About ten years ago I was travelling in Naples. I was staying at a hostel when I struck up conversation with a man from the USA. We talked about where we’ve been, where we’re from – the usual awkward small-talk. When he learned that I’d lived in London he asked me if it was true that parts of the city were off limits for white people. Where the hell did he get that from, I thought. What surprised me was how deeply he believed it. This idea bore no relation to reality, and I had assumed that those who spread it knew deep down it wasn’t true.
This week Trump sent the National Guard to Washington DC and took control of the city’s police. “Our capital city has been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals”, he claimed, “roving mobs of wild youth, drugged-out maniacs, and homeless people”.
People say he rambles, and that’s true. But it’s worth paying attention because his words are a stream of consciousness, and he shows us his fantasies, fears, and intentions.
He said the murder rate in Washington was higher than that of Baghdad, Bogota, and Mexico City – “the worst places on Earth” – and blamed this on DC’s status as a sanctuary city, calling it a “sanctuary for criminals”. In other words, the enemy is already inside the gates. And so “we’re getting rid of the slums, where they live.”
Trump invokes longstanding fears. The “gangs”, the “criminals”, the “mobs of youth” have haunted the minds of magistrates, militiamen, congressmen and columnists for decades. Such terms are code for unserved and ungovernable populations: the mobs of youth, for instance, are those who “got out of control when they started trying to rip down statues”. We should ask why these fantasies are needed and what purpose they serve.
Trump says we just need to “allow” the police “to do their job”, amassing power while pretending to step aside. Other nations might have small police forces, but “they’re rough police, and they do their job”. In the US, he complains, armies of police are “told ‘don’t do anything under any circumstances’ … people are spitting in their face and they’re not allowed to do anything.” The message is clear: they are free to deliver common-sense justice only under Trump’s command. “Now”, he says, “they’re allowed to do whatever the hell they want … you spit and we hit. And they can hit real hard.”
