It was with some bemusement that I heard that Trump was planning to come to South Carolina to receive an award. I expected I would hear a lot about backlash and protests. Then I heard someone saying that even though they don't support Trump, he was glad Trump was getting the award for signing into law the First Step Act.
This whole thing seems to have started with Jared Kushner, who for some reason (maybe having a dad doing time) was focussed on prison reform. Then came Kim Kardashian, and a bunch of tweets about a 63-year-old doing time since 1996 for a first drug offense. This was not about someone caught carrying some dope. This was about cocaine distribution and money laundering, which would go a ways to explain why President Obama did not choose to pardon her during his presidency, although he pardoned 212 and commuted the sentences of 1,715 prisoners. But Donald Trump knows a media opportunity when he sees one.
The chance to one-up Obama along with the how it looked to be the one setting free a little old lady was irresistible. And it worked.
So, I imagine when Jared suggested following it up with prison reform, he jumped at the chance. The result was decidedly a union of strange bedfellows.
We can be glad for this badly needed and long overdue reform. One that would not have been possible with the obstructionist and racist Congress that Barack Obama was stuck with.
But we don't need to shower praise on a man who has done more damage to minorities during his years on earth, and especially since becoming president, than nearly any other American. We should not give him the good press that was, to be honest, his goal.
Donald Trump is a stupid man. But he is fine-tuned to how to divide people. And that is what his visit to South Carolina was intended to do. And he was enabled by the Bipartisan Justice Center and Benedict College.
Donald Trump at Benedict College getting an award for the First Step Act happened because Joe Biden continues to be the first choice of many African Americans in South Carolina. If Trump can sway a handful of voters, that would for him be worth the effort, because Trump lives in a world of spite and revenge. But his advisors know that the PR he got was invaluable. Who could accuse him of being racist after not just signing this reform bill, but for getting an award for it?
For those of us in the cheap seats, this was an award ceremony. But the Trump campaign was in high gear making sure this event was entirely orchestrated to maximize gain and to make absolutely sure there was no fly in the ointment. Behind the scenes, the White House was in total control. Of the over 2,100 attendees, ONLY TEN were students invited from Benedict College, with only seven attending. All the remaining attendees were brought in from elsewhere. The White House refused Benedict College's president's request that more Benedict College be allowed to attend, "insisting that the White House maintain control of organizing the event."
In fact, students were told to stay in their dorm rooms during the event.
STUDENTS WERE TOLD TO STAY IN THEIR DORM ROOMS DURING TRUMP'S TIME ON CAMPUS.
This lockdown occurred on a college campus in South Carolina in 2019. And it occurred while taxpayers funded what was a campaign rally, including attacks on President Obama and Democrats, and the usual brags and lies.
If we allow Donald Trump to control the story, the media, the audience, we are creating the same damn environment that soured voters on Hillary Clinton in 2016. It is good that the First Step Act was passed, and that Trump signed it into law. But we know him. We know he did not do it out of a sense of justice, or compassion for those wrongfully imprisoned. We need now, more than ever, to keep our eyes on the motivation behind everything he does.
Donald Trump doesn't just want to win in 2020. He needs to win in 2020. Because if he loses, what waits for him is a plethora of criminal charges, and if the justice system still works by the time he is gone, very likely a prison sentence. And if the justice system still works, the First Step Act won't save him.
