Every presidential campaign has an image — a chicken in every pot, a bull moose, a comic book image of the candidate with the word "Hope" on it — and President Trump now has an indelible one for his: pickup trucks ramming into civil rights protesters.
More searing videos are emerging out of Portland this morning, the most horrifying of which was posted by Portland journalist Cory Elia, which shows the drivers of two Trump-flag-festooned pickup trucks trying to run over protesters before cloud of Mace (or other repellant) is fired from one of the trucks, dispersing some protesters.
A large object is hurled from a third truck in the motorcade:
The Trump tweet to which journalist Matthew Yglesias referred is this one, where the president apparently describes what he's seeing in such videos as "LAW & ORDER!!!":
It's not surprising that the president would mistake violence for order. As New York Times columnist Nick Kristof pointed out in his indispensable summary of lawbreaking in the Trump circle, "What distinguishes this White House on law and order is simply its ties to criminals: Eight associates of Trump have already pleaded guilty or been convicted of crimes since he took office."
"By any objective measure," Kristof also reminds, "the bigger risk comes from right-wing extremists." (It appears that one of those extremists was shot in the melee, though as of this writing it is unclear by whom.) White supremacists have killed 329 people in the last 25 years, and anti-facsists have killed none, according to one study (though one death was attributed to antifa — the death of an attacker).
Lest we forget, White supremacist James Fields used a Dodge Challenger — a noted assault car — to kill Heather Heyer in Charlottesville, Vir. in 2017. Reminder: Trump described the White supremacists who marched through Charlottesville as "very fine people."
And earlier this year, pickup-truck-driving Trump supporters and White supremacists ringed Michigan's state capital to protest COVID-19 restrictions. Many were armed.
NewsMax reporter Steve Gruber captured the essential image (and added in a prediction that is increasingly becoming more accurate):
Not all the counter-protesters in Portland on Saturday were violent of course, but the image of flag-covered trucks with menacing passengers remains the dominant one:
This isn't the official route of the Trump rally, but there is still an endless stream of Trump vehicles coming in to downtown Portland. pic.twitter.com/h0zg8WMVtg
Of course, Trump himself loves the imagery of oversized trucks symbolizing his presidency. Last month, he used two massive Chevy Silverados at a campaign event at the White House. The red Chevy symbolized his administration's disregard for environmental law and the blue Chevy (get it? Red and blue...) represented how our economy would be damaged by rules to require companies to protect the air, water and soil.
He also loves the imagery of two White people standing on their front law with guns, menacing peaceful protesters. Indeed, those two people — Mark and Pat McCloskey — got a prime-time speaking slot at the Republican convention last week.
Gersh Kuntzman is editor-in-chief of Streetsblog NYC.
Educated at the Sorbonne and the Yale School of Drama, Gersh Kuntzman is obviously not the person being described here. We're talking about tabloid legend Gersh Kuntzman, who has been with New York newspapers since 1989, including stints at the New York Daily News, the Post, the Brooklyn Paper and even a cup of coffee with the Times. He's also the writer and producer of "Murder at the Food Coop," which was a hit at the NYC Fringe Festival in 2016, and “SUV: The Musical” in 2007. Email Gersh at gersh@streetsblog.org
It's infuriating that a person who was entrusted to help keep the public safe was reckless enough to take her eyes off the road while driving to pick up a phone, with tragic consequences.
