Provocation and desperation filled the air. Trump’s wild card | PIERRE CHÉNIER
Tens of thousands march on the I-94 in Minneapolis, May 31, 2020.
U.S. President Donald Trump held a press conference on June 5, where he stated that the COVID-19 pandemic has been largely overcome and is under control in the U.S. He declared that the country has been pacified through the use of the National Guard and their domination of the streets against looting. He declared that the United States is on its way to a great economic recovery and renewed dominance in world affairs.
Domination of the streets and in world affairs were a recurrent theme at the press conference. The claim that the pandemic is largely a thing of the past was graphically illustrated through the violation of social distancing of reporters’ chairs at the press conference. According to the media, the chairs had initially been positioned consistent with social distancing guidelines, but were moved closer together by White House staff shortly before the event began. “Even you, I notice you’re starting to get much closer together, looks much better, not all the way there yet, but you’ll be there soon,” Trump remarked to reporters.
The press conference had been triggered by a Department of Labor report released that day that claimed that the unemployment rate had dropped to 13.3 per cent in May, compared with 14.7 per cent in April and that 2.509 million jobs had been gained, following a record plunge of 20.687 million in April. Combined with the surge in stock markets, Trump referred to this as the “greatest comeback in American history.”
“This is a great day for everybody in terms of equality,” he said.
The press conference appeared to be a wild and desperate act in to dominate the faction of the ruling imperialist elite Trump represents. This includes electoral dominance – the U.S. presidential election is scheduled to take place in November – over its rivals and the American people who have been persistently protesting racial injustice and state violence and impunity since the killing of George Floyd by the Minneapolis police on May 25. Similar actions by the world’s peoples have been taking place in a large number of countries.
Trump created a lot of anger amongst the American people and the peoples of the world when he dared to claim that George Floyd would be happy with the job numbers and the so-called pacification of the streets through brutal force, including through the use of the National Guard.
“Hopefully George is looking down right now and saying ‘this is a great thing that’s happening for our country,’“ Trump said in a most vulgar and provocative way. “This is a great day for him. It’s a great day for everybody. “
Provocation and desperation filled the air as the U.S. President expressed the willingness of the ruling imperialist faction in power in the U.S. to further sacrifice peoples’ lives with no-holds-barred de-confinement, claiming that the “ economy” supersedes any other consideration as the source of U.S. imperialist power at home and abroad. He had no words of remorse or even regret for the 107,000 people in the U.S. who have died so far of COVID-19. In fact, he presented these deaths as a victory. Millions, he said, could have died, had the U.S. had not closed its borders to China, and to the peoples of the countries of the European Union and others who were infected by what he referred to as “the plague,” a “gift from China.” He said that employment figures will greatly improve once all U.S. States agree to end confinement and the “economy” is allowed to develop, uncontrolled and unchecked, with the lifting of measures to stop the spread of COVID-19.
This is the wild card this ruling imperialist faction is playing at the expense of the health and safety and the dignity and rights of the people in the U.S. and the peoples of the world. It is fraught with danger, including the risk of a full-fledged civil war between the factions of the elite. This highlights the necessity for the peoples of the U.S. and of the world to develop their own independent politics for their own empowerment, while stepping up the fight for their rights, including against racial injustice, state violence and impunity.
The eighth consecutive day of protests takes place in Washington, DC, June 6, 2020.
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