The 2020 @realdonaldtrump "No Apologies" Tour: Misdirection is a form of deception in which a performer “draws audience attention to one thing to distract it from another.” Trump instinctively engages in a crude form of misdirection by committing a new act of outrage when he

believes the public is overly focused on one of his prior outrageous acts. During the last week, Republicans have adopted a more refined form of misdirection that involves sleight of hand. Trump and Senate Republicans have made a show of support for police reform to conceal

their true intent—to prevent police reform. They are engaged in bad faith deceit disguised as concern for American citizens who are victims of excessive force used by police.
Trump issued an executive order on Tuesday that he touted as police reform. See Executive Order,

“Executive Order on Safe Policing for Safe Communities.” The executive order is effectively meaningless. It proposes a national database of instances of excessive use of force by police but stipulates that it can be shared with the public only on an “anonymized” basis—thereby

concealing information about “out-of-control” police departments from the public. The order “incentivizes” police departments to prohibit chokeholds, except where “the use of deadly force is allowed by law”—an exception that will swallow the rule. (Use of deadly force is based

on the officer’s “reasonable” or “subjective” belief that such force is justified.) The order also authorizes Bill Barr to condition discretionary “grants” to local police departments on training by third-party vendors regarding “use of force.” See Vox, “Trump’s executive order

on police reform, explained.” See also, The Guardian, “Trump’s ‘woeful’ police reform order leaves systemic racism intact, critics say.”
Trump invited police chiefs and union bosses to the signing—but excluded family members of black Americans killed in police shootings.

See CNN, “Trump offers full-throated defense of police in executive action signing.” In short, the signing ceremony was a cheerleading event for police. See NPR, “Trump, Hailing Law Enforcement, Signs Executive Order Calling For Police Reform.” (“In a Rose Garden ceremony, which

at times sounded like a campaign speech, Trump largely defended police officers, saying Americans "demand law and order.”) Trump has again misjudged the moment, ignoring the three-quarters of Americans who believe that racial discrimination is a “big problem” and the 57% of

Americans who believe that police are more likely to use excessive force against a black suspect than a white suspect.
At least Trump had the lack of self-discipline to conceal his true agenda. Not so with Senate Republicans. They are working on a bill they have refused to share

with Senate Democrats—a bill that may be brought to the floor as early as Wednesday. See The Hill, “McConnell signals he will not negotiate police reform with Democrats before vote.” (Senator Dick Durbin said, “The fact that we haven't even seen it yet ... it's a big mystery as

to what Senator McConnell's agenda is," he said. “If he's serious, we ought to be negotiating.”) While McConnell is willing to call for a floor vote on a bill that Senate Democrats haven’t seen, he has rejected out of hand the bill proposed by House Democrats. McConnell said,

“It's basically typical Democratic overreach to try to control everything in Washington. We have no interest in that.”
The hypocrisy of Mitch McConnell is breathtaking. He has refused to allow a floor vote on hundreds of bills passed by the House but will rush a vote

on a Republican bill by skipping the usual committee process—which would allow Democrats to digest the bill and propose amendments. While McConnell is going through the motions of proposing police reform, he knows that the refusal to negotiate with Democrats will ensure defeat

of the Republican bill—which mirrors Trump’s aspirational, toothless executive order. See The Hill, “Senate GOP police bill mirrors Trump order on chokeholds.”
The Democratic bill would ban the use of chokeholds and eliminate the “qualified immunity” that protects police

officers from civil damages if they violate the constitutional rights of suspects. See NYTimes, “Democrats Unveil Sweeping Bill Targeting Police Misconduct and Racial Bias.” A friend sent a note saying that the elimination of “qualified immunity” will not change police

misconduct because officers rarely pay damages from their own pockets. Instead, those damages are paid by insurance policies that cover police departments. See NYTimes op-ed by Daniel Epps, “Abolishing Qualified Immunity Is Unlikely to Alter Police Behavior.”
I disagree with

both the friend and the author of the NYTimes op-ed. The fact that officers are covered by insurance provided by their employer is not a problem specific to the qualified immunity doctrine; it relates to all police misconduct, not just the ability to recover civil damages under

Section 1983. More importantly, removing qualified immunity will increase the likelihood that victims (or their survivors) will receive compensation for violation of their civil rights. It is the right thing to do, without regard to deterring police misconduct.

All of this may be too much detail, so let me get to the point: The streets are filled with protestors demanding police reform. Now is the moment for change. We cannot let this moment be wasted or derailed by McConnell’s bad faith tactics. Half-hearted measures are

unacceptable. If Republicans want to drag their feet and claim that the real problem is the need for greater “LAW AND ORDER,” so be it. They are hastening the demise of their majority in the Senate, and there is no reason to compromise with them now by accepting a bill intended

to give Trump political cover, not to achieve real reform. Vote down the Republican bill in the Senate and propose a new bill when Mitch McConnell is minority leader. @jimcramer @tomkeene @SquawkCNBC @andrewrsorkin @ScottWapnerCNBC @riskerversal @Sarge986 @cnbcfastmoney

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