Tuesday, September 01, 2020

NO, AMERICA WILL HAVE THE LAW AND ORDER

After she published Raising Trump, her 2017 memoir, Donald Trump's first wife, Ivana, recounted one of the book's anecdotes for ABC News.
Once she was a Trump, Ivana encountered the patriarch of the family, her husband’s father, real estate developer Fred Trump.

"Fred Trump was [a] really brutal father," she said. "We went to Tavern on the Green for the brunch one Sunday and [Trump’s] father ordered a steak. So all the, you know, the sisters and brothers, they ordered a steak."

"And I said, 'Waiter, can I have a filet of sole? And Fred looked up at the waitress and, 'No, she's going to have a steak.' I look up at the waiter, I said, 'No, Ivana is going to have a filet of sole,' -- because if I would let him just [roll] right over me, it would be all my life and I would not allowed it."
As The New York Times noted when it reviewed the book, Donald took Dad's side:
... Ivana holds firm. Donald doesn’t back Ivana up then or afterward, but rather is displeased that she didn’t knuckle under: “Why didn’t you just have a friggin’ steak?”
I thought of that when I read Axios's story about the president's trip to Kenosha today:
Asked during his visit to Kenosha, Wisconsin, Tuesday whether "systemic racism is a problem" in the U.S., President Trump told a reporter: "Well you know, you just keep getting back to the opposite subject. We should talk about the kind of violence that we’ve seen in Portland and here and other places."

... The president did not address the root causes of the anti-racism protests that have continued throughout the country over the past few months, suggesting that some people want "structural change" but that most people want "law and order" and to feel safe.

What he's saying: "We should talk about the kind of violence that we've seen in Portland and here and other places. It's tremendous violence. You always get to the other side, well what do you think about this or that? The fact is we have seen tremendous violence, and we will put it out very quickly if given the chance."

... "It's a tough job. It's a tough job, a dangerous job, but I have to say this to the police: The people of our country love you."
Instead of offering his opinion on whether America has a problem with systemic racism, he just wants everyone to stop talking about it. We shouldn't talk about racism -- we should talk about violence. We should ignore the malcontents who want structural change. Really, everyone just wants what the police are offering to do. Everyone loves the police.

In other words: Why don't we just shut up and have the friggin' law and order, which is our patriarch wants us to have?

We have to resist him. And we'll be better off when we break up.

No comments: