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day0one · 4 years

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5 years of hate 1 hr ago

At the first presidential debate of the 2020 election, President Donald Trump shocked many viewers when he was given an opportunity to condemn white supremacists but declined. The president then told the Proud Boys, an alt-right hate organization, to “stand back” and “stand by.”

While Trump’s refusal to condemn white supremacists was the talk of the debate, his decision to skirt the subject is precisely in line with how he’s historically addressed violence on the part of hate groups and his supporters: He emboldens it.

As far back as 2015, Trump has been connected to documented acts of violence, with perpetrators claiming that he was even their inspiration. In fact, almost five dozen people, according to reports from the Guardian and ABC News, have enacted violence in Trump’s name.

In 2016, a white man told officers, “Donald Trump will fix them” while being arrested for threatening his Black neighbors with a knife. That same year, a Florida man threatened to burn down a house next to his because a Muslim family purchased it, citing Trump’s Muslim ban made it a reason for “concern.” Then there are the more widely known examples, like Cesar Sayoc, who mailed 16 inoperative pipe bombs to Democratic leaders and referred to Trump as a “surrogate father,” and the mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, in 2019 that left 23 dead, where the shooter’s manifesto parroted Trump’s rhetoric about immigrants.

In some cases, Trump initially denounces the violence, but he often walks back such statements, returning to a message of hate and harm. Recently, he defended a teenage supporter who gunned down three people at a Black Lives Matter protest. And on Thursday, he refused to condemn the domestic terrorists who allegedly planned to violently kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Instead, he criticized Whitmer and fished for compliments.

Trump has continually failed to recognize what’s at the core of this violence: hate that’s been nurtured under a tense national climate that he has helped cultivate.

Trump’s campaign rallies have always been incubation grounds for violence, the sites where Trump spewed hate speech that encouraged physical harm against dissenters. And as president, he has used his platform to encourage violence against American citizens, whether via the police and national guard or militia groups. Just this year alone, Trump infamously made it clear that protesters — those out demonstrating against police brutality and systemic racism — should be met with force.

As much as the president and his supporters have to paint the picture that the cities and suburbs will burn in violence under a Joe Biden presidency, Trump is the one who has repeatedly proven that he has no interest in promoting peace.

Here is a timeline of Trump’s hateful rhetoric since 2015 and some of the moments when his supporters took heed.

2015: Trump officially announces his campaign for president and immediately employs rhetoric that suggests violence is the answer to opposition Trump officially announced his candidacy for president of the United States in June 2015 and wasted little time inciting fear and hate in his first speech. That year, critics argued that his language led to attacks on innocent bystanders, and in some cases, acts of violence were directly connected to Trump’s words.

June 16, 2015: When Trump announced his bid for president at Trump Tower in New York City, he made disparaging comments about Mexicans, comments that have been said to incite violence and hate toward immigrants for years to come:

“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”

Even though his statement was almost entirely false, in the months following, Trump would defend the criminal threat of immigrants. “What can be simpler or more accurately stated? The Mexican Government is forcing their most unwanted people into the United States. They are, in many cases, criminals, drug dealers, rapists, etc.,” he said on July 6, 2015.

August 11, 2015: Trump indirectly took aim at Black Lives Matter protesters, calling Sen. Bernie Sanders “weak” after Sanders allowed protesters to seize the microphone at a campaign rally. “I thought that was disgusting. That showed such weakness — the way he was taken away by two young women. … They just took the whole place over.”

Trump added, “That will never happen with me. I don’t know if I’ll do the fighting myself or if other people will. But that was a disgrace. … I felt badly for him, but it showed that he’s weak.”

August 19, 2015: Two Boston brothers invoked Trump when they were arrested for urinating on a homeless man and beating him with a metal pipe. While in custody, one of the brothers told the police, “Trump was right. All of these illegals need to be deported.” The 58-year-old Mexican man they assaulted was a permanent resident.

In response to the news that the Boston assault was inspired by his rhetoric, Trump did not denounce the violence, instead calling his supporters “passionate.” “I think that would be a shame. I will say, the people that are following me are very passionate. They love this country. They want this country to be great again. But they are very passionate. I will say that,” he told reporters the next day.

On August 21, 2015, Trump backtracked a bit, taking a both-sides approach. “Boston incident is terrible. We need energy and passion, but we must treat each other with respect. I would never condone violence,” he tweeted.

October 23, 2015: After repeatedly being interrupted by protesters at a campaign rally in Miami, Trump warned he’ll “be a little more violent” next time when addressing protesters. “See the first group, I was nice. ‘Oh, take your time.’ The second group, I was pretty nice. The third group, I’ll be a little more violent. And the fourth group, I’ll say get the hell out of here!” he said. On video, the pro-immigration protesters could be seen being forcibly dragged out of the campaign event.

November 21, 2015: At a rally in Birmingham, Alabama, Trump demanded the removal of Black activist Mercutio Southall Jr. after he yelled, “Black lives matter!” Onstage, Trump exclaimed, “Get him the hell out of here! Get him out of here! Throw him out!” In a video captured by CNN, Southall fell to the ground as Trump made his statements and white men appeared to kick and punch him.

As security guards removed Southall from the rally, the crowd chanted, “All lives matter,” according to the Washington Post. Trump told Fox News the next day, “Maybe he should have been roughed up, because it was absolutely disgusting what he was doing. I have a lot of fans, and they were not happy about it. And this was a very obnoxious guy who was a troublemaker who was looking to make trouble.”

December 2015: The Trump campaign devised a strategy to address protesters who demonstrated at rallies. Instead of harming the protester, the campaign suggested they chant, “Trump! Trump! Trump!” until a security guard removes the protester. The campaign began playing an announcement of the plan at rallies in mid-December, which started with the line, “If a protester starts demonstrating in the area around you, please do not touch or harm the protester. This is a peaceful rally.” According to the Washington Post, attendees laughed when the announcement was played at a rally.

2016: At campaign rallies, Trump models the violence that he encourages by making a spectacle out of ejecting protesters At his large campaign rallies, Trump became notorious for yelling “Get ’em out!” at protesters who demonstrated, whether they stood there silently, held up a sign, or chanted. Though Trump often alleged that the protesters were violent, reporters found no evidence to suggest that protesters ever attacked Trump supporters inside any rally.

In 2016, Trump sharpened his rhetoric against Muslims, suggesting that the country must scrutinize mosques and newly arrived Muslim migrants. The year 2016 also gave rise to the chant that advocated for violence against then-Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton: “Lock her up!”

January 8, 2016: Rose Hamid, a 56-year-old Muslim woman wearing a hijab, was escorted out of a Trump rally after standing up in silent protest over Trump’s speech in which he said Syrian refugees fleeing war were affiliated with ISIS. Hamid attended the rally to show Trump supporters what Muslims are like (Trump had already called for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States” in December 2015), and told CNN’s Don Lemon that the people sitting around her were “very nice” and “sharing their popcorn.”

But once the crowd “got this hateful crowd mentality,” as she was being escorted out, “it was a vivid example of what happens when you start using this hateful rhetoric and how it can incite a crowd where moments ago were very kind to me.” Hamid said one man yelled to her, “Get out! Do you have a bomb? Do you have a bomb?”

January 23, 2016: At a campaign rally in Iowa, Trump, in describing the loyalty of his supporters, notoriously said, “I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters.”

Video player from: YouTube (Privacy Policy, Terms) February 1, 2016: At a campaign rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Trump told the crowd that his security team informed him that there may be somebody throwing tomatoes. “If you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously. Just knock the hell out of them. I promise you, I will pay for the legal fees. I promise. There won’t be so much of them because the courts agree with us,” he said.

Video player from: YouTube (Privacy Policy, Terms) February 23, 2016: At a campaign rally in Las Vegas, Trump said of a protester, “I’d like to punch him in the face.” As security guards escorted the protester out of the rally, Trump mocked him, saying, “He’s smiling. Having a good time.” He then reminisced about being able to get away with violence: “There’s a guy, totally disruptive, throwing punches. We’re not allowed to punch back anymore. I love the old days. You know what they used to do to guys like that when they were in a place like this? They’d be carried out on a stretcher, folks.” Trump also called the protester “nasty as hell.” CNN reported that the man did not appear to fight with the security guards taking him outside.

Video player from: YouTube (Privacy Policy, Terms) At the same rally, Trump would double down on his support for waterboarding, a banned interrogation method. “They said to me, ‘What do you think of waterboarding?’ I said I think it’s great, but we don’t go far enough. It’s true. We don’t go far enough. We don’t go far enough.” At a February 6, 2016, Republican debate in New Hampshire, Trump said he would “bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding” if he were elected president.

February 27, 2016: Trump advocated for police state violence, lamenting how officers are afraid to do their jobs because America is “becoming a frightened country.” “You see, in the good old days, law enforcement acted a lot quicker than this. A lot quicker. In the good old days, they’d rip him out of that seat so fast — but today, everybody’s politically correct,” Trump said. “Our country’s going to hell with being politically correct. Going to hell.”

March 1, 2016: At a campaign rally in Louisville, Kentucky, Trump repeatedly yelled, “Get out of here! Get em’ out of here! Get him the hell out!” to a group of protesters, galvanizing the crowd to chant, “U-S-A! U-S-A!” and physically shove the group of Black protesters. Trump continued: “Don’t hurt him! If I say, ‘Go get him,’ I get in trouble with the press, the most dishonest human beings in the world. If I say, ‘Don’t hurt him,’ the press will say, ‘Well, Trump isn’t as tough as he used to be!’ . ... So you can’t win.”

Video player from: YouTube (Privacy Policy, Terms) March 9, 2016: A 78-year-old white male Trump supporter punched a Black male protester being escorted out of a Trump campaign rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina. The Trump supporter was recorded on video saying he enjoyed “knocking the hell out of that big mouth” and “Yes, he deserved it. The next time we see him, we might have to kill him.” He was arrested and charged with assault a day later, though he attacked the protester directly in front of law enforcement officials.

Instead, at the time, law enforcement officials tackled the protester to the ground after he had been punched in the face.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BCwibANHp6B/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading

Two days after the assault, Trump said such attacks on protesters were “very, very appropriate” and the kind of action “we need a little bit more of.” Trump called the protesters “very violent,” though multiple news outlets at the time reported that there were no documented cases of protesters inciting violence against Trump supporters.

March 10, 2016: At a Miami Republican Debate, Trump denied that his tone incited violence at his rallies and insinuated that the anger toward protesters was justified. “I will say this,” he told CNN’s Jake Tapper. “We have 25 [thousand], 30,000 people. You’ve seen it yourself. People come with tremendous passion and love for the country, and when they see protest — in some cases — you know, you’re mentioning one case, which I haven’t seen, I heard about it, which I don’t like. But when they see what’s going on in this country, they have anger that’s unbelievable. They have anger.”

He added: “We have some protesters who are bad dudes, they have done bad things. They are swinging, they are really dangerous … And if they’ve got to be taken out, to be honest, I mean, we have to run something.”

March 11, 2016: Trump abandoned a planned Chicago campaign rally after fights broke out between his supporters and protesters. Five people were arrested and two police officers were injured, according to the Chicago police. In a tweet, Trump blamed “thugs” for the chaos.

March 31, 2016: Three people who say they were assaulted at a March 1, 2016, Trump campaign rally in Louisville, Kentucky, sued the then-candidate, alleging that he riled up his followers and encouraged violence when he repeatedly yelled, “Get ‘em out of here!” The group sued Trump for incitement to riot, and in April 2017, federal Judge David Hale ruled that their claim was valid since there was sufficient evidence proving their injuries were a “direct and proximate result” of Trump’s comments. “It is plausible that Trump’s direction to ‘get ‘em out of here’ advocated the use of force,” Hale wrote. “It was an order, an instruction, a command.”

Trump appealed the case, and in September 2018, a federal appeals court dismissed the protesters’ claims, saying that Trump’s words were protected under the First Amendment and did not “specifically advocate imminent lawless violence.” An attorney for the plaintiffs called the ruling “unprecedented” and “dangerous,” and a “free pass” for a candidate for public office.

July 2016: By July, the infamous “Lock her up!” chant in response to any mention of Hillary Clinton became a facet of Trump’s rallies and even the GOP convention. On July 19, at the Republican National Convention, the crowd chanted “Lock her up! Lock her up! Lock her up!” as Chris Christie delivered a speech. At a rally in Colorado Springs on July 29, Trump, after resisting joining in on the chant at rallies, told the audience, “I’ve been saying let’s just beat her on November 8th. But you know what, I’m starting to agree with you.”

Trump’s comments came after Clinton spoke ill of him in her Democratic National Convention address. “You know it’s interesting. Every time I mention her, everyone screams, ‘lock her up, lock her up.’ They keep screaming. And you know what I do? I’ve been nice,” Trump said. “But after watching that performance last night — such lies — I don’t have to be so nice anymore. I’m taking the gloves off.”

Video player from: YouTube (Privacy Policy, Terms) But crowds and commentators didn’t stop at “Lock her up!” As the Atlantic reported, some called for Clinton to be “hung on the Mall in Washington D.C.” or “put in a firing line and shot for treason.”

December 2016: After Trump bullied then-Fox News journalist Megyn Kelly for months, Kelly came forward to allege that Trump’s social media manager was responsible for the many death threats she was receiving. “The vast majority of Donald Trump supporters are not at all this way,” Kelly said, according to the Guardian. “It’s that far corner of the internet that really enjoys nastiness and threats and unfortunately there is a man who works for Donald Trump whose job it is to stir these people up and that man needs to stop doing that. His name is Dan Scavino.”

2017: With Trump in office, white supremacists organize and are emboldened to march and protest in public; Trump also amplifies his attacks on the press In 2017, Trump sharply criticized the press, calling it the “enemy of the American people,” fueling hostility toward journalists that many say had led to violence. He also failed to condemn white supremacist and white nationalist groups that organized in Charlottesville, Virginia. The “Unite the Right” rally became a turning point for the nation, prompting many people to finally stop and question the impact of Trump’s rhetoric.

January 25, 2017: On the day the Trump administration instituted a ban against travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries, a Muslim Delta employee wearing a hijab was physically and verbally attacked at JFK International Airport in New York. The perpetrator told the victim “[Expletive] Islam. [Expletive] ISIS. Trump is here now. He will get rid of all of you,” according to ABC. On the campaign trail, Trump said he was open to the idea of closing mosques and creating a database of all Muslims in the US, consistently saying that Muslims were a “problem” and a “sickness.”

February 17, 2017: In what the New York Times called a “striking escalation in his attacks,” Trump tweeted that the news media is “the enemy of the American people.”

Trump had long blamed news organizations for misrepresenting his agenda and performance, but in February officially positioned the media as a key opponent. At a press conference on February 16, 2017, Trump strategically called the media “dishonest” and labeled reporting from outlets like CNN “fake news.”

Onlookers argued that Trump’s rhetoric toward the press led to violent attacks on reporters. As Jeff Guo reported in 2017, “Anti-media rhetoric has abounded since the election,” pointing to examples of physical hostility toward journalists at the time:

In West Virginia last month, Dan Heyman of Public News Service was handcuffed and arrested at the state capitol building for posing questions to Tom Price, the secretary of Health and Human Services. And in Washington last week, a reporter from CQ Roll Call was pushed against a wall by security guards for asking an FCC commissioner questions in the lobby of a public building.

July 28, 2017: During a speech to law enforcement officials in Long Island, New York, Trump encouraged police to be more violent when handling suspects and potential offenders:

“Now, we’re getting them [criminals] out anyway, but we’d like to get them out a lot faster, and when you see these towns and when you see these thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon, you just see them thrown in, rough, I said, please don’t be too nice. Like when you guys put somebody in the car and you’re protecting their head, you know, the way you put their hand over, like, don’t hit their head and they’ve just killed somebody. Don’t hit their head. I said, you can take the hand away, okay?”

In the 35-minute speech, Trump discussed his plan to fight MS-13 gang violence, calling the gang’s members “animals” who had “transformed peaceful parks and beautiful quiet neighborhoods into blood-stained killing fields.”

August 12, 2017: One of the clearest moments Trump refused to denounce violence, and thereby encourage it, to the country’s dismay, was when he equated the white supremacists who marched in Charlottesville, Virginia, as part of a “Unite the Right” rally with the leftist protesters who demonstrated against them. During the rally, a Nazi sympathizer drove a car into a crowd of anti-racism counterprotesters, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer. The evening before, on August 11, the neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups marched at the University of Virginia, carrying lit tiki torches and chanting anti-Semitic slogans, in response to the impending removal of a Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee statue.

As Tara Golshan reported for Vox, Trump’s very first response to the events in Charlottesville was to condemn violence on the part of many players, while initially refusing to even mention the presence of white supremacist groups. In a short statement issued Saturday evening, Trump said from his golf club in New Jersey, “We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides. It has been going on for a long time in our country — not Donald Trump, not Barack Obama. It has been going on for a long, long time. It has no place in America.”

That same night, he tweeted condolences to Heyer’s family, but made no mention of who was responsible for the violence. Trump called for there to be “a study” to understand what happened in Charlottesville.

On the Tuesday following the weekend rally, Trump infamously said, “You had some very bad people in that group. You also had some very fine people on both sides.”

The president also attempted to identify the “good people” in the sea of white nationalists that weekend: “You had people and I’m not talking about the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists. They should be condemned totally. [...] You had many people in that group other than neo-Nazis and white nationalists. Not all of those people were neo-Nazis, believe me. Not all of those people were white supremacists by any stretch.”

Video player from: YouTube (Privacy Policy, Terms) September 22, 2017: At a rally in Alabama, Trump took aim at football players like Colin Kaepernick, who kneeled during the national anthem in protest of police brutality and systemic racism. “Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out. He’s fired. He’s fired!’” he said.

In the following days, Trump underscored his disdain for the anthem protests:

Ultimately, Trump turned the NFL player’s silent protest about police violence into a debate about nationalism — becoming emblematic of how Trump would spin issues of racial injustice as an affront to American life, using it as a way to rile up his base (many supporters set fire to NFL team merchandise).

2018: Donald Trump still fails to condemn white supremacists at a time when hate crimes are on the rise Multiple studies released between 2017 and 2019 pointed to how hate crimes reached a high during the first two years of Donald Trump’s presidency. A report from the FBI found that hate crimes, especially against Muslims, increased by 5 percent in 2016 and were up 17 percent in 2017; in 2018, hate crimes reached a 16-year high, with a significant rise in violence against Latinos.

According to a 2019 report, counties that hosted a rally with Donald Trump as a headliner experienced a 226 percent increase in hate crimes. The report’s authors noted: “Trump’s rhetoric may encourage hate crimes.” At the middle point of his term, when confronted with opportunities to condemn white supremacy and ultimately attempt to unify the country, Trump declined to do so.

June 24, 2018: Amid his administration’s family separation crisis, Trump fanned the flames of anti-immigration sentiment. On Twitter, Trump tweeted rhetoric that justified his administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy, which featured ICE raids and migrant detention facilities. Between October 1, 2017, and May 31, 2018, at least 2,700 children were split from their families at the border. “We cannot allow all of these people to invade our Country. When somebody comes in, we must immediately, with no Judges or Court Cases, bring them back from where they came. Our system is a mockery to good immigration policy and Law and Order. Most children come without parents ...” he wrote.

August 11, 2018: A year after the inaugural “Unite the Right” rally, organizers planned a second “Unite the Right” event, yet Trump still failed to condemn the hate groups by name. Ahead of the rally, he tweeted a rather numb statement against hate and did not acknowledge and condemn the people perpetrating the violence.

October 18, 2018: At a rally in Montana, Trump celebrated Republican Rep. Greg Gianforte (MT), who body-slammed a reporter in May 2017, telling the crowd, “Any guy who can do a body-slam ... he’s my guy.”

Gianforte assaulted journalist Ben Jacobs after Jacobs asked him a question about the GOP health care bill. The Congress member ultimately apologized (after his spokesperson first denied the assault) and pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault. He was sentenced to a 180-day deferred sentence, 40 hours of community service, 20 hours of anger management, and a $300 fine along with an $85 court fee.

As Jeff Guo reported for Vox in 2017, the assault revealed how the Republican Party, at Trump’s behest, has grown comfortable with verbal and physical violence against the press.

October 22-November 1, 2018: Cesar Sayoc, a Florida Trump supporter, mailed 16 inoperative pipe bombs to Democratic leaders, including Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and Hillary Clinton, who had been critical of Donald Trump’s presidency. Sayoc had been living in a van that was covered in photos of Trump and “decals attacking the media,” according to NBC News. Sayoc’s lawyers argued that Trump’s rhetoric fueled his actions and that Sayoc viewed Trump as a “surrogate father.” On August 4, 2019, Sayoc was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Trump first condemned Sayoc’s action but then walked back his condemnation. “In these times we have to unify,” Trump said. “We have to come together and send one very clear, strong, unmistakable message that acts or threats of political violence of any kind have no place in the United States of America.”

As Vox’s Alex Ward reported, Trump had multiple opportunities to unite the country after Sayoc was detained, but instead blamed the media and Democrats for the anger that his supporters were acting out on.

October 27, 2018: An anti-Semitic terrorist murdered 11 worshippers and injured seven others at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. Though the shooter criticized Trump for being a “globalist” who was controlled by Jews, many critics linked Trump’s rhetoric to the mass shooting. Jewish leaders in Pittsburgh wrote an open letter to Trump demanding that he “fully denounce white nationalism” before visiting a city in mourning. “For the past three years your words and your policies have emboldened a growing white nationalist movement,” the letter said. “You yourself called the murderer evil, but yesterday’s violence is the direct culmination of your influence.”

Trump first lamented the shooting but then suggested that the victims should have protected themselves by having an armed guard inside the synagogue and distanced himself from the National Rifle Association when asked about his ties to the organization.

2019: Mass shootings and hate crimes connected to Donald Trump continue, while Trump lashes out at a group of newly elected congresswomen Instead of denouncing the white supremacy and hate that fueled mass shootings, Donald Trump highlighted mental illness as a key factor behind domestic terrorism. As Trump returned the campaign trail in an attempt to gain a second term, he targeted a new group at his campaign events — a group of young congresswomen of color, known as “the Squad.”

May 8, 2019: At a Florida rally, Trump turned the idea of shooting migrants and asylum seekers into a punchline. After a woman at the rally yelled “shoot them” in regard to immigrants, Trump said, “That’s only in the Panhandle, you can get away with that statement.”

Vox’s Aaron Rupar reported that Trump’s statement came a day after it was discovered that a border patrol agent said of migrants, “Why are we just apprehending them and not lining them up and shooting them. ... We have to go back to Hitler days and put them all in a gas chamber.”

July 14, 2019: Donald Trump attacked the group of congresswomen known as “the Squad,” saying on Twitter that they should “go back” to the “crime infested places from which they came.” Trump didn’t initially name the lawmakers whom he was attacking but it was clear he was directing his ire at a group of progressive then-first-term members that includes Reps. Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Ayanna Pressley, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The women, who advocate for progressive policies, became the target of backlash and scrutiny.

Three days later at a Trump 2020 campaign rally in Greenville, North Carolina, the crowd repeatedly chanted “Send her back! Send her back!” directed at Rep. Ilhan Omar, whom Trump began to single out from the Squad, which he described that night as a group of “hate-filled extremists.”

Video player from: YouTube (Privacy Policy, Terms) Trump’s rhetoric toward Omar and the rest of the squad led to death threats and increased security for the women. In April, just hours after a man was charged for threatening to assault and murder Omar, Trump doubled down on his harmful lies about her at an event. The man told officials that “he loves the president” and “hates radical Muslims in our government.” In June, Tlaib read out a death threat she received that said, “The only good Muslim is a dead one.”

August 3, 2019: In one of the larger calamities of Trump’s presidency, a 21-year-old white man opened fire at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, killing 23 people and injuring 22 others. As Alexia Fernández Campbell reported for Vox, the shooter drove more than 10 hours to the store to target Mexicans. Officials believe that the gunman was the author of a racist, xenophobic online manifesto that warned of a “Hispanic invasion” of Texas and echoed the president’s language, according to the New York Times. Trump responded to the shooting in a brief speech but “said nothing about widespread criticism of his own anti-immigrant rhetoric, which some say inspired the El Paso attacks,” Fernández Campbell reported.

August 5, 2019: A 39-year-old Montana man was charged with felony assault for choking, slamming, and fracturing the skull of a 13-year-old boy who didn’t take his hat off for the national anthem. The man’s attorney told the local newspaper that Trump’s “rhetoric” led to the violent act. “His commander in chief is telling people that if they kneel, they should be fired, or if they burn a flag, they should be punished,” the lawyer said, referencing Trump’s harsh words against athletes like Colin Kaepernick who protested for social justice.

October 1, 2019: A New York Times report stated that Trump, as part of his border security plan in early 2019, reportedly wanted to shoot migrants in the legs and keep them away from the southern border with a trench filled with water, alligators, and snakes. Trump also reportedly asked for a cost estimate for an electrified wall with spikes that could “pierce human flesh.”

November 1, 2019: A 61-year-old Milwaukee man was arrested and charged with a felony hate crime after allegedly throwing acid at a Peruvian American who was walking to a Mexican restaurant. The perpetrator accused the victim of being inside the country illegally asking him, “Why you invade my country?” and “Why don’t you respect my laws?” before attacking him. When police searched the perpetrator’s home, they found three letters addressed to Donald Trump. The victim suffered second-degree burns.

2020: Trump is explicit about the kind of violence he is willing to use against Black Lives Matter protesters. Meanwhile, Americans, particularly Black and Native Americans, are being ravaged by the coronavirus. As Black Lives Matter protests swept the country this summer following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, a key thread running through Trump’s response was to call for and send in law enforcement officials — the National Guard, Secret Service police, local police, US Park Police and state troopers — who dressed in riot gear and used a variety of weapons from tear gas to rubber bullets. While he said violence was out of hand in cities, the protests were most peaceful, outside of escalation by police.

In fact, after the deployment of Department of Homeland Security agents in Portland in the summer, violent demonstrations increased from under 17 percent to over 42 percent, according to a report. Amid the unrest, Trump also repeatedly failed to identify and call out white supremacist agitators and counterprotesters who traveled to cities and towns and incited violence.

And throughout the country, Asian Americans faced violence due to fears about the coronavirus. Trump has repeatedly used a racist name for the virus, calling it the Chinese flu or the Chinese virus.

March 14, 2020: 19-year-old Jose L. Gomez stabbed three members of an Asian-American family, including a 2-year-old and 6-year-old at a Sam’s Club in Texas. According to the FBI’s report obtained by ABC News, Gomez said he attacked them because “he thought the family was Chinese and infecting people with the coronavirus.” Gomez was charged with three counts of attempted capital murder and one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

In a report released in late March, the FBI warned that hate crimes against Asian Americans would surge (and were already surging) due to rhetoric that associated the disease with China and Asian American populations. Trump began calling coronavirus the “Chinese virus” early in the pandemic and defended his use of the phrase, despite many calls against it, saying, “It did come from China. It is a very accurate term.”

Catherine Kim reported for Vox that the phrase fits into Trump’s “pattern of xenophobia” and “pattern of deflecting blame.” After a week of anti-Asian rhetoric, Trump tweeted, “‘it was very important we protect our Asian American community’ (before othering Asian Americans — “they” and “us” — one tweet later) ... but the damage has already been done.”

On October 8, 2020, a few days after being released from Walter Reed hospital where he was treated for the virus, Trump released a video in which again he blamed China. “China’s going to pay a big price what they’ve done to this country,” Trump said.

May 29, 2020: Following the first weekend of social justice protests, Trump immediately threatened to shoot looters in Minneapolis, in a tweet thread that kicked off the tone that would dominate his reaction to the unrest in the following months. He called protesters “thugs” and said, “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” Twitter flagged Trump’s tweet for “glorifying violence.”

As Katelyn Burns reported for Vox, a day later, “Trump tried to walk back the phrase on Twitter by claiming he meant that when looting starts, people end up getting shot.”

June 1, 2020: Police officers in Washington, DC, attacked hundreds of peaceful protesters in Lafayette Square with tear gas to make way for Donald Trump who traveled from the White House to St. John’s Church for a photo op. Before visiting the church, Trump delivered remarks in which he said, “If a city or state refuses to take the actions necessary to defend the life and property of their residents, then I will deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them.” The remarks fit into Trump’s repeated call for “law and order.”

August 29, 2020: At an emergency operations briefing in Texas, Trump expressed interest in sending the National Guard to Portland to meet protesters with force.

“We sent in 1,000 National Guard, and that’s not even a big force. We could clean out — as an example, Portland: We could fix Portland in, I would say, 45 minutes.”

August 31, 2020: After 29-year-old Black man Jacob Blake was killed by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, protests broke out across the country. The next day, a group of armed men including 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse from Illinois, showed up in Kenosha, saying they were there to protect property. Rittenhouse, a law enforcement enthusiast and a Trump supporter, shot and killed two people and injured another; he was later charged with murder.

Trump later appeared to justify Rittenhouse’s actions by saying he was acting in self-defense. At a press briefing, Trump told reporters, “I guess it looks like and he fell and then they very violently attacked him and it was something we’re looking at right now and it’s under investigation. I guess he was in very big trouble. He probably would have been killed. But it’s under investigation.”

September 1, 2020: Before traveling to Kenosha, Trump said he was going to the city to show support for law enforcement. He did not visit Blake’s family or mention Blake by name. Instead, he said the officer who shot him must have “choked.”

Trump also said that law enforcement was ready to stop protests “very powerfully.” “As soon as they came in, boom, the flame was gone. Now maybe it will start up again, in which case they will put it out very powerfully,” he said.

Blake’s family and Wisconsin leaders feared that Trump’s visit would lead to more violence and destruction.

September 29, 2020: At the first presidential debate for the general election, when given the opportunity to denounce white supremacy, Trump spoke directly to a hate group, the Proud Boys, instructing them to “stand back” and “stand by.” In response, the Proud Boys instantly expressed gratitude and joy at being recognized by the president.

Days later, after receiving bipartisan criticism, Trump told Fox News that he condemns far-right hate groups. “Let me be clear again: I condemn the KKK. I condemn all white supremacists,” he said. “I condemn the Proud Boys. I don’t know much about the Proud Boys, almost nothing, but I condemn that.”

However, as Rolling Stone argued, there are multiple reasons to believe that Trump knows who the Proud Boys are, from his connection to Roger Stone — who has close ties to the Proud Boys — to the fact that Proud Boys regularly attend Trump rallies, with a Proud Boy co-chairman sitting directly behind Trump at a Miami rally in 2019.

October 8, 2020: Six men face conspiracy charges in a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. As Vox’s Andrew Prokop reported, “the conspirators were in contact with a militia group based in Michigan — training in tactics and weapons with the group, and attempting to build an explosive device with a militia group member.” The men were reportedly angry about Whitmer’s coronavirus shutdown policies.

In response to the FBI’s investigation, Trump demanded that Whitmer thank him. Trump also chastised Whitmer for the very thing that the conspirators targeted her for — taking action against the spread of a deadly virus.

In a livestream address, Whitmer said that Trump gives “comfort” to those who “spread fear and hatred and division.” She pointed to Trump’s comments at the presidential debate and called him “complicit”:

Just last week, the president of the United States stood before the American people and refused to condemn white supremacists and hate groups like these two Michigan militia groups. [...] Hate groups heard the president’s words not as a rebuke, but as a rallying cry, as a call to action. When our leaders speak, their words matter. They carry weight. When our leaders meet with, encourage, or fraternize with domestic terrorists, they legitimize their actions and they are complicit. When they stoke and contribute to hate speech, they are complicit.

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therevengerists · 7 years

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Kathy Griffin apologized, but she still got what she wanted.

We're all talking about her. This is what people who manipulate media do. For further case study, go re-analyze Trump's entire campaign and presidency, re:his handling of and treatment by the media. Because shit works. Please note: I am not trying to say Kathy Griffin's "performance art" was some real statement about Trump's own sensationalism. For some of the following reasons: 1. No matter which way you slice it, it's not a smart "piece". It's ridiculous rich bubbled liberals with some modicum of attention saying "hur-hur fuck Trump.” 2. It's clueless. Divisiveness is so high, at a time when racial tensions literally have been getting people killed…. like last Friday. It’s on a scale that starts at ‘unhelpful’ up to and including ‘societally damaging’. 3. It's COUNTERproductive. It not only gives ammo to right-wing nutjobs (who, despite any number of posts by liberals ALSO angry at Kathy Griffin, will see this is an entire liberal monoculture out to get them), but it also undercuts those of us advocating a peaceful, civil, equal, democratic America. Way to further the message that ours is the more sane, stable, rational approach to governance. 4. ISIS loves that shit. ANY group manipulating forms of mass media & therefore people towards a perpetually warlike state benefits from this type of fucking farce. It perpetuates a cycle of numerous war-mongering, power-mad, atavistic groups of violence-obsessed bastards the world over. Ahem. 5. Fuck off, Kathy Griffin. Nobody liked you ever because you are the kind of person who would think to do a thing like this. Like your privileged unfunny undeserving ass has ever faced the sort of threats that actual targeted, vulnerable groups in America do under Trump’s hateful, bigoted policies. Seriously fuck off. By that I meant to say, it’s both the wrong message AND wrong messenger. Is there ever a realm where violent sadistic imagery is preferable to salient rational discourse or at worst, insightful satire? No. Never. But if I have to see it, and Jesus knows we WILL be subjected to such shit at some point, do we HAVE to have it paired with Kathy fucking Griffin? Seriously. There is nothing even approaching a point anywhere in the vicinity of her... "artbleaarchh (sorry, I tried to type "art" but vomited so hard that I typed what I vomited at the same time). If I’m incredibly generous and assume she and her photographer friend were at any point going for anything more coherent than “glurpaderpadonkadoo!”, then whatever it was supposed to be definitely did not land. You know what does land? Critics who look at it and wonder aloud ”what is more devastating about this, the decapitated Trump head or Kathy fucking Griffin?". Poignant observations aside, this is exactly the sort of victimhood complex narrative Trump was begging for. No two ways about it. Thank you Kathy Griffin, for literally being the bloodthirsty rabid liberal stereotype that the Right dreamt up & has been selling their base for years. May I suggest for your next act sacrificing a child on top of a pizza? Fuck you very much, Kathy Griffin, who has gotten many of us to type your name repeatedly while you post an apology video with undoubtedly your most hits ever. Because as fucks would have it, apparently Kathy fucking Griffin figured out how stupid humans are in one key, fundamental area: If you yell "hey everyone, look at me!" a bunch of us idiots all look in unison. The more horrible it is, the more that will flock-I mean, look. This is why ISIS is ISIS, and not a two-bit one-camel operation. But their heads were real, and they have a message to sell. That's about the only substantive difference between Kathy Griffin & ISIS. They're real monsters and she just plays pretend for a camera. They both were some nobodies until outrageously vile acts propelled them to social media fame. Both see violence as tool to manipulate. Both know that when it comes to being famous, being hated is as good as being loved. You can't spell ‘infamous’ without famous. People who do this are utilizing the innate emotional drivers in humans for a desired, or corralled, response. Anger, disgust, fear, hate… Some of the strongest flaring emotions can drive entire groups to act in increasingly irrational, fucked up, even evil ways. "Give in to our demands or this person dies." "We need more funding for bombs to stop scary bad guys" "Only I can protect you from great evil" "The Great Satan wants us all dead" "they want to defile our Holy Land" "their entire ideology is a cancer" "our way of life is threatened" "Invaders are coming to destroy us" "they will rape our daughters" "trans women in bathrooms" "different=filthy" "hate the OTHER" "our team their team our team their team” "Protect our purity" “our country needs to come first" "he looked like a demon bulking up" "you know who (((they))) are" "they're coming to take my guns" “they they they them them them” "if you follow another faith you are evil" "if you follow no faith you are evil" "if you follow any faith you are evil" "My side's never wrong" “the other side are all morons with mental disorders” “those people aren’t even human” "What you never knew that was in your pantry… might kill you" "serial killer loose" "new designer drug" “another mass shooting" "kids are calling it the knockout game" “riots fires arson violence rape murder thugs” "tonight at 11" "somebody please think of the children!" "Stock up on canned goods" "Buy a gun" "invest in gold" "don't talk to strangers" "take off your shoes and put them into the plastic bin, please" "if you see something say something" "We are under attack" "Raping our country" “Taking our jobs" "our traditions" "drugs and crime" "Build a wall! Build a wall! Build a wall" "I will be the single greatest jobs president of all time! A law and order president! I will BAN THEM. VOTE FOR ME I WILL MAKE YOU GREAT" "Hey everyone lookit me! I have da prezdent's head but not really hur-de-hur lol now talk about ME, Kathy Griffin, for once! Yaay!!" …and we did. Because that's how it works. It's a really old, really solid con. That's how ISIS became ISIS. How the Military Industrial Complex keeps getting subsidized to make weapons of mass destruction. How Wall Street justified being bailed out. It’s why hate crimes happen. It’s why we’re militarizing the police and handing over our privacy. It's how a profit-motivated media gets ratings, it's how shock jocks get an audience, how lame nobodies stay relevant, and how Trump tricked y'all. They do it, and will continue to do it, because it fucking works, children.

#Breshvic Penicillin #kathy griffin #Donald Trump #media #manipulation

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aawarning-blog · 7 years

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New Post has been published on AAW

New Post has been published on https://www.anamericanwarning.com/2017/10/gun-laws-talk/

Is It Time To Have A REAL Conversation About Gun Laws Yet?

It took only minutes before people began to exploit the tragedy in Las Vegas for their political agendas regarding gun laws. It’s so unfortunate too, because instead of finding solutions for real problems, stupidity was spread to the ignorant that follow. As a result, many good people whose hearts may be in the right spot, play a part in the continual erosion of freedom and liberty.

Of course, their concerns are real. Many people are spoon fed these tragedies via the news and they are provided the scapegoat. These examples include things like “ghost guns”, “automatic ammunition” and so on. The answer that is always provided in response to these scary fictions is more gun laws – in spite of the fact that the thousands of gun laws already on the books haven’t stopped a single tragedy from happening. Unfortunately, the ignorant are unaware that much of what they are being told is fiction but they believe the narrative anyway because they are hearing it from their favorite media source and they refuse to believe that the media is capable of flat-out lying to them – about guns or anything else. For clarity, there is no such thing as a “ghost gun” or “automatic ammunition“. These are just scary things the media and politicians have invented to scare you. They sound believable when you don’t examine what is being said, so the ignorant buy into it.

I think it’s important to note that many of those reporters that report on firearms and the politicians that try to ban them, don’t really know what they are talking about. They are ignorant of firearms and their fear is rooted in ignorance. This fear tends to transfer to their ignorant readers and/or followers. It’s not long before we see social media posts like this:

Can we all agree that having STRICTER gun laws is not a bad idea? As in requiring people to take a pretty comprehensive exam in order to use and discharge a lethal weapon, an item that is specifically designed to kill? I mean really, no one is trying to take your guns away – it just wouldn’t hurt to set up more and frequent barriers. Don’t even tell me that this is not the time to talk about it – this has been on my mind since those precious babies died at Sandy Hook and not a day passes by where I don’t think about the possibility of someone doing that at my kids’ school. People should absolutely talk about it – civilly and respectfully. There are lives and loved ones at stake.

To answer the question directly – No! We cannot agree on that. We cannot agree on that at all. Ignoring for a moment the idea that there are numerous laws against murdering someone and they have yet to stop anyone from doing it, and ignoring for a moment that all the exams and laws would not and will not stop someone from getting so angry that they feel the need to take their rage out on the world, and ignoring the fact that laws surrounding guns are already extremely rigid regardless of the fact that it is supposed to be a natural right on par with speech or religion… we need to consider a few certain realities. I concede that Las Vegas was tragic and of course, we still do not have all of the details. However, there are plenty of other things that are much more tragic and I don’t see anyone freaking out about any of them. Why? It’s because the left-wing media isn’t repeatedly talking about it twenty four hours a day.

Everyone needs to understand that the Second Amendment is an unalienable right. This means it cannot be licensed, adjusted, altered, traded or taken away. Yet, gun owners across this country have been forced to set that fact aside and subscribe to licenses and permits – which by definition are special permissions for something that would otherwise be illegal. Define irony if the Second Amendment is really a right. Gun owners are forced to register their participation, pay fees for their participation, go through background checks for their participation, told they cannot participate in certain areas and so on. Their reward for being nice and following these ridiculous rules is that they are automatically demonized for their participation the second any criminal breaks the law using a firearm. Let me be clear about something. If people were forced to go through these same steps to participate in their local church or to speak out and protest, you would have a civil war on your hands.

Let’s talk about another irony. The death toll in Las Vegas was 58 and everyone is talking about it. On the other hand, in September 2017, Chicago had 57 gun murders and there is no national outcry. Why? One of the reasons the masses are not crying on television about Chicago is because the national media doesn’t talk about it. They should! It’s actually a HUGE tragedy! In 2016, 762 people were killed by firearms in Chicago and there were 4,331 shooting victims. People are dying there daily and the media refuses to talk about that failed liberal experiment. Perhaps it’s because the vast majority of these cases are criminals shooting criminals and if the media addresses it, they will expose and destroy their own agenda. This because as many gun owners will tell you, Chicago has some pretty strict laws. Are any of those laws stopping criminals from getting guns and killing each other? Clearly not. Chicago also requires gun owners to get permits. Do you think the criminal gang members are getting permits? Of course not! So what good is another law really going to be? The truth is that it’s not going to do any good at all and they know it.

Again, there are plenty of tragedies that we could discuss but we are dealing with a perspective issue and many on the left simply do not have it. So what if we replaced the gun tragedy in these social media cries with various other tragedies that we are dealing with? Would it make sense or sound ridiculous? Let’s try it. Maybe this is the only way that I can demonstrate my point in a way that will make sense.

Let’s start with drugs.

Can we all agree that having STRICTER drug laws is not a bad idea? As in requiring people to take a pretty comprehensive exam in order to use prescription painkillers, items that are known to kill? I mean really, no one is trying to take your drugs away – it just wouldn’t hurt to set up more and frequent barriers. Don’t even tell me that this is not the time to talk about it – this has been on my mind since it was discovered that overdoses are now the leading cause of death of Americans under the age of 50 and that it is getting worse by the day. Not a day passes by where I don’t think about the possibility of some teacher using them at my kids’ school. People should absolutely talk about it – civilly and respectfully. There are lives and loved ones at stake.

Speaking of drugs…

Can we all agree that having STRICTER prescription psychotropic drug laws is not a bad idea? As in requiring everyone to take a pretty comprehensive exam in order to use prescription psychotropic drugs, items that are almost always associated with mass shooters and random acts of violence? I mean really, no one is trying to take your drugs away – it just wouldn’t hurt to set up more and frequent barriers. Don’t even tell me that this is not the time to talk about it – this has been on my mind since it was discovered that psychotropic drugs (including some drugs used to treat ADHD) are linked with nearly every mass shooting incident as well as multiple instances of suicide and isolated shootings over the last twenty years or so. Not a day passes by where I don’t think about the possibility of some medicated kid or teacher unleashing their hidden rage at my kids’ school. People should absolutely talk about it – civilly and respectfully. There are lives and loved ones at stake.

Or what about automobiles?

Can we all agree that having STRICTER driving laws is not a bad idea? As in requiring people to take a pretty comprehensive exam in order to use and drive a lethal weapon? I mean really, no one is trying to take your car away – it just wouldn’t hurt to set up more and frequent barriers. Don’t even tell me that this is not the time to talk about it – this has been on my mind since Nice, France, when a large truck was driven into a crowd and killed 86 people and injured 458 others and of course, considering that car crashes kill more people in the United States than firearms could dream of and considering people break laws in a vehicle every day (speeding, drinking, texting, etc.) and don’t even think twice about it – and not a day passes by where I don’t think about the possibility of someone driving near my kids’ school. People should absolutely talk about it – civilly and respectfully. There are lives and loved ones at stake.

Or what about Healthcare?

Can we all agree that having FEWER doctors is not a bad idea? As in requiring would-be doctors to take a pretty comprehensive exam in order to be placed into a position to cut into people and prescribe LETHAL drugs, things known to kill? I mean really, no one is trying to take your health away – it just wouldn’t hurt to set up more and frequent barriers. Don’t even tell me that this is not the time to talk about it – this has been on my mind since researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine found that medical errors rank as the third leading cause of death in the United States (just behind heart disease and cancer… and it FAR outpaces that of firearm deaths) and not a day passes by where I don’t think about the possibility of someone practicing medicine at my kids’ school. People should absolutely talk about it – civilly and respectfully. There are lives and loved ones at stake.

This next one will upset a few people.

Can we all agree that having FEWER cops is not a bad idea? As in requiring would-be cops to take a pretty comprehensive exam in order to be placed into a position where they are issued a LETHAL weapon, an item that is specifically designed to kill? I mean really, no one is trying to take your safety away – it just wouldn’t hurt to set up more and frequent barriers. Don’t even tell me that this is not the time to talk about it – this has been on my mind since researchers identified 6,724 cases involving the arrests of 5,545 sworn officers across the nation between 2005 and 2011. That’s an average of 1,000 arrests per year for crimes such as simple assault, DUI, aggravated assault, forcible fondling and forcible rape — including some victims under the age of 18. Alarmingly, 41 percent of the total crimes were committed while on duty and 72 percent of the arrest cases resulted in convictions. These men are simply handed firearms because of their job title and they are put into a position that easily allows them to abuse their power. I have kids under 18 and not one day passes by where I don’t think about the possibility of some cop patrolling at my kids’ school. Besides… they have yet to stop a successful mass shooting. People should absolutely talk about it – civilly and respectfully. There are lives and loved ones at stake.

Or let’s just get REALLY stupid and say…

Can we all agree that having ANY genital laws is not a bad idea? As in requiring people to take a pretty comprehensive exam in order to have genitals, things that are known to destroy lives? I mean really, no one is trying to take your pleasure or procreation away – it just wouldn’t hurt to set up more and frequent barriers. Don’t even tell me that this is not the time to talk about it – this has been on my mind since it was discovered that a sexual assault happens every 98 seconds in this country (and every 8 minutes, it’s a child) and not a day passes by where I don’t think about the possibility of someone having genitals at my kids’ school. People should absolutely talk about it – civilly and respectfully. There are lives and loved ones at stake.

Do you see what I mean? Do these sound as ridiculous to you as they do to me? They are tragic, no one is saying they are not but to pretend that firearms are a bigger issue or a more dangerous killer is simply asinine. Plenty of things kill many more people than firearms. And I know what some will say… “it’s different“. Actually they’re not. Your ability to justify it is the only thing that changes the perception and I could probably write a book doing this for every problem that we face.

Laws don’t stop tragedies. There are already lots of laws in place to stop horrible people from doing terrible things or to stop people from abusing things they shouldn’t. Have they helped? There are laws against rape, sexual assault, drug abuse, suicide and even murder. Yet, all of these laws haven’t stopped terrible things from happening. They never have and they never will. Bad people will do bad things without any regard to what any law says. Criminals will commit crimes. That’s why outlaws are called outlaws – because they live outside of the law.

Here is something to consider though. Good “LAW-ABIDING” citizens follow laws. These are the people you don’t have to worry about. Ironically, good people are the ones that stop bad things from happening or prevent them from getting worse once they begin. The only thing that these restrictive laws do is stop or restrict the good people from stopping the bad guys when they decide to do their evil deeds. I’m not sure why this is so hard to understand.

In regard to the gun situation specifically, let me tell you something very directly. Even cops agree that active shooter scenarios will usually be over before the police have a chance to respond. Wouldn’t it make more sense to enable the good law-abiding citizens to react when a tragedy strikes rather than cry over the numerous dead bodies as you wonder why the laws that made murder illegal didn’t stop someone from murdering?

Comedian Amiri King said it best: “Forks don’t make you fat. Beer doesn’t drink and drive. Knives don’t chop people up. Spray paint doesn’t write racist graffiti. Guns don’t kill people.” It’s true, which means that enacting more gun laws is not the answer we seek. What I want you to understand is that the more you restrict good people, the more of these tragedies you will see. It really is that simple.

It’s time we start looking at our world differently. I want to help. Check out my latest book: Destroying the Narrative – Looking into the Gray. It’s got to start somewhere.

#constitution #firearms #guns #personal security #second amendment

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njawaidofficial · 7 years

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Las Vegas: Late-Night Hosts on Gun Violence After Tragedy

http://styleveryday.com/2017/10/03/las-vegas-late-night-hosts-on-gun-violence-after-tragedy/

Las Vegas: Late-Night Hosts on Gun Violence After Tragedy

Jimmy Kimmel choked up in an emotional response to the deadly attack, while Seth Meyers had a pointed message for Congress.

Late-night hosts dedicated a portion of their Monday night shows to speaking out about gun violence in the wake of the tragic events that unfolded in Las Vegas on Sunday night.

The deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history left at least 59 people dead and 527 more injured after a gunman opened fire on an outdoor country music festival from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip.

Nevada native Jimmy Kimmel opened Monday night’s Live! with an emotional response to the shooting, choking up as he addressed the news at the start of the show.

“Here we are again in the aftermath of another terrible, inexplicable, shocking and painful tragedy — this time in Las Vegas, which happens to be my hometown,” he said, holding back tears. “And, of course, we pray for the victims — and for their families and friends, and we wonder why, even though there’s probably no way to ever know why a human being would do something like this to other human beings who were at a concert having fun, listening to music.”

Kimmel continued, “And, as a result of that this morning, we have children are without parents and fathers are without sons, mothers without daughters…. It’s the kind of thing that makes you want to throw up. Or give up. It’s too much to even process.”

He said, “I don’t know why do our so-called leaders — continue to allow this to happen? Or maybe a better question — why do we continue to let them allow it to happen?”

The host noted that his stance wasn’t about gun control but about “common sense.”

“Common sense says no good will ever come from allowing a person to have weapons that can take down 527 Americans at a concert,” he said. “Common sense says you don’t let those who suffer from mental illness buy guns.”

Kimmel also addressed White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ comments earlier that day, when she said it was “not the time” for political debate: “Well, thank you, Sarah, but we have 58 innocent people dead — and it wasn’t their time either — so now is the time for political debate.”

Kimmel urged viewers to take action and “tell your congresspeople to do something. It’s not enough to send your love and prayers.”

youtube

Late Night host Seth Meyers began his show by sending his condolences to the families of the victims and commending the first responders and heroic residents who “risked their lives to save strangers.”

“It always seems like the worst displays of humanity in this country are immediately followed by the best, and then, sadly, that is followed by no action at all. And then it repeats itself,” Meyers said, before sending a pointed message to Congress.

“I would just like to say — are there no steps we can take as a nation to prevent gun violence? Or is this just how it is, and how it’s going to continue to be?”

He questioned Congress’ reasoning for repeatedly insisting “now is not the time” to talk about gun violence, adding, “What you really mean is, there is never a time to talk about it.”

Meyers ended his message with a plea for transparency: “If you’re not willing to do anything, just be honest and tell us. … If it’s going to be thoughts and prayers from here on out, the least you can do is be honest about that.”

youtube

Trevor Noah similarly tackled the taboo subject of gun control in America on The Daily Show.

“What’s particularly heartbreaking is other than the lives lost, I feel like people are becoming more accustomed to this type of news,” he said. “I almost know how it’s going to play out. We’re shocked, we’re sad, thoughts and prayers — and then almost on cue, people are going to come out saying, ‘Whatever you do, when speaking about the shootings, don’t talk about guns.’ “

Noah noted that the country has run through every possible excuse to avoid talking about guns.

“I’ve never been to a country where people are as afraid to speak about guns. Every time there’s a shooting you go to look at something else. Is it Muslims? Is it there religion? Is that what it is? Is it the blacks? Is it mentally ill people? Is it white nationalists? Every time it’s a different question. Now, after this incident in Las Vegas, we’re asking a new question. Is it hotels?” he said.

Noah concluded his segment with an apology to the victims and their loved ones.

“To the people of Las Vegas, I can’t give you thoughts and prayers. I can only say that I’m sorry,” Noah said. “I’m sorry we live in a world where people will put a gun before your lives.”

Tonight at 11/10c, Trevor responds to the tragedy in Las Vegas. pic.twitter.com/zUJFboVe1f

— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) October 3, 2017

Conan O’Brien spoke about the “terrible and numbing” tragedy, telling his audience, “When I began in 1993, occasions like this were extremely rare. For me, or any TV comedy host, to come out and need to address a mass shooting spree was practically unheard of. … Things have changed.”

Noting the numerous mass shootings that have occurred over the past decade, he asked, “When did this become a ritual, and what does it say about us that it has?”

“I’m not the most political of our comics, but I will repeat what I said not long ago, after Orlando — I don’t think it should be so easy for one demented person to kill so many people so quickly,” O’Brien added, before concluding, “Something needs to change.”

youtube

James Corden also addressed the mass shooting during his opening monologue, somberly urging the need for gun control in the country.

“Last night was the biggest mass shooting in the United States history. That is a record that has been set twice in just the two and a half years that I’ve been living in America,” Corden said to the camera. “Here’s another statistic, 11,660 people have died from gun violence in the last 275 days in this country. Now I come from a place where we don’t have shootings at this frequency so it’s hard for me to fathom. But it should be hard for everyone to fathom, “ Corden explained.

Further adding, “Gun violence should not be a staple of American life. Some say it’s too early to talk about gun control. For those victims last night, it’s far too late.”

youtube

Corden then responded to comments that shootings to this caliber cannot be prevented.

“Forgive me, because I’m just a foreigner here and some of you feel I have no place to say this but how does every developed country do a better job of preventing these attacks? We can’t be surprised that gun crime will always occur where there is such wide availability of guns,” Corden said.

Corden then referred to a quote from Robert Kennedy that states, “Tragedy is a tool for the living to gain wisdom, not a guide by which to live.” Now is the time for gaining that wisdom.”

After expressing his sorrow for the victims and families, Stephen Colbert took jabs at President Trump during his opening monologue Monday night, urging Trump to be the President to make a difference.

“Today, the President called this an ‘act of pure evil.’ And I think he’s right,” Colbert began. “So what, then are we willing to do to combat ‘pure evil?’ The answer can’t be nothing.”

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Colbert expressed frustration, but hope that with just a little effort for change, congress can become heroes.

“The bar is so low right now that congress can be heroes by doing literally anything. Universal background checks or come up with a better answer,” Colbert urged. “Enforce Obama’s executive order that denied the mentally ill gun purchases or a better answer, reinstate the semi-automatic weapons ban. Anything, but nothing. Doing nothing is cowardice. Doing something will take courage.”

Further pressing for Congress action, Colbert referred to the Las Vegas victims, loved ones and city, still reeling from the aftermath of the mass shooting, but doing so with courage. “But you know what, it took courage for the people at that concert last night to help each other as bullets flew and courage for the first responders to rush and do their jobs. It took courage for people in Las Vegas to simply to about their day today.

Referencing Trump’s former claims of wanting to ‘Make America Great Again,” Colbert prompted the President to uphold his promise.

“President Trump, you’ve said you want to be a transformative President who doesn’t care about the way things have always been done in Washington. This is your chance to prove it. You don’t owe the Republicans anything. You know the Republicans tried to stop you from being president. Screw ‘em,” Colbert said.

“ You want to make America great again? Do something the last two Presidents haven’t been able to do. Pass any kind of common sense gun control legislation that the vast majority of Americans want. Think about what you need to do and pray for the courage to do it.”

#Gun #Hosts #LAs #LateNight #Tragedy #Vegas #Violence

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pat78701 · 7 years

Text

Why 'Trump Administration' Is An Oxymoron

WASHINGTON ― Donald Trump took the oath of office two months ago, but is not yet running a real presidency. His administration, thus far, largely is playing like a junta that surprised the royal guards and seized the palace ― while still remaining unable to pacify the capital city, let alone inspire the countryside.

The White House is as stately as ever, but there aren’t enough friends outside the (porous) iron fence to make the inhabitants as comfortable as they should be in the first months of a new regime.

Rather, Trump is under siege from pretty much all sides.

Federal courts again are slapping down Trump’s first, signature move: a temporary travel ban on citizens from predominantly Muslim countries that he says harbor “radical Islamic terrorists.”

The joint Trump-GOP effort to “repeal and replace” Obamacare ― another key first promise and response ― is bogged down in multiple internal Republican divisions over everything from spending numbers to philosophy to legislative strategy.

With growing sharpness and specificity, GOP leaders are joining Democrats in dismissing as flat-out false the president’s repeatedly tweeted charge that former President Barack Obama “tapped” ― or surveilled in any way ― Trump Tower or its owner.

Trump’s new guns-and-no-butter first budget, which would literally take food from the poor and the elderly to give more money to Pentagon contractors, has been greeted with derision by many Republicans, who regard it as less of a blueprint than a political statement too harsh even for the tea party.

The nonpartisan polling “job approval” numbers for Trump have been in the 40s consistently in the first few months, and are the lowest launch average on record for a new president.

Trump has had his successes. They include the assembly, after some fits and starts, of a good ― or at least credible ― national security team of respected current and former members of the military or Congress. As a result, there is a solid chain of command for Trump in his role as commander in chief.

He nominated a man to the U.S. Supreme Court, Judge Neil Gorsuch, to whom the American Bar Association gave a sterling endorsement.

Trump has issued some executive orders that make good on other campaign promises ― such as the gutting of EPA regulations on the use of coal, building pipelines, getting out of multilateral trade treaties and instituting tougher domestic rules on the apprehension and repatriation of undocumented immigrants.

His tweets and campaign-style speeches, vowing tax cuts and the twisting of corporate arms to “buy and build American,” have had an effect: The stock market has been on a wild run.

But these successful measures ― the exception to the general pattern ― were comparatively amenable to direct White House control.

Everything else is harder to control or even withstand. And the dangers of drift are real. He elicited a new sense of hope from white working-class voters; their cynicism will deepen if he doesn’t deliver the jobs ― especially since his proposed new budget cuts are aimed at programs in rural counties.

Trump could well be tempted by the slow pace of change to ignore the law, especially since his aides, led by Steven Bannon, are telling him that the so-called “deep state” is itself a lawless force and is out to get him to preserve its own status.

He could use military confrontation ― such as the one brewing now with North Korea ― to emphasize the broad powers of a commander-in-chief who can’t be easily countermanded by institutions that constrain him now. Another terrorist attack on the “homeland” would give him a rationale ― if not justification ― for sweeping new executive actions in the United States.

Leaders around the world, already confused and unsure of American leadership, could distance themselves further from U.S. aims and interests ― no matter how much more money Trump spends on modernizing the military and putting boots on the ground.

Why does a man who claims such great success as a business manager seem so overwhelmed?

Democrats have taken their time filling his Cabinet, arguing, with much justification, that Trump had presented them with a roster of conflict-laden billionaires and ideologues antagonistic to the goals of the departments they had been nominated to lead. But there a host of in-house reasons for the first months’ mess. Here they are:

He only wants to talk to people who have no choice but to agree with him, or who are glad to tell him why his enemies are scum.

I know poll-takers who shied away from doing polls for Trump because they knew that the numbers would not be favorable ― and that Trump therefore would never hire them. “I turned down lots of jobs with him for that reason,” one of them told me. “You never give Trump bad news.” Which means that he is constantly infuriated when his yes men are forced to tell him the world says “no.”

He has to lash out somewhere, and that place is still Twitter.

The Trump administration has been annoyed and distracted for a week ― a crucial week on the budget and on health care, among other things ― by the president’s false accusation of Obama’s purported “tapping.” He never should have said it. But he almost always does.

D.C. is not New York; politics is not real estate.

Trump’s tactical principle is that if someone “hits” you, you “hit back twice as hard.” I have heard him say it in private as well as in public, and it is a method he has used since he came to Manhattan decades ago with a million bucks from his dad. But the paradox of the presidency is this: You are the most powerful person in the world, but in dealing with the rest of government and all of politics, it’s better not to make threats, and certainly not threats in public. Everything Trump thought he knew about how to get things done in the midst of controversy is wrong now.

This is not a parliamentary system, it just looks like one.

The Founding Fathers knew that parliaments could be dictatorial, which is why they chose not to have one. They dispersed and divided power. Even when one American party controls the White House and both chambers of Congress, a president’s clout is limited by the size of the majorities, legislative rules and the courts. Trump can almost be forgiven for thinking that he had parliamentary power: Politics in America has been drifting in the one-party-rules direction for years. Obama passed his health care bill with only Democratic votes; Trump figured he could pass his with only the GOP. That already has been proven to be a faulty assumption.

The GOP doesn’t really like him, and the feeling is mutual.

Unlike Ronald Reagan, Trump did not build from the ground up a new party and a new movement that he then led in the White House. Trump essentially carried out a hostile takeover of the rundown hulk of the GOP, battered by the unpopular presidency of George W. Bush and the rebellious internal assaults of the tea party. Virtually every key figure in the House and Senate was for someone other than Trump, and some of them ran against him. Trump swept the primaries with money and jingoistic salesmanship, but he remains widely distrusted ideologically and personally on all sides.

Trump & Co. were elected because they’d had nothing to do with government ― and it shows.

The “transition planning” cobbled together by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was a joke, and even that work was ignored by the coup plotters who burst into the White House. Almost no one in Trump’s inner circle had any executive experience in government. The list of rank amateurs in the highest places includes son-in-law Jared Kushner, chief of staff Reince Priebus, policy strategist Stephen Miller and counselor Kellyanne Conway. They are big into concepts and messages ― sales, Trump style ― but so far not the blocking and tackling of running things.

Benign neglect.

If they want, the amateurs can console themselves with a semi-philosophical excuse: The government, which they regard as too big and too intrusive, can use a little neglect. And so we see unfilled sub-Cabinet posts, catch-as-catch-can administrative oversight, rule by fiat that demoralizes the denizens of what White House Big Thinker Steve Bannon calls “the administrative state.” Misusing a fancy academic word, he says he’s for “deconstructing” it ― and why not do it by not filling positions or following procedure?

Worse: a contempt for the process of government.

Republicans have joined Democrats in marveling at the sophomoric crafting of something as valuable to Trump ― allegedly ― as his moratoria on travel to the U.S. by citizens of six (originally seven) Muslim-majority countries. But the sloppiness is a sign of the contempt with which Team Trump views government itself. Yes, the Obama Nerds went over the line ― for example, some of what they did on drones is outrageous, many argue. But perhaps because they were Democrats (and lawyers for the most part, let by Obama himself), they showed enough respect for procedure to get things done.

What goes around comes around.

Team Trump seems shocked and outraged that so many forces in public life seemed arrayed against him, almost by instinct. What did he expect? He attacked the press at every turn, and at his rallies he all but sicced rabble-rousers on them. He attacked a federal judge as biased because he was of Mexican heritage. He called his rivals for the GOP nomination by crude nicknames, and reveled publicly in their humiliation. He hired and fired at will, dismissing aides but pulling them back in (because they could cause trouble for him in one way or another) with flattering phone calls.

The Senate alone is a monument to possible payback. Do “Lyin’” Ted Cruz, “Little Marco” Rubio, “One-Percent” Lindsey Graham, “Crazy” Rand Paul and “He’s No Hero” John McCain want to help the president out in a pinch? Trump tried to have House Speaker Paul Ryan defeated in his local GOP primary in Wisconsin. Yes, Rubio and Cruz accepted dinner invitations at the White House. They said they had fun, but revenge is a meal best served cold.

Money isn’t everything in D.C.

With his proud contempt for ethics ― or even the need to appear ethical ― Trump and his family are making a mockery of the notion that public service is a selfless exercise in patriotism. Trump has turned the presidency, at least in part, into a commercial enterprise that is enriching his family wealth. But as cool as that might seem in at least in some avaricious circles in Manhattan and Palm Beach, it doesn’t impress anyone in Washington, a city that needs money, but that doesn’t really value it per se. Money can buy you the White House, as Trump proved, but it can’t buy you D.C. Trump has yet to understand that people in the city care about the law, or at least procedure, because it is power.

Bannonism.

A master of cunning, apocalyptic, xenophobic narrative, Steve Bannon has given Trump a grander mission ― that of saving the Christian West from Islam, materialism, Wall Street, Hollywood, the Ivy League and the “Mainstream Media.” Reared and educated in a blue-collar, conservative Catholic family in Virginia, Bannon’s radical medievalism fits Trump’s royal conception of himself. But the risk is that the president will remain oblivious to what is going on outside the reality TV show Bannon has designed for him to live in, or that Trump will think that he has the kind of kingly authority that allows him to ignore the best parts of the Founders’ vision of a pluralistic, secular and welcoming America.

Too many cooks.

Bannon is not the only power center, despite having placed himself on the National Security Council and having created a new “Strategic Initiative Group” inside the White House with himself as head. Other power centers (for now) include Vice President Mike Pence, Priebus and Kushner, not to mention Hill leaders. So who controls the message in these crucial days and weeks? No one, except perhaps the person who has created the most trouble for the White House: Donald J. Trump.

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realestate63141 · 7 years