Trump has let Minneapolis know they need not worry: their day of reckoning and retribution is coming. Somehow, I don’t think rhetoric like that has the soothing effect he imagines.
Then again, I also doubt that he intended it too soothe. This year — all 13 days of it so far — have been about violence, retribution, and provocation, starting in Venezuela and suddenly, sharply, erupting in Minneapolis.
Meanwhile, the streets are wild with protests in Iran, where the regime is shooting those who would dare speak out against it.
This combination of events would be a massive challenge for any administration. But for Trump, it’s different. First of all, so much of the chaos we now face is self-inflected by a hapless, inept administration with dollar signs in its eyes and an utter dearth of forethought. But second of all, inept is not nearly strong enough to describe the talent of the people surrounding Trump.
And that’s the rub. In years past, Trump’s claim to his base was that only he could solve the problem … ahem … that he himself created.
But that math doesn’t math any longer. The problems he’s causing are generational and will take years, if not decades, to solve. And when we have solved them, the world will look like an entirely different place.
Bobby Jones and Sam Osterhout welcomed Nayyera Haq, former White House senior advisor, to talk about all of the above — domestic bad ideas, global bad ideas, and the people who come up with them — and how the media is (or isn’t) covering it all.
