Stop the World: Donald Trump Changed His Stance, Kind of.

Stop the world and start breathing rapidly into a paper bag. Donald Trump has finally done the right thing. Well, make that half of the right thing. Sort of.

Trump had previously planned the return of his nauseating rallies on June 19 th in Tulsa, Oklahoma. June 19 th is also known as “Juneteenth” – a day of quiet reflection and respect for acknowledging the end of slavery in the United States. Tulsa was the location of one of the worst race massacres in American history – over 300 African-Americans were killed and around 800 injured in 1921 by an angry white mob in conjunction with the national guard.

It was then no coincidence that our white nationalist sympathizing president chose that date and that location for his latest rally. Trump is a racial flame-thrower in a tinder-filled dry forest. He thrives on chaos, division and hatred.

Trump also has a long history of racism. Think of his being flagged up by the Department of Justice, along with his equally racist father, for discriminatory housing / landlord activities. Or how about his heading up the patently racist birther movement? Or suggesting that there were “fine people on both sides” regarding the Charlottesville alt-right gathering and anti-racist protests in 2017. His attempts to not be racist are as fake as his ludicrous tan.

Donald Trump also has a very long history of refusing to say sorry or admit that he has ever been wrong. He has taken that to insurmountable extremes. Cast your mind back to the Access Hollywood incident when, as a presidential candidate he was caught on tape bragging about how he could grab women by the genitals. When this became public, Trump offered an apology of watered- down sorts. What he actually offered up was “I am sorry if my actions caused you any offence.” Not a straight “I’m sorry” – he had to make it conditional on whether or not someone had taken offence.

Now we find ourselves in the highly unusual situation of Trump back-tracking, at least a little, with his moving the date of his red-hat fest rally from June 19th to June 20th . And why would he do that? There are two main reasons. First, as November inches its way closer, he knows that his electoral prospects are sinking, especially so among non-white voters. So the move in date is an attempt to make himself look more acceptable to them. Which is laughable as if he shouldn’t have chosen Juneteenth in the first place and even on the following day it is still in Tulsa, with all the connotation that comes with this city.

Second, it’s a ploy to make himself look accommodating to African-Americans to his sorry base of rally attendees. You can hear it now in the arena, that grating voice rambling on as to “How could I possibly be racist? I moved the date of this rally?” Or maybe how he is, as he has previously asserted, “the least racist person in the world.” Deluded. Completely deluded.

Crass buffoon as he is, Trump and his re-election team are always cunning and manipulative. Choosing Tulsa for a location is beyond insensitive, it’s toxic and offensive. Trump has as much concern for African-Americans now as much as he did when he was a (poor) businessman and B-list TV celebrity, which is none. The only thing that Trump cares about is Trump. What his froth-at-the- mouth base fail to understand is that if selling them out meant that he would somehow secure a second presidential term, he would do it in a heart-beat.

Tulsa will be a potential powder-keg of emotion come June 20 th . Huge counter-protests can be expected. If things get out of hand with a tiny minority and the police are heavy-handedly called into action, you can again hear Trump’s musings in front of his deluded faithful. He will declare himself “the law and order” president and that he has the right to deploy the military against the American people if he so wishes.

Let’s then not get too excited about the move of the date from Juneteenth to June 20th . It’s political chicanery by Trump and Co. and nothing more. Let’s save our excitement for that happy day, November 4th 2020, when we wake up to the ecstatic realization that Trump has been dumped from office.