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.

In cheering on the police rioting and dividing the country along color lines in recent weeks, Trump was demonstrating once again his utter unfitness for the presidency. To expect this poor excuse of a human being to express empathy to the heartbroken Floyd family and the other families who have recently lost a daughter or son as a result of police violence, or appeal for unity at this moment of national trial, or insist on meaningful criminal justice reform of the policing system is about as likely as the sun rising in the west.

Trump’s daily twitter messages, even now, are rhetorical flame-throwers designed to heighten tensions, exacerbate divisions, encourage police thuggery, and rev up his base who drink the Kool Aid of white supremacy, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, and great power nationalism. His tweet three weeks ago, “When the looting starts, the shooting starts,” was a calculated instruction to cops to police out of the barrel of a gun.

Last week a white cop in Atlanta did just that. He shot Rayshard Brooks. But Brooks wasn’t looting. His only crime was his Blackness. That alone was enough to earn him two deadly shots in the back. Nothing will bring Rayshard Brooks back into the world. But each of us in our own way can do something to create a world in which Black Lives Matter!