One really violent day, President Trump?
Donald Trump lacks discipline, restraint, focus and self-control, spouting whatever comes into his mind without seriously considering it.
On April 19, 1993, the federal government sent tanks to Waco, Texas, using military force to end a standoff against a doomsday cult. The federal government used military force against American citizens who were barricaded in their own compound and posed no imminent threat to people outside the compound or in the community.
Patriots from all points of the political spectrum have worried about the federal government getting involved in local law enforcement, because of the potential for abuse of power and loss of liberty. President Rutherford B. Hayes signed the Posse Comitatus Act in 1878 in part because of these concerns. In the last 15 years, Black Lives Matter has sounded the alarm about the federal government giving military equipment to local police, arguing that police should not be soldiers and citizens should not be viewed as enemy combatants. Remembering Waco, a number of conservatives have echoed these concerns.
This ought to be the context for President Trump's proposal for "one really violent day" where police would brutalize people committing large-scale retail theft. The word would get out and people would be deterred. It amazes me that conservatives who openly fret about the "deep state" can defend this proposal. Extrajudicial violence is not conservative. It is certainly not how you "make America great again."
It should be pointed out, of course, that the federal government has no constitutional authority to direct local police to implement a violent day, which sounds more like a sequel to The Purge than a serious policy proposal. Trump revels in calls for brutality and extrajudicial police violence. He thinks it makes him look tough, but what it really does is make him look like a dangerous authoritarian. He cannot claim "fake news," as this proposal came from his own mouth.
Again, this shows that the former President's worst enemy is Donald Trump. He lacks discipline, restraint, focus and self-control, spouting whatever comes into his mind without seriously considering it. There is no political advantage in this proposal, but it does alienate both moderates and some conservatives, and it motivates Democrats to oppose him. We do not need a purge. We need serious leaders who come up with serious solutions rather than blasting out whatever scheme they thought about while reading trolls on social media.