In fact, then candidate Donald
Trump in 2016 told Fox and Friends, “People cannot—they cannot believe that
President Obama is acting the ways he acts and can’t even mention the words
‘radical Islamic terrorism.’ There’s something going on. It’s inconceivable.”
Later, the horrific mass
shooting at the Pulse nightclub, an establishment primarily frequented by gay
people whereby 49 innocent souls were slaughtered, led Trump to reference the
incident in his speech accepting the nomination for President.
“Only weeks ago, in Orlando,
Florida, 49 wonderful Americans were savagely murdered by an Islamic terrorist.
This time, the terrorist targeted our LGBT community. As your president, I will
do everything in my power to protect our LGBT citizens from the violence and
oppression of a hateful foreign ideology.”
The identity politics reporter
Eugene Scott for The Fix pointed out in an op-ed in the Washington Post, “Cynics noted that it was [shooter Omar] Mateen’s
loyalty to the Islamist terrorist group [ISIL] that led the then-nominee to
address the mass murder more than his concern for the safety of gay Americans.”
The distinction is not lost on
many in our country and around the world. An ISIL sympathizer murders people
and is labeled a foreign terrorist.
However, in a span of 6 days, three mass shootings have occurred and
very few on the GOP side of the aisle including Trump—largely the same ones who
relentlessly accused Obama of not using the phrase “radical Islamist terrorists”—have
called out these murders as domestic terrorism.
As people debate the reasons why
Trump is not condemning white nationalist domestic terrorism with the same vehemence
as he slams African-American lawmakers, majority black cities and Hispanic
immigrants, it is well documented that since Trump took office there has been a significant rise of hate crimes
in the U.S. and hate bias incidents and in particular, where Trump has held
rallies.
Moreover, mass shootings or
other attempts to terrorize communities that are rooted in white nationalism are
becoming too routine now. They have been met with no response from Senate Republicans
and so far, no action has been taken on a House-passed bi-partisan sensible gun
bill though they offer a plethora of thoughts and prayers and well-deserved praise
for first responders.
Republicans who are aligned with
Trump (just about all of them) see these incidents as mental health-related
outbursts. But not all of these
perpetrators are linked with mental health problems. To kill anyone other than
self-defense, to me, is a mental health problem. Some are self-professed white nationals,
virulently opposed to persons of color and yes, supporters of Trump.
It is obvious the reason Trump
has yet to demonstrate any leadership on this growing problem or acknowledge
that white nationalism is becoming an epidemic is that these individuals
constitute a portion of his passionate and loyal base. You know how the
president values loyalty; he is loath to throw them under the bus. He is all about his base and the 2020
election.
While Trump should not be
accused of directly inciting the violence we are witnessing with all-too-common
frequency in the form of mass shootings, his divisive and incendiary racist
rhetoric in the form of tweets, comments at press gaggles and speeches at
campaign rallies, he has wittingly created an atmosphere whereby some of his
ardent supporters have picked up signals and have acted upon it.
“He empowers hateful and
potentially violent individuals with his divisive rhetoric and his
unwillingness to unequivocally denounce white supremacy,” writes Frank
Figliuzzi, a former assistant F.B.I. director for counterintelligence and a
national security analyst for NBC News, in an op-ed in the New York Times.
“Mr. Trump may be understandably
worried about the course of congressional inquiries, but his aggressive and
race-baiting responses have been beyond the pale. He has chosen a re-election
strategy based on appealing to the kinds of hatred, fear and ignorance that can
lead to violence.”
In Trump’s recent racist tweets
and his combustible campaign rally in North Carolina where the unimpeded “send
her back” chants reverberated among the foaming-at-the-mouth Trump cultists,
white nationalists or those close sympathizers of the cause have applauded him
even if they were not in the arena itself. ADL, a
leading anti-hate organization, documents the validation by these folks resulting from Trump’s communications.
For his part, Acting White House
Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney disputes Trump’s role in the violence. On the
August 4 edition of Meet the Press, he argued that the blame lies squarely on
the “sick” people who “pulled the trigger.”
“I get the fact that some people
don’t approve of the verbiage the president uses, I get that,” Mulvaney said. “But
even if they did … people are going to hear what they want to hear.”
As we navigate through another
tragic carnage-filled crime scene, we desperately continue to seek answers. The
loved ones of the innocent victims are faced with these horrific losses and no
amount of thoughts and no amount of prayers will mitigate their grief.
Gun restrictions will not stop
many of these incidents though background checks are the right way to go for
starters. And still, I cannot fathom why semi-automatic assault weapons and high
capacity magazines should be obtained so readily.
But we also need to hear from
our leaders to confirm that much of the recent atrocities have been committed
by white nationalist bigots. Dialing back
the divisive rhetoric would be a good first step.
Calling these crimes white nationalist
domestic terrorism is what is needed, and efforts by law enforcement should be undertaken
with the same zeal as they attempt to check foreign terrorism.
Note that
foreign terrorism is a federal crime. Domestic terrorism is not.
Same page Steve!— 🌊🐶 John Harvey 📷🌊 (@johnharveyphoto) August 5, 2019
Hat off to you.
Really appreciate the substance of what you write.
Not everyone wants to do that.
Not everyone can do that.
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