allow it to be seen if users first clicked the “glorifying violence” warning.
With protests against police violence raging across the country, the Trump tweet resonated badly in places like Louisville, Ky., where at least seven people were wounded during protests for justice in the police killing of EMT worker Breonna Taylor. Taylor, who was black, was shot to death in her home by undercover drug police who served an alleged “no knock” warrant in March. The 26-year-old Taylor was shot eight times by the officers, who found no illegal drugs at the scene. Hundreds demonstrated in downtown Louisville after authorities released the 911 tapes of tied to Taylor’s killing.
Trump’s disastrous tweet was followed by another that attacked Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, a Democrat, as “very weak Radical Left Mayor Jacob Frey.” Trump also bragged that he was sending in the National Guard.
The president remained divisive and defiantly partisan, but members of the first family attempted to soften the blow on Twitter during much of the day. At 10:10 a.m. FLOTUS Melania Trump offered condolences to the Floyd family and encouraged peaceful protests. First Daughter Ivanka chimed in about 20 minutes later, but did not mention the protests. Ivanka instead called for a healing in Minneapolis.
An hour earlier, Trump’s male children were less consoling. Douchey chip off the ol’ block Don Jr. used his platform to describe the death of Floyd as disgusting. He too urged angry protestors to not riot.
Younger brother Eric completely missed the boat with his 9:02 a.m. tweet that criticized Twitter for blocking his Dad’s tweet and praised the president’s threats:
“Aside from the outward facing bias of @Twitter, there is hardly a single influential conservative on this platform who doesn’t believe their account has been negatively manipulated & influenced behind the scenes. I’m thrilled to see @realDonaldTrump take decisive action.”
By 2:20 p.m., right before Minneapolis authorities announced the arrest of Chauvin, even Daddy Donnie did a bit of a backtrack. Evidently, his old “looting leading to shooting” wasn’t a call for police to execute protestors in just Minnesota or Louisville, it had been a cautionary tweet. The president attempted to clarify with another tweet:
“Looting leads to shooting, and that’s why a man was shot and killed in Minneapolis on Wednesday night – or look at what just happened in Louisville with 7 people shot. I don’t want this to happen, and that’s what the expression put out last night means.”
Um, right.
Despite the disconnect by Trump and his family, the streets remained full of protestors and ablaze due to looting and rioting across many communities last night.
Trump’s callous tweet even drew the ire of pop singer Taylor Swift, who was not fooled by the president’s explanation of the blocked tweet or his family’s “consoling” words.
An open critic of Trump, Swift tweeted:
“After stoking the fires of white supremacy and racism your entire presidency, you have the nerve to feign moral superiority before threatening violence? When the looting starts the shooting starts??? We will vote you out in November.”
That’s One Way to Look at 100,000 Deaths
When the fatality count for victims of the novel coronavirus passed 100,000 this week, Trump’s muted and almost nonexistent response told the public all it needed to know about how history will be forced to view this tragic American period.
The United States currently leads the world with almost 1.8 million people infected and 104,000 deaths attributed to the disease.
The mark was so unimportant to the president that the actual day the U.S. passed 100,000 is open to debate. According to The New York Times, the milepost was reached on May 24 and the paper ran a shocking front page honoring 1,000 people who had died from the virus, which even at 1 percent was termed an “incalculable loss.”
The next day was Memorial Day, and Trump ordered all flags at federal buildings to be flown at half-staff for those felled by pandemic. The mask-less first couple attended the ceremonial wreath-laying ceremony, and The Donald even tweeted out a presidential message for those celebrating the holiday.
Despite his almost appropriate presidential veneer, when it came to his actual duties during the holiday, Donnie, the wannabe dictator, was in full-on skirt mode when it came to acknowledging the grisly 100,000 death mark. Leading a push for Americans to return to work despite the spread of COVID-19 across the southern part of the country, Trump played golf over the weekend in northern Virginia — without a mask, of course.
Trump’s cavalier response to the spread of coronavirus has been on full display since news of the contagion spreading from China was first reported by U.S. intelligence in January. He has refused to wear a protective face mask, pushed for quarantine to end on Easter, advocated the use of a dangerous malaria drug to pretreat for COVID-19, and, two months ago, when just over 2,400 had died from the virus, proclaimed that if between 100,000 and 200,000 Americans die in the pandemic, “we altogether have done a very good job.”
There were no official statements from the White House about the 100,000 milestone until May 27. No inspiring address, no fireside chat, but finally a press release issued through a White House spokesman:
“The president’s prayers for comfort and strength are with all of those grieving that loss of a loved one or friend as a result of this unprecedented plague, and his message to this great Nation remains one of resilience, hope and optimism. The American people have always been strong and resilient, and the President is proud of their spirit, courage and determination every single day to defeat the virus.”
Trump finally gave his official statement the next day on Twitter by stating the loss of 100,000 people was “a very sad milestone.” He extended his heartfelt sympathy & love for everything the victims of COVID-19 stood for.
In the end, the only warm address that could be found during what has been a hellish three months of sickness and loss came from Trump’s presumptive Democratic challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden, who released a memorial address befitting a president.
As we eye the reopening of our businesses and brace for a possible second wave of coronavirus, Biden’s remarks may be the only words of encouragement we receive. That is until November, when all Americans will have the opportunity to end one portion of our national nightmare.
THE SHINBONE STAR 
I would dearly like to make an intelligent comment or response to this post, but admit that right now words just absolutely fail me. So I continue to be grateful to The Shinbone Star for faithfully speaking truth to power. Thank you!
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