Aghast!

The volatile mix of Donald Trump supporters and demonstrators against Trump at the rally in Chicago threatened to erupt into physical clashes. Violence and the threat of violence are becoming too much a part of Donald Trump rallies. This, at least to some extent, is the result of Donald Trump inciting the crowd to react to demonstrators, reporters and others. Last night Rachel Maddow accused Trump of purposely inciting violence as a political tactic. Ms. Maddow is not just whistling in the dark. Trump chose the University of Illinois at Chicago as the site for his rally knowing that the student-body there is diverse in regard to ethnicity, race, and religion, and that many of those students were likely to protest a rally held by a man who has made so many bigoted statements. This gave Trump what he wanted. He got a demonstration and a reaction to it that allowed him to dawn the victim's mantle by claiming that the police advised him to cancel the rally for the safety of the attendees.

The Police deny giving him that advice.  But Trump's claim that his supporters were threatened serves his purpose. Trump wants you to believe that it will take a great, strong man (Donald Trump), who is not afraid to use violence, to keep you safe from those “other” violent people threatening his supporters and America! Indeed, Trump blames that Communist, Bernie Sanders, for inciting the demonstrators. Reichstag fire anyone? This use of violence and the threat of violence is the tactic of a would be despot! Oh, I'm sorry! I must have forgotten that this is AMERICA. I am sure Trump would prefer another Haymarket Riot to a Reichstag fire. What I am afraid of is another Kent State massacre if Trump is elected, although I would not rule out violence against labor. Labor violence is not out of the question either. People are getting that desperate, and the reactionary forces are that ruthless.

As I wrote on Daily Kos in January of this year:

“It seems somewhat ironic to me that the major players on the political stage today (Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, and Donald Trump) all remember the 1960's. But who among them looks beyond Camelot? Who thinks about the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr.? Who recalls with horror the sights and sounds of fire hoses, dogs, tear-gas and clubs being used against civil rights demonstrators and peace demonstrators? Who among them is still outraged over the massacre of the young peace demonstrators at Kent State or the Police Riot in Chicago during the 1968 Democratic Convention?

I ask those questions because it is obvious that the pressure for meaningful change is finally reaching the point where we are likely to see the same type of turmoil.”

A fascist style demagogue will only exacerbate the problem and require more drastic measures to fix what so many years of plutocratic rule has wrought! We do not need or want a strong man. What we want is a man of principle and character leading a political revolution others can continue as needed. Bernie Sanders is the beginning of such a revolution!