Trump Took A Walk And Nobody Could Believe It.

This post has been revised and edited.

I once saw a video of President Obama taking a walk on a nice afternoon. It was really Unforgettable. He gave special White House M&Ms to kids, shook hands and had group selfies with smiling folks who could immediately see that he wasn’t a monster, as Fox News and red state senators had claimed. He carried his jacket over his shoulder and for a few minutes, he was real to the people who shook his hand. They never forgot it. I’d wager that some that magical afternoon were changed by it. He is an extraordinary man. He’s also rather humble and can disarm anyone with his smile, his sincerity and his obvious care for others.

Richard Nixon once had trouble sleeping, so he went in the presidential limo to see some protesters at the Lincoln Memorial. He engaged in conversation with them and left them very confused and upset that their president was obviously a disturbed man.

That’s nothing compared to the only known excursion by Trump thus far.

He ordered the protesters cleared by force, you know: “The Line” rushed them after firing tear gas and possibly rubber bullets, and that was aired live, or parts of it were. Meanwhile, Trump gave an unforgettable and unfortunate speech. “I am your law and order president,” he said from the now-soiled podium in the rose garden. He then threatened to order “regular” (full time) Army units across the United States into law enforcement if governors couldn’t control the crowds. You know this story. Days followed that saw pundits and both retired and working lawyers and politicians debate for the cameras whether Trump had authority under constitutional law to do such a thing.

They cited the “Insurrection Act” and if it had ever been invoked before, and if in fact it enabled Trump to actually make good on his threat.

I’ll tell you that he did say it in a threatening way, referring to state governors in the third person, future tense, which should loosen the bowels of every freedom loving American.

Televangelist Pat Robertson, on his show The 700 Club, had this to say: “Mr. President, you just don’t do that,” adding that we should all love one another. Admirable words from a man who once said that Trump was chosen by God. But we can get back to this in a minute.

Let’s get one thing in the clear first: there are certain conditions or actions required by the Insurrection Act that have to be met before a president may invoke it. None have been met.

The first is that a state legislature must convene and agree to ask for military aid. Nobody has, and I cannot anticipate such a thing happening.

In the event of a state’s legislature being prevented or unable to meet, the governor can make the request. Any governors who do this now will be guilty of conspiracy to undermine civil rights. They really need to think that one over.

The second circumstance is a bit less clear, and this is rather chilling because it reads exactly like the president can simply judge the situation and say it’s necessary, and with Trump, that’s enough for me to caution you to stock up on Imodium AD.

There’s irony in the next condition in which federalization of state militia (Army National Guard) can be made (the Pentagon would generally include National Guard divisions under the command of regular brigades and divisions, deploying them as full-time soldiers. Air Force and even Marine Reserve units can also be considered the part-time equivalent federally of the ARNG, which a governor has direct control of; for example, white stenciled paint on a bumper of a National Guard unit in Maryland would read “MDARNG”). This part gets slippery to lay persons because the wording makes clear that a situation of denial of civil rights must exist, as in the case of people of color whom the Ku Klux Klan were killing and harassing and committing arson against to drive them out of a particular area; or where courts upheld no civil rights for people of color; law enforcement and courts of law visibly denied civil rights and turned a blind eye to the Klan’s criminal acts (it was used to ensure the safety of black students during the early days of desegregation of schools).

In any event you’ve no doubt heard that the Insurrection Act superceded or replaced Posse Comitatus. That’s not so. In old western films or TV shows, you’d see county or municipal sheriffs gather up a “posse”. None were deputized; they were forced or volunteered to serve. It’s got nothing to do with the subject we’re on. It was ironically the prevention of using federal troops to occupy the former Confederate States of America (CSA) during the aftermath of the American Civil War. It was largely responsible for southern states having a congress with representative and senatorial structure that we see today,in addition to gubernatorial structure as we know it. Irony has never reared up to terrify us as it has with Trump’s threat. Interpretation of Posse Comitatus and the Insurrection Act seems rather simple. The former prevents the federal government from direct intervention or occupation with any and all states. The latter gives a sitting president the power to act decisively and suspend Posse Comitatus under extraordinary and desperate conditions.

There’s some arguing over social media as to whether or not the Insurrection Act has ever been used. I had to research it myself, and it turns out that it has. What I thought to be National Guard troops and medics were not. Those were in fact federal troops. President Hayes used it to break a railroad strike. That’s because there were no airlines, and no cars yet existed by the end of his term in 1881. The strike was crippling the nation. Hurricane Hugo, which I clearly remember as a monster storm, also occasioned the invocation of the act. During the L.A. riots in 1992, it was used. I thought that was National Guard, especially after Hugo. Trump deployed regular troops to the border when he claimed an “invasion” was coming from south and central America. The Corps of Engineers was restricted to stringing up razor wire in places where the border had little in the way of solid structure. This frustrated him because he wanted to fire upon the “invaders”; remember that this is the man who once asked why, if we had nuclear missiles, we never used them.

The troops eventually fell out of the news headlines. We were never really told as much, so we can assume that the military budget and inability to use infantry combined to frustrate Trump. He was a child who wasn’t being allowed to play with his toys. The tantrum which followed caused other countries to protest the dreadful violation of human rights under President Trump: children in cages or in tent cities in searing heat, having healthcare withheld, along with food and water. How many people, adults and children both, died under such conditions? We don’t know. Reporters were locked out, not given updates, and no doubt, the books were cooked. All because Trump wasn’t allowed to behave like a dictator and shoot people he didn’t like, despite an extraordinary tweet he made during his campaign:

Such bullshit. He proved he did not love Hispanics at all. He proved only the depths to which his loathing for them really went.

Donald Trump’s speech on Monday was a threat to use brute force to crush protesters under the heel of the US military. It had no connotation whatsoever of defending peace and the law or of protecting civilians. As he spoke like some half-assed dictator, the firing of tear gas cannisters could be heard. That was the clearing of the streets to accommodate his walk to the church set ablaze on Sunday, the night before. Later, the White House released a video of “The Walk” with Triumphant music. Hail Caesar, the conquering hero!

Fuck me.

I know what he was doing, and it wasn’t just to appeal to his radical right evangelicals. He was saying to the protesters, “This is my territory, and I’m marking it like a fucking lioness.” Gangs do similar things. When moving into new territory, they usually have members walk or drive on certain streets repeatedly. They may or may not conduct their affairs in the area, but they’re telling you they own it now.

Trump should never have been seen holding up a Bible. It’s obvious by now to all but those locked in the throes of denial that he’s not religious, certainly no Christian, has never read from the gospels, and may very well believe he is god-like. Frankly, I’m surprised that touching a Bible didn’t cause him to burst into flames.

The biggest problem about “The Walk” is, however, not just Trump committing sacrilege or even gassing protesters. The worst part is who accompanied him. And who reconnoitered the immediate and adjacent area beforehand.

The Defense Secretary and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs were along for the trip, but both claim that they thought they were going to speak to the troops, meaning that they’re lying or were tricked into making it look like Trump had control of them. Either of which is really a scary idea.

The reason I doubt their veracity is that prior to the crowd being gassed and charged by The Line, Attorney General Barr had walked through the crowds, checking them out. That’s not his job, and how long have we known that on the slightest suggestion by Trump, the man would eat Trump’s shit and count the calories along the way? Oh, yeah: the day he took the job, that’s when.

This is one of those surreal moments when I find myself agreeing with Pat Robertson. Mr. President, you don’t do that. It’s time for reconciliation and equal treatment. It’s time for us to love each other.

Yeah. Like that’s going to happen.

Except, maybe it can, if just a little.