I imagine the more racist part of his base are well aware of the racist history of Henry Ford- he’s probably a hero to them.
But, I will say this-- it’s always hard to tell which bullshit that comes out of his mouth is planned dog whistle content, and which is just some off-the-cuff nonsense that spewed out of his own mind, and he didn’t have the capacity to think it through, for good or bad, before he said it. He’s talked about his own “good genes”; he may just be thinking along the lines of “successful businessman = good genes/ good bloodline”.
Go “hells ya! Good Bloodlines! Ford was a smart white man, and we need to celebrate our white culture! Keep America Pure!”
You never even hear about this, because the media you consume does not report it - they are busy reporting that Biden kills babies with poison darts at his rallies.
I think it’s the off-the-cuff nonsense explanation. Trump grew up in a time when Henry Ford was in the pantheon of Great Americans, with Lincoln, Davy Crockett and Thomas Edison, and his racist/political beliefs were ignored. And he knows that Ford’s descendants are still with the company, so he thinks it’s the polite thing to acknowledge the connection between Great American Henry Ford and the people in the room.
Trump and his followers are the embodiment of the Dunning-Kruger effect. They think they’re being clever and they’re sending message to each other while fooling everyone else. They’re don’t realize how transparent their schemes are and how easily the rest of us see through them.
“Some governors have deemed liquor stores and abortion clinics essential, but have left our churches and houses of worship. It’s not right. So I’m correcting this injustice and calling houses of worship essential,” Trump said during his announcement at the White House.
The President said that at his direction, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will provide the guidance.
Trump said he was calling upon governors to "allow churches and places of worship to open right now.
“If there’s any question, they’re going to have to call me, but they’re not going to be successful in that call,” Trump added."
I’d like to see the governors tell him “Begone! You have no power here!” He didn’t shut anything down, he can’t open anything up. His feelings on the matter are as significant as graffiti in the men’s room walls.
My unqualified opinion is that both sides are on shaky constitutional ground. Can a governor actually order churches closed? I don’t think it’s ever been challenged in court – it would be interesting to see how it played out. But can a president override a governor on a public health order? Oh, hell no.
I think that’s an open question. Some religious groups have defied the orders all along and I think they’d probably win in court on religious freedom grounds. But certainly a president can’t butt in to state orders.
Little shaky on the governors side, completely over the cliff on Trump’s.
The state health department of Ohio does have the authority to close any commercial or public entity for the sake of public health.
Forget Covid-19 for a second, if a church has black mold growing in the pews, are we saying that the health department cannot shut them down, make them clean it up or even condemn the building?
They were talking about this yesterday on my local NPR station. Someone pointed out that the state can’t put conditions on churches (and other houses of worship) reopening, like the parishioners have to maintain distance from each other or that they have to wear masks in church, because to do so would be to infringe on religious freedom. So instead the order to close churches and other public events (like sports).
For the more racist part of his base, this ambiguity is probably a good thing. A man who *deliberately *says racist things might just be courting the racist vote, and once he wins, will screw over the nazis. But someone who, when speaking off-the-cuff, still says racist shit, is almost certainly a real racist, and can be relied on to act in a racist manner once elected.
I DO NOT recommend arson as a solution to this dilemma, but considering that churches can spread the deadly virus and thereby threaten the lives of Innocents, we can say one’s freedom of religion ends there. Can’t we?
By now he probably knows he doesn’t have the authority to declare churches open, but simply taking time to say it and threatening consequences gets the point across. It’s the language of power. That’s political symbolism and theatrics.
But he could threaten to withhold funding for states and make it conditional on opening churches. I’m not saying he will, but he could. Even if he ends up being pressured into doling it out, he could take his time in transmitting it.