Perpetrators returning to the scene of the crime is a familiar plot device in fiction, movies, and television. Last week, one-time reality TV star, Donald J. Trump, returned to the nation’s capital — site of the deadly January 6, 2021 insurrection that he planned and orchestrated — in a bid to re-stake his claim as the GOP standard bearer.

The last time he was in Washington, DC, Trump skipped the Biden inaugural — rude! — and left town in a huff aboard Marine One. Not much has changed in Trumpworld since. Mr. Trump continues to peddle his Big Lie about a “stolen” election to anyone who’ll listen.

America First Redux

Last week, he found a receptive audience. Speaking at the America First Policy Institute (AFPI)—a think-tank founded by former advisors “when it became clear Trump would be leaving the White House” — the twice-impeached former president aimed to layout his agenda ahead of a widely anticipated reelection campaign.

According to AFPI president, Brooke Rollins, Trump’s speech would be “a very policy-focused, forward-leaning speech, very much like a State of the Union 5.0.” Rollins got it half right.

As promised, Trump offered a second-term agenda sure to resonate with the usual suspects. “Among his proposals,” reports the Associated Press, “he called for executing drug dealers, sending the homeless to tent cities on the outskirts of cities, and expanding his Southern border wall.”

It’s plain to see that Mr. Trump is following his 2015 campaign playbook.

Accordingly, right wing website, Just the News, could scarcely contain its glee: “Former President Trump, sounding more like a 2024 presidential candidate every day, on Tuesday set forth a sweeping policy prescription for America.”

But as a number of news outlets noted — from the establishment New York Times to the Heritage Foundation-supported Daily Signal — Trump “veered” off script to regurgitate a litany of grievances.

Predictably, Trump took a swipe at the House Select committee investigating the Capitol insurrection. He went on to mock transgender rights and doubled-down on his delusion about the 2020 election: “I won a second time, did much better a second time. Did a lot better. Did a lot better. Very corrupt. …What a disgrace it was.”

“We Have to Straighten Out Our Country”

So says The Donald. And he’s got a point.

But as his entire tenure demonstrated, no more vividly than during last January’s failed coup attempt, Trump isn’t up to the task. Point of fact, he’s the last person on earth to, in his words, “stop the destruction of our country.” He’s all but certain to hasten the fall of our fragile republic.

Politico hit the nail on the head: “Just a handful of city blocks from the site of the insurrection that defined his presidency,” Trump “showed no remorse” for the Capitol riot. Without a hint of irony, Trump declared, “There is no longer respect for the law, and there certainly is no order.”

That may go over with suburbanites and the Blue Lives Matter crowd, but for Capitol Police who struggled valiantly to secure the peaceful transfer of power, it’s a cruel joke.

A point made clear in a text exchange between former Trump campaign workers, revealed during the House Select Committee’s July 21st hearing, when one of the president’s aides wrote: “Everything he said about supporting law enforcement is a lie.”

Trump isn’t the only one lying about his commitment to the rule of law. A recent report detailed by the independent news site, Common Dreams, notes that last month alone, “corporate trade groups and Fortune 500 companies donated more than $819,000 to the Republican members of Congress who voted against certifying the 2020 election results.”

Bankrolling the Sedition Caucus — including the likes of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Texas Senator Ted Cruz — to the tune of $25 billion since the January 6 insurrection is an insult to law enforcement. What’s worse, it reveals a willful disregard for the clear and present danger that Trump and his allies represent ahead of the midterm elections — and beyond.