What Trump Really Wants Is Unchecked Power

Here in Chicago, we know how to prepare for winter, but Donald Trump’s promised ICE storm will test us. When we get pummeled with snow, we dig out. We put chairs on the street to save our parking spots and call it Dibs. This time for some that preparation means finding relatives and friends to care for children should they not come home. It means leaving empty chairs at the dinner table in the hope that the missing will return. But we are tough, and preparation also means stepping up to make sure that ICE follows the law when it shows up, that officers identify themselves, that they do not get a free pass to go where they have no warrant to enter.

We do not expect the Trump Administration’s body-armored thugs will cooperate. We do not expect them to come with warrants and unmasked, carrying identification, or acting with the dignity of a government that pursues justice. We expect what we have seen elsewhere — brute force, coercion, and the destruction of trust between communities and their government. We will not bring violence. Neither will we shrink from violence brought to us.

The abuses everyone has witnessed, the ones that have now been amply documented, do not pass the smell test of officers gone rogue. The stink is a fish rotting from its very orange head.

The agony of his ICE raids is just one type of pain Trump is willing to inflict to get what he wants. Political violence, and even war are others. What he wants is unchecked power.

On the very night when violent rhetoric once again became manifest — this time in the political assassination of a Democratic leader in Minnesota, Donald Trump said this:

Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York … these and other such Cities, are the core of the Democratic Power Center, where they use illegal Aliens to expand their Voter Base, cheat in Elections, and grow the Welfare State, robbing Jobs and Benefits from Hardworking American Citizens. These Radical Left Democrats are sick of mind, hate our Country.

Sick of mind and hate our country? Those are fighting words, not healing ones. And on the night of a political assassination, they can only be heard as an incitement to more violence.

There are not the words of a president who cares about the country. They would not be uttered by a leader who wants to bring us together. They cannot be spoken by anyone who cares about truth. On the day of a political assassination, they can only be an outrageous incitement to more violence.

Here’s the thing, Mr. Trump doesn’t care about the violence, but he wants the outrage. But this time, we didn’t bite. Firmly but with civil voices, we rose above and reminded flame throwers like Utah Senator Mike Lee, of the human cost of echoing Mr. Trump.

Despite, or perhaps because of his lawless deportations, his dictatorial use of force in our cities, and his incitement to political violence, Americans are looking past his rhetoric and focused on structures that can protect us — the rule of law, the institutions of democracy, the independence of the judiciary.

On cue, then, Mr. Trump mused publicly about sending B2 bombers to attack targets in Iran. Never mind, the U.S. was not at war with that country. Never mind that Israel has already weakened Iran, attacked their nuclear program, and now dominates their skies. Mr. Trump, having failed to distract us with his cruelty, having failed to make us turn away as he incited yet more political violence, now plays will I or won’t I, to make space for his terrible legislation.

Trump does not care one way or the other about Iran. But on Saturday, he announced he had bombed it anyway. Just a few days ago he promised us we were on the verge of a great deal with that country. Israel must have listened to him, because they have never wanted us to make a deal with Iran, and they attacked. Now Mr. Trump is using their fight to claim the spotlight.

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What he really wants is for the spotlight to be anywhere but Capitol Hill. That’s where, in 2020, Mr. Trump sent mobs to overturn our election by force. It’s where today, the MAGA legislators are moving to sunset the democracy via budget legislation. The bill contains language that will eliminate any checks on Presidential power. Gone is an independent judiciary’s only tool for enforcing its orders. If enacted, the President’s executive orders will have the force of law, and just like that, a whole nation becomes subject to the whims of one man.

Here’s what he will certainly do: He will take away funding for health care. He will take away funding for emergencies. He will cut funding for clean energy. He will cut funding for inspections for food and medicines and gun sales. He will sell our national lands. Even as Medicare and Social Security are now projected to go broke in less than ten years, he will increase our deficit by trillions of dollars- guaranteeing that we will never be in a position to fix those programs. He will do all this to raise money for tax cuts to billionaires whose lives won’t change one bit even if they get an extra billion dollars.

Americans do not want any of this. But if Mr. Trump succeeds in distracting us, we might all get it. And the curtain will fall on humanity’s greatest experiment with freedom.

Which brings me to Juneteenth. For most of my life, I didn’t know the history. And, when I did, I thought it was a bit of a niche holiday … a good idea, but not universally important. Today I know better. The Fourth of July celebrates our refusal to be governed by a tyrant. It proclaims our faith that all are created equal and have rights that cannot be taken away. But that idea did not meet reality in slave-holding America. After the Civil War, after the passage of the 13^th, 14^th, and 15^th amendments we had a new birth of freedom. Juneteenth celebrates the achievement of finally creating a government that would embody the values we articulated nearly a hundred years earlier. Put that way, it is a great holiday.

This year, our government is trying to suppress the holiday. When asked about the Declaration of Independence, Mr. Trump said “it’s about love and unity and respect.” So much for going to war in 1776 and again in 1861 to fight tyrants and enslavers.

If Congress passes the reconciliation bill, neither July Fourth, nor Juneteenth will have any meaning at all because every day will be President Trump Day.

Edwin Eisendrath hosts "The Big Picture" on WCPT820 AM/ Heartland Signal. He's the former CEO of the Chicago Sun-Times, a long-time management consultant, a former Chicago Alderman, HUD Regional Administrator and teacher in Chicago's public schools. You can follow him on BlueSky at eisendrath.net and Substack at “It’s the Democracy, Stupid.” Read the original column here.

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