Many of us are trying to understand why Trump has been doing the things he’s been doing lately – because they seem to be destructive things, as regards the political palatability (and so, viability) of MAGA.

It was weird – and a little appalling – when Trump suddenly sicced the military on Venezuelan speedboats, blowing not just them but also their helpless occupants into oblivion. The justification – drugs – seemed equally weird given the drugs Trump complains about generally come from Mexico, not Venezuela. It also made many of us feel a little sick to watch people bobbing in the water being obliterated. That sort of thing – the execution of helpless people who are no longer capable of shooting back – got people court-martialed once upon a time.

Then Trump sent in the Hut! Hut! Hut! crew to literally kidnap a foreign head of state. Whatever you think about Maduro, he was the president of Venezuela. Where did Trump get the authority to just remove a foreign head of state? And – why? Venezuela has lots of oil, it is said – and that is true. But it’s going to be tough to get that oil – and get it to the United States, as every serious analyst agrees. American companies being reluctant to invest hugely in an iffy foreign country that could easily become a very difficult place to do business in.

Then there’s Greenland. All of a sudden it is a strategic – and existential – necessity for America to annex it. Never mind that there is already an American base there and it’s not 1945 anymore, anyhow. No Lend Lease convoys are heading for Europe from America. And Russian hypersonic missiles are too fast to be stopped by countermeasures installed on Greenland anyhow.

So – again – why?

Most recently, Trump has made public anti-gun utterances after his FBI director made similar utterances. It has understandably alarmed many of Trump’s increasingly uncomfortable Second Amendment-supporting supporters, who thought they were voting for a man (and an administration) that wasn’t gun-grabby. (Yes, I know. Trump has not actually grabbed any guns – yet. But it is reasonable to worry he might grab them going forward, given what he and Patel, the FBI director, have said. Which indicates what they think.)

The above all happened after a man got shot to death in the street in the course and context of what many people see as a purposely inflammatory display of federal goonery. Ten million illegals aren’t going to be rounded up by ICE and deported. It is a logistical improbability – shy of martial law and neighborhood-by-neighborhood sweeps. Which may be coming.

It is not popular, however. Every poll shows Trump has lost the power of the immigration issue he rode back into office. Most Americans were not happy with the open border and wanted something done to close it and something done to deal with the very real problem of the 10 million-plus strange and exotic people who are demographically and so politically threatening to change America forever. They would probably welcome and even cheer cutting off the Free Shit and siccing the FBI on state/local officials who refuse to comply. But they are understandably uneasy about what certainly looks like a metastasizing police state that they fear – also understandably – might wheel around and police them, going forward.

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