From Truthdig
A Nightmare on Any Street!
(Image by (From Wikimedia) Alisdare Hickson from Canterbury, United Kingdom, Author: Alisdare Hickson from Canterbury, United Kingdom) Details Source DMCA
What does a megalomaniacal president of the United States do when he's cornered? We'll soon find out.
House Democrats are beginning a series of investigations and hearings into Donald Trump.
Senate Republicans have begun to desert him: Twelve defected on the wall; seven refused to back Saudi Arabia's war in Yemen. In the House, Republicans joined Democrats in a 420-0 vote on a resolution to make Robert Mueller's report public.
That report, not incidentally, appears imminent.
Trump cannot abide losing. His ego can't contain humiliation. He is incapable of shame.
So what does a cornered Trump do? For starters, he raises the specter of violence against his political opponents.
In an interview with Breitbart News published Wednesday, Trump noted: "I have the support of the police, the support of the military, the support of the Bikers for Trump. I have the tough people, but they don't play it tough until they go to a certain point, and then it would be very bad, very bad."
In case you missed it, "they" are Trump's political opponents, including House Democrats and the mainstream media. And the "certain point" could be impeachment but is more likely to be reached if the House investigations reveal crimes Trump committed both before and after he became president.
"I actually think that the people on the right are tougher," Trump warned in the same interview. "But the left plays it cuter and tougher. Like with all the nonsense that they do in Congress " with all this invest[igations] that's all they want to do is you know, they do things that are nasty."
Here we have it, in a nutshell. In Trump's mind, congressional investigations that could cause him shame and humiliation, and quite possibly result in a prison sentence, will be countered by forces loyal to him: the police, the military, and vigilante groups like Bikers for Trump.
To put it another way, the work of a democratically elected Congress will be met by Trump loyalists who, he asserts, are "tougher" because they have brute force on their side.
It is impossible to know what bizarre scenario is playing out in Trump's head. But another hint came on Friday, when, in the wake of the horrific shootings at two mosques in New Zealand, Trump told reporters he didn't believe white nationalism is on the rise.
"I don't really," he said. "I think it's a small group of people."
As usual, the facts are otherwise. The number of hate groups in the US increased 7% last year, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. Hate crime reports increased 17%, according to the FBI.
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