WS Chronicle

By Dr. Tom Hastings

During the uprising following the brutal filmed murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, Trump called some of the rioters thugs and tweeted that “when the looting starts the shooting starts.” 

Yes, those pikers broke some windows and stole some diapers, some got detergent, one man had a carton of eggs and a young man stole a backpack. 

These rioters were very disorganized criminals. 

Meanwhile, organized crime carried on as usual, figuring out how to use punked legislators to enrich the wealthy even more at the direct expense of everyone who pays taxes. 

The coronavirus bailout funds went in dribs and drabs to some average Americans. I was lucky enough to get $800 and many people I know have gotten nothing. Meanwhile, Trump’s family businesses and his close associates received more than $21 million and many other wealthy people got huge checks from the “CARES” Act. 

This is organized crime. 

Part of the reason Trump was elected in the first place was a scam by Trump crony Roger Stone and Wikileaks and the Russian intelligence operations to steal and make a big “Lock her up!” deal about Hillary Clinton’s emails. Of course that was ultimately a series of false claims, a nothingburger that continues to be quashed in courts when it reappears in rightwing zombie acts of endless harassment. 

As a result of his actions, Stone was convicted in court of seven felonies, all of which related to helping Trump steal the 2016 election. 

Stealing the U.S. presidency? Now that is organized crime. 

Getting a big assist from the real crime lords at the Russian GRU intelligence agency, getting the cooperation of the sloppy data thieves at Wikileaks, that is a planned master criminal enterprise. 

With the mob boss in the White House wielding a pardon pen, the circle is complete as Trump commutes the Stone sentences and pardons Flynn. Sorry, Mafia, you guys are amateurs compared to Trump, Stone, Flynn, Mitch McConnell, and the crew at the top. Gangsters and thieves everywhere should be taking notes.

During the workup to the Republican tax cut bill back when Trump had all branches of government doing his bidding, we heard lots of empty promises about lowered taxes, no impact on the deficit, and increased investment in U.S. manufacturing. 

Yeah, no. 

The House Budget Committee assessed the losses to the American workers and middle class alongside the massive gains for the wealthy as the tax law went into effect and really, that is seriously organized crime, looting from the taxes collected from working Americans at stunning levels. 

Is this what America wants? Thugs in the White House and Senate? Because that is who are in those places now. A catalog of crimes committed by Trump and associates is thick and growing by the day. It’s governance by gaslighting and ruling by lawlessness. 

I hope we can get just and correctional about all this in November. Instead of “when the looting starts, the shooting starts,” I hope we can vote in much better. “When the stealing ends, the healing mends,” feels like a better model. 

Breaking windows and ripping off cleaning products is beyond stupid but, after all, we only see such riots every 40 or 50 years, while the real looters, the ones in charge, are ripping you off every damned day.

Dr. Tom H. Hastings is PeaceVoice Director and on occasion an expert witness for the defense in court.