By Earl Ofari Hutchinson
Trump’s almost standard harangue of Black Lives Matter as “violent” and even bad for Black people, could almost be shrugged off except for two other occurrences that followed close on its heel. One was the appearance of a New York BLM bigwig on a Fox News show threatening to “burn down the system.” The other was the vandalizing of police stations in the Los Angeles area. This prompted another round of hysterics, and see I told you these were bad guys finger points.
The attacks and the loose cannon statement about violence caused just enough worry that a small coalition of African-American clergy and civil rights leaders in Los Angeles had a press conference. They denounced the violence, inflammatory statements, and made clear that the anti-police abuse protests and demonstrations have been peaceful and will continue to be. Still, the worry was there. And there’s a good reason. Despite their pledge and assurance of peaceful protests, and a report from a public interest research group that tracked BLM related demonstrations that backed up their contention that in almost all cases the protests have been peaceful, there’s Trump, a shaky public perception of the demonstrations and the run-up to the presidential election.
Trump has practically boasted that he will do the Nixon campaign routine, scream law and order, and smear BLM and those associated with the group as anarchists, and terrorists. Then sell himself as the one man who can stop the country’s alleged slide to lawlessness. This is his ticket back to reelection. The polls so far are mixed on how well the scam is working. Biden’s national polling lead has remained consistent for months. However, there’s the X factor in elections. That’s how much fear, anxiety, and negative news can influence or even intimidate nervous, wavering, on the fence, voters to vote for the man who promises to be the country’s Man on the White Horse savior. That man says Trump is Trump.
This is where BLM comes in. There have been just enough acts of violence and vandalism at a few demonstrations to feed the terror mill. The scenes of a store burning looted and physical confrontations with police are guaranteed to be lapped up by some media outlets. They’ll be followed by the usual rash of angry, indignant editorials and on-air comments blasting the violence. No matter how many times BLM organizers denounce the violence, point to the careful efforts they make to ensure their demonstrations are peaceful and orderly, Trump’s finger will wag at them along with many others.
There’s a good guarantee that this will get the attention and Trump hopes the votes of less-educated, lower-income white rural and blue-collar workers by conjuring up horrific, nightmare visions of rioters and looters in their neighborhoods. The subtle ingredients of racial hysteria are there again to try and make the pitch stick.
Trump did a dry run of his law and order ploy in the 2016 presidential election. He self-proclaimed himself then as the law and order guy and wined and dined police unions as their defender of the realm. There’s no real evidence that this made the difference in pushing him over the top that election. But it was good practice for now.
Unlike 2016, he didn’t have the massive demonstrations and outrage over police shootings dominating the news cycle almost daily. There were no scenes of stores on fire, nightly protests in many cities, and, most importantly, a national household name recognition of Black Lives Matter. The George Floyd slaying, of course, changed all that.
He also has one other ace card. That’s his opponent Joe Biden. He will relentlessly try to sell the notion that Biden and the Dems are practically one and the same with BLM. That they apologize, soft-peddle, if not outright support any and every police abuse protest no matter what acts are done by some in its name. When Biden talks about racial and social justice and condemns police abuse, Trump will snatch at that as supposed proof that Biden and the Dems are anti-police and BLM alleged violence enablers.
He’ll double down on this by blasting Biden for pushing for more spending on the job, health, and education programs. The not so subtle hint is that this is all done at the expense of hard-working, law-abiding, white middle class and blue-collar workers. Again, the polls that show Biden beating Trump handily now could easily change if Trump succeeds in pounding a message that touches the fear and rage of his supporters in the crucial swing states.
The scary thing about Trump’s crass, cynical, and dangerous racial fear-mongering is that he got away with it in 2016 and landed in the White House. The even scarier thing is that he is trying to do the same thing again. This time he’s got Black Lives Matter as what he considers the perfect fall guy.
