Donald Trump at war
Beginning in 1923 in the vicinity of the autumnal equinox and every year after he came to power until 1939, Hitler held a party congress – what came to be known as the Nuremberg rally. The eleventh party congress was scheduled to begin September 2nd, 1939, but was cancelled. Those of you alert to inflection dates in history will immediately recognize 2 September, 1939, as the day after Germany invaded Poland. Hitler realized that Germany was at a war of his own making, and September 3rd, 1939, Neville Chamberlain of Great Britain made it official by declaring war on Germany. Wartime, Hitler understood, was no time for rallies.
You could have fooled Donald Trump. Trump is in the middle of a war on several fronts. It isn’t enough that he is being impeached, he is also picking fights with his own party over his withdrawal from Syria, with the Democrats over everything else, and with the mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, over a $500,000 security deposit for a rally scheduled in that city for Thursday night. Donald Trump is at war with reality.
“Someone please tell the Radical Left Mayor of Minneapolis that he can’t price out Free Speech,” Trump said in a tweet. “Probably illegal! I stand strongly & proudly with the great Police Officers and Law Enforcement of Minneapolis and the Great State of Minnesota! See you Thursday Night!”
Trump, who is an enemy of free speech and isn’t interested in whether something is legal or not – though the mayor’s request for a deposit is most emphatically not illegal – conducts these rallies ostensibly as part of his reelection campaign. That he has been holding them since a week after his inauguration is an inconsistency that fazes him not at all. Trump’s rallies exist strictly for the purpose of stroking his limitless ego and proclaiming his racist dog whistles to the drooling cretins in his audiences.
Frey, who is perfectly aware that Trump has a history of not paying his bills to cities where he holds these rallies, is trying to get Trump to pay up front. Frey tweeted, “Welcome to Minneapolis where we pay our bills, we govern with integrity, and we love all of our neighbors.”
In a recent piece for Palmer Report I wrote, “Instead of a resignation, look for a rally. Trump’s ego will need refuelling and his favorite pitstop, the place he always turns to, is inevitably one of his Nuremberg-variety rallies.” So far Trump is right on schedule. This is how a narcissist behaves.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.