In thinking about Trump’s rally and death march tonight, which will give new meaning to ugly, ignorant, and desperate, I keep in mind that Trump and his brand are on the defensive and losing support. They’re not surging. Over the past few months, his combination of bullying, lying, and sheer incompetence in the face of multiple and devastating crises has managed to piss off lots of people at the grassroots and elite levels. His road to reelection is a much steeper climb now.

Postscript: The rally was a flop.

As a country, we are confronted by two contagions. One is a virus that goes unseen by the naked eye, unknowingly invades the body, attacks the immune system, and can bring death in its wake; the other is white in skin color, dresses in a blue uniform, carries extraordinary fire power on his person, and makes a habit of killing Black men for no reason other than their Blackness.

Both contagions, if they are to be vanquished, and they can be, require the concentrated attention of all decent minded people from all walks of life.

The rebukes of Trump by General James Mattis and other top military officers for his threat to deploy the military to put down protests had to give Trump some second thoughts about any consideration of remaining in office by extra constitutional means. People sometimes forget that if such an attempt backfires, its conspirators are in very deep sh t!

Political approaches that narrow the necessary broad front of struggle against Trump in the name of “class politics” or “class de-alignment” are not only mistaken, but could be harmful if taken seriously by too many people. Luckily, most people and organizations have no desire to dabble in such politics at this time. Too much is at stake, and especially on election day.

The fish may rot from the head, but only to begin with. Eventually the rest of the fish rots. It’s hard to imagine what 4 more years of Trump would do to the federal government and democracy, not to mention the country.