Never give up Charles. Voices like yours are the only thing
between freedom and a totalitarian nation "such as the world has never seen"
158
Well said Mr. Blow.
79
Spot on, Mr. Blow. And that same hatred lies at the core of his supporters. That's who they all are.
47
Mr. Blow wants to hate the man who wants to hate.
Understandably.
But how does this in any tangible way help deal with the root causes for why voters vote for the man who wants to hate (whether or not they even like him, or perhaps even if they also hate him themselves)?
10
I was 20-year old Puerto Rican kid from Brooklyn when all of this went down. It was an ugly time in the city. There was crack, AIDS, crime, racial strife, and Donald Trump (BTW, Giuliani was just as hateful). Instead of uniting the city when we needed it most, he spent tens of thousands of dollars trying to convince New Yorkers that these 5 innocent youth should be put to death.
What we are witnessing from the Trump White House today is an extension of that hatred, except his is now the commander-in-chief. Shameful.
119
Mr. Blow:
The President of the United States is not guilty of the "hate" you have posted.
I do think that you, other columnists, and many on the left are guilty of posting much hate on these boards, in attempt to destroy the President of the United States.
To paraphrase Dr. Martin Luther King:
"I will go with Love, Hate is such a heavy burden to Bear."
16
I’m cutting this out and pasting it on my fridge to stiffen my own spine. Thanks, Charles M. Blow.
74
Mr. Blow, or shall I call you Charles. I am always impressed with your essays. This one was particularly on point. DT is clearly a racist person, even though he claims not to be. Why should we ever believe his dribble. I have to say that we should not loose faith in the true American values. His greed, hatred, and blame pointing are not what we are made of. I shudder to think of the damage he is doing to our country and what he will leave my grandkids. We have endured worse, but We will survive, this man can not bring us down to his level ever. Keep up the good work. Thank you.
80
Well said Mr Blow!Trump's racism and hate is off the charts. Apologizing or admitting that 'he was wrong ' about anything, is unfathomable to a malignant and evil narcissist like him.
30
This is not a matter of mere mistake because of false confession. That could, conceivably at least, happen to any hothead (see Nancy Grace). This is about the simple truth that President Donald J. Trump knows... FOR. A. FACT. ... that the Central Park 5 are innocent and nevertheless maintains they are (present tense) guilty and should have been executed.
And no one should delude themselves about his statement that "settling doesn’t mean innocence.” They did not bargain their way out of a conviction. It was OVERTURNED. The "settlement" was about just how much money the government should have to pay for ruining their lives!
If there are any rational Trump supporters out there I ask them to consider: Trump had nothing to gain personally by lying about the innocent Central Park 5. He doesn't even know them and LOOK what he's willing to do out of spite (aka, "counterpunching")! How much more motivated do you think Trump is to persecute more personal targets? Comey. Mueller. Clinton. Obama. Rosenstein. Sessions. McCain. Gold Star families. Canada. Mexico. CNN. NYT. WaPo. Amazon. Bezos. Kaepernick. Liberals. NATO. The FBI. The courts. The U.N. The E.U. The Pope. The "spies." The "Secret Society." The "Deep State." The "Fake News." The "haters." The "leakers." The non-applauding "traitors." The list goes on and on and on.
When Trump and friends "demand" investigations or make wild accusations regarding all of the above... do you trust them?
74
Unfortunately Charles, there are 62 million Americans that want to hate along with him.
Think about that
85
Thank you, Mr. Blow. I, too, am renewed.
18
Thanks for a valuable, and dead-on, reminder of who Donald Trump really is. We all need to remember this every day, and especially in November of this year. The example he is setting for this country, and for the world, is abhorrent, and there is no evidence so far that he is capable of growing.
Do I think that he can do nothing right? Well, if Trump manages not to screw up what could be an historic agreement between North and South Korea, I will celebrate that. I celebrated Nixon's rapprochement with China, after all.
22
James Baldwin was a deep, deep pool of truth wasn't he.
11
I worked at the NY County District Attorney's office when the Central Park five were railroaded into confessing. I do remember it as an ugly time, not only because of Trump's stupid and nasty comments, but because of the pressure to find a guilty party no matter what that might entail (don't forget, the DA's office was complicit in the railroading of the innocent 5, which is what I call them now).
But while I find Trump insular, annoying, and incredibly repugnant, I can't help thinking that Trump is a symptom of a disease, more than a cause. Unfortunately, Trump is the messiah of the 35%-45% who voted for him, and though they don't always admit they think very much like he does. He speaks their language, not only symbolically, but literally. Criminals are "animals," black people are lazy, foreigners should go back to their country, women are as good as their chests and their buttocks, gay people are freaks, etc., etc. I didn't hear those thoughts from Trump first, I heard it from his followers, in their living rooms, in diners. They finally got someone in office who speaks and thinks like they do, and they love it. The rest of us would do well to realize that 1/2 of this country is still quite racist, sexist, homophobic, uneducated, and profoundly ignorant. They think he's doing a great job.
78
[I hear “I want to hate” every time I hear him speak.]
and you think that's a good thing apparently.
Tells you everything you need to know about where we are and where we're going.
7
They were put in jail for the wrong crime. They should have received more appropriate jail sentences for being part of at least one of the marauding sprees that terrorized decent people in NYC and prevented them from using Central Park dusk to dawn. Lots of people legitimately "hated" such thugs and waned them put in prison. And the death penalty would not be out of line for those who commit violent gang rape that leaves a women paralyzed and left for dead.
7
This pretty well sums up Trump. New York City has tolerated him for 50 years...we in the area knew him (I grew up on Long Island). He never would have won mayor of NYC or governor of NY. But he knew how to harness the xeno, homo, and colorphobia of the Republican base, use their votes and the money from his rich buddies to win the presidency...not to mention help from Russia. They are laughing their rear ends off over there. And we are going to have a hard time looking at ourselves in the mirror when Trumpism is gone...hopefully before a major war is fought to put us in our place.
24
Thank you, Charles Blow. I truly am exhausted. But your words have stiffened my spine, too.
25
If anyone knows “settlement doesn’t mean innocence,” it’s Trump.
41
Thank you, Mr. Blow. You bring us back to the core of why we all should resist right now.
16
Psychotic illusions of grandeur and teleology. Humming crickets the left is lost.
3
Thank you for this article, Mr. Blow. It is indeed a reminder of how evil this man is.
What worries me as much, though, is the sheer number of people who support him, actively or passively. In the early '80s, I travelled to Germany; I found myself looking at older Germans, thinking "What did YOU do in Nazi Germany?". Now, when I travel outside my immediate surroundings in the U.S., I find myself looking at other people and thinking, "Do YOU support Trump?". I am unable to speak to anyone who I know supported him.
48
As always, thank you Charles!
9
Trump likes to put people down. It's his greatest satisfaction. Remember "You're fired!" in the Apprentice - that was the bit he most enjoyed. Why? Probably because he has huge chips on his shoulders, engendered by the constant goading he got from his father, plus the influence of the egregious Roy Cohn in his early life. A relentless drive to become The Big Man.
14
“Fear leads to anger anger leads to hatred hatred leads to self destruction” ~ Yoda
The root of this man’s vileness is his own terror.
12
The President has one mission : America's Democracy sabotage.
This is the political plan that is unfolding in the U.S.A. today.
It is very well represented by the contrarian, alternative, extremist, racist and revisionist Bannon's style "culture".
It is based on fear, anger and hate and it is delivered for and to the frustrated Americans for which the great American Dream has become a nightmare : Layoffs, evictions and poverty.
The virus is spread via XXI Century medias with the help of trolls and robots that are everywhere, putting their evil divisive poison in the air.
The only way out is DEMOCRACY at all costs : Only by talking and confronting in a civil way with each other, Americans and us Europeans, can escape this tragic plan.
16
This is right on. Presumably, many voted for Trump despite his unapologetic racism and hatred, and if some of them hadn’t heard about Trump’s stance on the Central Park 5, I hope they read this and realize the full consequences of their decision.
5
This is a masterful piece and sums up the essence of Trump so succinctly. I salute you sir, for going straight to the heart of the issue at hand; the fact that we have a president who lives to hate and propagate hate in others to make himself feel puffed up. What a tiny little man and what a colossal mistake for our country, one that I hope we can survive. I want to hate too, but he is shining example of what hate does to your soul. Instead of hate, I will continue to take a stand in "Trump Country," and I will say a prayer for us all.
4
Oh, I agree. Donald Trump is driven by hate. One small personal practice that I have adopted to keep my sanity is to do all I can to treat everyone i encounter with all the love I can muster. I consider that a vital antidote to the poison he is sowing throughout the world. It is a small act, but without it i could not carry on.
10
Trump doesn't want to psychoanalyze, but I do. I'm curious, what did he go through as a little kid? What happened to him? What has he been unable to unburden himself from? We all drag stuff from our childhoods into our adult lives. But for some it's more destructive than for most. Trump tries to escape what is inside himself by being mean and hateful towards others and, "better yet," by taking joyful satisfaction in trying to destroy people. Everyone here has said what he has become.
2
I get it that toxic people will occasionally get a leadership post, or even get elected.
What is depressing is that our checks and balances have totally failed when this happens.
Our checks and balances have been hijacked by toxic actors themselves, so they are keen on enabling their brethren.
This does not bode well for this country.
19
Public fatigue. It will be interesting to see Trump's response to fatigue as he demands attention for all of his outrageous behavior. The current reporting on each and every tweet and outrageous action means fatigue is the only response - we're feeding the beast. We need a different response to the insanity. What's the plan?
7
What is literally amazing is how Trump has been able to corrupt so many others with his calls to venerate the flag, make America great and mock those he uses as straw men to flail with his pompous indignation--including, I'm sorry to say, many of his staunchest foes. He is such an obnoxious character that some of his detractors are willing to sacrifice their own integrity to join in castigating the man.
For as dishonest and perverse a man as Trump is, I refuse to join the mob who would have him impeached--or worse. Many of them exhibit as much hatred of Trump as he has eshibited against those who dare contradict him. Their hatred has the same effect upon their character and their psyche as Trump's hatred has upon him. Unless a person acts out upon his or her hatred, the harm it inflicts is always greatest upon the person who hates.
Love of all mankind is the only antidote.
2
Mr. Alec Baldwin who plays trump beautifully once said , he does not hate trump but he gets tired of playing him because trump is not a likable guy..
Donald trump on the other hand is a hateful man, always lives by his lies and revenge. has thin skin with very little self respect.
But no matter what I strongly believe his days are numbered as the President.
And when that happens the man will be totally forgotten and the Country will move on. Inciting fear does not help anyone.
The world is laughing at him and he knows it.
2
Great and helpful insight. Thanks for your passion.
4
I see little distance, morally speaking, between Trump's continued insistence upon vilifying the five men (then boys) who were falsely convicted in the Central Park Jogger case and his continued insistence on vilifying immigrants, many of whom are, in fact, refugees. Both arise from the very same moral sewer that is Donald Trump.
4
This is a textbook case of prosecutorial misconduct borne from prosecutorial zeal and the insane urgency to find a symbolic assailant for this young white woman. Trump in this case, as he does today, was leading the chorus, making himself more important than the victim and above the law.
7
Thanks, Mr. Blow. I needed this cold splash of water before committing to the next news cycle.
The fatigue is real.
DJT seems to the only one, or at least the one who thrives on it most.
It is exhausting.
2
I am at horror every time donald opens his mouth and lies, insults and bullies. This waking nightmare doesn't end until 2020 and frankly I am not sure I can stand the immoral, unethical and no integrity coming out of this administration any longer.
Calgon take me away to an alternative reality where donald isn't trying to destroy our democracy for his authoritarian form of government with republicans cheering its destruction.
3
Thank you, Mr. Blow, for your candid insights into the seemingly ever growing menace of hatred in America, thanks to Trump and his cooled drinking supporters. Greed finds its energy in hatred, because how else can a person possibly take so much from so many others?
2
Thank you. You cut to the chase. I needed this.
3
This article is a perfect reason why all Americans should go out and vote. If every eligible American of color went out and voted in every election there will never be a Republican administration. The only two reason this man won election....one, this election was white against nonwhites due to changing demographics and two, Hillary Clinton, a woman, was the democratic candidate and not Bernie Sanders.
6
Hannah Arendt said that anything is possible once it becomes normal. She lived through (and to some extent supported) Nazism. Our current president is doing all he can to make his views the new normal, and those whose views coincide with his see no need to expand their experience. But Trump is only a further manifestation of what was sublimated in Reaga's :benign neglect" (remember it"), of which, in a different way, even the neo-liberals were also guilty.
The issue isn't hate and I think Trump, as usual, has overstated it. You needn't go that far. Neglect is sufficient, and far easier ... until they come for you.
10
to add to Charles' list of "trump style of hate",
what does the following shows : " I can shoot someone on fifth ave in Manhattan and get away with it" - ?
or - trump's mocking g the handicapped reporter BEFORE he was elected- or, for that matter, any one of the MANY DEMEANING G, INSULTING, HURTFUL, INSENSITIVE utterances of trump.
any of the public rebukes trump received today from his ( former) European and Canadian Allies say it all.
ANYONE BUT THE REPUBLICANS see the scandal , the affront really which trump is. the shame is ours to have enable such an offensive phenomenon to occur.
3
I would like to point out that while the wrongly accused (and purposely being set up) Central Park Five were convicted and behind bars, the man who actually attacked the jogger continued to rape and kill - as he had done before.
16
Thank you, Charles. When you write a column like this you help me to stay strong. We MUST pay attention to what this monster says and does. I believe that the future of this country hangs on a thread. It is astounding to me that as many people continue to support this egomaniac as do. HOW CAN THEY? Thank you again for your strong words. We need you.
5
Thank you, Charles Blow. I do suffer "news fatigue". I may miss a day or two, and then I'm drawn back in...always trying to remain calm.
I always wonder, but what is the "root cause" of his behavior?...I tend to think it is fear. Because he is the President, he wants to feed his fear, thus making it contagious to those who are unwilling or unable to think for them selves...or may be just like him.
I remember that case of the young men in NYC...a real tragedy. In DJT's opinion, "they did not suffer". Unfortunately, their suffering will be with them the rest of their lives. I will keep them in my heart, whenever I hear words uttered by, "he who shall remain nameless".
2
I hear “I want to hate” every time I hear him speak. And I draw strength from the fact that I’m not fighting for or against a political party; I’m fighting hatred itself, as personified by the man who occupies the presidency. That is my spine stiffener.
thank you again, mr. blow.
4
The sad thing is... Trump's actions enflame my own hatred now. I've hated him since I was a teenager. And, God help me, I find myself hating his supporters. I fear that my very soul has been blackened by an ever hotter-burning hatred, and will likely be consumed entirely, when this is all said and done.
And that thought only makes me hate him all the more.
1
Mr. Blow is right on! Trump has always trafficked in personal outrage,all the way back to his childhood, including in a military-style school where he had to be physically restrained by some classmates from throwing another one of his classmates out of a second-story window because Trump felt insulted by something that student said.
One thing I wish could happen, but won't - i.e that the news/media declare a 4-5 day moratorium on this Trump's hateful blowhard spew, and shut him out of the reactions that he craves. I think Trump's head would explode.
The problem is that his alt-right media sheep would use a moratorium to further attack the *legitimate* press and inflame Trump's base, half of which is *authentically* "deplorable. Watching so many Trump supporters fawn after and praise his every word and move, no matter how disgustingly crude, has convinced me that more Americans than I thought are potentially irredeemable "deplorables". Trump has their ear, and they love everything they hear, and given what this blowhard, evil person in the Oval Office says and does, with no resistance from the party in power, in downright frightening.
Trump's base think he will protect them, but in their innocence they don't consider the appearance of the famous "black swan" -i.e. a massive crisis event not foreseen that comes as a result of some combination of Trump's ignorant, narcissism-driven motivations. America is at risk!
7
At his core, I think Trump's expressions reflect self-hatred and self-loathing. That he would even think of permitting children and infants of being separated from their mothers or parent is emblematic of how he approaches life.
Like Charles Blow, I can point to no act of kindness or demonstration of empathy that could point to anything good or decent in Trump's soul.
16
In addition to his ego, vanity, toxic narcissism, ignorance And all his other qualities, it seems that hate is what Stokes his engine. When you look at his behavior in that context, it's pretty clear
3
I totally agree with your analysis . Trump traffics in hate and fear. His followers have joined in a cult of hate. They are cult like in their loyalty as they dismiss anything that does not confirm their hero worship. He hates our allies and adores our enemies who shower him with love. The world has been inverted. I guess prosperity is too much of a good thing for his “base” and they want to blow it all apart. Start a trade war. Give generous tax cuts to billionaires and corporations. Take away our healthcare. Develop loving relationships with the autocrats of the world and make enemies of our democratic allies. Is there something wrong with this picture? The great negotiator has negotiated nothing so far, but is successfully undoing NAFTA, TPPP, Paris Climate agreement, IRAN agreement. He is up to bat now with North Korea and we will see if he can walk away with more than a photo op or if his agreement is better than the IRAN agreement he ended. So far it is all hot air and bluster. If he can get North Korea to give up their nukes, he should get the Nobel prize. However, i really have my doubts that will happen.
1
Trump hated those boys; I remember it well. Too bad he was not forced to pay some of their settlement, say 50%,which NYC residents had to pay 100%, since Trump created the boys misleading problem. He does hate.
We see the the mean actions he is taking now. He will continue unless the country elects Democratic Senators & Reps. in the mid-year elections this NOV.
7
Having been reared in a religious household and being schooled in the notion that it is a "sin" to hate, I find myself at wits end on a daily basis. I have never despised anyone more than I despise Trump. The child in me cowers, worried that some divine axe will fall upon my head when I say what is true for me. I know Trump is a very, very sick man psychologically. And, for that reason, there are moments when I feel some compassion for him. On the other hand, when I look at the devastation he is visiting upon our democracy and the way he is shredding everything and anything that was ever honorable and decent about this country, when I see anyone who crosses him slandered, when I see families torn apart, when I see the graft and corruption, when I hear the thousandth lie of the day, I know. I hate him. I just flat out hate him.
6
I visited my mother the week of Memorial Day, and she gave me a book called "Perfectly Yourself." Matthew Kelly explains that "Happiness is not achieved by the pursuit of happiness but by right living." (Has anyone ever seemed more perfectly unhappy than DT?) The seventh of Kelly's nine lessons (PUT CHARACTER FIRST, FIND WHAT YOU LOVE AND DO IT, FOCUS ON WHAT YOU ARE HERE TO GIVE) is "SIMPLIFY."
You have simplified Trump's essence, using his own words (he also eternally and without limit wants to lie and steal). However...
This is perhaps a headline to be hurled in challenge at the Religious "Right?" (even in a Catholic Cathedral, I have become weary of requested prayers for "those who protect us" ignoring the obvious)
And the flip side of cruelty is sentimentality, which is how everyday people hide their blindness to the hatred. DT "loves" all kind of decorative blather.
A question for the record, why did the Times agree to print those ads? Because DT was too intellectually challenged to write a letter to the editor?
8
This is a brilliant analysis. Well done.
13
Bless you for waking me, just as I was at risk of drowning.
7
Sooner or later, for better or for worse, this awful period will be over. And when the history is written, Charles Blow will be a towering figure in the resistance.
There isn't a man or woman that voted for Trump who can say they didn't know how things would be because Donald Trump has been telling the world EXACTLY who he is for DECADES. That's why I could never bring myself to believe he could possibly be elected; everyone KNEW how vile he was.
Anyone who doesn't know the story of the Central Park Five should watch Ken Burns' brilliant documentary. The first time I watched it (at the Toronto Film Festival). I couldn't move from my seat when it was over. I sat there sobbing until the cleanup crew came.
Trump has never apologized for calling for the lynching of five boys. He never will because he is just that evil. THIS is the man who infects the White House.
Charles, thank you so much for your pieces in the NYT and your appearances in the CNN. You are a voice in the wilderness but you give a glimmer of hope in a time where there seems to be so little of it.
33
THANK YOU CHARLES BLOW for bringing this incident up and keeping it in the spotlight. I remember back when it happened and the great day the men were exonerated, and all through the presidential campaign wished the liberal media would bring it up more to remind people of what a racist pig Trump is -- and indeed, if he is not, to give him the opportunity to apologize. But alas he has already in other contexts stayed that he does not back down on this baseless claim that cannot reasonably be explained by any motive other than racism.
Ah, but you said it so much more civilly and eloquently. Thank you!
2
Blessed are those who hate, for they will reward and justify hatred in others.
Blessed are those who are intolerant, for they will encourage intolerance in others.
Blessed are those who lie, for they will make others distrust the truth.
1
What keeps me going is that there are only 152 days until the November midterms, when the Blue Wave of Hope will wash over this country and restore us.
5
Mr. Blow ,
After reading your column for many years and admiring your sense for justice for all Americans , I think your latest column is the most powerful and thoughtful indictment of our current president that I have read.
2
I would ask readers to look at the 2017 piece by Evan Malater, in CTHEORY, "I Want to Hate and I Always Will" by psychoanalyst Evan Malater. Then I would ask the readers of Blow's, collectively, whether the structure and content of Blow's article is derivative of Malater's early piece.
My interpretation is that Blow's piece is, essentially, derived (and reduced) from Malater's early published piece. Perhaps others will see it differently.
Ever since Brown v Board of Education there has been a smoldering rage in the white community and sadly President Trump plays to it. The unintended consequence is that most Americans and more than a few bigots are embarrassed by the president. His hatred forces everyone within their conscience to recognize the damage that is done. Hate has a steep price in wasted lives, a huge inmate population and a culture poisoned. Eventually enough people will get fed up and change will come. President Trumps final legacy will be he forced the issue of bigotry and hate in America.
1
Well said Charles. Hate's creeping and spreading into more more and more hearts and love's on the retreat. Love needs a kick start to grow and show this is the path we must take.
2
Thank you. This has reminded me why we should fight the good fight, and why we should not succumb to the hatred that seems to surround us, that is spewed by certain media outlets.
6
This column is a masterpiece--I honor you and thank you for these powerful words--the message and the way you threaded all that you did into it.
19
For going on 40 years now, the treacly jingosim of America has been ripe to be exposed and popped like a drifting leftover party balloon. The only silver lining to Trump and his vast number of supporters is that it might finally prompt more people to become educated about civics and history, as well as to re-invigorate those already serious to read, engage in critical discourse and TO VOTE. Only half of all Americans registered to vote actually do so.
6
Welcome to Germany, 1933. What many Americans feel now is this, "What can we possibly do?"
I know several families who lived in what eventually became west Germany and their attitudes from the 30's reflected many of those shared by Americans today.
12
Read "On Tyranny" by Yale Professor Timothy Snyder.
1
Thank you for this. I plan to read it again, and reread it and reread it, whenever I feel as though I just cannot take it anymore.
11
Yes, Trump uses "hate" to turn up the "heat".
("Hate" and "heat" contain the same letters.)
Perhaps "hate" is a label that should be tattooed on Trump, over and over again.
("Hate"and "heart" are one letter apart.)
1
As logical, rational, well-meaning, civilized people, we are trained to objectively evaluate arguments and weigh situation, based on the strengths, weaknesses etc. before passing judgement and taking punitive action. However, we and this system have failed when it comes to Mr. Trump and Mr. Blow reminds us of this with each column he writes and yet we ignore this truth...that Mr. Trump does not subscribe to these values and is set to destroy anything of value to anyone other than himself and his tribe, including and especially the values and belief systems of the larger group. The larger question is should we abandon our principles, values and beliefs, succumb to despair and attack Mr. Trump on his terms or organize our societies to uphold the values we all believe in, not just as Americans or Canadians or Europeans but as all humans with common values at risk? The risk of Mr. Trump and his values are present not just in America but here in Canada and indeed all over the world. If the latter is the choice of "the resistance", we need to inform ourselves and our leaders that they must unite together (eg. at the G6+1) and not allow ourselves to be divided and conquered by succumbing to Mr. Trump's tactics of bullying by exacerbating fear, greed or the interest of self-preservation.
12
Bravo, Charles. Bravo! We need your voice. America needs your testimony. The world needs your witness. Please continue on. God bless you.
17
Thank you, Mr. Blow, for that cogent analysis of Mr. Trump's seeming joy at hating minorities.
And thank you for honestly noting that at the time of what is called "The Central Park Five Incident," the New York Times reported that these particular youths had been “in what the police said was part of a marauding spree by as many as 30 youths in the northern end of the park” that night.
Now, there is no question that they were innocent of the beating and rape of the lone jogger, that they were railroaded by the police and a prosecutor eager to make an arrest and conviction. However, this cannot be extended to their also being considered innocent in the "wolf pack attacks" that occurred that day in Central Park. These sudden, swarming, overwhelming assault & battery robberies were a terrible crime trend in numerous major cities during this period. The accounts of victims -- and the few who managed to avoid such onslaughts -- are horrific.
Again, I am NOT excusing the outrageous miscarriage of justice in the rape case, nor Mr. Trump's subsequent full-page advertorializing in New York newspapers about the case and the death penalty. But for these five persons to be thoroughly sanitized -- as some media and activists' accounts now have it -- would be a miscarriage of history.
Thanks for presenting the balanced truth.
9
Perfect. Thank you for the renewed energy for the good fight.
16
I am of an earlier generation that remembers the same beliefs held by a dictator named Adolph Hitler.
This attitude from the latest president strikes me as very similar to those particular beliefs.
It is a grave mistake for this president to assume he has the powers of a dictator in the United States of America.
28
While I understand the tendency some would have to give up and let Trump wear a crown, I disagree that we're all suffering from news toxicity. I've never had subscriptions to major newspapers until Trump was elected. It became my duty to get and stay informed. I will not allow those subscriptions to lapse because I want to KNOW what's happening. This is also the first time I've written my national representatives. I think there are others like me who are deeply concerned about what has happened with Trump in the White House. Be assured. I'm not inured to the stories and I won't stop learning every thing I can about the conduct of the current White House resident.
20
It's not toxicity. It's immunization. We have developed a resistance ( in the medical, not the political sense ) to all that is happening. As more and more events are reported, without noticeable impact or reaction, the tendency of any one event to shock our conscience ( or our leaders, for that matter ) gets less and less as time goes on.
5
"And I draw strength from the fact that I’m not fighting for or against a political party; I’m fighting hatred itself, as personified by the man who occupies the presidency. That is my spine stiffener."
Thank you for reminding us what we are all fighting. Thank you indeed.
15
There is never any excuse for raping someone. Ever. I don’t care how disadvantaged your childhood was. Those who do so deserve our hatred. Mr. Blow’s own hatred of Trump is so extreme that he’s willing to take a simple, reasonable statement out of context and deliberately misinterpret the meaning, taking yet another cheap shot at the President instead of doing the right thing and unequivocally condemning rapists. How very cowardly.
3
Did you miss the part where the accused were proven innocent? It's not a cheap shot to reveal Trump's own words. You'd best remember that Trump is motivated by hatred each and every day.
5
The boys at the time were innocent of the crime, they were not rapists. It was not them. That is the point, your hate is directed at the wrong people. Which is exactly what Trump wants, for you to hate the wrong people so he can keep on making hateful statements that are false.
3
Your statements demonstrate that you didn't read the article. If you did read it, then you didn't understand the facts as they were laid out.
Before you write, please read in full. Then please confirm that you understand what you've read. Then take a minute to consider what you've understood. Then please respond without personally denigrating the human being you're speaking with.
I know it's easy to throw cheap insults. I know being a member of a civil society and keeping that society out of the gutter isn't easy. But we have to try.
Please try.
3
It must be tough to live with so much hate in your life. I almost wrote heart but then decided that this president doesn’t have a heart or a even a brain. He thrives on lifelong bigotry, bullying and manipulation.
His ability and lust to encourage hate is extremely troubling. Sometimes I almost think he wants to incite nationwide rioting so he can call out the National Guard to maintain law and order. This week’s Time magazine cover pretty much says it all, as he looks in a mirror and sees himself standing there in royal garb.
It is true that after 500 days in office, one can get awfully tired of the loathsome rhetoric. The mute button on my tv has never been used as much as it has in the last few months.
November cannot come soon enough and I hope that the required number of Americans have enough common sense to clean up the ever growing swamp in DC.
8
Trump is a preternatural salesman and nothing more. He knows hate is a very easy product to market to human beings, especially those who've been primed to feel threatened. It's hard to tell if he actually feels anything at all beyond his need for narcissistic supply but he knows when there's a demand for a product and there's always a demand for hatred.
10
What a relief to hear such clarification on what has been weighing me down. I have been trying to apply logic and reasoning to understand this man's motivations when it is a primal anger and hatred that is the source of his actions. I will be forever frustrated if I continue to apply logic whereas if I use a different lens, I will avoid wearing myself down.
6
I wonder if it is already to late for us. The hateful and hating Donald Trump has exposed the ugly underbelly of America. Hate and irrationality has always existed but he has proudly exhibited and promoted it and that underbelly in the US has spread like a mould and is exercising a power I once thought not possible in this country. It is time, as it was during the Vietnam era, for good people to take to the streets. We cannot allow ourselves to drown in the inundation of this evil man's lies and hate.
8
Really like your pieces. Spot on
12
""So I remember that. I center that. I hear “I want to hate” every time I hear him speak. And I draw strength from the fact that I’m not fighting for or against a political party; I’m fighting hatred itself, as personified by the man who occupies the presidency. That is my spine stiffener."
He's just one oftens of millions of defective human beings on the planet.
It's the 50 million americans who elected and worship him that i remember everytime i think i live in a great democracy surrounded by normal caring people
NOW we know that's an illusion/delusion.
14
The real news fatigue is from the constant anti trump news from the liberal media. As far as hating murderers and muggers, I see nothing wrong with that.
5
They were wrongly convicted. They were neither murderers nor muggers. And yet he continues to hate them. That is wrong by anyone's book.
Put yourself in their shoes for a minute. Imagine being sent to prison for years for doing nothing at all. Now imagine that after being vindicated by incontrovertible evidence, the man who demanded your death ignores that evidence and insists that you're still guilty because he doesn't want he to admit that he might have been wrong about you.
Think about that and tell me with a straight face that you would put your life in that man's hands, and I'll show you the face of poisonous, angry denial.
1
The boys were wrongly convicted. They were not murderers and muggers. Even after evidence proved their innocence, Trump continued to spew hatred and to question their innocence. There is something wrong with that.
2
Yes, see how few people agree with the so-called liberal media and those thronging majorities of citizens throughout the nation who agree with you and your chosen leader.
Good points.
1
I'm exhausted by the amount of news...but the amount of bad news, worrisome news, unsettling news driven by this disastrously inept and corrupt administration is at the heart of my fatigue. I'm tired of reading all of what they are doing out of greedy and self-serving interests while lining the pockets of the wealthiest and too many don't care and ….I'm tired.
10
In most of these online comments I hear only despair, which means the hatred Trump is spewing is defeating the resistance. I guess this is what happened with Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany. People just gave up and either looked the other way, felt helpless in stopping the madman and so did nothing or put their personal comfort above that of the nation under siege and believed foolishly they could save themselves without protecting their nation. Spines of steel is what we need more than ever, not people running for the hills.
13
In retrospect, it is so easy to think that the people "did nothing or put their personal comfort above that of the nation under siege". What comfort I ask. The majority of Germans were desperate to have enough food to feed themselves and their families during the 20th and early 30th.
D.T. is a terrible person, but he is a conman first and foremost, who knows exactly what he is doing to the American people, because he does not care.
One of the most central lessons I try to impart to my kids daily is that people deserve the benefit of the doubt because with few enough exceptions to prove the rule we are all doing the best we can under the circumstances that we find ourselves in. I find that assuming good faith on the part of others even when I disagree with their choices makes life much easier to bear and spares me a lot of resentment and disappointment, BUT Donald Trump really does challenge my world view. He seems to be of uniquely low character and to be uniquely motivated by vanity and self-aggrandizement over all else and to have such base motives himself that he assumes that the rest of us are just as selfish and unkind. How such a person was elected president is still more than I can cognitively process but I keep reading and marching and being roiled and hoping the nightmare will end soon.
7
The election of Trump is also due to Hillary's inability to count where the electoral votes were. These were two terrible candidates. We would lose no matter which one won. The only positive thing about Trump's victory was Hillary's loss.
3
I so resisted the fact that Trump was elected that I promptly got a horrible case of facial Shingles. (They lasted over six months.) Yes, Mr. Blow, every day when we read in the news about what the President of our beloved country is doing to us citizens and to the world, it makes us sick. Knowing that he would be delighted that he is having such an effect on us "liberals" makes it even worse. He only cares about himself.
2
There is a clear, mutually reinforcing, feedback
cycle between tweeter in chief and his core of support...the more he vents his deranged like tirades about being treated so unfairly, the more they get to vent their hatred and rage at the same targets...which becomes political support that the quivering trumpicans in congress dare not cross. Intimidation is the modus operandi of this form of authoritarian mindset.
And we should all keep in mind that this is part of a well
thought out political strategy that is being brilliantly executed.
This will just continue on and on and on until it either breaks from its dam and consumes all of us in the same way it
has already for migrants on the southern border of the country, or children in the different school shootings, or drivers in the lunatic road rage incident du jour. Or,
its leader loses all credibility from some combination
of the many looming disasters lurking out there actually
happening in front of our eyes.
Take your poison...
We should, however, never forget that the same equivocation or massive silence in response to what ICE has instituted
re family separation, that silent assent by the trumpicans
is an expression of exactly the same mindset that
looked at what nazis were doing in europe and decided
that inaction and hostile indifference were perfectly consistent with their sense of religion and morality.
We are dealing with a collective expression of widescale evil. We do need to face up to it.
4
Kindness is the most important quality in a human being. When it is lacking, hatred and justification for unkind actions and words rules. Our country is being led by a sociopath who knows no happiness, who does not understand that happiness is gained most by doing kind deeds, and who encourages people to create enemies and to hate.
Yes, Mr. Blow, our spines must stiffen. We are kind, we are life-affirming, we believe in fairness and compassion, and we decry hate. We call you out, over and over again. Mr. Trump, for your inexcusable behavior and your violent words and deeds. We will not give up.
10
Bravo, Charles Blow! A succinct and devastatingly accurate summation of a dangerous little man with lots of issues.
6
Mr. Blow....You made my day with this piece of writing. When you distill the eccence of Donald trump down you get pure hate. I think what's difficult for me is how to channel my anger and not have it turn to hate....Trump has unleashed a very dark side of our country's soul...God help us.
5
Yes he want to hate - but he can afford it, and I'm not talking about money. Hate poisons the soul. It's clear from his words and actions he is a man of hate. I, sadly can not afford such hate in my life, so as much as I despise the man's words and actions I try to focus on what I love - democracy.
5
"Some people will never admit that they are wrong, even when they are as wrong as sin." D. Trump
Yes, Mr. Trump. most of understand that every day when you look in the mirror, you are staring directly in the face of such an individual.
You have a sick a perverse view of humanity, Mr. Trump if you love to 'hate'. The fact that you are 'wrong as sin' about that perversion in yourself makes you unfit to lead anything or anyone, including the United States of America.
5
One thing that Charles forgot to mention, but is very important to the overall narrative of Trumps white America. And that is the idea that all young people of color, if not guilty of that heinous crime, they are surly guilty of some other crime, for which they weren't caught. So incarcerating them on some trumped up charge, (no pun intended, although the name fits) to Trumps white America, well, that was justice that had been coming for a long time.
Yet, no one has really stressed that these boys up until the their arrest, had never been arrested. In fact they were all in school at the time. Nor have any of the people involved in the prosecution of this case been called to account. But whats worse, Trump, who always seems to be the aggrieved party, and always wants an apology from someone he imagines has somehow slighted him. Refuses to acknowledge or apologize for his transgressions against others. This man, is a bigot, liar, and certainly no businessman. For those who blindly follow him, or support him given his racist past, his birther lie, are as low down as he is, they've made a bargain with the devil, they've traded away their principals for a lie, perpetrated by a liar.
3
You have a tough job, Charles. You need to listen to Trump. I simply turn him off and rely on your reports along with other journalists. Thanks for helping us through this nightmare.
4
Joining the choir of readers acknowledging your service to fight the exhaustion by this reminder of a core statement that negates human reason and value at its core and yet, keeps on unfolding in modulations at broadest possible scale. Thank you.
For fitting extension and deeper understanding of the origins of Trump's personality traits and its frightening appeal to a considerable share of the US population, I recommend "The Appeal of the Primal Leader: Human Evolution and Donald J. Trump" by Dan P. McAdams:
http://journals.academicstudiespress.com/index.php/ESIC/article/view/45
4
In not an expert in psychological projection, but Trump hates himself. He knows he has no intellectual depth. He knows he has no innovative business acumen. He knows he wasn't born where he feels he deserves to have been born -- Manhattan. His hatred stems from this. In his heart, the Trump he projects is someone who wouldn't want to associate with who he actually is. It's like OJ saying, "I'm not black, I'm OJ."
The sad thing is that his base, for the most part, are in a socioeconomic class that Trump despises. They aren't in fancy suits. They aren't models. They don't golf. He hates them too.
What a loathsome individual.
7
Hatred is the mirror image of fear presented to the world as a means of looking and feeling powerful. But it is not a strength in it core anymore than cruelty is. It's simply an indictment of one's pitiful character.
2
Henry Adams defines politics as “the systematic organization of hatreds.” So, when Trump hates, he’s simply being political. How sad is that?
We WILL—Ignore Polls That Say We Are Weary!
We WILL—Stay Strong!
We WILL—Prevail Over This Scourge!
We WILL—Vote Out the Complicit GOP!
We WILL—2018!
17
This piece and its message--not Trump--is what makes me proud to be an American.
4
My wife interviewed Trump in NH in 1988 when he was first thinking of running for president. She totally had his number, even then. The lack of historical knowledge among so-called educated Americans- even of recent history- is appalling.
5
You describe not only Trump, but the essence of the Republican party. I'll grant you that Trump is more open about his hatred, but Republicans have been blowing dog whistles, and more subtly displaying their hatred for decades. And there are enough people in this country who need to blame others, that such displays of hatred works for them politically. But they must realize that their days are numbered with such a political strategy. Millennials have shown little interest in perpetuating such hatred. They are much more inclusive. The sooner they show up at the ballot box with REGULARITY, the better.
5
In considering Trump's propensity to express hate, we must also look at the flip side of the equation ... his incapacity to feel love. At the core of Trump's threat to our country and world is, I believe, his seeming inability to make decisions that are grounded in love, respect, understanding, or empathy towards other human beings. I have yet to see any evidence that Trump is capable of feeling or showing love. A dangerous void in a human with so much power over so many people.
4
I put great hope in our children. This hate perpetuated by Trump and embraced by his minions will be overcome by our children. Watch how they are more inclusive, more animated and more socially aware, (thank you internet.) Sadly, all the angry old white guys have to return to their maker for this stain of hate to disappear.
1
thank you for this opinion piece and I will remember the same as you so I do not get into I do not care mode !
3
Trump has been dead wrong on so many issues. Has he ever been dead right?
The real tragedy of this is that his endless hate is enabled by the cowering sycophants that we shall call republican politicians.
A few thoughts - there is nothing remotely Christian or any other religion in Trump or his followers - he exhibits just the opposite behavior.
As for his followers - check out the old classic film The Ten Commandments and head for the scene where the golden cow thing is being worshiped. Watch closely - because all of those people worshiping that idol - that is you.
Be sure to dress light - where you are going, clothing is definitely optional. Too bad that you are taking all of us decent, kind, good people down with you, though.
2
Dear CSL,
I agree with you that there is no Christianity or no other religious faith in the the wording and in the acting of the 45th President.
Still, I think that Americans are first of all Americans and Not Republicans or Democrats.
Here from Europe, I wish that if a Republican had to win your free elections in 2016, that one would have been Senator John McCain for whom I have the greatest respect as for all other Americans of good faith independently of their political ideas.
With respect from Europe.
I offer no insult to McCain as I suspect he is a good man - but he is part of a party that is dismantling all that is good - all that Obama did for progress - and like all republicans, he's had chances to come out anti to Trump's policies. Sadly, like all republicans today, they lack courage and prefer instead to line their pockets and go along with the terrible damage that trump is inflicting on the world. Meaning - McCain is complicit. As a punctuation mark, he chose the incredibly malevolent Palin to be his running mate - that is utterly unforgiveable.
Trump and his kind do not understand that hating is a choice.... Nobody is compelled to hate illegal immigrants or black people standing up against injustice or people who advocate health care for all. Trump's followers hate these and other groups because of the sense of power that hatred provides them..... They are lost souls.
2
Generally I admire and respect your comments, but that has decreased over the past six months as the comments indicate you want to hate Trump and virtually all your columns reflect that desire. Please do not become like him in that way.
2
Yes, he wants to hate.... murderers and rapists. Savage members of MS-13. As do I. Why is that wrong? You may happen to disagree with his tough position on crime, but I believe it comes from a place of compassion. When you tolerate violence against innocent people trying to jog in a park, you are not advancing the cause of love. And surely he can't be blamed for not knowing at the time that the men's confessions were false. He was taking a stand for the right of all women to jog in Central Park without fear. And New York is a far safer place today, partly thanks to people like him who fought back and declared their hatred and intolerance for a situation in which innocent people were routinely being brutalized for simply trying to live their lives.
4
But, Samuel, he claimed they were guilty even after they were exonerated. He claimed they were still guilty in light of the incontrovertible proof of their innocence. That's not "coming from a place of compassion." Not by a long shot. It's denial of reality, of truth, for the sake of an agenda.
1
Trump persisted in saying the men were innocent even after they were exonerated. Please stop trying to justify hatred.
1
@Samuel Russell: Trump refuses to acknowledge the PRESENT DAY innocence of the Central Park 5. Why? Because they weren't "angels." They'd never been arrested before, but somehow Trump believes they deserved it all.
Every so often, an op-ed piece jumps out at me. This is one of those.
Mr. Blow captures the essence of Trump and the Trump phenomenon....”hatred”. Here is a man who’s had things pretty easy most of his life, unless there’s some hidden trauma. Yet, he hates, and not just those that Mr. Blow mentioned. He hates anyone who is different from him, or just disagrees with him.
Way too much media ink has been spent on trying to psychoanalise him. Give it up...he’s not worth it.
However, those of us who oppose what he stands for shouldn’t be fatigued by the avalanche of discouraging news. I’ve taken to ignoring most of it. I’m saving my anger, my resolve, my words for the next election. Changing the majority in Congress and then voting Trump out of office is the most important political thing we can do.
11
This is a powerful piece and it is rare to read a relevant analysis in the constant flow of commentaries about Trump. It is also very disheartening.
In many press articles Trump is referred to as "the most powerful person in the world" as it is the US fantasy that the POTUS is the most powerful person in the world. With his hate message and motto, Trump is far from being "the most powerful person in the world" as it diminishes any attempt to grandeur he may have.
6
@LT: As much as I agree that Trump is almost implausibly immoral and unfit to lead this country, his power is (unfortunately) VERY real. That is precisely why he is so dangerous.
It is not arrogance to say that any modern U.S. president is, arguably at least, the single most powerful person in the world. Congress has long since abdicated providing a meaningful check on the use of our military. This means that Donald J. Trump is the effectively unbound Commander-in-Chief of an almost TRILLION dollar war machine with standing forces all around the globe and the two largest oceans separating command from the nearest attack. It would take a unified European defense effort to even begin to mount a defense if it came right down to it. And then there's the security apparatus at his disposal; his unfettered access to ALL classified information. The CIA is not beyond holding people incommunicado or torture if a president simply declares it's for "national security" reasons. Pompeo's resume is proof enough of that and it would not be the first time Haspel was complicit in such practices.
The fact that enough people in this country saw fit to actually GIVE such power to the likes of him is a more stinging rebuke of the merits of democracy than any Cold War propaganda or socialist manifesto. But Trump's power is NOT a "fantasy." It's a nightmare.
1
Trump is one of a handful of people who could end life on earth as we know it. Much as it disgusts me that such power has been put into his hands, he is, even if only by his ability to destroy the world, one of the most powerful people in the world. I have to wonder if the Founding Fathers would have made it so difficult to remove the president from office if they had had any inkling that some future president could destroy the world.
I remember that case well. Their basic defense was "we couldn't have done it, we were on the other side of the park mugging people"!
Blow is a hysteric as usual, full of hatred. He seems to exist only to make Roger Cohen look reasonable. Cohen, who soon after the election in 2016 suggested that Trump had to be stopped "by any means necessary". A dog whistle to the Lee Harvey Oswalds out there.
What a couple of hate-mongers.
As for Trump I simply preferred him to Hilary Clinton. Even if he was bad , she was worse. Maybe that was out choice, bad and worse. Pericles wasn't running.
4
@Tom W.: Look, the Central Park 5 were innocent. If Trump didn't know it then, he knows it now, but he STILL refuses to admit that he helped lead the charge to have 5 innocent teenagers executed.
Go ahead and read into Cohen's statement if you want. Trump took out an unambiguous newspaper ad demanding they be executed. He stands by it today because those boy weren't "angels." That's light years worse than anything said by Cohen, Clinton, Obama, Kaepernick or anyone else you might want to point at on Trump's list of "whatabouts".
1
Tom W. - What part about "they were innocent" don't you get? Your obliviousness to the facts are irrelevant to reality.
This man publicly called for the execution of innocent people.
What else do you need to know about a person?
7
The author is right, of course. But haven't we known this for three long years? Trump has never hidden his bigotry. For his base, it's one of his most admirable qualities. People no longer have to feel ashamed of hating blacks, immigrants, or Muslims. That is very liberating, especially for angry, bitter white men, who no longer enjoy elevated status just because of their race and gender.
3
I do not hate blacks or legal immigrants or Muslims.
Unlike 95% of posters here, I live in an integrated, working-class neighborhood that is majority black.
I am not a man, but a woman -- a feminist -- a mother and grandmother.
I am not (technically) white but semitic -- like Arabs or many Muslims. Same race.
I AM angry and bitter, but not because of race or religion. I am angry at how Obama ruined my country.
I voted for Trump because I hate both political parties, and I wanted most of all to make the heads of arrogant lefties like Charles Blow EXPODE!
So far it is working out brilliantly.
1
Why yes, he hates so much that he pardoned 3 POC in the last week. That’s really deep.
Mr. Blow, living in his comfy elite bubble, does not realize millions of people are tired of our nations leaders putting the worlds needs before our own. We’re tired of so called “leaders” who continue to sell out the middle class. Tired of being called bigots and racists for wanting a fair deal for everyone. Sick of people who earn multiple times the average wage telling us the USA is a horrible country. It’s not. The USA is the most welcoming, and least racist country in the world.
Enforcing existing laws and holding criminals to account for their crimes is a good thing.
6
None of your points really ring true.
Calling for the execution of defendants with ads in the press is not a good thing. Regardless of the recent pardons, those ads were despicable and racist. As was the refusal to retract any of it after they were shown to be innocent.
And Trump is quite happily selling out the middle class, and this country, as long as it profits him. ZTE, anyone?
"Sick of people who earn multiple times the average wage telling us the USA is a horrible country." You mean people like Trump, who does nothing but tell us how horrible America is, at least until he can fix it?
6
Continue to keep us focused, Charles. Thank you.
4
Thank you to Charles M. Blow for bringing forward and articulating the timeline of events showing Mr. Trump values hating. Blow's research clarifies that, as Mr. Trump stated, "I want to hate..." Doesn't Trump at the same time claim to be a Christian? That does not compute.
1
I needed someone eloquent like you to express what I have been feeling since that dark day in November of 2016. I'm normally not an angry man, but this guy has me going back to therapy. I walk around with this immense sadness engulfing me, incredulous that the ego king could have been elected in the first place. Thanks for putting my thoughts into words
7
I never, never comment here. Feeling useless. But this 'wants to hate' corners it so sharply, more than a million op-eds, that, don't get me wrong, try to analyse this T. in so many ways as they can and should. Philip
1
Hate is at the core of what animates those who support this man. The weekend after the election my friend and I sat outside the mall with posters. Mine read simply "Stand vs Hate".
It was obvious then what gutter this petty man was trawling. It has, tragically, become ever more obvious with the passage of time.
2
This man Trump has a fatal error in his operating system. He is seriously mentally ill. A little less than half this country fell for this malignant narcissist's manipulations, they believed him, they let him into our (white) house. And now, we're all being manipulated. We're all getting sick.
We need to stay strong and stay above his gaslighting and manipulating. He's trying to drown us until we don't care, we only want to gasp for fresh air that doesn't stink like a Trump, just survive the day. He must laugh at us, he looks at us like gulping dying fish.
We need to keep casting a light, like this opinion piece does, onto the core of what Trump is. Show people what he really is. Unfortunately he's many steps ahead. He calls you fake news folks, so his followers will immediately discount every truth you say about him. He knows this will happen. You have to be smarter than Trump at playing his own game. Find a way around him.
Don't assume every Trump supporter is an under-employed man in a struggling manufacturing town. I know well-educated, well-compensated women who work in fast-growing industries in thriving cities who support him, who defend him despite his treatment of women. They fall for his manipulations. Perhaps, they hate too, privately. What they say is, their investments are doing well, business going nowhere but up. This is what they care about. Themselves, their money. He speaks to them. You need to speak to them too. Assure them that there's a better way.
3
With regard to 45, to paraphrase Descartes: I hate, therefor I am.
As a child of Holocaust survivors, now deceased, I feel that Hitler is being channeled by him. We New Yorkers know the cringe every time his name is mentioned.
Thank you, Mr Blow, for telling it like it is. He is not a joke, sadly.
6
I want to hate the only presidential candidate in our history to willing cover up knowledge of a cyber crime committed by criminal Russians and then willingly, happily, knowingly use the stolen information to aide his campaign.
Eisenhower? No.
Kennedy? No.
Carter? No.
Reagan? No.
Bush? No.
Clinton? No.
Obama? No.
ONLY DONALD TRUMP HAS EVER COMMITTED TREASON IN HIS EFFORT TO BECOME PRESIDENT.
In our entire history.
I hate traitors to my country.
I really do.
#traitorTrump
6
Paul King - Actually Reagan may be guilty of similar offenses. His campaign engaged in back-channel communications with the Iranian government before the election, with regards to what he could do for them if they helped him out. And lo, the hostages were released immediately after Carter left office.
6
Please, all those feeling weary and beat down by the hate...stay away from news for a day ot two....do not ever listen to Trump talk....go deeply into the woods.....meet a friend for lunch.....come to Vermont if you can for a week or two or more as we have lots of woods and ponds and good food and peace and quiet and many like-minded people who despise what Trump has done to our sweet democracy. Find peace, find strength, we need to stay strong, we must fight back.
3
Trump Mantra: I think, I am, I hate.
2
Spot on, he's a hater, and his father was too. Wonder what the breakfast table conversation sounded like. I'm told that up to ⅓ the population consists of "haters" in one form or another. Such primitive thoughts have no place in government, but here we are.
Excellent sermon. Choir thoroughly enjoyed.
3
Excellent song. Choir thoroughly enjoyed.
Trump and the complicit GOP are now well-established as the bearers of hate, evil and darkness. Thank you, Mr. Blow, for the reminder to stiffen my spine and be an active participant in spreading light, truth and the message to vote the GOP out in 2018.
4
A lot of credible people still believe that the five were involved in the assault on the jogger. To paraphrase a 2003 New York Times article:
A three attorney commissioned by the NYPD in 2003 believed that the Central Park Five were most likely involved in the attack, just not the rape. “Our examination of the facts leads us to suggest that there is an alternative theory of the attack upon the jogger, that both the defendants and Reyes assaulted her, perhaps successively,” the lawyers wrote in their report, according to a New York Times article. They described their theory, saying that the Central Park Five attacked the woman first, and that “Mr. Reyes, drawn by her screams, either joined in the attack as it was ending or waited until the defendants had moved on to their next victims before descending upon her himself, raping her and inflicting upon her the brutal injuries that almost caused her death.”
The panel insisted there was no new evidence beyond Reyes's claims, said that the videotaped and written confessions had not been coerced or fed to the suspects by investigators, and that timelines constructed to show that the defendants were elsewhere (assaulting other victims) were unreliable. It said the ''most likely scenario'' was that the youths and Mr. Reyes had attacked the jogger, either simultaneously or consecutively.
5
IT ISN'T WORKING:Excellent comment. Read my remarks regarding KEVIN RICHARDSON of the Central PARK Five whom I dealt with personally while a dean at Brandeis H.S.shortly after the assault on the jogger.
"A lot of people" also believe that Dick Cheney is a reptilian alien, that 9/11 was "an inside job" and that there was a conspiracy dating back to 1961 to make Barack Obama president (because, you know, black kids back then could become president). "A lot of people" doesn't make it true. Evidence does. And physical, scientific evidence is more reliable than the stupid things people believe.
1
@it isn't working: Look, surely the proof is now in the pudding, yes? The police seemingly NEVER admit wrong and will always maintain that the defendant's guilt is the "most likely scenario." If they said otherwise, they would be confessing to a host of crimes themselves!
Even Trump's own words cut against him. The "settlement" he references was of the CITY'S liability to the Central Park 5 for what they had done to them. But (again, by Trump's own reckoning), the city's decision to settle does not mean they did nothing wrong, merely that they refuse to formally ADMIT wrongdoing. Trump usually follows the same pattern to buy his way out of embarrassing trouble.
But based on your comment I have to wonder just what the Central Park 5 would need to do to satisfy you. They were supposed to be guilty until proven innocent. You seem to take the word of the NYPD's commission, while dismissing the idea that 30 years ago, a notoriously corrupt and heavy-handed NYPD might have coerced a confession out of 5 innocent minorities concerning assault and rape on a white woman. Are you aware of just how many times that particular scenario has occurred? It was such a pervasive problem that whole organizations are devoted to acknowledge exculpatory evidence putting the lie to prior testimony and revealing forced confessions (https://www.innocenceproject.org/).
I really wish the media would stop giving trump's petulance, hatred, and nastiness so much coverage. This is what he craves--constant use of his name and picture in the news. While I agree with this article, too much media coverage has gone on regarding his every tweet, every vile utterance, and every ignorant thing he does, which has normalized his behavior. If the media would stick to what he is doing, including the chaos, corruption, lack of leadership, etc. and stop focusing on his every word and tweet, some of this contagious hatred among and empowerment of his minions might stop.
2
Thank you for this. I have always said that there is something fundamentally wrong with people who hate, and something even more profoundly wrong with those who are consumed by hate. It is not that I think hate is inherently terrible, nothing is, but there is something wrong with a person who hates because hate is a fixed state, and emotionally anyone who is stuck in such an extreme and incredibly destructive state is not normal. Anger is not hate, neither is fear; both are perfectly normal emotional states. A normal person can be angry one minute, sad or fearful the next, and happy an hour later, but hate endures. As to Trump, his hate comes from not getting his way, or not getting what he wants, or not getting what he believes he deserves. It doesn't matter if it is money he wants, or vengeance, or attention. Trump did not once consider that the men he wrote that ad about were human beings. Trump never thinks about other people much, other than how they can be used to get what he wants. If Trump doesn't get what he wants, he becomes extremely frustrated and experiences rage, but the rage is about not getting his way, and since he must always have his way, it means that he can never be wrong. It is the textbook definition of a narcissist and a psychopath. So no matter how weary we may be, we must make sure Trump is driven out of office. This country cannot survive with a psychopath as president.
3
This is literally a tragedy. Can we overcome it as a nation? Not just this vile man, but the hatred he has green-lighted. The divide and unrest that he has so angrily cultivated. He's immature, sick, confused, tortured, whatever. But we all suffer for it. The creators of the Constitution never foresaw something like this. If they had, they would have created an escape mechanism for the American people. Trump does not now, nor will he ever serve us. He serves himself. The question is how can so many supposedly God-fearing people believe in him?
4
What we are witnessing is the decline of the United States in the person of Donald Trump. A man of privilege who mocks all who are not. A man who is able to convince people that truth is lie.
We have made many, many mistakes in our history but this one (Trump) will kill us. A nation that no longer values the truth cannot endure. Is it possible to say anything positive about a country and culture that promotes hate? If your answer is to attack me and my words then, we are certainly doomed.
7
Thank you for this story about the Central Park rapist, which explains so much. What remains inexplicable is how a man who has been given literally everything in life - from the big house he grew up in, to an Ivy League education, to a starter fortune from his dad - can still harbor so much hatred. Somewhere is his toxic pathology is a pain so deep that most of us cannot begin to understand it. Which of course does not excuse any of his behavior! But one has to wonder how someone can have zero empathy for others and so little gratitude for life.
4
It makes me think of another German who had similar tendencies. He also had so many rallies that William L. Shirer wrote that the masses "thought he was omnipotent and omnipresent". I suspect that the current German will meet the same fate as the old one, but not death.
4
Bravo Mr Blow. The Trump presidency is not something that happened to America. It is something it did to itself. Americans have to face the unpleasant fact that their constitution facilitated a Trump, by concentrating so much power in one person who is elected by popular mandate. How much America rehabilitates itself from this presidency will depend to a large measure on how it ends.
1
The only reason we are inundated is because the NYTimes devotes 50% of it's paper to Trump. They cannot NOT mention his name in most articles, whether relevant or not. Stop giving him free publicity and attention. That's why he's the President to begin with!!!
4
Thank you Mr. Blow. You writing provide a voice an clarity.
2
We need to start calling this what it is. A political movement based on hate is nothing less then evil. A cult that ignores facts, creates its own reality and relies on racial animosities for group cohesion is evil. We have had always had such evil groups among us - American Nazi's, the KKK, the Alt right, etc. But this is the first time this mentality has taken over our government. Immediately after SCOTUS has now said that it is ok to discriminate based on religion, some politicians began making the argument that businesses should also be able to turn away customers based on race. Trumpism is based on hate. But what is more scary is the way it has corrupted not only the Republican party but also our society. Trumpism is insiduous. It is nothing short of evil.
6
And the haters are the ones with guns. That gives me pause, and makes me think a gun (or two) is in my future.
1
The rise of blatant fascism, as well as the disregard for rule of law, is really making me rethink my position on gun control.
The eminent Charles Blow writes, "In Trump’s America people are understandably experiencing news fatigue." True, America's people of intelligence, sound ethics, and common sense are experiencing news fatigue (i.e., we who long for the day when this pariah president is gone). However, what of Trump's base? Are these people also experiencing news fatigue? Or, is the endless footage of this farce presidency merely fueling their tragic stupidity?
1
And your post is not hateful towards people who happen to disagree with you?
Trump in a nutshell. Thank you, Charles.
2
https://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/09/opinion/that-terrible-time.html
FDR and World War II created a new United States where, for the first time, poor people had a good chance to rise above their origins. The GI bill allowed poor kids who had served in the armed services a chance to get a college (or higher) education. The industries that had been created to build war machines were transformed to build cars, trains, washing machines, dishwashers. American factories employed many millions of Americans. Poor families became middle class, and their kids got educated and became doctors and layers and business executives and more. The United States became the best nation in which to live in the history of the world. Vietnam and LBJ's determination to "not be the first American President to lose a war" stopped the rise. Protests and violence appeared; young people began to drop out", especially after MLK's and RFK's assassinations began the decline, but much of the WWII generation didn't "get it". They had cars and houses and vacations; how could things be bad?
Then we got Nixon; some good foreign policy but greed and scheming and lying and cheating; Vietnam continued, Ford and Carter did nothing. Reagan was elected, and all of the advances of the prior 35 years began to get reversed. Working people began to lose benefits. Taxes on the wealthy decreased, unions were broken up or discouraged, advances in civil rights slowed, as did pension funds to help people to live well after retirement and thus began the decline that gave us Trump.
5
This is a new Jim Crow era. Back in 1989, Trump said maybe we need more hate. In power that is what he has brought.
It is his base and Congressional Republicans who are most disturbing. They follow the lynching pathway quite happily, institutionalizung bigotry against LGBT, against women, against Muslims, and against immigrants and -- most grievously--against children.
For evangelicals who condone or ignore all of this, remember, Satan is making a list and checking it twice. Maybe you don't believe in global warming yet, but you will.
For those who think Trump is some kind of Christian, he does have part of it right like loving America's enemies. He has also been known to turn the other cheek.
But mostly he preaches a combination of prosperity gospel and hate thy neighbors.
Thank you Mr. Blow for providing me the "spine stiffening" I needed to get past the overwhelming outrage.
I’ve not been sacrificing empathy for the rest of the world by trying to understand one damaged little rich boy from New York but I have noticed that the strategy of constant indignation had begun to have its intended effect on me. Small comfort that 7 in 10 Americans feel it as well.
So if I may, I will amend your quote as a spine stiffening mantra for myself.
Like a Zombie… “This hateful spirit envelopes him, consumes him and animates him” and he must be stopped.
3
Thanks for an excellent reality perspective.
It's sad how much hate is driving the country into division right now, and it is all consuming. Being an optimist I'm disappointed every day someone this hateful could make it into the highest and once (as in previously) respected office. It's a dark turn that has turned this optimist, but worse made me as hateful toward him as he is to everyone else (except himself - how does Trump look at himself in the mirror).
3
Brother, I am worn out. I wonder how much stupidity/ignorance/lack of critical thinking there is in this country. Critical thinking should be taught at lower and lower levels of school, but the rub is that our public schools are being undermined. When people think philosophy is frivolous, I’ve got a wonder how much thinking they’ve done.
I believe the more education person has the more liberal he will be or she. People dismiss a liberal education but I think it’s a liberator.
It’s hard not to return the hate to tromp…
4
Instead of focusing on Trump, I think you should emphasize the important lesson here: that the justice meted out to African-Americans is often very different from that experienced by others. Here's another case, also from Central Park:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/07/nyregion/innocence-project-manhattan-...
1
The man has been a sick puppy for a long time. Thank you for the reminder. As others have pointed out, he creates hatred to get what he wants, just as spoiled children often do.
8
Bravo, Mr. Blow! You've articulated SO much that is despairingly true in today's America. I'm originally from NY and love it. However, my friends and I joke that surviving the 80s there ought to award one stripes. I too -- like other respondents here -- was mugged. In 1988 as I got on the subway I was grabbed by what we then called a "wolf pack". I was robbed, roughed up and my neck nearly broken. However, my own reaction when other subway riders came to my rescue and the boys -- that is what they were -- ran away was: "What kind of society have we created that young boys do these sorts of things??" In the case of the Central Park jogger, it turned out NOT to be the pack of boys that were accused. Thank goodness NY State did NOT have the death penalty and more wrongful executions weren't carried out! However, we all lived with fear, black, white, Hispanic, Asian -- whatever the race or nationality -- due to the out of control crime in those years. And still in so many parts of the country people live daily with fear.
Trump knows how to use fear to his own aims' advantage. All despots, ruthless rulers and unscrupulous politicians have manipulated through fear. His hate -- which Mr. Blow examines thoughtfully -- is based on his fearfulness. Why is Trump so fearful?? I am not a psychologist, and so wonder whether Trump's mental instability -- which has now been diagnosed and documented, God help us all -- is a borderline personality disorder based in profound fearfulness?
4
Excuse me, but exactly who "diagnosed and documented" Trump's "mental instability". Please cite a reference to back up your statement.
1
It runs in the family. Both the grandfather and father were prejudiced, low-lives, too. (If they had been exiled during the WW I anti-German period, then Donald John would have never been born.) And it seems that the sons have inherited the same bad gene.
Charles, want to know the real Donald Trump? Simply interview any former or current executive of The Trump Organization. Then, your essay will sound even uglier.
6
Right on!
And I remember Martin Luther King Jr. wrote:
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
7
“These young men do not exactly have the pasts of angels.” While there maybe a bit of truth to this cold, heartless statement, at least the falsely accused did act like a fallen angel, ripping innocent children from their parents through unjust orders, as the president of the United States is currently doing.
1
Thank you Charles. You have expressed my feelings quite well. Trump is full of hate. It oozes out of every pour in his body. That he chooses to hate is the personification of the pure Evil that envelopes his soul. There is no capacity for anything else in his life except for hate. Eventually he will have to answer for his deeds and his hate, and that is going to be very painful. He stirs that same hate in the country urging his followers to exemplify and use that hatred towards their fellow countrymen. That is unforgivable. The poison that is Trump cannot pass soon enough. May God save the Country from him.
7
Thank you, Charles! I have nearly lost my ability to respond in outrage to this awful, awful man, but your continuing ability to speak gives me enough to keep shouting.
6
This "man" who wants to hate also inspires extreme hatred towards himself. It's sad and frightening that hatred seems to be one of the primary common emotions in this country now.
1
In an ordinary citizen, this quality, this burning hate that's hard to miss anytime one listens to Trump for more than a few minutes, would be a concern maybe for that man's family, neighbors, and colleagues at work; the world would keep going whatever he did. As the CEO of a real estate empire, the level of potential harm rises, but isn't anything catastrophic; humanity and the planet still aren't threatened.
But, what we are now living through, is when such a man is elevated to the most powerful office on Earth. While some of that leader's power are constrained, some power's constraints are vague; the pardon power, for instance, is in a literal interpretation of the Constitution, absolute; only legal tradition would forbid its use to legally excuse a sitting president's criminal misconduct via self-pardon.
And, never forget, the only meaningful curb on the president's use of nuclear weapons, from a huge arsenal deployed around the globe, would be the military's willingness to say 'No' to their commander in chief.
To a major degree, hate got us here. More of it will not make this better.
3
I'm not sure he is able to think that deeply about race, gender, religion, or history, science, ethics, economics, or anything other than himself. I think it is Trump 24/7, and whatever might get Trump attention, no matter what. His positions change faster than the wind. He can praise women and minorities if it pleases the crowd around him at the time, or attack and degrade on a whim if it pleases the crowd he is around at the time. His hatred is just the most convenient way to garner attention, good or bad, and getting attention means winning.
3
Trump is a champion hater.
Seems he never stops hating, never rests, never sleeps, hates & attacks at all hours, decades on end. And he never forgets to forever vent hatred at those he hates.
His behavior with the Central Park Five after they were acquitted was disqualifying for any candidate.
Are we allowed to hate Trump for being so vile? That's a challenge. Fox calls the opposition 'The Haters'. Are we?
Hating is exhausting. Keeping up with Trump's hating is a herculean task. Responding & taking Trump to task as thoroughly & powerfully as Mr. Blow here does is a tremendous public service.
These columns will be remembered for their being on the right side of history, when half the country is, once again, wrong.
6
Donald Trump says, "These young men do not exactly have the pasts of angels." Ah yes, if we could all be as angelic as The Donald. The President could look at it this way: maybe 13 years is more than enough of a sentence for not being an angel. Never mind being falsely imprisoned, just show us your wings and you are free to go. I'm sure 13 years in prison brought out their better angels. Charles, never expect the President apologize. If he did, he would have his fingers crossed behind his back. RAW
3
Being out here in the Midwest, I didn't follow Trump's role in the Central Park Five incident. But "the episode that first revealed to me the darkness at Trump’s core" was when he mocked the disabled NY Times reporter. That told me everything I need to know about the bully now in the White House.
11
His Daily News opinion piece was dated 2014 which was already post-birther theory, anti-LGBT rhetoric vis-a-vis his Rosie O'Donnell attacks, his failed casino in Atlantic City, his BK filings...you get the idea. He'd already been a horrible person for years.
7
Charles, this may be the best thing you have ever written. I thank you for it.
The entire effort of Trump and all such evil beings is to stoke the insanity of Hatred. Hate divides and conquers the fools on both sides.
This is what he, and THEY, have always done, from the beginning. They kill and destroy, maim and enslave all in the name of Hate.
A wise One once said,"We love to see the radiance of righteous indignation. During the waning of the old world such tension is especially needed, and one should know how to direct this quality most effectively."
You got this, Charles.
7
You obviously hate Trump, and that has eroded any critical reasoning faculties you have or ever had. Regarding hate and sympathy, I would rather sympathize with the central park victim, than the juvenile criminals.
5
They weren’t criminals. It is proven that they did not commit the crime and were falsely imprisoned.
6
The juveniles were the victims, too.
2
Hating all that Trump espouses and critical reasoning faculties go hand-in-hand. In fact, if one uses critical reasoning faculties there is no other logical result. It is the failure to reason critically, along with racism, greed, pseudo-Christianity and misogyny, that leads to Trump. We all sympathize with the Central Park victim. Continuing to blame what happened on these young people, exonerated by DNA evidence, is nothing but racism.
4
From the Times's recent coverage of the G-8 summit, it seems our allies don't like Trump much, either. I would love to be a fly on the wall in rural Canada and see/hear people smarter than Trump unload on him. As an American, it pains me to say this, but I almost hope there will come a crisis one day that will require the U.S. to reach out to those countries that heretofore we could count on and see them give Trump the cold shoulder. Because rejection is the inevitable outcome for bullies. That and a lifetime of legal problems, if we're lucky.
5
"I’m not fighting for or against a political party..."
So what party nominated him, voted for him, defends him, ignores his actions and thinks he's doing a good job? Just asking.
7
Well written. The observation that Trump "hijacks [the flag, law enforcement or the military's] valor to advance his personal hatred" is so remarkably spot on.
5
I asked my good friends from Western PA who moved to go to college and earned posts as professors in CT why all their relatives had voted for a man and party who was most likely to hurt their own interests. The answer was revealing: they hate anyone who looks different, prays different, thinks different, talks different. Mr. Trump master carrier of that message.
It is terrifying that the future of humanity can rest in the hands of a man and his supporters whose driving force is the most destructive of instincts.
8
Trump knows how to excite hatred in others and has attained his position based on this simple concept, which we have seen throughout history in authoritarian politicians.
Thank you for calling attention to the strategy Trump has successfully used to numb people to factual accounts. The big lie, or should I say BIG LIE, is working for him and we must resist him.
3
The most powerful piece of journalism I've ever read.
Demonization and Scapegoating
Demonization of an enemy often begins with marginalization, the ideological process in which targeted individuals or groups are placed outside the circle of wholesome mainstream society through political propaganda and age-old prejudice. This creates an us–them or good–bad dynamic of dualism, which acknowledges no complexity or nuance and forecloses meaningful civil debate or practical political compromise.
The next step is objectification or dehumanization, the process of negatively labeling a person or group of people so they become perceived more as objects than as real people. Dehumanization often is associated with the belief that a particular group of people is inferior or threatening.
The final step is demonization; the person or group is framed as totally malevolent, sinful, and evil. It is easier to rationalize stereotyping, prejudice, discrimination, scapegoating and even violence against those who are dehumanized or demonized...
We use the term scapegoating to describe the social process whereby the hostility and grievances of an angry, frustrated group are directed away from the real causes of a social problem onto a target group demonized as malevolent wrongdoers. The scapegoat bears the blame, while the scapegoaters feel a sense of righteousness and increased unity...
http://www.rightwingpopulism.us/overview.html#demons
3
Doesn't that also apply to demonizing working class whites, white men, white seniors?
2
Excellent piece. Thank you.
1
But few are looking at some of the root causes of Trump's hatred - except psychologists and psychiatrists who don't want to say anything for fear of being accused of diagnosing without the proper exam.
Trump has all the characteristics of several severe personality disorders. Look them up in the Mayo online system or the DSM5.
One of the general symptoms of severe Narcissism is that the person creates chaos in any system they are in - family, organization, hospital ward, business, church and now the political system that can't remove him until he loses a vote or is deemed unfit for office. None of his supporters and enablers will touch him.
He has to hate and put down everyone else to keep his ego from failing. The emotional hole in the middle of his heart and brain is huge and can never be filled.
3
I know the Central Park Jogger personally. She holds no vitriol in her heart towards those 5 young African-American men. In fact, it pains her that they served so much time in prison for a crime they did not commit. How ironic that Trump has more hate and vitriol in his heart than the victim in the attack.
10
I have not seen a more accurate assessment of what motivates Trump. It matters not how one feels about his policies, every human being should expect a minimum standard of decency from every other human being let alone the President of the United States. Trump fails this test every day. Thanks for this column. It makes plain what we are dealing with.
7
Well, given that I see not a single opposing viewpoint to that espoused by the author, I will contribute my own thoughts on this. Seems pretty clear that, in the Central Park jogger case, the wrong guys were convicted, and important and required legal procedures were not observed in prosecuting the case with a tragic outcome for the accused and the years they lost. It's unfortunate that our president has been unwilling to publicly say so. And yet, Trump, in the cited advertisement, clearly had some views more generally that were absolutely correct, and he expressed them rather eloquently and effectively. Recall that in the late 80's NYC was practically a war zone. My dad was knocked unconscious while getting off a subway one night, and his wallet was stolen. That kind of attack was real common back then. Enter Giuliani who decided it was time to take a hard-nosed approach to criminal activity (i.e. the approach advocated in the Trump ad). True, civil liberties were trampled on in some cases, and I don't take that lightly. But the result is that ordinary New Yorkers can walk around at essentially any hour of day or night and are unlikely to be hit with an implement about the head. That should, likewise, not be taken lightly.
5
I think the jury is out on what caused the steep drop in crime that occurred not only in NYC, but in major cities across the country over the last two decades. No doubt the waning of the crack epidemic was one factor.
Yes Trump did capture the fear, anger and frustration of many New Yorkers at the time, but he was way off base when he claimed that hatred and the death penalty were the answers to crime. And despite many predictions to the contrary, crime in NYC has continued to drop even with the end of stop and frisk and the other overly aggressive police practices introduced under Giuliani.
There are obviously a number of dimensions to the drop in crime in NYC and the US more generally, but I think there's ample evidence to demonstrate that Giuliani's policies had a lot to do with the drop in crime. Yes crime dropped throughout the US, but NYC crime dropped significantly faster (when Giuliani took office NYC crime rate was vastly in excess of the national average, and it was substantially beneath the national average when he left). I think it's pretty hard to see that data and reach the conclusion that tougher policing had nothing to do with it. The crack epidemic would also have likely been affected by tougher policing, which in turn led to less crime. The latter fact you've cited to regarding continuing lower crime rates following the removal of the Giuliani policies is interesting. Maybe it shows that there are more effective ways of policing that don't require trampling on civil liberties. Maybe it shows that hard-nosed policing isn't the right prescription when you have a generally law-abiding population. Another possibility is that, notwithstanding the policy of respecting civil liberties, police are continuing to trample on them to the same degree as they did during the Giuliani era. After all, it appears that the police don't always follow the rules.
That ad he took out back then, it must never be forgotten. The fact that it got forgotten once, twice... who knows how many times, is why we are where we're at today. A civil oligarchy by rule of law with a maniacal racist at the steering wheel.
Enough enabling those who use our sacred freedoms to surpass the people simply because their wealth and power give them platform to do so. Money should not equal 'more or better' speech. We must unite as a people, and stand up strong for what we believe in.
E pluribus unum.
4
I have never disliked a president even though I have disliked certain policies, even policies of those who I have voted for. I hate trump and wear it as a badge of honor
9
Mr. Blow makes some valid points but it sounds as if he hates Mr. Trump.
2
the doomsday clock and the clock on this presidency should be displayed side by side. the truly rotten people getting lifetime judgships, the disastrous impact of the withering of government regulation, the steady erosion of reputation in the eyes of the world, the alarming breakdown of ethics and morals. every second this subhuman is in this position counts. every second.
5
Bless you Blow, you give voice to Millions of us. Even before the election, your words cut across a darkening sky like the night's first star. You bring light to darkness.
10
Perfect column. Hatred and I want to add cruelty.
9
Depraved indifference. That is what this country will be judged guilty for some day.
8
Charles Blow and most people who replied have almost everything wrong!
E.g., some mention the trade war. They claim Trump started it. Who REALLY started the trade war? These were conditions before he became President.
1. The WTO (World Trade Organization) calculates overall averages that they call Simple Average MFN Applied Tariffs (usually their data is as of 2016) for almost all countries. Here are their results for China, the European Union, and the United States.
Average Tariffs
China 9.92%
EU 5.16%
U. S. 3.48%
2. Tariff on $30,000 car
China $7500 min (often much higher)
EU $3000
U.S. $750
Tariff on $50,000 car
China $12,500 (often much higher)
EU $5000
U.S. $1250
Tariff on $100,000 car
China $25,000 (often much higher)
EU $10,000
U.S. $2500
Also, in 2019, China plans to start shipping many better quality cars to the U.S. and elsewhere.
3. Trans-shipping to avoid tariffs/sanctions, IP theft, knock-off production, forced partners, etc. have been rampant for many years --- especially by China
4. Etc., etc., etc.
U.S. companies lose many hundreds of billions of dollars per year. The U.S. also loses many associated jobs.
There’s lots of talk about “level playing fields.” So, where are they? Trump is just about the only world leader who is trying to get them!
--
There is similar REAL evidence for many other topics including numerous types of corruption. Democrats/left-wingers are in massive denial of reality.
5
David - What does your little diversion have to do with the topic of the column and the several innocent men that Donald Trump wanted to execute?
6
Did you read the article? Mr. Blow is not wrong about the ads trump took out nor is he wrong about the lack of apology
3
The Buddhist Dhammapada says "Hatred never ceases by hatred. Hatred ceases only by love." I try to remember this when feelings too akin to hatred rise up within me towards Trump, for he is truly contemptible. It seems futile to try to love Trump, but perhaps this message can be applied to his ongoing, relentless attempts to divide our country. Somehow, we have to find a way to stay open to the possibility of forgiveness and reconciliation with "the base", for as President Obama reminded us in his 2004 address to the Democratic Convention, we are one people. Other more powerful forces will deal with Trump.
5
Energetic followers of the news are keenly aware of the effects of Trump's presidency and his influence on our system of government.
Namely, the effects are to expose the miscreant provisions and gaping omissions in American law that make the government vulnerable to takeover by an authoritarian president. First there is the Electoral College, which can appoint a president over the explicit objections of the majority. Next, there are the numerous gray areas in the separation of powers laws, which Trump is exploiting to extend his control over the law enforcement agencies, Congress, and the judiciary. Third, there is the nearly limitless legal power of clemency, which Trump is exploiting to reinforce his image of omnipotence and to buy loyalty among the electorate.
Trump is on the same trajectory that led to Hitler's totalitarian dictatorship. Many people dismiss the idea of dictator Trump as impossible in our system of checks and balances, even as he is evading them. I suppose many would say that not even Trump is possessed by Hitler's evil, psychopathic, "master race" hatred.
But Mr. Blow, you have described just one example of how hateful Trump really is. Consider now his attitude and actions toward illegal (Latin) immigrants, Muslims, and black men. Then ask yourself, where do we go if Trump is allowed to take over the Justice Department, to pardon himself, and if he gets more Nunes-style devotees in Congress?
I hope your spine is really resilient.
2
Thank you Charles for helping us stay strong.
You are a person of great value.
RW
6
It is not hatred that motivates. It is that he wants to see people suffer. In his heart there lies an overpowering cruelty. He likes to see people suffer, and he wants people to realize that is him that is making them suffer.
7
Thank you for sharing your resolve, Mr. Blow.
My upbringing and life's learnings teach me to choose love and purpose for our American community and earth, both which include many communities and many peoples. As they have for the ages, people have moved and migrated.
I do look forward to the days ahead when there is no djt as President.
5
Well said and I thank you Charles for sharing your source of strength! Thinking of my own shortcomings and contradictions... I often feel that the one thing I cannot tolerate is intolerance, and that one of the few things I allow myself to hate it hate itself. Because Trump embodies intolerance and hate, I must admit that I do truly hate him. I wish I could honestly say otherwise, but I cannot find it in my heart to not hate a man who I feel has no sense of morality or humanity. Do you, Mr Blow, hate Trump? If not, then how would you characterize your feelings toward him?
3
the thing that most gets me is leadership that refuses to admit failure or being wrong despite overwhelming evidence otherwise. Avoidance of truth is an attack on our sense of justice. Further disturbing are those who buy into that revealing either their own prejudice over truth, their ignorance, or their own knowingly maligned abuse of truth to gain power or wealth at the expense of civility, honor, justice and consequently in this case our humanity. It befuddles me to see so called Christians and Evangelicals signing on to this ruse of power by someone so demonstrable in his greed, corruption, lying, hate speech, name calling, abuse of women, other religions, ethnicities and anyone who does not follow his edict of self appointed provenance over anything even remotely reflective of the principals of Jesus or Democracy.
5
Mr. Blow, I think that, unfortunately for the world, your list of the objects of this president's hate is far too short. It seems increasingly clear that Trump hates everyone except those few who can be used as pawns in his insatiable quest for more power and money. And to those that continue to support him, I suggest that he hates and despises you too, for the ease with which he manipulates you.
6
I am rereading Aaron T. Beck's "Prisoners of Hate: the Cognitive Basis of Anger, Hostility and Violence". It is helpful to me, and I encourage others to read his work to understand the hate and divisiveness that surrounds us.
Sounds like you hate Donald Trump. Do you see no irony in that?
4
I don’t think there is any irony. Trump is one person and had said and done many hateful things.
If Mr. Blow expressed hatred for all white men, then we could talk about irony.
Methinks you are willfully not getting it.
Donald is a bitter old man that think everybody is idiots and he is the only one that understands the big picture. There are many like him, usually men above 60, that is the same. They sit and bang their fist on their kitchen table and curse everyone everywhere for making their life miserable. Trump is in a position where he is forced to meet people much smarter than him and he feels it. He feels his own incompetence and then the defense mechanism kicks in. He avoids those people and makes sure that people around him do not stir that unpleasant feeling of being inadequate.
It will only get worse.
8
I embrace hate. Hate inequality. Hate racism. Hate misogyny. Hate lies. Hate obfuscation. Hate gaslighting. Boy do I love voting.
6
Very effective piece.
1
We are too quick to react to the President's words, which often guts your arguments. While the President was flat wrong about the Central Park case, his statement that he "hates" rapists and muggers as a general proposition favorably resonates with many people who probably hate these violent criminals and have no problem incarcerating them for lengthy prison terms in the worst setting. When you argue against the President's statement about violent offenders, someone might draw the conclusion that you don't dislike these folks, or even may be sympathetic to them. Likewise his immigration stand is drawing political adversaries into the absurd position of arguing that illegal or undocumented aliens have an unqualified right to stay as if the Arizona desert was Plymouth Rock. There is this notion among some Democrats that if an illegal alien crosses our border--I am not speaking of political asylum applicants--they have somehow earned the right to stay regardless of federal immigration law. Such statements are equally absurd. The worst example of this linguistic jujitsu was the President's characterization of MS-13 gang members as "animals. Most folks agree with that statement. MS-13 is a ruthless organization that has no regard for human life. In San Francisco, a 16 year old member slaughtered three members of the Bologna family. However, the press, including the NYT, overreacted and incorrectly reported the comment as pertaining to all immigrants.
2
Mr. Blow speaks of news fatigue, and very frankly I feel fatigues but his editorials which has been incredibly boring and repetitive since Trump was elected. This piece, however, is different and very powerful.
2
Thank you for writing this. It is hard to read, but it explains much. Spine stiffened.
6
Thank you once again Mr. Blow for another insightful column.
I for one refuse to capitulate to the charging bully. But I have to admit, resisting & fighting back is exhausting & I'm sure there's more I can do to turn back the biggest mistake the American people ever made (we must accept collective blame even if we have staunchly opposed to this dangerous man & his agenda).
2
Thank you Charles. Yes, you can't just give up in the face of such evil that is this shallow and narcissist racist old man. And if decent men get tired of your defense of our human dignity in this diseased political environment, tell them to imagine themselves in our ( minorities of all kinds ) place. Of course, they don't know or really feel how bad it is out there because racists, by definition, do not hate their own kind.
Thank you, bro! So proud of you!
3
This is a painful period of history, and too many in this country are blinded by the dubious short-term economic gains being promised. It is both discouraging and frightening to see the narrowing of minds, the retreat from science, and the encouragement of mob think. Maybe we can't 'be best', but we can certainly be better.
3
I'm not convinced. For Donald to hate, he must experience emotion. I don't think he does. I think Donald is so insecure, so certain of his inferiority, that he must prevail over everyone, in every case, and every time. He must be the best.
Otherwise, he'd have to admit he lost. Being a loser doesn't fit his self-image and that fear drives him.
Besides, he likes headlines. Makes him feel important. He's so bourgeois.
Trump has always been a racist, a liar, self absorbed, and self aggrandizing. New Yorkers at-large become aware of him when he got on everyone’s radar in the ‘70s along with his father (and Nixon’s DOJ) for housing discrimination. He called the five teenagers arrested murders. Thankfully she did not die though it didn’t stop him from ‘alternative facts’ then as now. His impact now is greater his voice now heard round the world the bile and hatred is the same old Trump. As we acknowledge the 74th anniversary of D-Day. I remember speaking with Holocaust survivors growing up in 1930s Germany. Our current situation is all so beyond dangerous.
4
Charles,
Please keep writing and educating the public. Your words need to appear on the front page of The Times every day.
2
I'm weary too, but we all need to resist this creature in the White House. He will pay for what he has said and done, but it may take years of hounding the man with lawsuits and arrest warrants, in and out of office, making the remaining years of his life a miserable experience.
6
Yes, it is awful, disgusting, surrealistic, etc. etc., and I know this sound like a cliche, but history and great books like Elmer Gantry come around every so often to remind us that this too shall pass.
"The two most powerful warriors are patience and time."
Leo Tolstoy
Read a review from PBS nightly news https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19288767
1
A most excellent essay, Mr. Blow.
2
Allowing ourselves to hate Trump reveals not the weakness of him as a President, but our weakness as humans beings and Americans.
2
Trump's hatred credo has worked on me. I want Trump to die, with suffering in doing so. If we're lucky, the Ham-burglar will have a stroke after one of his Big Macs and be severely debilitated for the next decade or so, without the ability to commit suicide, while having an undocumented nurse's aide providing his day-to-day care.
I realize that schadenfreude on my part is wrong, but as I said above, Trump's hatred credo has worked on me just not in the way he would desire.
5
This is how awful Trump is, I've had the same thoughts as you. Imagining different scenarios that would put an end to the daily storms that cause actual nightmares and I wake up exhausted.
Mussolini ruined lives and his country, I thought hanging him upside down publically was inhumane. Presently I understand the rage the Italians had towards him and why those people chose that route.
what is important to remember is trump's inundation of lies etc. through the media. we cannot forget the fact that he, as blow suggests, is everywhere, every day, every minute on the news. sadly, it makes no difference that he is the most blatant liar, the slimiest president ever. what he does so tragically effectively is put his name in front of the public all the time.
there is no question that he is the worst of the worst, but he is always there front and center.
5
What exactly is it that draws roughly 40% of the country to view this man as their saviour?
9
OK. Trump took out an ad accusing five people for a crime they did not commit, and did not apologize when he was proven wrong. He had no official role in sending them to prison. He is evil.
Todays liberal darling, supposedly a man of impeccable character, morals and honesty, actually hounded and sent innocent people to prison in his official capacity, and did not apologize when he was proven wrong. That would be Mr Mueller.
Why the double standard Mr. Blow? Who are you more afraid of being wrong, a private person or the head of the FBI?
3
America is cursed by having a con man, scam artist, and pathological liar with peculiar talents as its president. Trump's talents are in bullying, cheating, lying, and projecting fear, resentment, and hatred. He painted Obama in the blackest colors as someone who had faked his birth certificate, was not an American citizen, and had not earned his educational credentials. But Trump never learned to read or spell or become familiar with any policy issue. Trump held out Hillary Clinton as the most corrupt politician in American history. But Trump had run a recent scam (Trump University), his campaign relied on Russian interference, and Jared Kushner gets money in exchange for politicking, while his Cabinet is the most corrupt ever. Trump delights his base each time he attacks decency and honor and another target group (black athletes, Hispanics, the traditional media): They love the charge of adrenaline and feel a rush of energy against the hated "liberals", Democrats, and progressives. Meanwhile, Trump hopes to strengthen his prospects of survival when more revelations and indictments shake his hold on the White House.
4
DJT is a mirror, and will reflect back whatever it is we say about him that gets him headlines. Every time you write about DJT, and what an evil person he is, that reality grows. At the end of your day, which wolf are you going to feed? The fear or the love?
1
I appreciate Blow's piece and the many thoughtful comments that follow. I'll keep my $0.02 brief.
1) Living in the liberal bubble of the SF Bay area, and being blissfully unaware of Alex Jones' existence, I had no idea of the craziness so many people in our country choose to believe. A NYT article about Drumpf supporters shortly before the election opened my eyes and frightened me a little, although not nearly enough as it turns out.
2) After the election, it was almost exhilarating to hate Drumpf and revel in each new outrage, knowing his time had to be short. But hate is irrelevant and even damaging in this long fight. Con artist, fraud, tinpot dictator, deeply damaged human being -- we waste our energy "hating" him and his enablers. To echo many of the comments, we must simply resist, over and over again, as long as necessary, the wrongs that are being done.
4
Good to know - though we should not say that we hate trump fact is I truly do and he has never been my President. Also he is guilty of being a conman and other crimes apparently. So let's lock him up.
2
"I have seen American flowers all across this land
From the banks of the Shenandoah, along the Rio Grande
Do not fear the winter blowing in the hearts of men
I have seen American flowers they will bloom again"
- Birds of Chicago
3
The outpouring of care and concern that Mr. Blow's article engenders is heartening. When I think that I can't take anymore, reading the thoughtful comments of readers is therapy. It gives me courage to continue my personal efforts to resist Mr. Trump's unpleasant, divisive, unethical and untruthful words and actions.
4
Thank you for your words. This is to date the best piece I've read on our president. The bad news - that he is our president. The good news - that he is helping to flush to the surface all that is festering beneath the skin in our hopefully evolving nation - so that we can begin to heal it.
7
"That’s the plan, I suspect. Trump is operating on the Doctrine of Inundation. He floods the airwaves until you simply give up because you feel like you’re drowning."
This is proved by his entire life of sowing confusion then picking pockets while everyone is looking up. Metaphorically of course though if he could I am sure he would pick pockets.
2
A brilliant analysis of the heart of a monster.
2
Powerful and beautifully written. You have stiffened my spine as well. Thank you Mr. Blow.
6
Mr. Blow is definitely on to something. I chalked -up Trump's despicable behavior to narcissism and greed fueled by insecurity and low-esteem. Trump at his core does not believe that he measures up to what be believes makes a man successful. Not what makes a man good and descent, but what makes a man respected as measured by materialism. I have no reasonable doubt that he is not as wealthy as he claims. He surrounds himself with tributes to his material wealth. Magazine covers with his name or likeness. His real estate development business morphed into a licensing operation because lending institutions determined that he was a credit risk. He now, or did, start selling his name to adorn the property of successful real estate developers. Now that he has been exposed for the man he is, his name will not have the value it once claimed. When he moved his operation from Queens to Manhattan, he was shunned by the so-called top tier, elite. He started to say and do the outrageous in an effort to stand out. He even took on another persona (Baron) to act as his own publicist and cheat his way onto the Forbes' list of wealthy citizens. So, Mr. Blow's hate analysis could be correct in regard to Trump's self-loathing. Whatever hate that Trump expresses starts with himself. If he was not such an offensive human being, one could almost feel... "Naw !!!", not even...
2
For a long while, I assumed it was the blunt and self righteousness of "New Yorkers" when Trump opened his mouth. Now I am more than convinced my stereotype must be limited to one man. Perhaps his upbringing that made this man so warped in his thought process. Spare us; 2020 can't come any time soon.
3
How true...but how depressing. I wish it had the effect of stiffening my spine, but it simply brings me to a point of despair. I feel like I'm trying to reach Mordor with a pack of Orcs at my heels.
3
Thanks,Mr Blow
I fear for my two grand-daughters, 8 and 10 years old. I'm old, in
my 9th decade. When I was born,1934, our country was in the middle of a great depression. We are now in the middle of a great
emotional depression. Somehow we got out of the great depression; (although there are Republicans who still think Rosevelt was wrong). My grand-daughters generation will have to devise some method to bring brightness to their lives, else a future of incredible hate awaits everyone, a country torn apart.
6
Yes, Mr. Blow, my thoughts exactly.....
4
Trump and Bannon based their campaign on "turning up the hate." Now though, Trump and the Republicans are linked at the hip. The hate monger has become the party leader.
8
"Trump is operating on the Doctrine of Inundation. He floods the airwaves until you simply give up because you feel like you’re drowning."
This is also how I feel about the ""Russia" investigations. There have been so many charges, counter-charges, accusations, opinions, etc. flung against the proverbial wall that the average person can't keep up with which ones have been dropped, discounted, shelved, or are still in play. It's baffle 'em with inundation and make lot's of money while doing it.
2
About 19 people have been indicted already, and several have pled guilty.
This is a real investigation, of real crimes, and it will continue until every suspect has been charged.
If you're tired of it, turn the dial.
3
Thank you Charles Blow. Your writing is always a bracing balm. A moment of validity and truth. I have long thought that Trump is a sadist: a person who derives pleasure from inflicting pain or humiliation on others. I'm sure his grade school teachers can speak to this. He was undoubtedly the child pulling wings off flies at recess. How a sadist was allowed to become president of the United States is an issue of reckoning for its people.
9
There are two separate and distinct issues presented here, and they are being unjustly linked into a single narrative. One issue is Mr. Trump's refusal to admit that these men are innocent and to acknowledge that there was an injustice done to them. That is unforgivable itself, and is part of the "never wrong" mentality of the man.
The other issue is his statements after these men were convicted. I have no problem with hating people who rape, mug, and attempt to murder innocent people, and these men were convicted of that. The convictions were in error, but there was no way to know that at the time. It is not, in my opinion, unreasonable to assume guilt after a conviction, and to react on that basis. "I want to hate these murderers and I always will. I am not looking to psychoanalyze or understand them, I am looking to punish them" is not a bad thing, except for the fact that as it turned out these were not murderers. Nonetheless, remove 'these' from the statement and I, and many others, will fully support it.
1
Trump is the product of a thirty year right wing propaganda focus on stoking 'rage and hate" as a motivator for cynical political action. Unfortunately for the cynical manipulators trump stole their punch bowl at the last minute because like the "Little Painter" before him in the 1930's...he is a far better at harnessing those energies and re-purposing them toward dark ends.
Now we have the scene in "Fantasia" where Micky Mouse as the "Sorcerer's Apprentice" (to the wise and masterful magician) summons the mops and buckets to do his work for him and chaos soon emerges as the mops run amok and threaten to flood and destroy the castle.
Who will step forward to confront the madness and get the mops and buckets under control?
7
Don't miss Trump's new reality show which is slowing unfolding.
It's called Celebrity Pardons.
5
I, for one, hate Donald Trump. Mr. Blow has cited many reasons to. There are others, plenty of others.
4
"I hate you!" -- the frequent exclamation of a frustrated young child. Even with so much damage needing to be undone by Trump's successors, I am still curious what has caused this psychotic break, probably early in Trump's life. It is sad for him and even sadder for the millions he is endangering every minute of every day.
Thanks, CB, for this piece.
9
It truly amazes me to hear a Trump supporter praise him for being a man of God....I do not see anything of the kind.. He is too rude, hate loving, and just a truly awful person for God to have anything to do with his actions.
8
Bravo, Mr. Blow! I needed this Op-Ed. I am exhausted and deeply fearful of what Trump is doing to our country. Hatred is at Trump's core: in himself and in evoking it in others. Listening to the words of Robert Kennedy yesterday, reminded me of how far we have drifted since he and Dr. King were assassinated in 1968. In spite of the disgrace and pain of this presidency, maybe we can, as Kennedy quoted Aeschylus, find wisdom through the awful grace of God.
11
I will never understand why the democrats did not use the CP5 incident to show his pure documented racism over and over. If those boys had been white and going to Columbia they would have all been innocent right out of the box.
2
What has been most stunning to me about the ascendancy of Trump and the Republicans of Hate is to what extent our past successes as a country relied upon a common agreement that our system, flawed though it may be at times, was its own protection, this being the genius of the founding fathers. But when someone like Trump comes along and openly scorns the system and its processes, and a very significant portion of our nation's people cheer him for it, well, it seems the system wasn't strong enough after all. And if he is successful, then we'll end up with exactly what the framers of the constitution abhorred above all else: a king. Or at least, a petty dictator.
2
Trump alone is a theatrical crank, but Trumpism is a dangerous epidemic. Unfortunately for the GOP, it's the illness they'll carry forward after this terrible mistake is over. Their future candidates and policies reflect Trump's shameless fanaticism, anti-factuality, spite, insecurity, and vindictiveness. He's their truth now.
America better figure a few things out, and fast:
1. Their jingoism doesn't make them American, doesn't empower them to speak for America, and doesn't reflect the facts of what and who are truly America. They are secessionists.
2. They will fight the nation any way they can, out of defeated pride. They'll take America down before they admit they have been wrong.
3. They will not, and never ought to, be accommodated. Concessions to their cruelty and ignorance are unnecessary and unworthy of the nation.
All the means to make this defeat permanent are in the hands of Americans already, and politics is only one medium for securing the victory. We can compete ruthlessly and win against it in the economy, in our social practices, our companies, our churches, and our pocketbooks.
Trumpism is a 21st century reiteration of the Lost Cause of the Confederacy. It is the revisionism of reality in real time, and like the original version is it romantic, false, and doomed. Our fight is to end it once and for all, to make sure it never again stalks the corridors of power and commerce, to hear its dog whistle and argue it away, and to marginalize its champions.
6
"Some people will never admit that they are wrong, even when they are as wrong as sin."
I would say that sums up today's Republican Party who sit complicit in this swamp.
6
You hit the nail on the head. SAD! America, what has happened to us?
4
The Pretend King Trump always hated everyone not on his side, this is no news. People give him too much credit for having the intelligence to manipulate crowds or his base. The people behind this assault on us are the real manipulators. They use him as their puppet to issue their hateful message. They are part of his cabinet and in Congress. We are being tested. The good news, we have been here before and our government has continued. Numbers do matter and those of us who understand this attack on us will make a huge statement in Nov 2018 elections and beyond. We have seen the many loopholes these corrupt officials have exploited to propel their agenda and we will make sure that the next Congress close those holes and the President can no longer have King like power. Each day that goes by we fight on until the Pretend King Trump and his cowardly minions are in prison or leave our country.
4
I think Charles Blow has hit on a winning issue for Democrats: Trump is the most divisive leader ever, and we are sick of these divisions. We want to be united as a country. Trump is only president to a minority of people. Whether you think the President is corrupt or not, almost every one of his personal tweets and statements is designed to tweak the "losers". He is never out of combat, but he doesn't fight for us - only for himself and some privileged minority.
By the way, that combat fatigue that 7/10 people feel, which cause them to dread the news ... I almost canceled my newspaper subscription. I thought about it briefly, but I realized that the chronology of when things happen is important. Social media is very dizzying with not just fake news, but articles that are months or years old posted in a topical mishmash. It is good to have at least a small corner of the day where you know this is what just happened. It leaves you grounded in reality ... takes away a degree of freedom that contributes to the sense of ground shifting in social media.
2
The 45th President is using 3 very powerful psychological engines to divide Americans : Frustration, Anger and Fear.
They are the exact antithesis of what Unites States of America stands for : Freedom, Democracy, Respect of Human Rights.
It is very sad and frightening to see this happening not only in America but also in Europe : Still, we can overcome this situation by using empathy and democracy as the antidotes to selfishness and violence.
4
Sorry, everyone - Donald Trump is just a symptom, not the disease itself. We all blame him for all he is and for all he represents - but he is just a creature of a declining society. Like all empires, the U.S. was made by warring and pillaging, then selling its goods to a world destroyed. This worked for a good few decades; alas, like all past empires it became fat and lazy, blaming others - all of them - for its decline. Trump is just a condensed version of who we became - so don't blame the messenger, start looking at the mirror.
Yet as an immigrant who loves this country of endless ability to reinvent itself - I know we will overcome decline and its messengers. This too shall pass, just have faith in the innate capability of this country to make itself better. The rest of the world actually knows about it - it's time we start believing as well.
3
It seems hateful rhetoric , is very much part of our society now . Gone the niceties of civility and thoughtful conversation ; further deepening the divide in America . This has been a long time coming ; when the man sitting in the White House , becomes a bad boy model for some Americans who accept and celebrate this gross example . What is there to say ?? We have a lot of work to do , and undo what Trump has wrought and brought about . This definitely has not made America great but rather brought us low , and yes his constant hateful , divisive , barrage is exhausting . One can only stick to what is true , right , and persist in fighting this abomination by not giving in .
5
Unfortunately, the problem is not simply that trump hates. His message of hate - specifically, hating "the other", be they of darker skin, different nationalities and cultures, other social or economic classes, or opposing political affiliations - resonates with millions, and energizes them in their own hatred. And it's causing many of us, with good reason, to hate them back. More than anything else, it's this tribal, us vs. them mentality that's tearing our country apart.
How do we extricate ourselves from it? How can we create the sense of national unity that's necessary for our survival when we can't even have a meaningful dialogue? Voting Democrats back into power, while critical in the short term, is not the ultimate solution. All it does is tip the see-saw back the other way, leaving Republicans feeling disenfranchised and resentful. In fact, it's really the two-party system, itself, that's the source of the divide. And it's got the country in a stranglehold.
Unless we can produce independent leaders capable of speaking to people on all points of the spectrum - effectively making the the partisan divide obsolete - I fear that, short of a national catastrophe, we will continue on our current spiral toward dissolution.
3
As a northern neighbour, Trump does not surprise me one bit. I have always viewed America and its' foreign policies as being hateful towards the rest of the world. Always.
Under any president or party America has done anything it wanted to defend its' corporate interests. I have never seen America act on the best of democratic intentions. It is always self-centred and concerned with rich Americans getting richer.
Prop up a dictator? Sell guns? Smother a civic uprising? Invade? Bomb? Anything is okay if it keeps America rich. Trump is the latest incarnation of the ugly American, but hardly the first.
3
I think you're ignoring the Marshall Plan. I don't remember Canada helping put Japan, Germany and the rest of Europe back on a solid footing after World War II.
1
And this is the man, with his stated desire to hate, who has won the allegiance of the evangelical community? We’ll never drain this swamp of irony, not in our lifetimes, anyway.
5
Thank you, Mr. Blow, for an insightful and motivating column. We are in your debt!
3
My problem is I hate trump. I mean viscerally unlike any hate I've ever experienced before. And I know it's not good for my soul. I also grow weary of the daily onslaught of news. But it fuels my hate. I hope it ends soon.
9
"[Trump] always disguises his hatred, often as a veneration and defense of his base, the flag, law enforcement or the military. He hijacks their valor to advance his personal hatred." No one's ever said this better. Thanks, Charles.
4
At the last presidential election, I remember my husband asking me why I would not vote for Trump. I replied that he foments hate. Thank you Mr. Blow. You validated my assertion.
5
If we are honest, we probably can admit that we have all been there. There are moments when we hate. That is human. What we do with that feeling is one of the things that defines morality. But to admit it also allows reflection, and to understand what is at the root of it.
I think we start with self hatred. Not that we are all nuts. But we all have moments of doubt. There are things we don't like about ourselves and we do our best to be better. There are some things that are really difficult to master, and perhaps we hate that part of ourselves. I am not sure.
But if I am right, Trump is filled with self hatred. I suspect it is intolerable. Because he has not been taught to do better, or even try, he is frustrated with himself and turns that hatred to everyone he meets, knows of, or is told of. And so, yes, he does want to hate. It is his only choice.
Why did we elect such damaged goods? I don't know. But I know this: We can do better.
3
Agreed, I do get "political news fatigue" since Trump was elected, but I never forget how much I HATE him.
4
Thank you, Charles, for a well written opinion article. I have a suggestion that I would like to float out there - let's stop giving Trump his power by not reporting on his tweets. Every tweet gives this man what he wants - attention. Let's immobilize him by not spreading his hate. Let's instead work together to try to undue the harm this man has done to this country by justifying hate. Let's instead focus our attentions on positive change, coexisting at a minimum or better yet learning about each other's differences and finding our common ground. Yes, there will always be reason to disagree with someone else's view. Let's try to understand that view and see if we can find common ground.
Excellent piece (as always). A poignant and, obviously, personally inspired reminder of why we must not tire. We must not normalize. We must not accept. We must resist this man's toxic words and deeds until he is gone.
4
I agree with Mr. Blow that many of us are experiencing "news fatigue" and feeling like we want to "give up" under Trump. But I would argue that Trump is just one reason for this. The bigger reason is that many of us now feel powerless, as our elected officials -- in BOTH major parties -- drift further and further from relevance to our daily lives. Since those major parties are our only choices, we logically feel more and more powerless.
3
There must be a tipping point when our feckless Congress no longer supports our hate-spewing President. Will it be when their voters realize that their taxes are not lowered or their jobs are not coming back? Will it be when our country is so isolated from trade wars that our economy takes a dip? Will it be when the blue wave scares them into standing up to him to save their own jobs? Perhaps, in a perfect world, their collective conscience will encourage them to stand up against hatred and bigotry, to have empathy for those less fortunate, to treasure people of all colors and faiths, and, yes, to finally be examples of true patriotism. I have very little hope that this dream will come true.
There must be a tipping point when our feckless Congress no longer supports our hate-spewing President.
4
I disagree that Trump has planned to overwhelm us with news so that we give up. I concede that he tries to divert our attention from stories about his lies and turpitude, but, fundamentally, Trump is a person who needs as much attention as he will get. He has no scruples about doing or saying anythign that will get it, and he revels in it when it comes, just like a bully in a classroom taking over the class. Our job, as citizens, is to push forward with the right public agenda, and not to give him attention unless our cause requires it.
4
Because this evil man has succeeded in opening the Pandora's Box of hate , he has given permission to his believers to speak the hate out loud. I am horrified but maybe we needed to be reminded of the unseen treachery simmering below the surface of our polite society. We have always relegated these groups to the sidelines, but now they are front and center and marching, torches in hand, through one of the most beloved college campuses in America. Trump is their champion and enabler. We must fight him and the hate he has unleashed with everything in our power. Our souls and the soul of our country are at stake. We must take our country back.
6
Charles:
Thank you for this article. It is a life preserver to a drowning person as all I can think as I read the day's news is "I really hate Donald Trump and all he is doing". Hate is not a good place to be and not something anyone should "want".
6
Just look at him, listen to him; he would make a perfect villainous king on Game of Thrones; but kings get deposed and worse all the time on GOT.
There's hope for us all.
4
Great article:
"Luke don't give in to the dark side."
It is obvious who has given into the dark side which is hate.
5
This piece is as powerful as it is insightful. Thank you Mr. Blow.
3
It's dangerous to say what someone else believes unless you have spent a lot of time with that person and truly know them. I don't know if Trump really hates people of color, immigrants and Muslims. However, he certainly seems fine with exploiting them, stoking the hate that already exists and using it for his benefit. I think this is far worse than hating someone.
5
The deluge of coverage of 45, his tweets and harangues, can be crushing but the straw that breaks the camel's back is the gutless or fawning majority of the Republican congress. They were elected to protect the country and its people. They should be our power to control this despot but we know the end of that story. Like Essau they traded their inheritance for a mass of political pottage. That's what really makes me tired. We can't go into the WH, pick this despot up, and show him the door. They could and they won't. Still, your article revives me Mr. Blow and I'll march on with ballot in hand raising and my voice when possible.
2
How strange that a man who would rush to proclaim himself a "Christian" is so enamored of hatred, almost as his vivifying force. Of course, etymologically, "vivifying" should be replaced with "mortifying", but sometimes usage has distorted etonym. In any case, Jesus's wise caution endures: those who live by the sword will die by the sword---and "sword" is obviously a metaphor for hatred.
2
No more needs to be said about Trump. Trump is a vile and hateful man.
A framed hallway picture of fake "President" Trump in a government building in Greensboro, NC, is the sour face of an angry hateful Trump. His frowned eyebrows exude revenge, oozing out of the picture frame. Next to Trump is the smiling face of the Democratic Governor of North Carolina Roy Cooper.
Trump is the ultimate disgrace to our country. If his picture survives in future hallways, it will remind all Americans of this horrible time.
4
There is a video from a 2016 campaign rally in Denver where Trump is confessing what is in his heart:
“Look, we have the greatest business people in the world and we don’t use them. We use political hacks. Some of these business people are not nice people. Who cares? You care? I don’t think so. Some of these business people are vicious, horrible, miserable human beings. Who cares? Who cares?” he repeated, muttering.
Then Trump began to scream.
“Some of these people, they don’t sleep at night! They twist, and turn, and sweat!” he cried, twisting his hand furiously, “and their mattress is soaking wet! Because they’re thinking all night about victory the next day against some poor person that doesn’t have a chance.”
His eyes flashing with panic, Trump kept going.
“And these people – unfortunately, I know them all,” he laughed bitterly. “These people would love to represent us against China, against Japan, against all of these countries…These people. They feel crazy! They feel angry!
https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4733363/trump-unhinged
4
Your missing Trumps point .. he is saying that the politicians who represent us in trade deals are basically over their heads.. we need to use our business people ( sharks ) - who make a living negotiating .. " real killers" the types that stay up all night - sharpening their knives .. ( sweating in their beds etc)..
2
How would he know about all that twisting, turning, and wet mattresses? It sounds like rather intimate knowledge. Is it clear about whom he is talking? I think so.
1
Thanks for offering focus.
3
I think it is okay to hate murderers. Probably the only people who don't hate them
are people who have never had any family members murdered.
4
Of course, but you missed Mr. Blow's point: the people were convicted wrongfully - they were NOT murderers. Yet Donald Trump hated them anyway, because he cannot tell the truth from fiction.
4
AMEN, Brother Blow!
Well said, well backed up, and thanks for the remedy as well.
5
I, too, feel inundated by the daily disgraces and outrages perpetrated by trump and his enablers. It has reached a level where I find it hard to sleep at night, so wound up I get. So I have decided to limit my "news time" to one time slot a day, in the morning. I am turning down the tap of trump drizzle.
But I am NOT forgetting or ignoring! - I am simply resting from things which, at the moment, I cannot effect. But I will be at the polls in November, and I will not forget! I suspect there are many like me, and we will vote! We will end the hate and the corruption and the incompetence.
3
Trump's stoking of hatreds towards groups of people that -combined - make up the majority of Americans and the Mueller investigation also aid Trump in his corruption. Feel like looking into China's payment to the Trump Org and Trump's overriding national security concerns re ZTE? Wanna look into that now burned, never occupied hotel in Azerbaijan that Trump seems to have built as part of a money laundering scheme on behalf of the then sanctioned Iranian Revolutionary Guard? Or other schemes involving corrupt actors in Russia, Qatar, or Saudi Arabia? Up for any law and order? No? Too tired?
One reason children become spoiled brats is that they wear their parents down, especially if one is disinclined to do any of the work. In America, we have one of the world's oldest and nastiest spoiled brats whose behavior is enabled by indifferent Congressional Republicans.
3
trump has deep-seated psychological issues that make him behave as he does. He was not bred to have empathy or intellectual curiosity and hasn't a clue how to serve the public. He thinks we serve him, and for that reason alone must be removed from office, even if it requires force.
4
I'm halfway through Jon Meacham's very timely book, "The Soul of America - the Battle for our Better Angels". I highly recommend it. Our history has been a stormy one at times, and we have survived and salvaged our country through more chaotic times than we are suffering from right now. However, it doesn't appear there has been a more pathological immoral, lying, narcissistic, mysogynistic, emotionless, ill-prepared president than our current one. We must survive and be relentless in pursuing "our better angels."
2
Some people DO enjoy hating people different to themselves – I think it enables them to define themselves – Theresa May said that ‘If you believe you are a citizen of the world, you are a citizen of nowhere.’ Not foreseeing Mrs May, Einstein is said to have called himself a citizen of the world. (Einstein established the invariant speed of light in his head in 1905. Mrs May lost the Conservative party its parliamentary majority in 2017.)
2
What is most concerning about the deadly accurate portrayal by Mr Blow of our current President, is what it says about our countries hatreds and shame and blame culture. This a wildly depressing mirror of our ugly selves. One we never wanted to see or have been revealed, but one that Mr Blow now so eloquently reminds us we must see in the mirror everyday, no matter how disfiguring it may appear.
What to do next has always been the dilemma. At least the first step is now clear. Don't turn away.
2
The root of discourage is courage. What is needed when we are overwhelmed is to summon our courage. The word courage comes from the French, their word for heart. We must tend to our hearts to deal with all the hatred this administration is pouring out. Mr. Blow has given us the answer--to fight evil, work towards the good.
2
And, Trump HATES science. That DNA testing proved him wrong remains meaningless. Trump sees his defiance of science as a lethal weapon against all those who do not "look like me." It is the very ploy he uses to entice & enlist the Creationists.
Science is Tump's enemy, too. He HATES it because it exposes untruths & injustice.
3
I've had many friends say they've stopped watching the news because they're sick of this man. That alarms me terribly as I have felt the same way, but I know if I stop watching he wins. NO WAY!
4
Writing after the First World War, Jerome K. Jerome believed hatred was the most influential human emotion.
That seems a bit overly pessimistic but a lot of people DO enjoy hating people different to themselves – I think it enables them to define themselves.
Trump seems to represent the haters and their beliefs quite well.
5
Thank you, Mr. Blow. These are indeed troubling, terrifying, deeply disturbing and yes, exhausting times, but we need voices like yours now more than ever before. Keep speaking out, and know that so many of us are with you. This administration is hateful, and the horrible man at the head of it is even worse. The fish rots from the head, as they say, and this particular fish has been rotten for a very long, long time. Keep writing, Mr. Blow. We cannot permit Trump's "personal hatred" to become the language, creed, and cadence of this country.
2
Thanks again Charles Blow. This is a very important piece as you are addressing the world´s already blooming Trump fatigue. Horrifically for the USA but sensibly most countries and companies are of course making long range plans without counting on the USA. I was just speaking with a US based food group about partnerships with producers of gourmet products here in Mexico and unfortunately we here cannot count on the stability of the US market, laws, import/export policies under Trump. So fools and no-nothings who thought they were voting for a "businessman" in the king of casino bankruptcies actually got a guy driving international business away from the USA, hurting yet again their own prospects. Fools flock to fascists.
2
He wants to hate "murderers." He's not saying he enjoys hating in the abstract -- just that there are certain criminals who should be despised from the deepest depths of the hearth for what they have done.
The kind of intellectual dishonesty conveyed by the headline of this story has sadly become typical of this newspaper.
4
A reflexive instinct to hate is exactly what the piece is about and what the headline captures. A reflexive instinct to HATE. In all caps. Further thought about. Dwelled on. And published. And, no regret that he was wrong. That the hate was misdirected. The man is mean. The accusation of being a hater rings true. That it doesn’t stop at brutal murderers rings true. HATE is not a leg to support justice of any kind. It’s just...hate.
1
During these months of the Trump administration we have spent countless hours trying to understand the way he thinks and the way he operates. It's been exhausting but I've come to the realization that you cannot reason with someone who doesn't care about anything other than himself and money. He just doesn't care. So I have stopped caring about him and am focusing on trying to do my part to fix the parts of our system that allowed him to get elected in the first place.
We need to petition congress to enact tighter rules around the money that pours into our campaigns. Every Citizen should require of their local voting polls evidence of secure and up to date voting machines. Make sure ahead of time that there are enough machines. Get out and organize around uniform local primary and election rules. Try to introduce a non-partisan committee instead of local pols to control the logistics around voting. etc. etc.
I feel better trying to do something positive than focusing on the losing cause of fixing this president. It just can't be done. but the future has to be better.
4
Thank you for this clarity - of this challenge, of our calling: I love that we are free to share in this press these truths. I love the craft you develop, the care you have, your wise understanding of all you witness; the American faith you demonstrate in our manifest destiny for a better world of free peoples.
I have recently withdrawn some, a moment for a breath or two - no more: now is the time for our relentless defense and advocacy of this American Dream:
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity... "
1
As always Mr Blow, spot on and we all MUST keep fighting, resisting, persisting and voting democrat! I remember telling someone before the election when they asked (a so called "pro life", almost single issue voter) how do I know what to do? I answered "what bothers me most right now is all the hate. Especially when it comes from a presidential candidate" (so called in his case).
Hate was the unifying voice in the red hat crowd, and still is. When they were shrieking "lock her up" and he was inciting violence towards a former Secretary of State and senator (last time I checked that would have prompted a serious visit from the secret service) it was clear al, they know how to do is hate. It's high time we threw every unethical corrupt grifting know-nothing bunch of idiots in the WH and this clown car of an administration and try to right the sinking titanic they've created. Vote Democrat!!!
1
When will people wake up?
Trump is a master at what Goebbels did in the 1930's. Lie, lie, and then lie some more...until the Lie.. is the Truth.
The flood of lies drowns out the truth. And the Liar-in-Chief becomes the master of the universe.
Wake up, America!! Before it is too late....
6
This article (sadly) captures perfectly my feelings regarding not only Trump's blackened heart but our collective response to it, and the danger ahead if we allow Trump's everyday awfulness to anesthetize our ability to respond forcefully to his latest outrages. Just two nights ago an old buddy of mine and I were having a beer and talking, and of course the subject came around to Trump as it had many times over the past couple years. We half-heartedly discussed the latest Russia investigation news and the Philadelphia Eagles and what a general disaster is Trump, but we both seemed exhausted by it and didn't have anything new or particularly enlightening to say because we both sensed it had already been said, to no end. All we could do was shrug our shoulders and empathetically agree Trump is awful on some existential level that all humans should be able to concur with, and moved on to another topic. It was like we both just felt outrage fatigue and ran out of gas having the "What the hell are we going to do about it?" discussion one more time. That is perhaps Trump's greatest victory - he is somehow normalizing the completely not normal and is just waiting us all out until we give up. I don't intend to ever give up!
3
thank you Charles Blow. I need a spine stiffener that will still allow me the flexibility to listen to others. I need to not want to hate while fighting evil. It's a challenge and you have helped.
3
As despicable as Trump's choice to hate is his thirst for vengeance against those who cross him.
1
"...Through violence you may murder a hater, but you can't murder hate. Darkness cannot put out violence. Only light can do that. And so I say to you, I have also decided to stick to love. For I know that love is ultimately the only answer to mankind's problems. And I am going to talk about it everywhere I go."
--Martin Luther King, Jr.
6
The man is a toxic human being. He poisons the spirit of all who fall into his orbit. He is driven by hate, anger and self loathing turned into narcism. At his core he knows he is a malformed human and covers it with layers of grandiosity, aggression and violence. That he appeals to so many people tells us how whole populations can be driven to do evil things. He is the worst thing to befall America in its history and may be the death of the nation as it was envisioned.
2
He wants to hate and likes to lie. And he's the President of the US. Help us all.
2
Beautifully written and articulate, thank you, Mr. Blow.
The hate that Trump has brought to the surface has always been there, it is now just bubbling to the surface and showing its ugly head. This country deserves better, our children deserve better. Let's get to work, people. We must push our representatives to represent. We can't be known as the people who sat down and watch this happened, not on our watch!
US politics is awash in corruption, lies and self-serving actors--not to mention just plain stupidity--on both sides of the aisle, it always has been. Never admit your most egregious misdeeds, backtrack, take money from big business at the expense of those you were elected to serve, the list goes on. Trump, however, has dragged us down to a new low, no need to rehash any of that here. Along with his duties as "president" Trump should consider dipping back into his reality TV roots with a new show: Trump's Got Talent To Kick You In The Teeth And Make You Like It. I'm sure he can figure how to make that play well with his base which has hardened into something close to a cult bent on destroying itself. For the rest of us? We can sit back and watch the fun or fight against him and his revolting henchmen and women.
I know who Trump is. I once worked on his behalf as an associate in a law firm. He comes from hate, thinks only about himself and his own wealth, is increditably ignorant, will cheat anyone if given the opportunity and is a habitual liar. Knowing that, I never listen to him. There is no good in it because there is nothing good within him. And by tuning him out while never forgetting that he is a constant threat to our democracy, I can calmly focus EVERY DAY on what I can do to resist and fight for a democratic America for all of us.
8
Charles stop the hate. Take a breath. Think back 20 months. I know you have some disagreements with 45. But, how did he get here? Since no one ever gives him credit for winning, let us turn the page.
.
From JSonline, "Clinton lost badly here in the Democratic primary against independent U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and never returned to the state. Her planned June 2016 appearance in Green Bay with then-President Barack Obama was scratched in the wake of the shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando."
.
From Politico, "David Axelrod said that although Hillary Clinton has a “legitimate beef” with FBI Director James Comey, Comey is not responsible for the mistakes of her campaign. "Jim Comey didn't tell her not to campaign in Wisconsin after the convention," said Axelrod, who served as former president Barack Obama's adviser, on CNN on Wednesday. "Jim Comey didn't say 'don't put any resources into Michigan until the final week of the campaign.'"
3
We can say all we want about the vile misogynist now occupying the WH- and nobody says it better than Charles Blow- but what disturbs me is the great hate and suspicion of the Other reflected in his supporters and the millions of those who voted for him. Somehow this crook, who had to pay a huge fine because of the people defrauded by his fake university, had and still retains amazing appeal for many of us. George Wallace lives!
3
I now live in "the heartland" of central Wisconsin. My take on Trump is so much deeper and different than those around me because I grew up in Northern NJ in the 70's/80's/90's and remember the Central Park 5 story very well. Out here, you get a ton of "yeah...well...he's getting things done" but for me, the level of personal disgust I have for him as a person - I can't even explain it to those around me because they don' t have the history of Trump. It is hard to follow the news because just when you think it can't get any lower...it does. Each day, each week, each month lower...and lower. Holding onto hope is so very difficult but important though. Hope is critical.....
1
The power still lies in the hands of the people. Those brave voices continue to speak, write, listen, act. Football players who "take a knee" for example, have spoken. They are braver than this President of the United States, because they put so much on the line. But they understand what they risk losing if they don't. They are patriots, knowing as they do that the promise of democracy includes speech.
Any American who pays attention knows that the right to express oneself--that is, freedom of speech--separates a democracy from totalitarianism. I would ask every American, before you walk into the voting booth in November, to think about what you consider to be the best thing about the U.S. If for you, yourself, being seen as equal under the law comes to mind, then you will not want to vote for this President with the hateful spirit. Thank you, Mr. Blow, for an important column.
4
At the very time when the Five were under arrest, the real assailant was also in police custody on another charge. He was released only to commit other criminal assaults, which led to his incarceration. It was then that he told the Five of his guilt. There was serious police and prosecutorial misconduct in railroading the Five into prison. For example, although the police had DNA evidence, it was ignored until the real perp came forward. No one has ever been disciplined for this miscarriage of justice. Trump still defends the police and refuses to acknowledge his egregious misstatements. It is interesting that he has recently pardoned a right-wing author whose lies about Obama has made him wealthy. He confessed to violating election laws, and Trump claimed that the government unfairly targeted him. On the other hand, coerced confessions by the NYPD seem to have escaped his notice. Of course, the Five had not graduated from an Ivy league university.
2
Thank you Mr. Blow. Thank you for keeping me sane and helping me through the worst time of my 52 years of living in this country. We need you and appreciate all that you do.
sincerely,
Karla
4
excellent critique. incredibly demoralizing that this individual was elected to our highest office. equally demoralizing is that he's surrounded by others with the same dark soul.
2
As much as I endorse and embrace Michelle Obama's "when they go low, we go high" speech, it certainly didn't land Mrs. Clinton the presidency. The high road of reason, civility and truth still is not penetrating the hate wall that Trump and his fawning base continue to build higher and thicker. I no longer find the high road strategy useful in discussing and trying to remove the malignancy from the Oval Office, along with the metastases throughout the Republican party. I've experienced several of my own Samantha Bee, Michelle Wolf and Kathy Griffin moments while referring to Donald Trump. Isn't it interesting that these three comedians, now reviled by Trump and his base, are women. As much as I admire and respect Mrs. Obama, I am truly sorry I can no longer live up to her high standards of decency with respect to the current poisonous political climate. I acknowledge my imperfection. The rise of vile Donald Trump unearthed a form of primal hatred buried deep in me I didn't even know existed. Furthermore, I no longer have any interest in reasoning with Trump supporters or pretending to care about their economic fate or access to health care, either. We are the company we keep and our moral and ethical core is reflected in those we hold in high esteem. There are enough good, compassionate, intelligent and decent people in the world with whom to seek out meaningful bonds, so I will always choose to go high in that regard.
5
And the saddest thing of all this hate is that Trump hates the American people. How do I know? Because he seeks to destroy healthcare for all, he wants to deplete Medicaid for those people who need it the most. He gives tax breaks to the top 1% of the country, and plans to cut social security and Medicare for the elderly. He supports a policy that rips children from their parents. He places an anti-environmental nitwit in the role of EPA Director...a person who robs the American people of their right to clean air, clean water, and freedom from cancer causing substances. He makes fun of people with physical challenges, he demeans Gold Star families. He lies daily to the American people and he exploits their trust. He hates truth, honesty, kindness, intelligence, fairness, dignity, caring, integrity, and wisdom. Please keep holding him accountable. I keep reading your column when my resolve starts to flag as well.
8
Hilarious! Now Trump critics are digging up statements from, literally, 30 years ago.
This is why Trump was elected in the 1st place.
4
For a "professor emeritus" you do not sound enlightened by reason, nor science. His last public statement on this travesty was NOT 30 years ago. It seems you are also not much of a New Yorker if you missed that one.
Willful ignorance is deadly dangerous, professor emeritus.
2
Eighty years ago Hitler said, "The sole German objective in the region will be to liquidate all Jews." Does the intervening 80 years make that statement any less repugnant?
3
Whitewater 1979. Hilarious!
Always hitting the bull's eye, Charles Blow challenges ANY reader to examine the facts. Facts matter to sane people, and the voters to put Trump in office need to examine facts, not stubbornly stick their heads in the Fox News sand. I truly believe that many of these voters may have never voted before, and it this hatred Trump spewed that they could use as a scapegoat for their own dissatisfying lives. Now many cling to their election day decision. As naive voters they have no concept that many of us dutiful voters have placed into offices small and large at various times in history candidates that delivered disappointment. Trump's election also helped us see the level of racism in this country. It's disheartening and scary.
1
Another masterpiece by Mr. Blow. How much longer will we tolerate evil Mr. Trump? l don't hate him, but I hate what he represents and the fact that so many people in this country support him. We live in dangerous times...
3
Spot on. Nailed it. As I think about your opinion piece - I reflect on the people I know who could be kind of clones to Trumputin. None anywhere near as bad and disgusting. But, the inability to acknowledge that they might be wrong is striking. For the most part, I do not get into extended discussions with them about the vast difference in our outlooks. Underneath their ideology I sense their deep fear of the demographic trends long underway in our country. That leads me to believe that underlying their hatred is what I call "Closet Racism". My town is multi-racial and I love it. But, some will not reconcile themselves to inevitability. America will have to sort its way through this trend. Most of the closet dwellers are from our older generations. To younger generations demographics is no big deal. So, time will heal this problem. There is hope! P.S. Reading Comey book - did not know prior association with Giuliani - his former boss. At the time, the common warning to new staff - "The most dangerous thing in New York is getting between Giuliani and a microphone". That rings true even today.
3
And, sadly, many people who support Trump do so because they see their own hatred reflected in him. They will overlook any kind of transgressions on his part, because he hates the same people they hate. Moreover, they want to see that hatred elevated to the hghest level of the nation.
2
Very helpful column.
2
When you yourself are consumed by hate, you can only see hate in others as well. That's your president. Imagine being him.
3
Trump at his core is a coward. And, like all cowards his ability to intimidate comes from whatever he could acquire for free. like his inheritance and bulk. He uses them to intimidate anyone who his twisted instincts suggest to him is vulnerable. If he has a skill, it's his primitive instinct for finding those vulnerabilities and rousing those who deeply feel their own vulnerabilities to be his comrades in hate.
His outrageous hijacking of the valor, as Mr. Blow describes it, of those who have served in the military by Trump who ran away from service, is just one more aspect of his cowardice. It's a just one more seam of the curtain he hides behind,
But, like all cowards who create and surround themselves will walls of mobilized hate, from Caligula to Hitler to Strom Thurman, leaders of counter, greater strength for good eventually mobilize and destroy the evil. Of course, the destruction of evil is never cost-free.
Is that what's happening now as our allies across the globe mobilize to counter Trump's attempts to destroy the productive and peaceful world economy that we helped create? Maybe. Will we all pay a price? Of course. But the pain may be what's needed for democracy and elections to work.
2
It should be no surprise that Trump, like all hateful thoughtless bigots, seeks a thin tissue of justification for his bigotry. Truth and decency are farthest from the minds of such people,
Donald Trump is not worth hating. That is a waste of focus and time. Particularly for a dishonorable cowardly liar who thinks that tweeting and speaking slurs is fighting.
A moral degenerate racist prejudiced misogynist xenophobic ethnic sectarian bigot like tiny tinny Trump deserves our organized combined consistent contempt, laughter and resistance by any means necessary in our divided limited power constitutional republic.
Ending Trump's corrupt reign of error beholden to Egypt, Israel, Russia and Saudi Arabia is in the national interest and in accordance with American values. Trump is hiding from the American people what primarily motivates his rule in his personal and family income tax returns and business records.
Bringing down the royal crime family aka the House of Trump and the Trump Organization as the enemy of the American people is paramount to preserving, protecting and defending our Constitution.
3
This "man" is not entitled to any public position. He has revealed himself to be a selfish, insensitive bully whose opinions border on the inane. To think that this feeble brain represents our nation on the international scene actually depresses me.
1
I remember that infamous full-page ad well. I recall being revolted at the time by the depth of Trump's hatred and vindictiveness. Thank you for the reminder (as if we needed one) that the man at the helm of the ship of state represents the worst in human nature.
2
I'll keep a copy of this piece for the times I feel overwhelmed by the news as well. Sometimes when I feel overwhelmed, I have heard myself say, "I hate Donald Trump," but then hearing the word "hate" I know instantly that I have been blown off course and that I am traveling deeper into the darkness, too. But nobody needs more darkness. I join Mr. Blow in recognizing that it's hate that overshadows us and drains me of resolve. Thank you, Charles Blow.
Trump's hatred is highly recognizable. Is there anyone among us who didn't have an old relative spewing the same sorts of ignoRANTS from an armchair, beer in hand, last Thanksgiving? His supporters are oddly comforted, everyone else horrified, but everyone is quite familiar with the ignorance. Don't assign ignorance any more importance or analysis because big cash behind it bought full-page ads.
It is his mental illness speaking when Trump rages with revenge. It’s his personality because he is a malignant narcissistic. His goal is to hurt someone who he senses has insulted, demeaned or in some way feels he needs to always fight back. It’s him again the evil he perceives needs payback. Payback to him is essential to his personality. He is in no way suited to be POTUS since his goals are the antithesis of what a president should be. He really is a sick man with no business in our White House or anywhere else in a leadership position in government.
1
Has the NYT or any media outlet considered not posting any of Trump’s tweets? If anyone is interested, they can follow him on Twitter. He’s a narcissist who craves attention——good or bad and I don’t care what nonsense he writes. Are his tweets newsworthy? No. They just serve to aggravate many and divide us even further.
Thank you for reminding us what we are fighting against. Trump is not just a hater, which is bad enough, but he is an inciter of hatred, violence and madness, rabid dog madness.
7
I know it's easy to hate, but hate is like a cancer in your body and in your life. I try to feel sorry for Trump because basically he is a pauper in his life, his body, in what he knows about life and the arts, and other people. Other people do not exist in his mind, they are mere things. For all his billions he is in my mind a most sorry human being. As for his soul, i shudder.
YOu, Mr. Blow and many, many others, dwell in richness, a richness of mind and soul. We are the long term winners.
Hatred is a poisonous emotion that corrupts everything it touches. It is very difficult for me to truly hate another human being and when I do I usually only damage myself because the essence of that emotion is so toxic. The thought that Drumpf exalts this emotion; seeking to nurture and propagate it in himself and others should terrify every right thinking American. Trump cares nothing about our country nor any of the issues he has taken responsibility for as President of the United States but I do believe he loves to hate. Some men just want to see the world burn. That's right America. You elected the Joker.
2
What a wonderful piece you have written Mr. Blow. You have truly captured what is wrong with this man. It is not just greed or ego, but hate which drives him (& ultimately our current administration’s policies). We must continue to stand up to Trump - not with hate but Love.
3
Yeah nice article. Agree with all of its points about Trump. Just, in the end, it doesn't matter. Trump worshippers are driven by hate. They thrive on it every day for their existence. The educated white women who voted for him hate every person of color they encounter. Don't believe me? Who has been calling the police on every person of color that enters their space? The vile encounters that Spanish speakers run into the majority are white women who fear their space has been violated. So all your words mean nothing. We are now a nation of fear and hate and Trump is the god of this new America. Those of us of color must be ready for the worse and hope we do not see a new version of the Final Solution come into being.
Well done Mr. Blow. I applaud your direct and searing perspective.
How in the world people can support this vile man is beyond my comprehension.
1
Mr. Blow, Sir,
Your words are my spine stiffener.
Thank you.
2
Trumps continual hate-speak pollutes the airwaves daily. He sounds and looks like a living replica of Mussolini. He has put this country in danger with his misdeeds past and present and his continued disregard for any rule of law or humanity. Next time he surrounds himself with a military band to 'prove' his patriotism he at least needs to learn the words he pretends to sing.
3
Charles Blow: That’s the plan, I suspect. Trump is operating on the Doctrine of Inundation. He floods the airwaves until you simply give up because you feel like you’re drowning in news.
Therefore, the solution to this Trumpian rabidity is straight forward. Vote our Grifter President out. Start the process in 2018.
2
Regarding all the comments accusing Charles of hating Trump? Whether or not he does is no concern of mine. Mr. Blow is not the President of the United States.
well said.
Many people suggest fighting hatred with love. I have always loved this idea. BUT: I don't think love is going to work with trump and the gop. These people are soulless...and they have no capacity for love and compassion. No capacity for decency and morality. No capacity for being reasonable, rational, and thoughtful. In fact, it is not that they have not the "capacity," but it their CHOICE to be craven, and to act with moral turpitude. Their agenda for dismantling the country, and for the plunder, pillage, and rape of our most vulnerable citizenry REQUIRES that their behavior be dishonest, disgusting, and deplorable. How else does one fill one's coffers with ill-gotten gains, but from harming, disenfranchising, and destroying others? From lying. From stealing. From all wrong-doing. Americans, and the rest of the world, are learning a painfully, frighteningly miserable lesson on how con artistry and predatory behavior works. trump and his henchmen are world-class swindlers. You are seeing the very "finest" dissemblers and masters of deceit at work. These reprehensible, miscreant oligarchs are motivated by greed, racism, and other various and sundry hatreds. They are so saturated with greed and hatred that it could not be eradicated from them with a hydrogen bomb. It is grafted to their very being. I sometimes wonder if the way to get rid of them is with a good, old-fashioned can of RAID. But perhaps Danton and Robespierre had the right idea. We are dealing with tyranny.
1
You go Charles! I'm a (slightly) overweight, middle-aged, white male, who would be proud to stand arm-in-arm with you against this king of the Deplorable's...
1
Thanks for this.
Choice.
Hatred burns bright
Clearing out all in sight
So, to hope to walk upright
Yet/and to find but naught’s night.
1
100% correct but what can we do? About 40% of the Nation supports the Grifter in Chief. The vast majority of Republicans do. In my state over 60% think Don the Con is doing a fine job.
The Red Party is very reluctant to speak truth to power. If I visit the comments section of other news sites they are filled with snarky praise of Il Duce and just plain false statements.
Too many Blue voters don't vote or will only vote for Sanders' robots.
We need a revolution to drive the Predator in Chief from the WH.
Will it happen? No. Americans just want to read his latest tweets and be entertained.
You keep planting the flag that says we are an empathetic, compassionate people capable of moving forward in the face of real ambivalence.
On this you are absolutely right—our President is a thug and a bully. He has worn us down—the Indivisible group
I belong to no longer fills our meeting hall.
A friend once explained to me that cancer manifests itself when the immune system is weakened. Donald tears at at least two dynamics that support our Democratic life. First, he tears at our trust in one another with his blatant, unapologetic racism. Second,
he sees no reason for us to be materially generous with one another in the form of medical care, roads and schools.
Watching him rip and tear at a system crafted to help everyone rather than just a few corporate executives
Is beyond painful. He is a hate-filled man whose toxicity
Is hurting our country.
I count on your columns for reassurance that we can get through this. Thank you for not making something complex and convoluted when it is not. America made a real and dramatic mistake 500 plus days ago. On the other hand we do have one another and that is everything.
8
I would prefer not to hate anyone, but Trump's conduct both in and out of office gives me absolutely no choice but to hate him with a passion of white heat. Trump is an abomination and he must be voted out of office if he isn't first removed by Mueller.
1
"I’m fighting hatred itself, as personified by the man who occupies the presidency. That is my spine stiffener."
Reading your columns always serves as a positive motivator and "spine stiffener" for me. Thank you Mr. Blow.
2
Thank you Charles. These reminders that Trump is a racist, always has been racist and always will be a racist can not be repeated enough. Consequently, those who vote for this monster or those who do not oppose him should not be allowed to forget that they too carry the stain of hatred.
thank you - exhaustion is taking a toll on any moral fiber we had. I was to see outrage out there - at hatred as a tool, as a means of destruction. And I am frightened every day that huge numbers of people follow him - people who must have always carried that hatred and sat right next to me. I know exactly one person who I know voted for him and try as I might it has changed my view of her forever. Every time I feel too tired to protest I remind myself my feet need to be out there with others who are saying NO.
1
To me it is very simple. Trump hates every non white.
There are no words left to describe this manl. The fact that he can get away with almost anything in our country is what is bothersome. Trump Oresidency is probably the lowest moment in US History and probably give rise to unspoken civil war with disastrous consequences.
Settlement always means innocence when it is Trump who settles.
3
Donald Trump is becoming the icon for people who see in him the wrongs in the world.
I suppose that fabricating such an icon is possibly one of the wrongs in the world.
This President—who was elected on the backs of people whose lives are insufferably miserable—we should keep in mind is not more than one of many ills infecting our sense of grace and compassion. But once he's come and gone, all the rest of what's wrong in the world will still be with us.
This makes me think that it is more useful to find the courage and commitment to make one wrong thing less wrong.
3
It's easy to misunderstand Trump because he's so inarticulate, even in writing. I would read his statement as "I want to be capable of hate when it is deserved," and not as "Gee, hating is fun."
In the case of the Central Park Five, he wanted to hate them because they deserved hatred. They were by all accounts hateful people, whether or not they committed the crime for which they were convicted. His attitude is decidedly un-Christian, but "hate the sin, not the sinner" is a higher bar than most of us can clear consistently. I can understand why he "wanted" to hate them, in the sense that he does not feel inclined NOT to hate them. I STILL hate them, not because of what they were accused of doing, but because they were hateful people. Apologize to them? For what? Thinking they were worse than awful when they were only awful? We cannot convict them of a crime they did not commit, but we can certainly hate them for the crimes they committed but were not convicted.
Trump is a horrible person who shouldn't be within 1000 miles of the White House. I want to hate him, and I do. As, apparently, does Mr. Blow. So let's leave wanting to hate in the morally neutral place it deserves. Let's stick to the real reason for hating Trump - his destruction of our representative democracy under the rule of law - and stop whining about traits that, rightly or wrongly, line up pretty well with a the salt of the earth types who voted for him.
Well said. It's hard to sustain the adrenaline for outrage when every day brings some fresh barbarity. But DJT is doing his best to widen his circle and teach white America to hate blindly like he does. The right likes to conflate the outrage response to that obscenity with reciprocal hate, but in fact outrage is the natural reaction to a direct attack on the best of what this country stands for. We all need a rest from outrage sometimes, but getting through this dark period in history is going to be a marathon, not a sprint, and no one of good conscience can afford to detach themselves from what's going down.
3
Trump is not hateful to support the death penalty. In fact, liberals who are too lenient on crime actually portray hatred. They hate justice and hate those who love justice. There are always two sides to every argument. We certainly don't want marauding wild gangs of young men roaming the streets and raping women.
1
I cannot think of a more desperate time. Each day one feels a new blow from the lies and the accompanying taking down of good. Now we have the children at the border where we have to fight against inhumane treatment - we, now responsible - against people fleeing harm. We listen to words from Trumpsters' propaganda and voices saying "it is working". Charles Blow thanks for the reminder that we must stand strong and not cave under the weight of Trump's inexcusable incompetent actions, to remember his past, his abominable history, his hateful insatiable needs.
2
Charles Blow nails a big piece of Trump to the wall. But that piece may be a door into Trump’s emptiness and spiritual dread. Walker Percy offers a clue: “Hatred strikes me as one of the few signs of life remaining in the world. This is another thing about the world which is upsidedown: all the friendly and likable people seem dead to me; only the haters seem alive.“ The Moviegoer.
1
Well said! Under the news frenzy lies the reason for our distress: the moral issue. For answers and strategic planning look to the moral revival arising from people across the nation. It is called The Poor Peoples Campaign. Picking up MLK's goals of 50 years ago, the PPC is responding nonviolently to poverty, racism, militarism, and environmental destruction. The work is animated by a moral narrative that frees us from the narrative of hate.
Just make sure all of you who are supporting Mr. Blow's sentiments in this article keep Trump's quote correct and complete. It wasn't, as the headline says, "I want to hate...". He said "I want to hate these muggers and murderers." And he called for the reinstatement of the death penalty for murderers, a position held by the majority of voters in this country for the last 40+ years. And if you are joining Mr. Blow and Mayor Koch in the sentiment that we should get rid of hate and rancor... then you should all start by loving Trump in spite of his serious flaws and positions with which you disagree. Quit posting hateful and rancorous comments toward him or his supporters. Otherwise you're showing yourself to be quite a hypocrite to think you are justified in hating Trump and voicing rancor his direction... but thinking he or others are wrong for hating murderers and muggers.
3
He's the symptom: we're the disease. And we need a cure.
3
What troubles me is how contagious his hate is, and how I’ve become infected. The level of hate I sometimes feel for this man actually disturbs me, because I have never in my life felt it so viscerally. Sure, I’ve disliked people, I’ve had some pretty negative feelings towards Mitch McConnel, but truly hated someone? Not like this.
I find I have to be mindful to disengage and pull myself out of it for my own well being, to not get dragged down into his darkness. I cannot wait until we are free of the daily assault of this man.
1
The analysis is spot on, because Trump knows that hate is a powerful emotion that can be called upon in others, to move them to action.
Sadly, the analysis also suggests, if not directly, that Trump is a man made in the mold of a sociopath.
Such men (or women) are empty shells, devoid of real emotion, outwardly conjuring up and manipulating their targets’ emotions, through continuing story telling, lies and fabrications with only one goal, to stir their victims to action and reaction.
The real reason for everybody’s news fatigue, is not the amount of news, but the amount of lies. From Trump, Sanders, and the administration.
Good point to remember... That 'wanting to hate' your opponent, is at the core of Trump's behavior, and perhaps central to what some like about him. And he seems to have surrounded himself by advisors who also like to 'hate' the departments they were chosen to run. Let's start to change this in November!
It is exhausting and demoralizing to be subjected to torrents of outrageous news stories day after day. Trump announced his agenda of hate in his “American Carnage” inaugural acceptance speech and has been busy creating that carnage every day since.
Yes, he is just one man, not a political party, but no matter how or why he does it, his talent for creating chaos, misinformation and general misery is heartbreaking and is having awful consequences. And the party he represents, by standing aside, is complicity allowing him to run rampant and unchecked all over the laws of the land.
Life in hate this filled Trumpworld is a test of endurance. There have been terrible times in the not so distant past, Senator McCarthy, the Vietnam War, the time in the 60s’ when President Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Bobbie Kennedy were assassinated, the riots, Richard Nixon, 9-11, ongoing wars in the middle east, the recession and the country survived. We will (I hope) survive this man, but at such a cost to the nation.
Holding onto hope for kinder, more rational days seems so very fragile, but is the little light at the end of the tunnel and it is worth the fight of course.
2
Thank you, Mr. Blow, for articulating so well what I have long felt. That ad, and the way Trump sneered whenever he pronounced President Obama's middle name (Hussein, wink, wink) and peddled his birther filth, should have been all one needed to know about this pathetic personification of hatred and vengeance to send him packing.
Yes, vengeance. That's what the guy runs on; that's how he keeps score. He is no more Republican than I am a Martian. He simply went that way because he knew he could rattle GOP voters into a frenzy with his dualistic, white vs. black view of the world. He knew the drooling GOP leadership would go along with anything as long as they got some scraps from his table. Look at the record: Revenge against Obama for making fun of him at the Correspondents' Dinner, revenge against the NYC liberal elite for always scorning him, revenge against most of the media who have always seen him as a joke. Revenge against the Democrats for failing to give him a golden throne. Does anyone besides me see that nearly every move he makes is to stick it to someone who has rejected him? That's what some of these pardons are about. He wants his many enemies to be sick to their stomachs. I suspect he has done some things that have turned even his stomach, but his lust for vengeance overrode whatever shred of humanity remains in that empty exoskeleton.
Vengeance and spite, coming at us at a torrid pace each and every day. Thanks, Trumpers.
1
I don't handle "hatred" well. It's such a negative emotion, and one that serves no practical purpose - except... in the case of Donald J. Trump, it's what motivates me to rise up. I don't sit quietly and take it, when day after day, he assaults us with his pettiness, his insults, his narcissism, and worst of all, his hatred for those, both in our country and those across the world who need protection and assistance. These are people and causes that I, and millions of my fellow patriots, hold dear - the treatment of immigrants, the plight of the uninsured and under-insured, the treatment of black Americans by the police, and on and on and on. Trump is NOT my president - he is an abomination.
2
It is stunning this man is still in the WH. He is vile and is a danger to our democracy. His unconscionable behavior is twisted and sick, there is no doubt. What is a true puzzlement is the silence of Congress and those who oath of office is to uphold our Constitution and to serve the people of their constituencies. What does Trump have to say or do to make them act to get this maniac out of the WH, and possibly into a facility for the care he obviously needs.
1
Thanks for this. I'll try to draw on it when my resolve flags too. He is a frightened man, leaking his hate all over our country but this will pass and we can then get to the hard work of cleaning up the toxic waste.
1
Moving. Well said.
1
Ah, but why does Trump (or anyone) love to hate? The payoff is what David Cole Gordon called "the Unification Experience." A timeless, no-thought moment when the sense of separation stops, and one lives in pure being. The UE can be positive, negative or vicarious.
Commonly, we get UEs from sex, drugs and alcohol, but Gordon taught the brief transcendence can come from everyday experiences as well as artistic creation. We want our painful separation from self, life and others to stop, so much so that we grasp at unification however childhood and life show us how to get it.
Haters hate because it gives them the deepest, transient pleasure no matter the paun to others.
At the expense of knowing the truth or understanding the cause, he wants to hate. That mindset animates every aspect of him.
2
Mr. Blow speaks the truth. Trump wakes up every morning and says to himself, "'Who can I hurt today?" Then he sets about to do just that. Policies motivated by vengeance. Policies motivated by hate. When will this nightmare end? I hope before he destroys everything.
4
When and how can we get rid of Donald Trump as president?
His rudeness, crudeness, meaness, and ignorance is causing our country to become an undesirable place. His actions influence our country and how other countries view the United States.
1
Maybe Trump hated those five young guys so much because they enjoyed something he desperately wanted but was denied by his own toxic personality.
They may not have been wealthy or privileged, but they had each other. Real relationships with real people. Friendships you didn't have to buy, with people who actually wanted to be with you.
Something Trump has never had and never will.
1
Yes, there is nothing better than running around with a band of petty criminals, terrorizing innocent people in the name of fun/boredom.
I'll stick with being happy my children are in school right now!
I don't disagree with anything you've said about Mr. Trump and your recent essays about him are the most scathingly accurate and insightful I've read.
However, as a white man in NYC in the late 1980s, it was a time of disorder, of rampant bad behavior, violence, and crime.
There was the story of Bernard Goetz, the white man who was threatened on a subway train and shot at his black assailants. The trains were marked by graffiti, dirty, frightening. I rode a train one day with a friend who was wearing a Ralph Lauren cap and she was surrounded by four black kids who ripped off her hat and ran off the train. She could do nothing.
You would go to Yankee Stadium and go through burned out blocks of utter destruction. Stopped at a light, you would be hassled by squeegee men. You drove down the West Side Highway and every single stone was painted up with spray lettering, huge graffiti. Some called it art. Many others saw it as disrespect and chaos.
There were no smart phones. There were no security cameras on every person. On the street you walked alone, and you feared for your life if you went north of 96th St. So life back then was very, very different than the playground of affluence NYC is in 2018.
So please understand that fear and revenge and punishment were utmost in my New Yorkers' minds back then. Don't judge 1989 by the standards of tolerance today.
1
This column describes so well what seems to emanate from Trump's pores every day. One has only to look at his expression when he doesn't realize he is being photographed, his venal nature is quite apparent. That's why people need to fear him because he has infected many others with this irrational hate and when he is gone the hate may remain.
1
Phenomenal writing. Thank you for this, Mr. Blow. Which is the greater arbiter of hate: Trump or social media? Personally I believe they've bred a new kind of hate so insidious, we won't recover until the former is in prison and the latter is destroyed.
1
The headline here is a disgrace, with the context removed. "I want to hate...." has a very different connotation from "I want to hate these muggers and murderers." The former leaves the impression Trump hates for hate's sake, that he hates anyone and everyone. It's both inaccurate and unfair.
2
When asked what is the most concerning problem in America today, I usually answer that it’s a combination of hatred and willful ignorance. Hatred is rooted in ignorance. And willful ignorance gives a person their reason to hate. It’s circular when you think about it.
your trenchant comments today describe a sociopath, if not a psychopath. that they also describe our president is the tragedy of this age.
we seemed by be on a positive path, despite Republicans kicking and screaming all the way and throwing up all the opposition they could muster, during the previous administration, so it is almost inevitable the pendulum has now swung the opposite way.
the trick will be for the world to survive until this arc once again reverses.
film at 11.
3
Thank you Mr. Blow. A very important reminder that I was glad to receive today.
I think that Trump’s main drive Is the need to get attention, by love, hate, outrage, whatever works. Unfortunately, he IS President so ignoring what he does is not an option. We are doomed, till 2020.
There's a lot to hate about Donald Trump. Still, I think he has knocked a lot of progressives off balance, and Charles Blow is exhibit A.
Blow's columns now have a sameness to them, and a simplistic black and white quality: all good on one side, all evil on the other. He often crosses the line from criticizing Trump for some discrete failure, to criticizing Trump supporters in general.
This seems to me an ineffective way to peel away support for Trump. And its complacency also gives progressives a pass on our own recent failures: above all, our failures to address growing economic inequality, which arguably got us into this Trump mess in the first place.
Let's fight Trump by all means. But let's also fight Trump Derangement Syndrome.
5
Very interesting. Taking the view of the victim rather than the attacker. The news if what YOU make it. We don't just automatically hear or see the news unless the media (you) put it in our view. The interesting bit about this 'news' is the spin for the various sources and their political stance. NYT is hate central for Mr. Trump. You have never given him a fair shake. The objectivity of reporting is missing in today's media. Each source has an agenda and an ax to grind using clever phrasing and superior spin-doctoring to make your points. I don't like Mr Trumps tactics either, but it is not your job to destroy the man, just to fairly report the real truth, not just your view of it.
13
Charles Blow is an op-ed columnist, which by definition means he is paid to write his view of the truth. You, like so many others, are confusing this role with that of the reporters on the front page who are indeed obligated to report objectively on the facts. And the facts point to a President who is utterly devoid of any moral or intellectual qualification to be leading this country.
88
Mr. Blow is an opinion writer, so it is his job to report his view of the truth.
49
Firstly, Mr. Blow is an op-ed columnist, so it is his job to opine. It is not his job to report.
Secondly, How do you give a "fair shake" to a man who has lied to us over 3,000 times since taking office? (Washington Post, May 1, 2018). Which of his statements warrant "a fair shake" by the NY Times or anybody else?
Lastly, while I don't wish Mr. Trump harm, I do consider it my job to destroy him (politically) before he destroys my country. It seems Mr. Blow feels similarly. We all should feel this way. He is a cancer.
69
Thank You Sir. Boils it down to the essential. We need to all remember this as it gets worse.
2
I found this assessment meaningless. I don't need 30-year-old ad to enlighten me about our President.
But I find this all to be a waste of time -- either get him thrown out of office in the next election, or deal with it.
1
Mr. Blow, that certainly is a spine stiffener. I try not to hate trump, but he makes that almost impossible. He doesn't seem to care a whit about right and wrong, or about justice. I can't abide an egomaniac that has no compunction about hating everyone, whose only desires are to be rich and to destroy everyone around him. Which will include his family. He hates 5 men that were convicted of a ginned up crime, despite their innocence. That's insane. #Excercise25
2
What's going on? Are we that inundated by Trump's lies? We turn our heads aside and talk about the little this and the tiny that of our lives, measuring it out in coffee spoons.
Trump Just Said He Can Pardon Himself!
And the pundits and lawyers pick the pieces apart while picking their noses and everyone else yawns the yawn of the sleeping dead. Next he Kings himself, winner in a crazy game of checkers. And the queen has lost her head. We sit by dumbfounded so damned tired we hang down our heads while Trump happily changes out of his Emperor's clothes and announces he is our new dictator. Goodby democracy (or whatever semblance of it had remained). We wipe a tear, too tired to raise our heads from the tiny puddle into which we have fallen and drowned.
"This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper." TS Eliot
1
Me Too, Mr. Blow. Me Too. And 87% of Republicans STILL share trump's values.
Trump is nothing more than a lynch mob agitator; agitating now against football players, immigrants, Obama and Hillary, still!
I also want to hate Giuliani who harbors hate of his own. Listen to his offensive statements today from the so called holy land. He defames a smart independent woman doing what she can to make a happier world while Giuliani whores himself to trump to slander Mueller and his team accusing them of trying to frame him in a paid speech to Israelis antagonistic to most Americans.
I remember the caged children torn from their parents, the planet being destroyed from under our feet and over our heads for a whim, our nation flushed into trump's bigger swamp - that and the horror story you highlight Mr. Blow keep me motivated.
Many of us know trump is guiltier than sin and ALWAYS shoves other Republicans out of the way to be first in line to throw the first stone and as many subsequent stones as he can to the poor and vulnerable. He makes America's friends our enemies - even Canada!!!
The Russians could not have (s)elected a more depraved American to be our POTUS for their nefarious purposes than trump.
6
"I want to hate." These words written by 45 reveal his character. Hate arises from fear and anxiety. Paul Tillich in his book, "The Courage To Be", notes that fear has to have an object that can be faced, analyzed, attacked, or endured. In 45's case this is people and knowledge with which he has no connection. He is not in community with the poor, the immigrant, nor the vulnerable. He is ignorant of history, science, and the arts. Paul Tillich goes on to say "The sting of fear is anxiety, and anxiety strives toward fear." Anxiety- "a state of helplessness, loss of direction, inadequate reactions," and a lack of purpose- frames 45's persona and perspective. Anxiety has no object. Hence, 45 never ceases to create chaos nor identify a fear which can be faced by courage. Those who have expressed courage to face fear include the kneeling football players,the Women's March, and the March for Our Lives. Contrast these events with 45. People are in a community, sharing a common purpose and dream, and inviting others to join. They also share stories inviting our compassion. "King of the Hill" is a lonely fearful, anxious place to be. That is 45's place, the hell of hate.
1
The GOP has long served as a big tent for haters. Trump is the first GOP president, however, who is explicit about his hatred of dark-skinned people, foreigners, and women. And the GOP base absolutely loves him for doing so.
1
This man so hates himself, that he in turn hates everyone else. What a sad day for all us, what a sad for our country, and what a sad for this beautiful planet. I suspect that history will certainly not look kindly on the irreparable damage that has been inflicted on this country, our constitution, our politics, and more importantly how we treat and respect each other as individuals, by electing this monster...
2
And Hillary Clinton would have been worse?
We can say one thing with absolute confidence: she would not have completely upended the world order in less than 18 months. She would not be placing your country on a path to fiscal and social ruin, the likes of which you may never recover from, if only because there is such disagreement and gaslighting about the fact that it IS happening.
By the time those who are clinging to this fantasy notion that Trump will make America white again realize that he’s taken them all for the suckers they are, it will be too late. Your country may be firmly stuck in a path towards kakistocracy and autocracy, and the corruption will decimate all but the very rich.
As someone watching your national disaster unfold from north of the 49th, the illogic on both sides of the political divide is boggling to the mind.
1
Maybe people aren't warn out. Maybe they're saving their strength and enthusiasm for election day, when they can use their strength to cast their ballots to throw Trump and his merry crew of sycophants and criminals out of office.
1
I gotta confess that I don't usually read your opinions these days since I used to find find them too predictable and facile. THIS one was a masterpiece of clear exposition and tidy summation. And very, very persuasive. Keep it up, Charles, and I'll stay with you through to the great cleansing of the Office.
2
Donald Trump is probably the most enigmatic president we have ever had. In his own mind, he undoubtedly believes he is a great leader. The problem lies with his seeing the world in simplistic absolutes on what is good and what is evil, based on his own warped prejudices he has had since childhood. Beliefs that sadly give him carte blanche to pigeon hole people based on their where they come from, their race, color economic status, etc.... a very bad and dangerous trait indeed for a president.
2
Social media and the hate-right is to blame for the proliferation of hate throughout the world. Expose these trollers for what they are; destroyers of societies. They should be sued at every turn for inciting hate. Sue them in court for defamation. Maybe if we hit their pocketbooks they'll shut up and go back under the rocks that Trump allowed them to crawl out from. Another major part of our problem is that our leaders never talk about peace and love anymore. They need to pay a price for spewing hatred and evilness.
1
A good message, well written. But there's a larger story to tell:
Whether or not Trump *wants* to hate matters FAR less than the fact that many Americans *want* to hate right along with him. It's always been hate -- and not tired sloganeering such as "Make American Great Again" -- that energizes his base.
A country filled with haters who vote -- *many* masquerading as Christians, of all things! -- is, IMO, WAY more disturbing than one old, very obnoxious, silver-spooned white guy. Even if he is POTUS (for now). Trump may be one sick puppy, but he's got heaps of company in this Great Land of Ours. THAT'S the problem.
Thank you, Charles Blow, for clearly articulating what so many of us are feeling.
5
Another excellent article by Charles Blow. Trump fatigue has all of us exhausted. His only attribute, if you can call it that, is his complete manipulation of the media. As Charles points out, Trump is a hate-monger. He is also a humanoid with no brain, heart or soul. The thing I worry about most however is that 62 million people voted for this abomination. I greatly fear for the future of this country I once loved.
3
He will collapse in on himself. There will be no impeachment. There will be resignation, without shame. He is a creature of the Darkness. Robert Mueller's bright light will bake and shrink him into nothingness and the nothingness will look so puny when exposed. He will slink and slither away, like all creatures who seek darkness and hide from the Light.
It is time to deny him oxygen and watch as he shrivels up into nothingness. When we all finally see him for what he is, there will be nothing there. He is the pure absence of goodness and light, cowering in the dank of the dark.
3
The right wing and the GOP made much hay about the supposed hatred in Obama's heart.
And just look at the man they put in charge of the nation.
What a classic case of projection, personified in their chosen leader.
4
Unfortunately, our President's core base is a good percentage of the white population of America. This base has existed since the pilgrims escaped religious persecution in Europe by fleeing to the new world. What followed is nothing to be proud of: elimination of the native population by offering free land to European immigrants, porting in slaves to work the cotton fields, excluding coolies after they helped build the transcontinental railroad, seizing land belonging to Mexico as manifest destiny, internment of Japanese as potential traitors, Jim Crow and ongoing incarceration/killing of black men, etc. Yes, Mr. Blow, our President is a hateful man. If his family had stayed in Germany and experienced what it means to hate and then lose two world wars, he would not be so proud of being Anglo-Saxon as he plays his game of thrones. It is too late, Mr President, for you to save America.
1
To each his own. Mine is his repulsive descent on an escalator to incite racist paranoia and xenophobia as the pillars of his candidacy, and the fact that they uphold his every act with the quiescence of the Republican Party.
3
I don't want to hate Trump, but I do.
2
Spot on, Mr.Blow! He is a dangerous man, but then he has so many followers with no compassion and who think that punishment is a way of life...us against.them. How sad. Wake up America and excise this hatred from our shores.
3
You can see the hatred on the faces of the police officers "roughing up" the suspect in Memphis..as Trump suggested when he had Police officers at the White House.
1
Love comes from courage, courage comes from the soul. Hate comes from fear, fear comes from ego. Trump is afraid, very afraid, because he has a huge, unfettered ego and a small, shriveled soul.
4
Actually, this tactic works with those of lesser intellectual station, known as deplorables. The 'Commander-Of-Cheese' has always counted on the mentally handicapped. Just look at those states. But, as it always happens, his immoral tryst is rapidly coming to and end by the way of upcoming elections and Mueller's investigation. Mortal combo for the incompetent. Great!
"In a 2014 opinion essay in The Daily News, Trump wrote that the settlement was a “disgrace” and that “settling doesn’t mean innocence.”
One day soon, those words will come back to bite him.
3
Nail on head Mr Blow. Consumed by hatred.
All unnecessary hindsight though - the media should have been more vigilant from the start.
This from Lucian Truscott / Salon:
https://www.salon.com/2018/06/06/donald-trump-has-been-lying-since-day-one/
Had the msm done their due diligence from day one instead of acting like moths to a flame, this shambles could possibly have been avoided.
1
Well, I don't want to hate, but I hate trump.
9
Your comment reminds me of what my father said just before he died in 2016. He always believed that you never should hate anyone. But the month before he died he turned to me and said, you know every rule has an exception and Trump is my exception to my never hate rule.
2
It is not only Trump who sometimes wants to hate.
Make no mistake. The evidence is compelling that the five blacks who served 13 years for the murder of a central park jogger were falsely convicted.
But stand back a bit and you realize that our justice system is quite imperfect. This is only one example of mostly likely thousands who have been falsely convicted.
Many nations regard capital punishment as cruel and unusual punishment. Not the US. In fact, politicians compete with each other on designing laws which are tougher on crime.
The problem is that if laws are written broadly enough, convictions become easy.
The US has over 2 million of its citizens in prison, on the order of 7 million in prison, on probation or parole. This is the highest rate of incarceration in the world except for the Seychelles. The rate is 14 times that of Japan for example.
It's not Trump. Much of the high incarceration rate is due to legislation like Joe Biden's Violence Against Women Act, which allowed a woman to put a man in jail on the basis of a mere allegation.
Of course things are worse now. It is the liberal feminists who have given themselves to hate. There were 16,000 murders in the US in 2016. Those are too unimportant for the NY Times to mention. But if a man makes a joke about a woman regarded as offensive, his career is destroyed by a shaming in the NY Times. There is no due process.
If Trump occasionally exhibits hate, the NY Times is hate speech itself.
1
Unbelievable! If Trump would have had his way these five
innocent men would be dead now. We must elect a
Democratic House in 2018! We must remove Trump from
office in 2020! Trump is so bad it is hard to call him a
human being. Our children are counting on us to do the
right thing - FIRE TRUMP!
2
"Make America Hate Again"! That was the driving force behind his election by the minority of voters and it remains their rallying cry today!
4
879 days till we can corse correct this mess. But I'm sadly afraid we're in it till 2024 :(
I respect Mr. Blow, and at the same time, I wonder for how many it is true that this hearkening to 45's racist past is needed as a "spine stiffener." Trump spews out racist, sexist and generally vile, ignorant "thoughts" virtually every day; his "evil," as it were, is constantly apparently. To my mind, what is heartening is focusing on what we'll do next, how we and must attempt to collectively move forward despite the profound damage our country has sustained. Why bring more mud in from the recesses of the pits when there's plenty here already?
1
This is a man who should have never wanted for a single thing his entire, coddled life. Yet nothing has ever been enough because of the large hole where his soul should be. He's been wealthy since birth, has ascended to the loftiest perches, is currently holding one of the most powerful positions on the planet. And he consistently remains in a spittle-flying, purple-faced rage and the tiniest of slights. If you literally gave him everything he ever wanted, he's emotionally incapable of enjoying it. Any other human may be deserving of pity, but I'm not sure I've ever hated another person as strongly as I do Donald Trump.
5
Bravo, Mr. Blow. You hit the nail on the head. Trump loves hatred, encourages his fan base to hate others and despises anyone or anything that deviates from his warped view of the world. Anyone who says they are a religions person (of ANY faith) who supports this misanthrope isn't really a religious person at all... they are complicit in intentionally dividing America and sowing the dangerous seeds of a police state!
2
Very well written C.B., me to0 on the last sentence.
1
I read Mr. Blow’s piece right after watching the trailer for “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”. Why couldn’t the TV personality who rose to the presidency have been Fred Rogers?
2
Donald Trump is and always has been a sick twist. The conservatives and republicans CHOSE this awful person as their Leader and with Russian help foisted him onto the nation as president.
Remember that on election day.
1
I've been a Democrat all my life and today I have no idea what Democrats stand for other than their hatred for Trump. Let's see them come up with catchy slogan that will give me hope out of that. "Make America Hate Again"? At least it rhymes with Trump's current one. MAGA vs. MAHA. Almost a tossup.
I wrote this somewhere else, its more fitting place is here.
1
What has America come to when a twisted sociopath with strong criminal tendencies can pardon other convicted criminals at will while circumventing the justice department?!
5
Mr. Blow has "hit the nail on the head." Donald Trump hates, and we, who disagree with his behavior, all suffer from it.
He hurts anyone and everyone at will, with no remorse. He shows no real empathy. He lacks true feelings for anyone, even his own family. He looks at his own daughter, Ivanka, and obviously thinks of sex, openly calling her "hot." This shows an astonishing lack of concern for others. How does Ivanka feel about her own father's perverse view of her?
Life is full of tradeoffs, I've learned, from over six decades of personal challenges. We all accept the bad with the good in life, but I see no good in Trump. What good is wealth if it costs your soul?
I look forward to change coming soon, and I remain hopeful the good in America will prevail. If we all think and act on this belief, day by day, the good in people will win in the end.
Mr. Blow you forgot one key example of Trump hatred---his cleverly disguised lukewarm support for alt right hate groups. Trump won't come right out and deny them because they are some of his strongest and most vocal supporters but members of alt right hate groups see a champion of hatred and demagoguery in Trump someone who gives them a slap on the wrist then the opportunity to practice their vile beliefs without interference. I don't think the right to hate is something that is going to make America great again But Trump with his rants and raves stands as a role model for all members of alt right hate groups. Is that something we really want to support as a nation to "get results"? I really don't think so. Stand up America and say NO to Trump and his hateful supporters.
1
Charles is right. Trump thrives on hate. He even hates his ‘friends’ unless they unwaveringly support him and bow to his every whim.
Which is why he doesn’t have any. Former ‘friends’ like Michael Cohen, Stormy Daniels, and Hillary Clinton have been dismissed, viciously bad-mouthed, or treated like complete strangers. Jeff Sessions has ridden the Trump emotional yoyo for so long that I’ve come to respect his tenacity, if nothing else.
Here's an old quote from the NYT that sort of sums it up:
“Out of all the political and business and entertainment circles that we’ve moved in together over the years, I never really met anyone who was Trump’s good friend,” said the Rev. Al Sharpton, who first encountered Mr. Trump in the boxing milieu of the 1980s. “In fact, I’ve never even met anyone who claimed to be his good friend.”
2
And yet despite Trump's "I want to hate" open admission, hate's projected unto the resistance as somehow being OUR problem?
You can't have your MAGA fake and cheat it too, Mr President!
Trump seems to be driven by an unquenchable thirst for revenge. I deeply suspect he has no idea what he is seeking revenge *for*. He lacks the self-awareness to know.
To paraphrase Tombstone, maybe he wants revenge simply "for being born."
I understand how weary we can feel at the inundation of one outrage after another. But we must endure. I want the haters to feel worn down by our unwavering resolve, our long determination, our solidarity and sanity, our unwillingness to give up or in, our steady sticktoitiveness, our discipline and drive to wrest this country from its scourge of blindness and self-destruction.
1
Lovely.
"I want to hate..." and the really sad thing is he is inflicting the unknowing with his brand of hatred. The unknowing are people who do not read, explore, question what is really happening in this country of ours. Mr. Blow examines the source of his hate even as it went back almost 30 years to to a murder in Central Park. And why? Because they were black?
Today we are seeing the results of his hatred inflicted on children of immigrants, the bashing of women, the denigration of the poor and those most vulnerable in our society.
I do not believe we are a hateful society. However, as in organizational life, culture starts at the top with leadership and I am saddened by the direction this country has turned. My fervent wish is that he would just go away or at least be harnessed so he cannot continue to damage the culture of our country.
Trump has never let facts get in the way of his beliefs.
People were right when they said Trump's little red cap should have said Make America Hate Again.
Hate is powerful, but not as powerful as regular Americans refusing it.
1
Two intertwining themes appear daily with trump:
1) The man is profoundly mentally ill and has ADD. Coupled with ignorance and incompetence and you have a toxic mixture that is actually contagious. As with a physical virus, social and political viruses can and do sicken members of our species. These is no strategy or forethought. With trump the lies and the hate is entirely compulsive and involuntary--all of it.
2) The progressive wing of the Democratic "may" be in ascendancy. It's too early to tell. Progressives are divided because they have a conscience. In contrary fashion, the Republican Part is the party that is given over to the Regressives. That's who they have become.
So here we are, with the Regressives in charge, the Progressives maybe making headway but having to fight the virulence of a contagious mental illness infecting about one-third of the country.
BRAVO! This hits the nail on the head! (actually thinking of Trump as a "overweight nail" is not too far off).
1
He may not want to psychoanalyze, but likely that is because what insight he has into his own character reveals to him a limited, insecure, frustrated individual who craves adoration and is so damaged he can not emotionally afford empathy. So his spectrum of reaction is narcissistic palliation and violent hatred. A sociopathic pathology converted to reality television - the Sopranos without the charm.
I want to hate ... Trump. But there's so much hatred here I don't have to. There's enough here.
It's so much easier than fixing the care system or defence cut backs, He even wanted to get out Syria.
Brilliant piece. Thank you.
1
Trump's infamous hat should more accurately read "Make America Hate Again", but I think the people who wear that get the message anyway.
He IS deliberately "flooding the zone", Steve Bannon admitted that some time ago. It's a strategy to overwhelm opposition, since opponents are confronted with a new outrage almost daily. This is where we desperately need the press to help: be more selective and yet more investigative in what you report! Don't give him the free PR and coverage for what may amount to bad manners and deliberately poor word choices. Watch what his minions are doing while he distracts us, like what's happening right now under Mick Mulvaney. Ask more questions about events like the recent "celebration" at the White House that seemed to involve more staffers than Eagles fans, and don't just restate his or the White House's remarks. They are absolutely playing the press and the public, and we need journalists to step up and do much, much better.
Charles Blow, you are a great source of solace in these dreadful times. I hope that we, your readers, are of some reciprocal comfort to you also. Please remember our gratitude during times when your resolve starts to slip.
1
Yes, but...
Granted, this president is a corrupt and damaged man. Why he uses his one real talent - manipulation - to lash out at the world is a subject for future biographers and psychologists.
Is anyone surprised that a smattering of bigots supports him? What's disturbing is how good people - among them religious fundamentalists, gun owners, and the wealthy - have fallen in line behind this Pied Piper to form his real power base.
Will we remain a vibrant democracy, or will we make peace with demagoguery? How actively we work over the next several election cycles to lessen the influence of this dangerous cabal will etch the future of our nation.
Thank you, Mr. Blow, for this reminder. Like you, I am mentally and physically exhausted by this horrific person in the White House. While I know about the Central Park Jogger, I had no idea about his full-page ad nor his determination "to hate".
This gives me strength to continue fighting and resisting and voting and donating against such a vitriolic personality and all that he is encouraging in our beautfiul, beloved country's political scene.
3
Sadly, it would appear, far too many Americans want to hate too.
1
I am exhausted, and sometimes am tempted to "disengage."
I will not.
Thank you, Mr. Blow. Thank you!
2
Trump's projection is much-discussed. This column makes it even clearer that Trump hates himself. A study in self-loathing. None of his attacks arise from thoughtful analysis or passion about a cause. They're just knee-jerk reactions to demean others to gain attention or power for himself. They often have no basis in reality.
Of course, it's most perplexing why Trump's particular brand of people-hating appeals to so many. Has America become a nation who, like Trump, can only feel good about itself by identifying an "evil other" and hating that other as a projection of ourselves?
What I find most chilling and frightening is that Trump is apparently our President simply because he reflects ourselves.
He holds up a mirror and people resonate with his hatred.
A nation of haters is headed for disaster.
2
" I want to hate these murderers and I always will. I am not looking to psychoanalyze or understand them, I am looking to punish them."
I know I shouldn't, but I can't help wanting to apply this sentiment to Trump's supporters - enough with trying to feel their pain. Look what they've done to this country. If this is who they admire, why shouldn't we apply his 'don't-empathize-just-hate' approach to them?
Thank you, Mr. Blow, for the much needed reminder to stiffen my spine and never surrender. These are depressing times and it's hard sometimes not to give in to the demoralization.
1
What is absolutely stunning is the Republican Congressional member's silent endorsement of Trump's behavior. I know they cannot all agree with him or condone his behavior or style. But they remain silent. Trump? We see him for what he is: an incompetent, tantrum throwing, hate monger who also happens to be POTUS. But Trump is an outlier. One of a kind. Seems as if he was assembled out of spare parts from a whole menagerie of similar characters the total sum of which (Trump) is like an antibiotic resistant bacterial infection. The only way to describe Congresses behavior is with one word: chicken.
1
Trump used bigotry to pull supporters into a disturbing and prolonged nativist 'anxiety.' When he descended that elevator in announcing his candidacy, an intensified notion of "only natives allowed" returned to America with a vengeance.
It struck a cord with certain portions of the electorate.
Trump promoted the rhetoric, having relentlessly demeaned America's first black president as illegitimate.
And acted as if he had camaraderie with all the aggrieved.
At his rallies he said of a black protester maybe he should have been roughed up. Get him out of here."
An intolerance in stark contrast to the eloquence and dignity of Barack Obama. Oh, Charles, indeed:
The Trump presidency and history of the man have long been defined by race and racism. Thanks for your critical work.
Charles, like you, I have to fight the exhaustion of the hourly news cycles as Trump's behavior and lies give journalists around the world more red meat to write about.
From the NYTimes and Washington Post, to The Guardian (UK) and even the Wall Street Journal, along with an endless list of major dailies, it is all about Trump and how he has defiled the office of POTUS and the United States; how he is working to unravel our long-established relationships with our allies.
Yes, it exhausts me. And as the midterms get closer, I will probably receive nonsensical political blather from my friends on the far-right side of the proverbial aisle. Alt-right candidates will send me — a liberal with progressive family DNA (dating back to the early 1800s) — their campaign "illiterature" filled with conspiracy theories and lies. I will, once again, be forced to do all of the heavy lifting when it comes to fact-checking the fact-free email from those conservative friends who could't imagine that the gasbags at Fox would lie.
Thankfully, Charles, you put air in my sails with every editorial you write. You give me strength when it seems there is none left.
To borrow a quote (and, forgive me, out of context) from a fine essayist, Roger Rosenblatt, "I won't let go if you don't let go."
Trump has made hate much bigger than himself. His supporters, his party and his own family are all haters.
The fight, by Americans, against hate is righteous, patriotic and justified because it is also a fight against evil tyranny.
2
Mr. Blow, as always you are right on. As Jesus and MLK Jr taught us, love is the only antidote to hate.
So how do we love someone who is committed to hatred as a way of life? Oddly, perhaps by impeaching him, by convicting him of crimes and imprisoning him, in order that he may be broken enough to begin to consider the reality of what he is.
The Quakers began the "penitentiary" movement with exactly that idea in mind.
Trump isn't reason why Trump is President. Millions of Americans also wanting to hate, agreeing with Trump, loving him and the hate he both expresses and engenders, and voting for him by the tens of millions in just the right places, is the reason. So what do we say to them? Centering our resolve around the brutal horrorshow that is the President, that is the expression of their dark desires, is one thing. But how do we stop our fellow citizens from loving this fire as it burns the country down? Is there a way to remind them of our common humanity and shared destiny? Or is the only way past this nightmare through it, and through the foreboding darkness on the horizon.
Trump's real nemesis is not Obama- it is Jesus.
That should be a problem for evangelicals but at this point, it isnt, sadly.
1
Charles Blow has much greater restraint than I do. I doubt a person has existed in my lifetime that I have despised as much as I despise Trump.
3
Thank you. I have been thinking/saying for a while that Trump is hate filled and MEAN. All the executive orders signed are mean. He denigrates our country because he is mean. He hates Obama so he is undoing any good that Obama did. I too, as another commenter wrote, need to know why Congress keeps appeasing Trump. What are his supporters in Congress getting out of backing up Trump's hate?
We are all worn out. Too much thinking and trying to figure out how this will all end. It's a roller coaster of emotions affecting every bit of my life. But we must breathe and continue to resist this hate.
I live in Canada. I will be doing my part to try and make things better as an American living abroad, by making phone calls to voters.
Persevere, Resist. Love trumps Hate.
2
29 years ago, we who were New Yorkers, reeled from the attack on the Central Park Jogger and Trump's paean to hate ("I want to hate!" in this newspaper and other papers). Yes, Charles Blow, our President -- even back then when today's Gen Ys were infants -- was consumed with hatred, which only grew larger since that Spring night in 1989. We, who are not of Trump's political party, are sick of the hate that Trump has inflicted on us, on the American people, on our allies (Canada, Mexico, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Israel) on our friends in African countries, and enemies in the Middle East and Asia. We remember that the 5 young Central Park suspects (railroaded and accused ) -- 4 Blacks, one Hispanic -- were subsequently aquitted of the heinous crime and rewarded for their innocence, when DNA found the one real attacker. The Central Park jogger is alive and well today, and she has no memory of the attack in Central Park in April, 1989. But we all live with that memory of our angry President back in the day when he was rich enough to take out full page ads in this newspaper and many others. When he shouted to the world (before the Age of Tweets) " I want to hate!" We are sick. We are tired of hate. We pray for the ousting of this "fake" president.
My puzzle is how could such a man be voted US president. He may well remain in history as the vilest US president elected.
2
I agree with the author about news fatigue. The only thing that keeps me going is the idea that if I give up, I've given in (The Donald wins). Nope!
6
With apologies to Martin Niemöller, a variation to "First they came":
First they hated the woman, I did not speak out because I am not a woman.
Then they hated black people, I did not speak out, because I am not a black person.
Then they hated immigrants, I did not speak out, because I am not an immigrant.
Then they hated Muslims, I did not speak out, because I am not a Muslim.
Then they hated me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
I use "they", because Trump, and many of his supporters, perpetuate and glow in this hatred. This did not start with Trump's election, but with that of President Obama. While there has been hatred, in this country, for decades, for the pat 10 years the hatred, once somewhat controlled, has oozed and spewed like what we are seeing with Mt. Kiluaea, red hot, leaving nothing but blackened, desolation in its wake.
Like other dictators, through history, hatred always at the forefront to have scape goats to wreck vengeance upon. Hitler used Jews, Gypsies, Catholics, non-Aryans, Communists and academics. Trump is using women, blacks, immigrants (mainly Hispanics) and Muslims to perpetuate his wave of hatred. And, in both cases, there is a minority of the population, which supported/suport this hatred agenda.
All dictators are nothing more than cowards and bullies. They need thugs, fear, and corruption to get them to power and to keep them in power. Eventually they are overthrown, jailed, kill themselves or are executed, dying a coward.
7
Eagles, Trump, Football? What do they have in common? I don’t know, maybe a guy who has concussion syndrome without having played a down in scrimmage? Maybe a guy who doesn’t have enough to do with his time? I’d like to move on with preparing for the season and focusing on what will be the future of the game Kudos to the Eagles for resisting the distraction and the commissioner who chooses to remain silent.
1
Mr. Blow, what I still don't understand is how the African American community did not think it was sufficiently important to turn out in droves to defeat this awful, awful man. Or to turn out in the midterms when Obama was in office to defeat Republicans who were thwarting Obama's agenda.
How did that happen? How did she lose Michigan and Wisconson?
Blaming her for not visiting the states is a cop out. She didn't visit Boston either. It wasn't as though she was sitting idle. At one point she collapsed from pneumonia. Not voting to elect Democrats to congress and not voting to defeat Trump were a huge betrayal of Obama.
NY Times readers (for the most part) get that Trump is a horrible man. They also vote. Not voting to express disgust with the system is cutting off your nose to spite your face.
Highlighting prejudice in op-ed pieces, taking a knee at a stadium is worthless if it doesn't translate into votes.
8
Racial scapegoating of blacks by the political left is not new, but that makes it no less problematic.
It is this very notion, that African-American voters, who are often last in line for policy benefits from white progressive candidates, are somehow still saddled with the primary burden of getting those white progressive candidates elected, that is perverse, and contributes to the very "low turnout" problems that are being lamented.
Last in line for policy benefits? Are you saying they don't benefit from healthcare reform? They have no interest in global warming? Foreign policy? Funding for Planned parenthood clinics? Abortion rights? Tax breaks for the rich that will starve the Federal gov't of funds it needs for Medicare and Medicaid? Gun laws?
Democrats are in a bind because claims of "identity politics" fire up the base on the right of the political spectrum. Trump sees it as a winning issue. The fact is that basing a campaign on taking care of the marginalized or poor is a losing strategy.
Why did Hillary lose Wisconson and Michigan? Sure, she lost for many reasons, but why didn't the African American community have her back? Why didn't they support Obama's choice for successor? I think it is condescending and pandering to ignore low voter turnout.
Charles Blow and others can continue to explain the sources African American outrage to the relatively enlightened readers of the NY Times, but that will not change anything if progressive politicians like Russ Feingold and Obama veterans like Hillary Clinton don't get elected.
Yes, we are all tired of the noise of the news. Trump is not only a deep hater, and a liar, he is also a master of distraction. It is a long way from the things he does and says to his long-term goals. He does not care how small his base is, because he will keep you focused on his tweets, and chaos, and sexual misconduct while he plots to overthrow every vestige of the US Constitution.
His small base is like him. They are the people who did not share their toys as children, the people who see violence as the first solution to a problem. They share a disease called Sociopathy and they will respond with violence, if challenged. That good Christian man, Sessions, gave us a terrifying example when he said he "shed no tears" for small children locked in cages, bereft of parental comfort at the border, while their parents are sent away or jailed. Families who have escaped persecution in other countries are put into German-style Death Camps stamped with the seal of the US Government. We should all take a knee in penance for the government we have elected. Thank you Senator Jeff Merkley for trying to shed a light on our shared sin.
4
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." Martin Luther King, Jr.
Mr. Blow finds further historical evidence that the president is perhaps the most hateful, least love-inspired person on the planet. He was elected to president (even if by a minority of the country), and thus embodies that aspect of our culture and our populace. And still, slowly perhaps, in a million ways it will happen that love - "only love" will drive out this hate.
3
My challenge is how to not hate back every day.
How to meet hatred with love. Like MLK said, the strength to love. I hate what is happening, I hate the lies. But I do resist. We will have to resist with the force of love. Love for each other and the planet.
3
It's so hard not to give in to hate for this man and those who have enabled his destruction of our country's very soul.
With such a disgusting past before the campaign, how did Trump navigate his way through the primaries and win the election? The answer lies in our own history of racism and misogyny, not so latent, not so bygone, but still very much alive and kicking right here, right now. But, the ugliness, the hate has been dressed up a bit, spun as rationale policy (build a wall, travel ban, incarcerate criminals) by preying on fear. The purveyors of hate are always clever to tap primal fears of security and a tendency for tribalism.
Our challenge now is to dismantle the new, dressed up Jim Crow with new forms of protest and dissent, with new dynamic leadership and community building. It cant's be lazy. We can't assume good will prevail. It needs to be called out and uncovered at every turn. Relentless, powerful, informed, energetic, the opposite of hate. What world, what community, what neighborhoods do we want our kids to inherit? Trump's walled off vicious exclusive clique of whiteness and privilege or Obama's open, dynamic, excepting, tolerant, creative, diverse, inclusive community of all cultures, orientations, and races? The answer is clear, but the path there takes diligent work, relentless push back, creative wit, intelligence, and organization.
5
As much as I agree with Mr. Blow, and as glad as I am that he has stated this, and so eloquently, I don't agree that Trump uses his base. I think it is evident that Trump truly represents his base.
Trump does want to hate because he is one of those people who uses the energy of that anger pointed at him and spews it back to accomplish whatever horrible goal he presently has. What makes him different from his base is that this vast pool of Americans are not wealthy, well-traveled, nor live in cosmopolitan cities. Their fears are equally unfounded but spring from the ignorant bliss in which they live. That Trump and his base intersected in the American Venn diagram of hate could only have happened in a Presidential election.
Trump's base makes the mistake of believing he shares their values but he only shares their prejudices. The Rust Belt aside, these people did not elect Trump because they felt he had a vision or would "make America great again" in any form. They elected him to go after the people they distrust, most especially liberals.
Trump's base fears while Trump himself hates. Some philosophies might tell you fear and hate are the same thing but I feel they are just opposite ends of the same stick. Once Trump finally expresses his loathing for provincial people in the wrong forum, and the scales begin to tilt, he will use that stick to batter his base, who will finally get what the rest of us have been saying. It is then that we will see the end of Donald Trump.
1
Catholic teaching compares the principle virtues versus the capital and deadly sins. Humility and modesty v. pride and arrogance. Generosity and charity v. avarice and greed. Gratitude v. envy and jealousy. Compassion v. wrath and anger. Chastity and purity v. lust and impurity. Temperance v. gluttony. Diligence v. sloth.
Add in Thesaurus entries for antonyms of truth: lies, falsehood, fib, fabrication, deception, invention, fiction, falsification; (little) white lie, half-truth, exaggeration; informal tall tale, whopper. Little wonder that we, as a nation, are in trouble.
Trump and his appointees appear to lack compassion for people. Combined with deliberate denials of facts and truth, an unwillingness to be open and sensitive to others values and needs, a lack of love for most people, along with apparent ignorance of how our society and the world really operate, suggest our current leaders will cause serious trouble for more an more people, if not all of us. Except for the extremely wealthy who use wealth to insulate themselves from the damage they cause.
1
Then what do we make of his pardons of "people of color" and the "voiceless"?
1
There seems to be an obsession with criminals and suspected criminals, but the victims of crime are rarely heard from after they are victimized.
The hatred of the President of our country, democratically elected by the American people continues unabated. The recent refusal to visit the White House of professional athletes like 80% of the Super Bowl Championship Eagles, and the Cavaliers and Warriors of the NBA is just another example of the complete disrespect of the office of the President and the democratic values of the United States.
1
A disrespect that The Donald has earned!
1
Great column Mr. Blow. It's not only Trump who hates, but also Pence and others in the Trump cabinet,such as Stephen Miller, so all of this negativity swirls around Trump on a daily basis, not to mention a GOP that legislates cruelty. Why else do we now have these attempts to separate children from parents, ban people from our country, instigate legislation that denies citizens access to good and affordable health care, "tough" on crime polices that ignore the statistics? I know people who voted for Trump, and their ignorance and hatred for anyone different from them is chilling. We have always had people who are racist and intolerant, but having the leader of our country propagate hate intentionally creates a terrible divisiveness that we have worked so hard to tackle in the last 75 years. Trump is setting us back with his tone, demeanor, and language. Talk is cheap Mr. Trump. You will go down in history as a highly flawed and disreputable person, and your legacy will be remembered as a great discredit to our country.
8
Were it not for the Republican Congress that continues, almost unanimously to continue its support for Trump, and the incredibly high approval ratings for Trump (which would be incredibly low for any other president) by almost half of all voters, we could all see the light at the end of the tunnel as 2020 approaches. But, the most disturbing aspect of having to deal with this beast is the fact that such a large number of American lawmakers and voters agree with and support his racism, his bigotry, his incompetence , and his hate. This country really has become a reflection of Trump, and that is so disappointing.
5
Like your columns, Mr. Blow. This is moving.
But I have a word for you and for all the others on here venting anger and hoping Mueller saves us. (Long time NYTs reader here, swing voter, reformed Repub and reformed Roman Catholic.)
Fighting hate with hate will never work. As sane, moral folks we must fight the good fight. Not rise to the bait. Not yell and condescend, but discuss with respect (despite the fact that much of this trumpian nonsense is pure nonsense and doesn't deserve a hearing).
Noone wants a civil war, either cold or hot. Just this week, got into a debate with good friends who started spouting immigrant nonsense (ironically, one of them was a European immigrant, but white). It did not devolve into anger because we all mutually de-escalated. But this is all too rare.
Trump is fool and his awfulness will pass. The country will survive. But we as moderates/dems/liberals need to unify to fight him and the GOP/Trump-OP in focused, productive ways. Let's all agree to lay down the internecine bickering; the petty stuff. Trump and this complicit GOP are the opposition. Let's beat them by using our heads, not beat them with our heads. There is much to be done.
3
One way to combat the politics of inundation, I think, is to choose ONE of the countless lies and break it down to those around us. If you thoroughly understand one lie, one misdirection, one obfuscation, it seems to make the others easier to bear because at least there is a certainty to quiet that nagging "what if". I teach in an urban high school. This last year in my Civics courses in the context of learning about the justice system we watched The Central Park Five. My students were astounded, angered, outraged, you name it, at not only the way these young men were treated, but how "their" president continues to press forward with a racist hatred he simply cannot overcome. We were lucky enough to have two of the men Skype with us in class discussions (don't want to use their names). My advice, go deep on the issue that speaks loudest to you and unravel the lies. Don't try to carry all of t-rump's poison because, like any poison, it is too caustic to carry for long.
Well done article Charles. I remember how fatigued we all were with the campaign. It’s only gotten worse.
And I think you’re right. Trump hates anything that doesn’t conform to his twisted and sick view of the world. And hatred is an ugly, ugly thing.
Also like you, I have days where I’m just too tired to care much about the latest Trump controversy, which come at us daily.
So this knowledge, that our president, who should be setting a good moral tone not just for Americans but for the world, is filled with hate for the majority of the earth’s population.
I’m frustrated as well because I don’t know how to combat it. Thank goodness you and other writers have stayed true to this mission to expose this slug of a president. That can stiffen all of our spines.
I’m encouraged that the Dems seem to be rallying around this as well. Finally putting forward policy and agenda ideas that takes them away from the far left positions of people like Sanders or Warren. They don’t hate, but their positions are too extreme to win elections.
And win elections we must. In November of 2018 and again in 2020. That seems to be our greatest hope.
In the meantime, in our day-to-day lives, we can choose to love instead of hate. It’s as simple as a kind word to a stranger. I’m not a religious person, but the unfiltered words of Jesus do give me hope. We will not let this monster of a president destroy what so many have fought and died for.
Thanks Charles.
In 1991, Trump's mother was hurt badly during a mugging. Unlike some other great people in history, he has learned nothing from that unfortunate incident and instinctively bites back without understanding crime or punishment. Some are born great, some achieve greatness. Trump had greatness thrust upon him through the sheer incompetence of others.
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Many like the congress can afford to debate, analyze, and justify Trump's behavior. To many, his behavior is not life-threatening. Personally, they are not at risk, yet. However, to currently vulnerable populations, he is best classified as dangerous. Ask the families being deported or taken into custody at the borders, ask the families who lost, diminished, or lack health care coverage, ask hurricane victims in Puerto Rico, ask the families of children killed in school shootings, ask the family of the woman killed in the Charlottesville protests, ask the families of 60 dead Palestinians, ask U.S. allies, ask U.S. servicemen who eventually will be placed in harms way on a whim, ask the FBI, ask the Central Intelligence Agency. There is a case to be made that Trump is dangerous!
Donald Trump can live without a friend, but he can't live without an enemy.
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Thanks for the reminder of what's at stake! Don't let the hatred grind you down! keep the faith and keep fighting for a better version of ourselves and our country. It matters for us and for our children!
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I lived in Manhattan and was hit and robbed by 3 black youths.
When I reported the crime to the police, what shocked me was the fact the police pushed me very hard to accuse someone else of the crime from a book of mug shots.
This individual looked vaguely like one of the persons responsible, but I could never testify with any level of certainty that the person in the picture was responsible for the attack and robbery. That did not matter at all to the detectives.
I left shaken at how the criminal justice system works, as I was young and had been taught American justice system protected the innocent.
There is a cognitive dissonance in Trump’s views on justice.
A thorough investigation of Trump’s dealings in the gambling and construction industries, and his Kremlin supported political campaign, would likely reveal serious felonies that if prosecuted according to his own professed standards for others would keep him locked up to his last days.
He called for Mrs. Clinton to be locked up for her email use after all.
No doubt that is why his own attorneys must argue not that their client is innocent, but that Trump is above the law, and cannot be held responsible for anything he does.
In Trump’s America, jails are for the poor, dispossessed and disadvantaged, not the most culpable of serious crimes.
Mr. Blow’s article is important for Americans to understand. Hatred, even for those wrongly accused, is what is motivating policy, not justice.
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In 2012 Ken Burns produced a excellent, compelling documentary chronicling the injustices related to the Central Park Five. Next year Netflix will air a mini-series "The Central Park Five" directed by Ava DuVernay. Currently, there's a wave, no make that a tsunami, of interest in true crime stories. This is an excellent time for another look at the violation of the rights of these young men.
Lots of people knew and know this about Trump, yet they still voted him in. What I fear most, the judges that Mitch McConnell is appointing, they will likely have opinions that mirror Trump. They are evil, but they sure know how to play the game. If the Dems would stop being so "you need to be perfect," maybe we would "win again," but Mitch is in this to win it and once Trump is gone, Mitch's judges will remain.
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The title to the article, while a quote from Trump, seems to be the feelings of the author towards Trump. He wants to hate Trump. He seems rather self righteous about it. It is a crime against all citizens when the legal system is abused and people are put in jail for crimes they didn't commit even if those people have committed other crimes and probably deserve punishment. Would Charles Blow be upset if Trump was forced from office for a crime he didn't commit. I doubt it. I suspect he would feel it was for the greater good. American law enforcement from local police and sheriffs to the federal Justice Department is corrupt and abusive of their powers. Every American is guilty of a crime and could be arrested and prosecuted. Often the decisions to prosecute or not to prosecute are political. The prosecutions and failure to review the convictions of the four men in the article were politically motivated. They needed convictions. The investigations and prosecutions of Trump and his friends is just as political. Interested groups want to hamstring this administration. The hypocrisy of both the Democrats, Republicans and news media seems to be limitless.
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Thank you, Charles Blow, for always keeping us on track, inspired, and focused. It has become too easy for all of us to want to run away and hide from the deplorable actions and words of this President. We must stay engaged in our efforts to defeat Trump and all that he stands for, including hatred.
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To “own” nuclear weapons, the owner should be disqualified if it can be shown they have unbridled anger & hate towards large segments of the human race, cannot separate reality from fiction, and have flights of ideas.
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As I read this column and agree with Charles Blow, I am reminded that there are American voters who support Donald Trump and his viewpoints (hateful as they are) and they are teaching their children those values. I am dumbfounded over the numbers of evangelical people who have lined up behind Trump and who are so eager to follow him to greener pastures. I am surprised that there has not been a religious rebellion in the United States. Trump's hate is dividing America and separating America from the global family where it has thrived.
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A powerful reminder that we cannot allow the constant barrage of lies and propaganda from Trump to influence our actions to vote and stand for what is right.
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Perhaps I am biased but I detect many similarities between our president and Kim, Erdogan, Putin and Rouhani. He seems not nearly as similar to Xi, Abe or the other leaders of the G-7. If that is true, I think we can see where we are headed. The only question is: without men of virtue in Congress, when will we get there?
To help understand the third of the country who revere Trump, my experience described in a pre-election essay could be helpful.
Edited below is this linked story:
http://alrodbell.blogspot.com/2016/10/the-night-i-became-trump-deplorabl...
After stopping the attack, the first thought that flashed to mind was guilt. Guilt, that in this almost all white crowd, I had somehow done harm to a disturbed black man. This quickly faded, to be replaced by a realization, a crystallized thought, that today four decades later provides a window on those who in the next month could possibly bring fascism to this country. I thought, “What kind of a world am I living in where my possibly preventing a homicide would leave me feeling like I’m a racist.
This election is changing our country in a way that won’t be reversed after the votes are counted and we have a President elect. Our focus on the candidates of this single election avoids the need to have understanding of the other side, all the more so to the degree that you view them as contemptible. What I shared here of my feelings close to a half century ago, could have, with some small changes in my own life events, put me on the other side, admiring Donald Trump as the flawed savior of this country. He would have been the person liberating me from that guilt that had burgeoned to be an oppressive ubiquitous force that only he would challenge.
As a mental health professional, I look past the behavior and need to hate that trump exhibits and see a child, probably undiagnosed ADHD with learning disabilities who was misunderstood and received harsh parenting. Eventually, he was sent away to school and developed the hard core pathological narcissism and sociopathy that now seems to characterize him. Inability to truly love and care about others is part of his inability to love himself. Books have been written about the psychology of trump, which support these theories. We, the American people,must reject such a man as the leader of our country. We must not allow others with similar pathology to jump on his bandwagon and overtake us. We deserve better and we will not stop until we succeed.
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The fact that Republicans did not stop his nomination, the fact that 70% of Republicans approve of his presidency, the fact that 50 million people voted for him and the fact that the Republican congress refuses to stand up to him tells me one thing. The Republican party IS the aperty of hate. I can understand but not excuse those who support this agenda of hate who are not well educated or very worldly but those Republicans who are more sophisticated and well educated I can neither understand nor forgive. The rest of us cannot let this stand.
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All very well said, as usual for Mr. Blow. It naturally leaves one wondering, how can a person this vile have millions of followers? A partial answer, as many commenters note, is that they share many of his beliefs and 'values.'
But we would do well to realize another reason: The counter-narrative is constantly being created by his enablers.
As exhibit-A, I give you the recently published "The Faith of Donald J Trump: A Spiritual Journey," by David Brody, a reporter for the Christian Broadcasting Network, and Scot Lamb, a Baptist minister and biographer of Mike Huckabee.
I know, to most readers here it sounds like a bad joke. But it's true - and there will be many who swallow it, hook, line and sinker. The publisher's thumbnail description: "Raised as a Presbyterian and praising both Christianity and the primacy of the Bible, President Trump has surrounded himself with close advisers who share his deep faith..."
I think that many who support Trump are not by nature deeply hateful, but it seems clear that they are fearful - and fear creates a handle on the door to hatred. Most of his followers are not as psychologically damaged as he is and are thus not inherently evil. Thus, the ever-present counter-narratives are necessary for them to justify their feelings, which they themselves might otherwise realize to be hateful.
Trump is only the tip of the iceberg that is fear, hatred and lies. We shall see whether the USA is the RMS Titanic or not.
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