Trump's Rhetoric is Getting People Killed

Given the two recent mass shootings on August 3^rd in El Paso and August 4^th in Dayton (although Trump didn’t pay attention when he was told about it so he said it happened in Toledo), Trump was asked by a reporter outside the White House if in light of these attacks he thought his rhetoric was divisive. Trump immediately claimed “No” that his rhetoric brings people together.

In a way, his rhetoric does bring elements together - El Paso shooter Patrick Crusius wrote in his online posting that he viewed Hispanics in El Paso as invaders because that’s what Trump and his supporting far-right mouthpieces have been calling immigrants for the last four years. So Trump helped him bring together his intended targets, his loaded automatic weapon, his disgust with Latinos, and the motivation to kill. In the case of Dayton shooter Connor Betts, he was motivated by extreme misogyny. He had a pathological hatred of women, even making out a rape list while he was in high school and later a kill list. On August 4^th, he felt he no longer needed to restrain himself. Why should he when we have a president who said of women that he could do whatever he wanted, grab ‘em by the pussy…? When the president, now married to a third wife yet was also having an affair with an adult film star and a Playboy model at the same time, shows no more regard for women than that, Connor Betts decided he didn’t need to show them any regard either. Betts was mad at the world - and the misogynistic man who admitted on tape to acting on his impulses, well, he got elected president – so Betts acted on his.

But Trump is 100% right in that his rhetoric brings people together - the people who think just like Trump. The dishonest, scheming, racist, narrow-minded bigots who think only white people should have rights of any kind in this country. Trump’s verbal attacks on non-whites and/or non-christians bring out the worst in people who think like him. They now feel emboldened to say and do things like Trump suggests. If some of that leads to killing those that Trump railed about as invading our country, well that’s the price we pay for the freedoms guaranteed by the First and Second Amendments. Trump supporters just wish the media would stop reporting it. That, to them, is the problem. There’s too much attention paid to the negative things Trump says and does. Why can’t the media just ignore all that? They approve of the torturing and deaths of little children by ICE agents, by Border Patrol, and DHS. It doesn’t trouble them any more than it troubles Trump so talking about how cruel and un-American it is is a waste of time. Their attitude is “I don't care” because they know Trump doesn't care.

This is what we are up against. The people who defend Donald Trump may not have his wealth and power but they damn sure share his ideas. That includes the evangelicals who defend whatever Trump does by claiming he was anointed by God so who are we to judge. There are even profits...er, prophets…who claim the God of the bible told them Donald Trump was going to be president and you can read about it by buying their book which has been mass-marketed at evangelical churches since 2015. Those evangelicals are required by God to do all they can to protect Trump as president, even when he repeatedly says and does un-godly things. They have sold their souls to defend Donald Trump but deflect attention from it by claiming it is the forces of darkness (Satan, demons, the Deep State, the Never-Trumpers, the Democrats, liberals…) who are trying to usurp God’s chosen one by unconstitutionally taking the presidency away from Trump. It doesn’t matter if he colluded with the Russians, or that he obstructed justice, or that he treats women badly, they want everyone to acknowledge that Trump was hand-picked by God…their God…the God of the Protestant (preferable King James) Bible. If the Russians helped get Trump elected, it’s because God wanted it that way.

It has come down to the people who carry a bible also carry a torch for Trump. They make up about 30% of the population. There is another 5% that claim they are ambivalent about Trump.

The other 65% of us are the people who oppose what Trump is doing to our country and to the image of the United States around the world. When Trump’s actions and language encourage a shooting gallery type atmosphere, travel to this country from anywhere will dry up. When he encourages the use of torture by terrorizing little kids in order to stop their parents from seeking amnesty, looking for safety or work in this country, no one will want to come here anymore. Is that what Trump thinks is best for the United States, complete ostracization from the world? At the rate people are being gunned down from sea to shining sea, most countries prudently list the U.S. as a rather dangerous place in which to travel and the Travel and Tourism Advisory Board reported that from 2018 to 2019 there had been a 17% drop in people seeking to vacation in the U.S. Get ready for that number to plunge dramtically this year.

And it’s Trump’s rhetoric that is accelerating people getting murdered. His words have definitely brought people together: the most violent white people imaginable doing the most violent things imaginable in the most violent way imaginable, and it nurtures an atmosphere of hatred where those violent people cause battlefield-type casualties because the president uses battlefield-type language to describe people he just doesn’t like. Yet Cabinet members are still too afraid to confront Trump, even though his rhetoric and inflammatory language are being quoted by mass murderers because those cabinet members have deluded themselves into thinking Trump hasn’t really done enough to warrant removal from office. So more Americans must needlessly die thanks to cowards in high places.

Trump’s National Security Advisor John Bolton’s Incredible Offer

        On Monday, September 10^th, National Security Advisor John Bolton made a speech where he said the US would do everything "to protect our citizens" and threatened sanctions against the International Criminal Court if it goes ahead with prosecutions against Americans. Founded in 2002, the International Criminal Court investigates and brings to justice people responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, intervening when national authorities cannot or will not prosecute. The US is among several nations that have not joined the court.

          In the speech given in Washington, Bolton said: "If the court comes after us, we will not sit quietly." And that the ICC “is dead to us.” ICC judges and prosecutors would be barred from entering the US and their funds in the US would be sanctioned. No one is going to mess with any US citizen.

          Couldn’t be clearer how he feels.

          So how does Trump’s self-abasing praise for Putin’s offer at the Helsinki summit last July square with Bolton’s claim that the US would do everything "to protect our citizens?"

           At the summit, Putin proposed what President Trump described as an “incredible offer,” Russia would be allowed to question certain U.S. officials it suspects of interfering in Russian affairs, like former Ambassador Michael McFaul and Bill Browder (who was mostly responsible for the Maginsky Act), whom Trump considered turning over to Putin’s FSB. Trump even seemed excited about the prospect, calling it an "interesting idea."  

"The President's going to meet with his team and we'll let you know when we have an announcement on that," White House Spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.

        In speeches, interviews and op-eds, John Bolton has called Vladimir Putin a liar who aligns himself with America’s enemies, and whose country is a long-term strategic threat to the United States. So what was Bolton’s reaction to Trump finding Putin's offer "incredible" last July?

(Crickets)

        It was left to Sarah Sanders to respond. “It is a proposal that was made in sincerity by President Putin, but President Trump disagrees with it," Sanders said in a statement. It took Trump four days until he finally "disagreed with it." How do we even know Trump disagrees with this proposal, especially since it was made to him in sincerity and he originally said it was an incredible offer? Trump should tell us what was incredible about it. Of course, Trump didn’t bother to verbally disavow it himself, nor would Sanders. Trump didn’t say, do, or tweet jacksh*t. Sanders just issued a statement. When that didn’t put out the raging firestorm it caused, the State Department sent out spokeswoman-apologist Heather Nauert to try to undo the damage by telling a reporter that Russia’s request is “absolutely absurd.” That shows how tough Bolton and the Trump administration can be.
BOLTON...
SAID...
NOTHING

        Bolton will defend U.S. citizens even against the world…as long as Trump isn’t trying to sell them out.

        This is why Bob Woodward’s observations about Trump are so critical. Trump is a very real threat to the safety and well-being of every American.