Every new car on the road today monitors the air pressure in that vehicle’s tires.  It is a very handy feature, enabling us to correct an abnormal situation before it becomes critical.  Over the past 72 hours we have learned Donald J. Trump also has a pressure monitor, but it works in the totally opposite direction.  It measures the amount of political pressure his failing administration can endure before he is forced to do what other decent human beings might do purely based on instinct and the needle on their moral compass.

A lot of people much smarter than I have made important observations over the past three days.  But as I prefer, I am more interested in those comments which are least expected and represent counter-intuitive expression.  Yesterday, I was struck by the response from Al Sharpton when asked whether Trump’s comments over the weekend confirmed he is a racist.  Sharpton, who is known for hyperbole, took a different tact.  He explained he had no interest in opining whether any one individual was a racist.  Our focus should be on whether government policies promote and defend racism.

So let us examine, not what Trump said about the white supremacists in Charlottesville, but what he has done since Friday evening.

The Department of Homeland Security froze funding for grants to 31 applicants “including several groups dedicated to combating white supremacy and de-radicalizing neo-Nazis.” NOTE:  DHS said the grants should focus more on prevention of Islamic terrorism. (Source:  TheHill.com/August 14, 2017)

During a Fox News interview on Sunday, Trump said, “I am seriously considering a pardon for Sheriff (Joe) Arpaio. He has done a lot in the fight against illegal immigration.  He is a great American patriot and I hate to see what has happened to him.”  Last time I looked, “great Americans” do not get convicted of racial profiling.

Of the three corporate CEOs who resigned from Trump’s economic advisory council, Trump took to Twitter to insult Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier.  No such rebuke was offered when Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank and Intel CEO Brian Krzanich also announced their decision to leave the group.  You guessed it, Frazier is African-American.  Plank and Krzanich are white.  The Trump University lesson:  When confronted with an inconvenient truth, attack the black guy.

Which is what led me to the subject line in today’s post.  Instead of “pounds per square inch,” we too should pay attention to the Trump pressure monitor which measures PSI.  However, in this case, it stands for “policies supporting intolerance.”

PERSONAL NOTE:  Thanks to the many friends and readers who expressed concern about my mental well-being after the events on Friday and Saturday in Charlottesville, knowing I had attended Mr. Jefferson’s University and Charlottesville was my home for four years.  As I have mentioned on numerous occasions, there is a silver lining to the Trump era.  There  is nothing that justifies the death of Heather Heyer.  But as Trump has done so many times over the past two years, he has made it impossible to deny that race is still an issue in America and has exposed the haters and their enablers for whom they truly are.

WISH I’D SAID THAT

Kudos to fellow blogger Bill Palmer who used the occasion of domestic terrorism in Charlottesville to illustrate the role white privilege plays in our society.

In the hours after the attack, I went out to lunch. I walked around the streets. I went about my day like any other day. No one looked at me like I was a terrorist. No one asked me to disavow the terrorist actions of my fellow white man. If anyone had asked me whether I agreed with the actions of these white supremacists, I’d have been happy to explain that I find them repulsive. But the point is that no one even asked me. Because that’s how it works when you’re white. (Source: The Palmer Report, August 13, 2017)

Bill, thanks for a valuable insight.

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP