Trump’s Greatest Challenge Now by Conrad Black

[mystery-ak]

   Trump’s Greatest Challenge Now

Leadership in crises is preeminently what presidents do and the effectiveness of their responses to crises largely determines how they are evaluated in history.
By Conrad Black • June 1, 2020

President Trump faces the greatest challenge of his very eventful life, and also an immense opportunity to silence his detractors. Not since Charles de Gaulle faced a prolonged general strike in France in 1968 has the leader of a large Western democracy faced something so closely approximating an insurrection as the situation President Trump faces now.

Fortunately, as de Gaulle demonstrated, in such circumstances there is almost always overwhelming support for the legitimate government as long as it restores order with no more force than is necessary and in the impartial national interest.

In May 1968, after a month of chaos, de Gaulle addressed the nation for less than five minutes. As he had calculated, by this time the avarice and prudence of the French bourgeoisie had asserted themselves and he won the greatest electoral victory in 175 years of Republican French history. The French take inexplicable pleasure in tearing up paving stones and hurling them at the police and engaging in general disorder and revolutionary sloganeering—but not for long.

President Trump’s challenge is less complicated—apart from the declining but still lingering pandemic—as public opinion is almost unanimous in opposition both to police brutality and mob violence. He has a precious opportunity and absolute duty to speak for the whole nation and to act decisively.

Virtually every single aware American is disgusted by the video of the Minneapolis policeman holding his knee on the neck of George Floyd for nearly 10 minutes, ignoring pleas from Floyd and advice from onlookers. At least 95 percent of Americans deplore the wanton violence, desecration, barbarity, and severe economic damage done mainly to minority small business owners, on the fraudulent pretext of protesting the apparent murder of Floyd, an African American, by a criminally insouciant white police officer grossly abusing his position.

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https://amgreatness.com/2020/06/01/trumps-greatest-challenge-now/

[EdinVA]

I was with him till this....

• A national code of conduct for law enforcement officers including severe penalties for undoubted racist discrimination should be imposed and where it is not adopted voluntarily by states and municipalities the failure to accept this high standard of conduct should be publicized and fiscally penalized. All municipalities of 100,000 people or more should be financially assisted by the federal government in establishing riot control and deterrence systems that are a great deal more effective than the Keystone Cops bumbling that was much in evidence in many American cities this past week.

The state/local governments have responsibilities and it is up to the citizens to hold them accountable.  We cannot centralize detailed behavior to the federal government.

[Cyber Liberty]

I was with him till this....

The state/local governments have responsibilities and it is up to the citizens to hold them accountable.  We cannot centralize detailed behavior to the federal government.

Yeah, that's when I got off the train, too....