Should we really be surprised by the Jan. 6th attack on the United States Capital? Well, Washington DC based elder and griot, Baba Lumumba, says “no”. In fact, he predicted the type of chaos that we witnessed on January 6, 2021 as early as June 2020. Today, on Baba Lumumba’s 77th birthday, we acknowledge his foresight and pay respect to his wisdom by sharing the notes that he drafted in June 2020 here. Happy Birthday, Baba Lumumba! Kuzaliwa!

Donald Trump: A real danger, re-elected or not

The Question: Does Donald Trump represent a threat to Black people whether or not he is re-elected? And, if so, what is the nature of that threat?

Baba Lumumba

Most Black people recognize the fact that Donald Trump represents a threat to us in his position as president. We understand that he is unlike any other president that we have ever seen. We understand that he is actually a renegade occupying the office of the presidency. He acts in very different ways then we have seen in modern times. Some of us actually recognize that his presidency came about largely as a reaction to the election of Barack Obama; if there had been no Barack Obama, there probably would not be a Donald Trump. But, almost none of us recognize the threat that he poses to us even if he is not re-elected.

Most of us understand the threat that he represents to us if he is re-elected by virtue of the problems that he has caused us during his first term. But, what we do not recognize is his potential threat to us even if he is not re-elected. This threat comes from the fact that he has become the leader of our most strident and potentially lethal adversaries in this society, which includes elements of the radical reactionary right-wing that are heavily armed and are willing and able to use those arms against us.  

The fact is, no matter what he does or says, a large segment of the white  population supports him even if his policies are actually against their interests, as well as, what it is they say that they believe. This is due to in large part to the simple fact that they identify with him and what he stands for so completely that nothing else really matters. He is their man, their leader, and as the expression goes “they will follow him into hell”. What we fail to realize is that this very large follower-ship at its core are fearful of losing the privileged status that they enjoy in American society and the rest of the world. His followers don’t really care about the legal framework, the constitution, the bill of rights and its precedence, principals, and/or this country’s history, the two party system or even the sanctity of the vote, or anything else that they claim to care about. They have found a leader that shares their insecurities. They have found a leader that has proven himself, by rising to the top of the ladder, by becoming the president. They also know that he also does not care about any of the foundational formative principals that the society claims to believe in.  Their new leader, Donald Trump, makes that clear to everyone, on a weekly basis, that he feels the same way that they do about the need to retain white privilege and will act accordingly to stop others from gaining enough power to challenge that privilege. He is their man, their leader and they will follow him and support him no matter what he says or does. Like themselves, he is emotional in trying to insure white people maintain power and privilege in this society and the world and that is all that really matters to them and his followers.

This is the first time that this segment of the population has secured such a broad base leadership that includes all segments of the most insecure elements in this society from conservative Republicans, to the KKK and everything in between. The ugly truth is this has happened under the leadership of a Donald Trump and will not be undone because he is no longer the president of the United States. It will morph into a different form that has the potential of being more ominous then its present form.

If this is true, what does this segment of the population do if he is not re-elected?What should we expect from him and them, if they no longer hold the office of the presidency? Should we expect them to simply keep trying to regain this office in the legitimate political arena by starting a third party? Should we expect  they try to hold on to the leadership of the Republican party and continue to operate in the political context of the Republican Party or might we expect them to try and establish a power base outside the two party system with very little connection with, or loyalty to the frame-work of the current system? An entity that will reflect the kind of authoritarianism that he and his followers lean towards? Is he and his followers much like what we saw in the rise of the Nazi party in Germany?

The loss of recent wars, the economic strain that they are under and the projection of their fears of others taking over, are real threats to their special place at the top. There are disturbing parallels between Donald Trump  and Adolf Hitler’s rise to power in Germany.   They now have a proven leader that has tasted power and has risen to power through the system without a true adherence to, or belief in, that system; with the legitimacy of having been the official leader of the country. If he loses the election by a small margin, he will inevitably claim that he was cheated and his followers will accept whatever story that he is able to cook up about how, even if there is not a scintilla of evidence to support his claim. The undeniable truth is he is in the best possible position to try establish a truly fascistic style organization with the capacity to attack others that they disagree with and consider their enemy. This places Black people in the potential cross- hairs of such a movement.

The ugly truth is that Donald Trump is in the best position to unite all of their diverse segments of the insecure white population in this country from the Klan, the militia groups, out of work frustrated factory workers, large segments of police forces in this society, and segments of the business community with money to support conservative members of the Republican Party and everyone in between under his leadership into a force that we must reckoned with. With his demonstrated personality traits of extreme self-centeredness and insecurity, we should expect him to assume this role. We should expect him to attempt to pull together such a faction to continue to carry on that leadership, increasing his belligerent posture when he is out of office and taking it to the next level. Which could very well mean go on the attack.

If this happens, what we would have to fear most is it is that the most dangerous elements of such a political construct will attempt to start their dream of a race war in America. They could very well, go on the attack with the acquiescence of the other elements within this political construct that shares the insecurity of a Donald Trump. They may feel that it is now or never for their dream of victory through a race war. This possibility should be seen as being a very real possible outcome of Donald Trump being turned out of office and must be considered by us to be a very real possibility.