Page 2 The Skanner February 22, 2017
Challenging People to Shape
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Opinion
The Art of the Deal: Trump Loves Confusion and Chaos
I
n politics, I have been told
that you pick your bat-
tles, but President Donald
Trump has a different the-
ory. He has decided to fight
everyone that does not agree
with his opinion, and it’s
probably the worst way that
he could have started his ad-
ministration.
There are over 600 admin-
istrative positions that must
be filled, and staffers who
have been hired are having
meetings in the dark, because
they don’t know how to turn
on the lights. There are leaks
coming from aides who are
questioning if the top staff
understands the processes of
the White House and/or the
federal government.
At this point, Trump’s most
significant political setback
in his new administration
is the 9th Circuit Court rul-
ing against reinstating the
president’s travel ban. The
unanimous ruling from a
three-judge panel means
that citizens of seven major-
ity-Muslim countries will be
able to continue travel to and
from the U.S., despite Trump’s
executive order last month.
Trumps immediate re-
sponse was an angry tweet:
“SEE YOU IN COURT, THE SE-
CURITY OF OUR NATION IS
AT STAKE!”
So, now Trump’s top staff
Roger
Caldwell
NNPA
Columnist
will hold numerous meetings
trying to determine how they
can circumvent the Circuit
Court’s decision and fall fur-
ther behind in organizing the
administration.
Instead of presenting evi-
dence to explain the need for
the executive order, Trump’s
“
happen every day.
Trump, the reality TV star,
loves confusion, and believes
chaos produces the sort of re-
sults he likes.
“Read any of those stories
and the word ‘chaos’ jumps to
mind. Or ‘turmoil.’ Or ‘dissen-
sion.’ All of them convey the
same thing: “Less than three
weeks into his presidency
there is a knife fight happen-
ing daily among Trump’s top
aides.” wrote Chris Cillizza
for “The Fix,” a politics blog
for “The Washington Post.”
Then National Security
Advisor Michael Flynn was
An environment of chaos is not
new for Trump, and he appears to
thrive on disorder
legal team came to the hear-
ing unprepared. This is sig-
nificant, because it raises
questions about how his oth-
er executive orders will be
defended in court, as lawyers
across the nation begin to file
lawsuits.
An environment of chaos
is not new for Trump, and
he appears to thrive on dis-
order. During the campaign,
then- Republican presidential
candidate promised that he
would drain the swamp and
now people are watching it
forced to resign after it was
reported that he had contact
with Russian officials after
the election. Trump’s La-
bor Secretary pick Andrew
Puzder withdrew from con-
sideration for the post amidst
decades-old domestic abuse
claims, which his wife later
recanted, and shortage of
support among Republican
senators.
The West Wing is basical-
ly empty, and there are small
cracks of disappointment and
disapproval with the dysfunc-
tion of the administration. As
the aides support different
factions in the administra-
tion, someone from the senior
staff will become the most
powerful.
Many think that Stephen
Bannon, Trump’s senior advi-
sor, is the architect of many of
the executive orders and the
top staff person in the Trump
Administration with all the
power.
Bannon’s appointment to
the National Security Council
has upset America, because
now he has unlimited pow-
er. With Bannon on the Na-
tional Security Council, he
has a political platform for
hateful ideologies instead of
the council making critical
decisions based upon facts
from experts on the ground.
Things are a mess, and nearly
a month into this presidency,
very little has actually been
accomplished.
There are still hundreds of
jobs to be filled and very few
bills have been passed by Con-
gress and sent to the White
House.
Most con men give the im-
pression that they are rolling,
but in this administration,
when you roll back the fluff,
there is no substance and no
one knows what they are do-
ing.
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Building the Movement to Fight American Extremism
M
oral resistance, Amer-
icans are quickly
learning, is a civic
duty under President
Trump.
But even as mass protests
remind us that the Constitu-
tion was not un-elected last
November, history suggests
that our resistance must pre-
pare for a long-term move-
ment.
Things are going to get
worse in America before they
get better. We will win, but
it’s not going to be fast and
it’s not going to be easy. Lest
we lose perspective, we need
to soberly face the challenge
before us.
From Hitler to Franco to
Suharto, fascist regimes in
the 20th century seemed im-
plausible in their beginnings.
Nevertheless, their strong
men defied the political es-
tablishment and appealed
to “the people,” even as they
undermined the democratic
process, a free press, orga-
nized labor and the arts. In
no instance, did this happen
all at once, and in every case
there were opponents who ex-
pressed outrage at some point
(Eighty percent of Germans
disapproved of the Kristall-
nacht attack on synagogues).
But outrage did not stop fas-
cism. The consistent scape-
goating of some minority
group inevitably turned na-
Rev. Dr.
William J.
Barber, II
President,
NC NAACP
tional attention to security,
law and order. Every fascist
regime has blessed its cor-
porate leaders and invested
in infrastructure projects;
in turn, so-called religious
“
outraged. But when 17 moral
leaders were arrested in an
act of civil disobedience on
the first “Moral Monday,” we
committed ourselves to a fight
with every nonviolent tool
available to us in the courts,
in the streets, in the legisla-
ture and at the ballot box. We
spent some long nights in jail,
and we suffered some hard
defeats in the midterm elec-
tions. But this past November,
when Trumpism swept the
South, extremists in North
We are building a movement of
people who are not only deter-
mined to fight extremism, but also
to build the America that has not
yet been
leaders consistently bless the
marriage of God and country.
The only thing that can stop
fascism is a broad coalition of
people determined to stand
together against extremism.
What will protect us, four
years from now, from a fas-
cism that delays normal elec-
tions during war time?
When extremists took over
state government in North
Carolina in 2013, we had to
face the reality of anti-dem-
ocratic populism in 21st-cen-
tury America. Yes, we were
Carolina lost control of two of
the three branches of govern-
ment. In addition to that, a fed-
eral court has ordered special
elections in 2017, because the
racially gerrymandered leg-
islative districts, which gave
extremists a supermajority
in the legislative branch, were
deemed unconstitutional.
We need a sustained mor-
al resistance. We cannot let
this debate be about party.
Some things aren’t left or
right. They’re right or wrong.
Democrats and Independents
must link up with Republi-
cans who are moved to resist,
even as political differences
remain (11 percent of Mor-
al Monday supporters were
Republican in 2013).
Second, we have to build
cross-racial, cross-class coali-
tions that put a face on policy
changes that hurt real people.
Third, we must be willing
to put our bodies on the line
in nonviolent direct action
and escalate our campaign
until the cost of oppression is
greater than the willingness
of oppressors to continue.
Finally, we must be com-
mitted for the long haul. Our
protest cannot be about a
moment. We are building a
movement of people who are
not only determined to fight
extremism, but also to build
the America that has not yet
been. We are working for a
Third Reconstruction, and
we know our history well
enough to know that this
work will not be fast or easy.
With the ascent of Steve
Bannon to the White House,
we are closer to fascism than
America has ever been be-
fore. But we also know what
can beat fascism. Others
fought before us; it’s our time
now. We needed a movement
of moral resistance in every
community, holding elected
officials accountable for the
extremism that is fast becom-
ing U.S. policy.
