Trump is walking a tightrope with no safety net

The problem is, he's playing Russian roulette with YOUR money and your democracy

As I have said in the past, elect a clown and you’ll inherit a circus and never have those words been more true than they are today. Trump is taking America on a high-wire adventure without a safety net. It's a made-for-TV world of fantasy and high-stakes drama as he rolls out a never-ending series of solutions in search of a problem.

All the research shows that the mass deportation campaign has zero economic value. Indeed, deporting 4% of your workforce comes at substantial financial cost to the economy. The reality is, undocumented workers have been baked into the US economy for decades. Do you not think it odd that immigrants have forever been the target of a man and his friends who have exploited them for decades? Nobody would argue that illegal immigration is a good thing, but it occurs as a result of a demand for cheap labour and a failed immigration policy.

My question is, why are ICE not targeting unscrupulous American businesses that are exploiting the illegal status of immigrants for profit? Historically, Trump would have had to have arrested himself along with many of his rich friends who have benefited from their labour. Undocumented workers are baked into the US economic engine. If ICE went after businesses employing them, they would have to lock up a not insignificant percentage of US business owners, including farmers, meatpacking plant owners, and hospitality operators, to mention but a few.

Mass removal and the threat of deportation are now adding significant costs to business owners across the country. This, in addition to the economic damage inflicted by tariffs. In the case of farmers, food is rotting in the ground because the workers can’t be replaced. I can guarantee that once the performative TV abductions and detentions have secured the narrative Trump is desperate for, new official exploitative mechanisms will quietly be put in place to return these workers to these jobs, because no Americans are prepared to do them. Also, don’t be surprised to see extended detention of those arrested in for-profit temporary detention centres located close to the affected businesses to be used as slave labour to meet the demand. I fear that slavery is on its way back.

You will note that the National Guard and the military were first deployed to LA for the purpose of immigration enforcement. This was a test balloon to test public response to the military being deployed on the streets. There was, as expected, a violent backlash, but that allowed Trump to go beyond the National Guard and deploy US Marines. It was all about testing the tolerance envelope while delivering made-for-TV red meat to his base. None of these actions is impulsive; they are all carefully choreographed moves to normalise the deployment of the military in US towns and cities.

Step two was to occupy Washington, D.C., because this was an easy target given its unique status that allowed Trump to seize control of law enforcement. This time, he expanded his focus beyond immigration enforcement to law enforcement. He is now attempting to normalise the use of the military in a law enforcement capacity. As part of this process, red states have offered up members of their National Guard to join in the law enforcement role. The critical thing to note here is that these National Guards are everyday citizens from deep red states who often bring with them their political loyalty to Trump. These are the very people who believe those living in blue states are their enemy. It represents a tinderbox which could explode at any moment.

There is no question that both these deployments have been closely studied by Stephen Miller and those driving this effort. The objective is to paint every blue city as immigrant-loving communists that present a threat to US national security. There are two elements to this.

1. The performative element which is used to control the media narrative

2. The intent to have residents of these cities in a perpetual state of fear and anxiety, creating an illusion of danger and the belief that only Trump can keep them safe.

It is all nonsense, of course, but it’s tried and tested, and it will take root, which is all part of his campaign to hold onto power. Why do I say it’s working? From my perspective, I can see that many Americans are now resigning themselves to this being the norm. The more he does it, the more it becomes normalised, and he’s doing all this in plenty of time for the 2026 elections. He has no intention of cancelling the midterms, because he intends votes to be cast under perceived military rule to protect America from Democrat terrorists. Take it from me, this will be the narrative. He wants to abolish mail-in voting, so you have to file past military checkpoints to cast your vote. He can’t afford to lose, and he’s prepared to do whatever it takes to hold onto power.

His latest executive order should tell you everything you need to know about the direction of travel. On August 11, Trump proclaimed his intent using Executive Order 1433 - Declaring a Crime Emergency in the District of Columbia. We have been witnesses to this false justification for the deployment of the National Guard to the streets of Washington, DC. Let’s be clear on the FACTS before we examine the impact of the measures enacted in this executive order.

2024 Crime Data for Washington, D.C.

1. Homicide down 32%

2. Sexual offences, down 25%

3. Assault with a dangerous weapon, down 27%

4. Robbery, down 29%

5. Total violent crime, down 35%

6. Burglary, down 9%

7. Motor vehicle theft, down 25%

8. Theft from auto, down 14%

9. Theft (other), down 2%

10. Arson, down 64%

11. Total property crime, down 11%

12. All Crime, down 15%

These are verified crime statistics, which clearly show that by the end of 2024, significant progress had been made in reducing crime in DC. Of course, crime reduction stats only provide numbers as they relate to the previous year. If crime is rampant, then the numbers merely serve to prove that crime reduction is going in the right direction, not that high crime rates are being eradicated.

The truth is, this had nothing to do with crime statistics; it was about finding justification for a further made-for-TV military occupation exercise to project the appearance of action being taken. It was much like placing immigrants on C-17s in leg irons to deport them, where a simple commercial repatriation flight would have sufficed. It’s costly political theatre designed to control the media narrative. Of course, Trump is now playing with arrest numbers, etc, because that’s what he does. The more interesting stats would be secured convictions, but that’s not what he wants you to focus on.

Please take a look at the chart below as part of his justification for the intervention. He used the 2012 figure of 13.9 homicides per 100k as a comparison point to the 2024 number of 25.5, indicating a doubling of the homicide rate. You would be hard pushed to find a more disingenuous manipulation of the data. You will note that during his first term, he inherited a slightly elevated number, at 16.7 per 100k, from Obama. This then rose consistently under his tenure in the White House to 30 in 2020. There followed an acknowledged spike in 2023, reaching 38.7, before falling to the 2024 number of 25.5. This was a dramatic reduction, I might add.

The bottom line is that Trump manufactured the justification for action to match his tiresome perpetual fantasy narrative.

Please stay with me here. Returning to Executive Order 1433, he then added a further proclamation on August 25th, Additional Measures to Address the Crime Emergency in the District of Columbia, and this is the one intended to slip under the radar. I’ve discussed many times before the deliberate, ambiguous nature of the language used in these Executive Orders. This has been a consistent approach in their drafting from the outset, allowing for a flexible interpretation of the orders.

Let’s also not lose sight of the fact that executive action was never intended to be a replacement for legislation; however, despite his alleged ‘landslide’ victory, his razor-thin majority in the House limits his ability to pass these brazen acts of overreach into law, so he is forced to govern by daily proclamation. The system is simply not equipped to challenge him.

This additional Executive Order contains a really important statement, which reads:

The D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force established in Executive Order 14252 of March 27, 2025 (Making the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful), shall establish an online portal for Americans with law enforcement or other relevant backgrounds and experience to apply to join Federal law enforcement entities to support the policy goals described in Executive Order 14333.

You can see from the bold text that the intention is to establish an online portal that can clearly serve as a recruitment tool for militia members to serve as federal officers. I would draw your attention to ‘or other relevant backgrounds and experience’. It does not get vaguer than this. The American people must NOT underestimate the objective here to militarise society in order to retain power. He intends to stop at nothing, and he’s happy to employ thugs to bolster his emerging police state apparatus.

He knows there are not enough military personnel for a sustained campaign of occupation, so he will mix his new militia with military units to provide maximum flexibility. The key section of the order is pretty clear:

The Secretary of Defense shall immediately begin ensuring that each State’s Army National Guard and Air National Guard are resourced, trained, organized, and available to assist Federal, State, and local law enforcement in quelling civil disturbances and ensuring the public safety and order whenever the circumstances necessitate, as appropriate under law. In coordination with the respective adjutants general, the Secretary of Defense shall designate an appropriate number of each State’s trained National Guard members to be reasonably available for rapid mobilization for such purposes. In addition, the Secretary of Defense shall ensure the availability of a standing National Guard quick reaction force that shall be resourced, trained, and available for rapid nationwide deployment.

I have highlighted the key sections which effectively provide Trump with the type of unit common in Iran and other dictatorial countries. As stated, he is absolutely intent on holding onto power at any cost, and he’s putting in place the mechanisms to crush any attempt to hold him accountable.

This is about staying focused on the big picture. Above all, I want you to understand that the cost of this plan to retain power will be astronomical, and he will be funding it with your taxpayer dollars. You have become part of his high-wire act, and there is no safety net, just a massive bill to retain a tyrant.

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