Alas, Mad King Trump and his trusty MAGA administration are only getting worse. As many times as the courts block their actions, they charge ahead with something else pulled out of Project 2025. And the shiny objects Trump uses to distract his base are getting shinier by the day, the latest being the “White genocide” supposedly being committed against Afrikaner farmers in South Africa, a good bet to push all the MAGA hot buttons: grievance; persecution; fear and paranoia; and above all, the desire to return to a romanticized White rural past (think Little House on the Prairie but in Africa).
Indeed, the image of White farmers being slaughtered by Black boogeymen makes wonderful fodder for Trump. Talk about an ugly trope going back to the days of slavery in the American South and the fear of slave insurrections! And not surprisingly, like much of what Trump says, it’s not true. South Africa is known to have a terrible crime problem, but Blacks are killed at a much higher rate than Whites. (Apparently the horrible video that Trump shared with the South African president in the Oval Office was of atrocities committed in Congo.)
Trump isn’t concerned with what happens to White Afrikaner farmers, but rather with inspiring rage among his base and distracting from his many failures since taking office, including: prices haven’t gone down as he promised and inflation will likely head back up as soon as his ill-advised tariffs kick in; he hasn’t ended the wars in Ukraine or Gaza or struck a nuclear deal with Iran; DOGE hasn’t cut anywhere near the two trillion from the federal budget that Elon Musk promised; and his “One Big, Beautiful Bill” will explode the already out-of-control deficit and increase our disastrous inequality by transferring even more wealth from the middle class to the rich (assuming that it or a reasonable facsimile passes the Senate). Trump has succeeded in lowering illegal immigration at the Southern border, but his promise to deport 15-20 million illegal aliens is looking about as feasible as DOGE reaching its two trillion target, unless, of course, they start deporting American citizens en masse—which they might!
Just in case the “White genocide” story lacks sufficient legs to make it through the week, Trump is attacking Harvard again, another great target to rile up his MAGA base. If there’s anything they hate and villainize more than Black people, it’s academic elites and the richest, most prestigious university in the county, along with its privileged foreign students. Another day, more scapegoats in MAGA land.
The Mad King Who Rescues White Farmers Banishes Foreign Students.
In the meantime, all the fuss over the “coverup” of Joe Biden’s mental decline during his presidency is a bit rich for this humble spirit. Sorry folks, but how revealing that so many Washington insiders are shocked by what more than two-thirds of Americans knew all along—that Joe Biden was in a serious state of decline and was no longer fit for office, let alone capable of serving a second term. (Whatever happened to the “transitional” president?) The fact is, most people knew what they saw with their own eyes long before Biden’s disastrous debate performance.
Who did those closest to Biden think they were fooling? A lot of people should think twice before showing their faces in public again. Kamela Harris attacked the Hur Report for calling Biden a “sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory.” Clearly she knew she was collaborating in a ridiculous scam; didn’t she realize that she would end up looking ridiculous? And Jim Clyburn, the former Democratic House Whip, actually counseled his fellow Democrats to “stay the course” AFTER the debate! Could he not see there was no possible course for a Biden candidacy? Even more astounding, Jaime Harrison, the Chair of the Democratic National Committee from 2021 to 2025, continues to defend Biden’s viability for a second term.
Unfortunately, there’s no Sign the Democratic Party is Getting its Act Together Anytime Soon.
They’re already trying to get rid of David Hogg, one of their new vice-chairmen, for the crime of funding challenges to incumbents and representing a younger generation’s viewpoint. I regret using this line again, but the Democratic Party’s median age cannot continue to be deceased. What we need desperately in this country right about now is a strong opposition party. Normally the Democrats would be likely suspects for the job, but without some substantive new policies and messages, I fear they’re unlikely to meet the moment.