President Donald Trump seems to have settled on a theme for his campaign, as he doubles down on blatant racism. Think that's too strongly put? We don't. Consider the following, from just the past week:

Trump announces his first rally since the start of the pandemic, in Tulsa, Oklahoma on June 19. Here's why that's a monumentally insensitive place and date: "In 1921, that city was the site of one of the worst race massacres in U.S. history. A white mob descended on an affluent black neighborhood. As many as 300 people died. The June 19 rally also happens to coincide with Juneteenth, a holiday widely celebrated in the black community to mark the day that the last American slaves were freed." As one late-night comic joked, it's like Trump told Stephen Miller to pick the most offensive place and date possible (since Trump wouldn't know beans about either historical reference).

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While the overall news on the coronavirus pandemic has gotten better on a national scale, we could be seeing the very beginnings of a second wave developing in individual states. This is worrisome, but what is even more concerning is that we may be about to repeat the mistakes of the first wave all over again. The process of closing down the economy and sheltering in place was painful, and the reopening and lifting of restrictions got very political, which adds up to an enormous reluctance by governors to go through it all over again. Which, if true, would mean that the second wave may prove to be worse than the first.

Now, none of this is certain at this point. A real second wave may never even develop, at least not on the scale the first wave did. It may be isolated to certain states or regions, while other states and regions don't see a resurgence. Anything is possible.

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Is anyone else out there ready for some cheerful and perhaps even downright rosy-tinted optimism? I for one certainly think it's time to write a column filled with positive vibes, and I've got just the subject. While triple crises rage throughout America (medical, economic, and injustice-based) and while Donald Trump's poll numbers continue to sink like a stone, there have been some interesting developments in another important political arena. The Senate is now not only "in play" for Democrats in November, the possibility now exists that they won't just win back the chamber, but win it back in a big blue wave that puts them firmly in control.

Realistically, or even pessimistically (at this point), the worst-case scenario for Democrats this November seems to now be losing one seat. Currently, the Senate stands at 53-to-47 Republican. If only a single state flipped parties during the election, it would likely be Alabama. Doug Jones was a fluke (remember cowboy-suited Roy Moore?) which will probably not last. So chalk Alabama up for the Republicans no matter what else happens, because even in a wildly-optimistic big-blue-wave situation I still doubt Jones would hold onto this seat (my glasses just aren't sufficiently rosy to see that one, in other words). That starts the Democrats at a net loss of one seat, down 46 seats to the Republicans' 54.

But then let's swing the needle all the way from pessimistic to optimistic, just to see what that scenario would look like. Hold onto your hats folks, because if Democrats won all the states that already seem solid for them and all the states which are currently tied or close to it and all three longshots, then they would flip a whopping eleven Senate seats. Add in a Jones loss in Alabama, and you'd wind up with a 57-to-43 Democratic Senate.

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I wrote the following article nine years ago. It has never been as relevant as now, however, which is why I felt the need to repost it today.

To be blunt, the one consistent truth in all of the horrific scenes of police brutality we've all witnessed recently (and in the past) is that it was caught on video. If it hadn't been, then it effectively would not have happened. We would only have a police report about a protester "tripping and falling" rather than an image of the cops shoving a peaceful 75-year-old man to the ground. There would be nothing to run on the evening news, outside of the small slice of the protests that the professional camera crews caught on film.

To put it another way, if "Little Brother" video didn't exist, you would not now know the name George Floyd. That is the power the following article was written about.

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I know we all have plenty to worry about these days, so I apologize in advance for adding another possible item to the list. But we could be heading for a very worrisome situation indeed, because contrary to how Americans have experienced past presidential elections (well... other than in the year 2000...), we may not actually know who won on the night of the election. There are a combination of factors which have set up this rather unique situation, and it may not even come to pass if a few of these variables change by November. But the possibility now exists that we won't know for days -- or even weeks -- who won the Electoral College and thus the presidency. Which, obviously, could lead to chaos, especially considering what Donald Trump will be saying and tweeting in the meantime.

What is especially worrisome is what is happening now in Pennsylvania. The state held its primary election last Tuesday, but as of this writing several of the races have not been called yet, due to the overwhelming increase in the number of voters casting their ballots by mail.

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This week, an American president ordered the violent removal of peaceful protesters -- who were doing nothing more than exercising their First Amendment rights to assemble, speak, and petition the government for redress -- from a public park so that he could then walk across the park and hold up a borrowed Bible for a photo opportunity with both the Secretary of Defense and (clad in battle fatigues) the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Afterward, the Trump White House immediately issued a propaganda video of the event. Later that evening, a military helicopter clearly marked with a red cross took offensive action against the protesters (which is banned by the Geneva Conventions, and is now under investigation). Later still, the president and all his enablers in the White House lied through their teeth about the entire incident, repeatedly. At week's end, we learned of another affront to the Constitution by the Trump administration, when it was revealed that federal law enforcement had unconstitutionally seized a shipment of cloth face masks created by a Black Lives Matter affiliate, and the only possible reason they did so was that the Department of Justice apparently didn't like the messages displayed on the masks (which read: "Stop killing black people," and: "Defund police").

We can't help but think of an old bumpersticker, which used to be popular a few decades ago: "If you aren't outraged, you aren't paying attention."

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General James Mattis has broken his silence on the presidency of Donald Trump -- in a big way. Current Secretary of Defense Mark Esper has also noticeably broken with President Trump on the need for active-duty military personnel to be deployed to American cities in response to the mostly-peaceful protests which continue around the country. Other military leaders, both retired and still serving, are speaking out about what their oath actually means. To be blunt, protecting the United States Constitution does not mean violently attacking Americans who are merely exercising their First Amendment rights to freely speak, assemble, and petition the government for redress. Quite the opposite, in fact -- the military is supposed to support and defend such activities, not subvert or quash them. And there's one very important step the Pentagon could take right now to show solidarity with the people protesting the treatment of African-Americans in this country, and that is to remove the names of Confederate military officers from Army installations.

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After apparently sleepwalking through the first part of the week, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper woke up today and realized his responsibilities as the head of the Pentagon. Perhaps he got some pushback from the generals who are aghast at the thought that the vaunted U.S. military could become to be seen as a political force at the beck and call of a partisan president. Esper had apparently forgotten this bedrock tenet of American government earlier, when participating in Donald Trump's now-infamous "brandishing a Bible in front of a church" photo op. Esper not only walked back this participation (by stating he somehow had no idea it was about to happen), but he also openly contradicted the president's call to mobilize the military to crack down on protests in the streets.

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President Trump staged a photo opportunity yesterday that went horribly wrong, but the White House doesn't yet seem to have comprehended how bad a look it actually was. In fact, they proudly put up a video montage of the event that seems to strive for the impact of a Leni Riefenstahl production (watch it for yourself if you think this is overstating the case). The whole staged event is nothing more than a naked effort to counter the growing ridicule Trump has gotten for hiding in his bunker over the weekend during the protests, in fact. You see President Trump boldly striding away from the White House, crossing Lafayette Square, pumping a macho fist to all the militarized police standing around, and then appearing in front of a historic (and boarded-up) church where he awkwardly tries to hold a Bible up for the cameras. Trump then (according to the Riefenstahl clip) triumphantly strides back to the White House, to the adoration of all. Mission accomplished. Roll credits.

This bears little resemblance to reality, of course, but then that's really a hallmark of all propaganda. What actually happened was that all of the protesters across from the White House were swept from the streets by combined federal forces (Park Police and Secret Service, but not D.C. cops), who used tear gas and other violent tactics on peaceful protesters for no reason other than to clear the area for a crass and self-serving presidential photo opportunity. It's worth noting that there had been ministers standing on the steps of the church who were engaged in handing out drinks and snacks to the protesters but who got swept aside by this police action. In other words, religious leaders on their own property, in front of their place of worship were treated as just more (as Trump likes to call them) "THUGS" who needed to be taught a lesson. The sweep took place a half-hour before the D.C. curfew was to start, by the way.

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[Editorial Note: Sometimes, events overtake me while I'm writing. This is obviously one of those times. While I was writing and editing this article, it seems Donald Trump gave a Rose Garden address to the nation. So the following will have to be compared to what Trump actually said. Please read it with this in mind.]

President Donald Trump, not so long ago, took delight in ridiculing Joe Biden for (as he put it) "hiding in his basement." Now, however, the tables have turned and it is Trump who is cowering in the nether regions of White House, while Biden freely visits with protesters in Delaware. Trump has hunkered down over the weekend, at one point reportedly being hustled to a secure facility (in the basement of the White House, ironically enough) as protests raged just outside Trump's own windows. Trump has had no idea what to do about the situation, especially since his call for a "MAGA night" of counterprotests in front of the White House was completely ignored by his supporters (no counterprotest materialized -- much to Trump's dismay, one assumes). Today he conducted a conference call with the nation's governors, where he lashed out in typical Trump fashion -- suggesting that if only protesters were locked up "for 10 years" it would instantly solve the problem. Throughout it all, the American people have had no guidance or leadership from Trump whatsoever.

Apparently, there are two factions within the White House fighting over what Trump's response should now be. On one side are aides urging Trump to issue a primetime Oval Office address designed to unite the country. On the other side are aides who know full well the inherent risks involved in this strategy, who are saying Trump should continue his silence. Their argument is that Trump has nothing new to say and he would risk his political chances of re-election if he said anything particularly incendiary right now.

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