All In Jest

Donald Trump is always joking. Or at least, he didn't really mean what he said.

Even as early as April 2019, when Trump had been a national political figure for fewer than five years, there were several such incidents. In October of 2016, he minimized the Access Hollywood tape as "locker room talk." A few months earlier, in July, he had said at a press conference "I will tell you this: Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press." The Mueller report noted "within five hours of Trump's remark, a Russian intelligence service began targeting email accounts associated with Hillary Clinton for possible hacks." Yet, Trump told special prosecutors that he "made (the statement) in jest and sarcastically, as was apparent to any objective observer."

In a speech to police officers on Long Island in July of 2017, Donald advised "when you see these thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon, you just seen them thrown in rough. I said "please don't be too nice.'"  After considerable criticism, including from law enforcement, Presidential press secretary Sarah Sanders responded "They took it as a joke. And so did I." It was only the President "trying to get a laugh."

Like a zebra which doesn't change its spots, Donald periodically returns to this modus operandi. And so it was that on September 6

President Donald Trump posted a meme on social media Saturday saying that Chicago “will find out why it’s called the Department of WAR,” as the city’s officials brace for an immigration crackdown.

“I love the smell of deportations in the morning … Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR,” the post reads. Trump signed an executive order Friday to rebrand the Pentagon as the “Department of War.”

The post includes what appears to be an artificially generated image of the president wearing a hat and sunglasses, with the Chicago skyline in the background, accompanied by text reading “Chipocalypse Now.”

Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker were not assumed. So after they slammed him for threatening to make war against an American city

President Donald Trump was adamant with reporters on Sunday that "we're not going to war" with Chicago, after he shared a post on Saturday with a caption that reads, "Chicago about to find out why it's called the Department of WAR."

"We're not going to war. We're going to clean up our cities," Trump said. "We're going to clear them up so they don't kill every five people every weekend. That's not war. That's common sense."

"This is not a joke," Pritzker had noted. Ironically, his critics- Trump supporters- agreed with him that it wasn't a joke.  X twitter was X as expected, and the messages directed at the governor included:

-Gov. Pritzker considers suing the Trump Administration to preserve lawlessness in Chicago, the murder capital of America.

-Why won't he work with the Trump Administration to reduce crime in their cities?

-The Democrats have normalized CRIME in cities like Chicago, and law-abiding citizens have had enough and are desperate for help.

-What should be normalized is SAFE STREETS and Donald Trump will achieve this for the people of Chicago, that you have failed so miserably.

-We want more crime?

-A racist governor that simply OK with black children being murdered every week!!

-I will fight to keep us less safe" isn't the win he thinks it is.

-When did he send in the military? He's so damn fat he can't see the horse or the cart.

"We're not going to war," claims the guy who the day before made it clear that he has declared a war on Chicago and has threatened to send soldiers also to Baltimore, New Orleans, and Seattle.  "That's not war. That's common sense," says the man who has acted under a declaration of emergency to address a problem in decline.  

When Trump walks back dangerous accusations and threats, the media paints of him a portrait of a conflicted, if not even reasonable, individual who has not made his despotic intentions clear  Boasting "I have the right to do anything I want to do. I'm the president of the United States," he's not merely bragging. He means it and his supporters know that he's not joking. And they are hopeful that the President is going to go to war against Chicago, J.B. Pritzker, and anyone else standing in his way.

   

Share |