Came across this article and the idea just jelled that Martial Law is exactly what Trump would use if the pharma sliver bullet for Covid-19 does not pan out and save his bacon. He shows signs of the jitters these days in front of the press and he has to be sniffing at other options as a plan-B. By declaring a state of Martial Law he could exploit effectively the large grey zone in the legal framework for this extraordinary action and suspend the November election. That is his thing afterall. Could you picture him leaning with censorship authority on news media in order to nudge the larger population into the notion that his incompetence in handling the pandemic from the beginning was not a crime but Fake News. That Covid-19 is actually a weaponized virus designed and released by China to gain geo-political advantage over the US which makes it tantamount to an act of war. Trump has admiringly appraised Putin and the skill with which he worked the Russian constitution to allow him to run for president until the cows come home. The same for China’s, Xi Jinping. That opportunity may be blocked from Trump in the US but he can get creative and turn an obstacle into an opening with an asymmetric strategy. The question is does the GOP have the stomach to support and justify such an unprecedented and brazen move for control from the Oval Office? Can they work themselves up into a self righteous fever that rationalizes such an action by a rogue hustler of historic proportions who is deeply anti democratic to his core. Of course they can.
2020-03-27
President Trump on Friday blasted Democratic governors in Washington and Michigan for criticizing the federal government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, bemoaning that they had not offered appreciation for his efforts.
“I want them to be appreciative. ..”
“You know what I say? If they don’t treat you right, I don’t call,” Trump added.
Chaos and lots of dead bodies and he’ll be moved aside.
In the US when the final pandemic death tally is taken the shocking numbers will not be enough to bring big changes to the system.The class/race narrative is that non whites and poor people are the untouchables and as a consequence their deaths will be deducted from the emotional total diluting the overall impact. Whether it was intended all along or not the Herd Immunity thingy was driving Oval Office pandemic policy from the beginning. The majority will survive and at some point thevirus will plateau on its own and finally be controlled by vaccine.Dovetailing nicely with this on the populist level is the bellief that a quasi Darwinian mechanism operates in which those who arestrong (economically and morally) will survive and the weak will fall to the wayside. It is what it is.Tire worn rationalizations and stereotypes will serve to subvert positive political response and result in dividing initiatives for changealong party lines. An example would be that African American families are just getting a divine judgement to their community, a punishemt for generations of broken families and damaged kids that perpetuate crime and costly dysfunction in the welfare and criminal justice systems.And if this is not bad enough there is some speculation that centrist Dems are busy chasing their tails moving forward…https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/04/03/will-trump-cancel-the-election-will-the-democrats-dump-joe/