Trump recites from the teleprompter (what was written for him) about the recent mass shootings.
“Trump doesn’t just pollute the social environment. He is the environment.”
George Will
Pulitzer Prize Writer and Demoralized Republican
“On May 8, 2019, Donald Trump laughed when someone in his audience shouted in response to his shouted questions about would-be immigrants at the southern border. His question was, ‘How do you stop these people?’ The shouted answer was, ‘Shoot them’. Trump with a grade-schooler’s delight in naughtiness, broadly smiled and replied, ‘Only in the Panhandle can you get away with that statement.’ But does what happens in the Panhandle stay there?” asked George Will.
Certainly not. The people who marked their ballot for Trump along with his groupies throughout the country are all compliant. His refusal to condemn extremism is fueling White Supremacists and they loyally stand by him. When he won in 2016, Richard Spencer, White Nationalist leader said, “Hail Trump, hail our people, hail victory.” David Duke, neo-Nazi leader exclaimed, “This is one of the most exciting nights of my life…Our people played a huge role in electing Trump.” When asked to condemn the white supremacist violence in Charlottesville, Trump refused and instead said he thought there were “good people on both sides.”
The resurgence of white supremacy has been startling. Hate-based terror and crimes across the nation for the past three years, which also coincides with Trump’s campaign and presidency, has increased at the rate of 2,026 % . In 2019 alone, there have only been 218 days, but there already has been 250 mass shootings in our country.
Yes, you read these statistics correctly. I’m not surprised. Trump has demonized immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador and Guatemala and complains they are “invading“our country. He called Mexicans “rapists”. He refuses to denounce hate crimes, yet glibly denounces African “shithole countries”. He issues executive orders to bar all Muslims from entering this country. He is the master of division.
Not all mass shootings are a result of racist sentiments. Some, like Newtown and possibly the recent slaughter in Dayton, are the result of mentally ill men who are angry for whatever reason and Trump knows how to tap into peoples’ most basic fears and angers. Anger turns to hate and hate to violence. His rhetoric inflames the hatred and gives permission for violence. The mentally ill and racists alike are empowered by his words . . . and his followers never question, but keep blindly following.
We are now all aware how the Justice Department under Trump is eviscerating the enforcement of our nation’s civil rights. The Republican Senate led by Mitch McConnell, who panders to the gun lobbyists and the NRA, has repeatedly refused to entertain common sense gun laws, which would so clearly help quell some of this violence.
Just read Heroes and Cowards to see the astounding statistics.
Ho-hum . . .
Polls indicate that approximately 40% of Americans are more than willing to overlook and disregard all the hateful rhetoric, playground insults and name-calling, the spiteful bullying, and the infantile mocking of the handicapped. They made excuses for him when he admitted to being a sexual predator grabbing women’s pussies “whenever he wanted” and were not disturbed when he openly prowled the dressing rooms of the Miss Teen America dressing rooms. They insisted his attacks on the four Congress women of color were not racially motivated. In fact, most jumped on board with him. Only one kind of person could think his statement of “Go back to where you came from” wasn’t rooted in racism.
Additionally, Will adds, “Polls indicate that approximately one third of Americans, disproportionately including religiously devote warriors about the coarsening of America’s culture, are also merely content with this, “because they do nothing but complain with one another as they fiendishly absorb the controversies which the media doles out to the public like chum to sharks. Are they not as accountable as those who are mesmerized and easily manipulated by this grotesque spectator sport called the presidency?
Will states, “It is quite another thing to have a president who does not merely pollute the social atmosphere with invectives directed at various disfavored minorities; he uses his inflated office not just to shape this atmosphere, but to be this atmosphere.”
Will concludes, “When Gerald Ford became president after Richard Nixon’s resignation, he told the nation, ‘Our long national nightmare is over.’ Today’s long – and (increasingly) lethal – national embarrassment will continue until at least Jan. 20, 2021. If it continues longer, this will be more than an embarrassment to the nation, this will be an indictment of it.”
We the people are either a part of making this a better world or we aren’t. At any moment, we are either creating connection or separation, win/win or win/lose, respect and common decency, or hateful rhetoric that demeans some and empowers others.
“We have met the enemy and the enemy is US!”
If you want a better world, do something about it. Speak up. Show up. And for the sake of all those who have been abused, demonized and killed for their race, religion, gender and sexual orientation . . . or simply killed out of rage . . . don’t do what you usually do and finish this article and go back to whatever you’re doing!
Right NOW – contact your Congressional representatives and tell them to enact gun laws that protect its citizenry and be very, very careful how you mark your ballot in 2020!!!
Will concludes, “When Gerald Ford became president after Richard Nixon’s resignation, he told the nation, ‘Our long national nightmare is over.’ Today’s long – and (increasingly) lethal – national embarrassment will continue until at least Jan. 20, 2021. If it continues longer, this will be more than an embarrassment to the nation, this will be an indictment of it.”
We the people are either a part of making this a better world or we aren’t. At any moment, we are either creating connection or separation, win/win or win/lose, respect and common decency, or hateful rhetoric that demeans some and empowers others.
“We have met the enemy and the enemy is US!”
If you want a better world, do something about it. Speak up. Show up. And for the sake of all those who have been abused, demonized and killed for their race, religion, gender and sexual orientation . . . or simply killed out of rage . . . don’t do what you usually do and finish this article and go back to whatever you’re doing!
Right NOW – contact your Congressional representatives and tell them to enact gun laws that protect its citizenry and be very, very careful how you mark your ballot in 2020!!!
