Tinderbox America

THE ASSASSINATION of radical rightwing provocateur Charlie Kirk has unleashed racial fury in the US. President Donald Trump’s MAGA support base is incensed by Kirk’s murder. America is a tinderbox. Alleged assassin Tyler Robinson’s left-leaning ideology has evoked calls by Trump’s ‘America First’ stormtroopers to launch an ideological civil war.

Robinson was in a relationship with a transgender woman. Along with blacks and immigrants, transgenders top MAGA’s hate list. Ironically, Robinson’s family members are hardcore MAGA backers. Tyler was himself a Republican before turning left a year ago after beginning a relationship

with his transgender girlfriend who police claim was biologically male. She was the first person Robinson texted to confess the fatal shooting of Kirk: “I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out.” He added: “Since Trump got into office, my dad has been pretty diehard MAGA. I’m going to turn myself in willingly. One of my neighbours here is a deputy for the sheriff.”

Kirk’s assassination could light a fire that Trump has long fanned, hoping it will secure his legacy of making America great again. Trump’s assault on America’s troubled history of slave-owning and massacre of Native Americans, driving them off their land, has gained momentum. After cutting grants for black university students, Trump has ordered the removal from national parks, libraries and public galleries all exhibits describing slavery in the US.

In recent weeks, attacks by heavily armed officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on legitimate factory workers have intensified. Over 300 South Korean engineers and workers building a new Hyundai and LG car battery factory in Georgia were handcuffed, chains attached to their ankles and waists, and loaded on to a bus. They were placed in a detention centre and deported to South Korea.

It took days of diplomatic negotiations between Seoul and Washington to resolve the dispute. Trump, who encourages harsh measures against immigrants, was forced to admit that the South Koreans were in America on legitimate visas and were not immigrants. US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau expressed “deep regret” over the outrage.

The US is now arguably more polarised than it has been since the 1861-65 Civil War fought over slave ownership. The racial hatred that led to masked white Ku Klux Klan mobs lynching blacks and hanging them from trees in the early 1900s had remained a fringe movement. Under MAGA, the fringe has moved to the centre. The body of a 21-year-old black student, Trey Reed, was found recently hanging from a tree on a Mississippi university campus. He was allegedly lynched by a mob. The local police classified Reed’s death as suicide, drawing disbelief and anger from the local community.

Trump’s threat to “federalise” cities like Washington DC, Chicago and Los Angeles to cut crime by placing the local police forces under federal law enforcement has further polarised the country. The targeted cities are heavily Democratic and their elected mayors have vowed to fight Trump in court.

So far, courts have weighed against most of Trump’s orders on sackings of public officials and arbitrary tariffs imposed on various countries, including India. All contested cases are now in the nine-member Supreme Court where Trump-leaning justices have a 6-3 majority. That does not guarantee Trump’s cases on tariffs and immigration will succeed. US Supreme Court rulings have traditionally been bipartisan, especially when dealing with constitutional matters. Tariffs imposed without Congressional approval may have crossed the Supreme Court’s constitutional red line.

What drives the Trump doctrine? The obsession with the dollar and making America rich again rings hollow in a country with a per capita income of $89,000. More likely, Trump knows that the clock on his presidential term is ticking. After the November 2026 congressional midterm elections, the Trump era will begin to fade. There is no third term.

Trump, who turns 80 next June, has nursed a grudge for over 50 years against America’s elite for belittling him as a bankrupt billionaire. Now, as he looks at life after the White House, Trump’s focus is on two issues: preserving his MAGA legacy and finally becoming a billionaire. Kirk’s assassination delivered a rude shock to the MAGA ecosystem. Crypto deals, however, have ensured Trump will leave the Oval Office far wealthier than he entered it.

AmericaassassinationCharlie KirkDonald TrumpMAGA ecosystemUS politics