When I read the reports of what Trump said in his speech in Washington yesterday, I have to confess that I agreed with much of it.
He pushed what CNN called a “harsh criminal justice agenda” that included, spectacularly, the death sentence for drug dealers, and using the National Guard to fight crime. He called also for all homeless camps to be relocated to areas on the edge of our cities—just as I have recommended here in Oakland.
Readers of this blog, and followers of the Coalition for a Better Oakland, know we’re pretty tough on crime. We certainly haven’t gone so far as to call for executing drug dealers—but when it comes to fentanyl, heroin and really hard drugs like that, I’d like to see long sentences. I also agree with Trump when he says that “our great police know what to do,” but that due to anti-police organizations, including Oakland’s own Police Commission and the incorrigible cop haters on the City Council, like Fife, they’re not allowed, or afraid, to do their jobs. Of course, Trump’s pro-cop rhetoric is profoundly hypocritical; he “loved” the neo-nazi insurrectionists of Jan.6, who beat up every cop they could lay their hands on. But still, the sentiment is true.
Readers of this blog may also know how anti-Trump I am. I wear that credential proudly. So finding myself agreeing with much of his speech dismayed me. In today’s post, I’d like to explain my thoughts.
The Coalition calls ourselves “non-partisan,” and that’s true in the sense that we don’t ask our members about their political affiliation. Indeed, as I’ve repeatedly argued, being pro-cop is not a Democratic thing or a Republican thing but an American thing. I, personally, have revealed myself as a moderate Democrat. Now, I want to tell you why I’m opposed to any Republican nominee for President, or any other high office, even though they happen to be right about crime. I speak for myself only, not the Coalition at large, and I hope that any Republicans who happen to be members will understand.
If the Republican, or Trump, party stood simply on an anti-crime platform, they’d have my support. But that’s not all they stand for. When you look at the Trump wing of the party, what you see is frightening. Anyone who does not clearly recognize that Donald Trump is a fascist and a racist is blind. You can know everything you need to know about the modern Republican Party by its most extreme element: the white Christian nationalists, who have taken the Republican Party over and command its agenda. These people do not like Asians. They don’t like Blacks. They don’t like Brown-skinned people. They don’t even like Christians who are not as hard core as they are. They really hate LGBTQ Americans. They call themselves “Christians,” but I put that word in quotes because there’s nothing remotely “Christian” about them. They represent a far-right, maniacal cult of destruction, the same monsters who brought the world the horrors of the Inquisition and witch-burning, people who I am convinced would conduct mass arrests of everyone perceived as their enemy. Jews and gays in particular should be alarmed. We’ve seen how this hellish vision of theocracy works in places like Afghanistan. We saw what happened when these people took Germany over: the concentration camps and World War II. It could happen here.
For these reasons, I’d like to warn readers not to be tempted by Trump’s tough-on-crime rhetoric. We can continue to elect liberals to local offices in Oakland, and at the same time we can insist that they crack down on crime and stop bashing the police. The two things are not mutually exclusive!
Steve Heimoff