Inciting chaos

Of all the amendments that President Donald Trump could have singled out for particular consideration on the afternoon of June 1 in his cloddish address from the Rose Garden, he chose the Second Amendment.

In the middle of protests against systemic, deadly racial prejudice — some of which protests turned tragically violent — Mr. Trump whispered toadlike in the ears of United States citizens that he stood as the personal bulwark of their right to keep and bear arms.

Earlier that day, he commanded governors to “dominate” the streets in order not to look like “jerks.” By foregrounding the Second Amendment, he was tacitly yet not subtly encouraging vigiliantism. He was inciting chaos in the hope that later he could take credit for quelling it.

Think of a firefighter who sets buildings ablaze so that later he can be seen heroically fighting the flames. Think of a child’s caregiver suffering Munchausen syndrome by proxy — that is, someone who harms a person (usually a child) in their charge in order to get attention via all the pain their charge suffers. These comparisons are extravagant, but Mr. Trump’s extravagantly ignorant and self-serving personality warrants them.

In response to the range of recent national crises, a more sober and thoughtful response from the president that Monday afternoon would have been to emphasize the blessings of the First Amendment and its guarantee of unabridged freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. It could have served as encouragement of peaceful demonstrations and thoughtful discussion about prejudice and racism and violence. But not only is this president neither stable nor a genius, he is not even sober or thoughtful.

CHARLES DAVIS Ross