Trump's Achilles Heel

The Achilles heel of Trump's violence-provoking campaign is that, unlike the European fascists of the 20's and 30's, he doesn't have an organized corps of Brown Shirts. He can't control his own rallies. Now he's threatening violence against Sanders' rallies, but can he follow through with the threats without that organized corps? Will volunteers fill that gap, or just create a PR mess? It's a conundrum. Soon we'll see muscle gangs of 'Apprentices', in appealing business wear, at his rallies. They will invite protesters to personalized interviews in the 'Board Room', featuring good old-fashioned boards. It will be a good-ol' hoe down at the Fascist Farm.

Gabriel points out an article in the New Yorker comparing the Trump campaign's chaotic rally in Chicago with the troubled Democratic convention in that town in 1968. The article's analogy seemed forced, but it started me thinking about the polarized era of Vietnam protests with today's polarized era. Polarization makes it very easy for rabble-rousers on either side to cynically spark confrontations that lead to the creation of martyrs. It's a contest to see who might be the most clever.

In Godfrey Hodgson's 1976 contemporary history "America in Our Time", he discusses the People's Park controversy in Berkeley, California, in July, 1969:

"For while in all innocence people turned up to build the park, somebody thought of turning that lot into People's Park. And whoever thought of it knew very well that the university could not give up its title. ... [T]hey knew how the police would respond. ... [T]hen it was all the more certain that people would be hurt."

More than just hurt. Alameda County Sheriffs killed one student with a shotgun blast. And it was a confrontation set up by the very clever people who posted a little newspaper ad in April, 1969 that dubbed the lot "People's Park". Such an innocent, pleasant-sounding name. And the battle simply drove people farther apart than ever.

Trump has been willing to allow protesters into his rallies, knowing they make for good theater for his own people, but the situation is spiraling out of control. How does he reassert control? Will he figure out how to bait the protesters? Or will the protesters bait him? Clever people are thinking! And someone will get hurt.