President Trump and his cronies are like the cartoon villains in movies who not only unleash dastardly plots but then helpfully explain them to the audience. Thus on Thursday, the president’s outgoing counselor, Kellyanne Conway, told Fox News: “The more chaos and anarchy and vandalism and violence reigns, the better it is for the very clear choice on who’s best on public safety and law and order.”

Seldom has a more cynical or sordid thought been publicly expressed by such a senior White House aide. As Democratic nominee Joe Biden said, Trump is “rooting for more violence, not less,” because he views it as politically beneficial in his quest to scare White America into voting for him.

You can see this horrifying spectacle unfolding over the past few days. On Thursday, in his acceptance speech, Trump castigated all of the “rioting, looting, arson and violence we have seen in Democrat-run cities.” On Friday, at a campaign rally in New Hampshire, Trump again calumniated protesters as “anarchists,” “rioters” and “looters.”