HERE'S WHAT TRUMP IS PRESERVING AND DEFENDING

Writing for the Daily Beast, Mike Barnicle says that President Trump won't defend America.

... Tuesday, ... Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats informed the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee that “frankly, the United States is under attack.”

... The president, Donald Trump, did nothing. This is the first time across all the dust-covered years of our history, centuries filled with courage and honor, that the elected commander-in-chief chose to tweet instead of plan to defend the country.

Tuesday became Wednesday and the Senate used the time to prove ... that even an overwhelmingly popular policy—allowing thousands brought here years ago by their parents—could not gain approval....

The president, Donald Trump, did something. He poked and prodded open wounds. Pulled at scabs of intolerance and resentment....

Then on Wednesday, a school door opened at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, Florida.... Within minutes, hallway floors were slippery with blood....

The president, Donald Trump, said nothing....

On Thursday, a nation’s eyes filled with tears....

The president, Donald Trump, appeared on TV. He forgot to use the word “gun.” ...

Friday ... in Washington, Robert Mueller ... announced the indictment of 13 Russian nationals and three Russian business outfits for conspiring to conduct cyber-warfare against the United States....

The president, Donald Trump, ... began to tweet, an activity that would consume him most of Friday, through the weekend and nearly all Sunday morning. His tweets became increasingly deranged.

He ended the week having done nothing to defend the country.

I disagree with Mike Barnicle: Trump did many things this week to defend the country. The country he defended, however, isn't America.

I don't mean that he defended Russia (although he did that as well). I mean that he defended the nation of FoxNewsistan. He defended the nation of Wingnut America.

Wingnut America thinks the answer to any problem with guns is more guns. By means of diversion and deflection -- talk of mental health and the FBI's failings -- Trump held the line for the cause of gun absolutism. (His aides are telling us now that he's prepared to back a tightening of background checks, but trust me, the ultras in Congress will block passage of any such legislation, and Trump won't do a thing to challenge them.)

Wingnut America is deeply suspicious of immigrants, and would be perfectly content (if not delighted) to see all the Dreamers deported. Trump and the hard-liners in his party did what Wingnut America wanted done this week on immigration.

And Wingnut America wants Robert Mueller, Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Christopher Steele, Susan Rice, Samantha Power, and every Trump-Russia reporter at CNN, NBC, The New York Times and The Washington Post to go to prison for (imaginary) collusion with Russia, not Trump or any of his current or former aides. Trump continues to make defending Wingnut America on these grounds his #1 priority.

So Trump really is an American patriot -- just not for the America most of us live in.