My father fought in the South Pacific and Okinawa to preserve the American way of life. Real hero’s. All of them.
Given the distance between the honorable America of the past and dishonorable Republicans of today, I commit my willingness to fight for equality for all in an American made post fact world.
We need to do more than just vote,
46
I thought Blow was proud to be part of the Resistance "mob." I thought Blow supported Maxine Waters ("get in their face"), Hillary Clinton (don't act civilly towards those who are so opposed to your ideals), Eric Holder (when they go low, we kick them), etc. I thought Blow supported the assaults on Steve Scalise, Sarah Sanders, Ted Cruz.
I don't support attacks on Democrats or Republicans. I don't support the tit-for-tat arguments of the so-called intelligencia. But for Blow to say or imply that Trump alone created or is responsible of the current toxic political environment that permeates the country is dishonest and fallacious.
8
From the time he descended his ridiculous escalator to announce his candidacy Trump has spewed hate, fear and violence. A toxic man with a toxic message, Trump has defiled and poisoned American politics in a way that is accurately summarized as racist, neofascist. egomania.
23
Yes, Trump is a liar and a bigot who foments fear. I wish that liberal pundits would note this but focus their attention on exposing the damage he is doing to the safety net, public health, the environment, the government, etc.
Trump behaves outrageously and a thousand pundits howl about his outrages at length-- free advertising for Trump.
36
Ignorance and prejudice and fear walk hand in hand
6
And you have not been toxic.
4
“I think he knows what Rome is. Rome is the mob. Conjure magic for them and they’ll be distracted. Take away their freedom and still they’ll roar. The beating heart of Rome is not the marble of the Senate, it’s the sand of the Colosseum. He’ll bring them death — and they will love him for it.”
This must have stood out in Blow's mind when he saw the film.
Me, I remember Caesar saying something very similar in one of his tracts, which i read in Latin so very long ago.
But now, Trump is an echo of Nazi Germany in 1933. And we should not forget that or pooh-pooh it because we think we are immune to it or that it can't happen here.
There are limits to free speech. You do not call ''fire'' in a crowded theater. Twitter cancers and deletes accounts. It is time for them to cancel Trump's and stop abetting his rampant, irrational and hateful speech.
And Fox? That is another cesspool
.
13
"“Democrat immigration policies allow poisonous drugs and MS-13 to pour into our country. And Democrat sanctuary cities release violent criminals from jail and straight into your neighborhoods.”
Presumably, these pro-sanctuary pro-illegal MS-13 apologists advocates are Claire McCaskill's "crazy Democrats". So when Blow criticizes Trump he is criticizing McCaskill, Heitkamp and Donnelly.
3
It's a little rich for Charles Blow to complain about "overheated,overwrought rhetoric."
7
Does anyone not agree that the actions of the current POTUS smack of Fascism? I wasn't around to witness it but from what I've been taught in school and read in history books this is remarkably similar to what Hitler, Mussolini, etc., practiced during their assaults on democracy? And a frightening prospect for the future of this country.
17
I am sick to death of Trump. Of his incompetence, lies, low mental functioning, ignorance, and hatred. Of his sheer ugliness.
VOTE, please. We can still lose this one, and I don't know if our country can stand any more of this.
18
I ask myself would Trump do these things with impunity if he were not supported, nay, encouraged to do so by Fox News and the rest of the right-wing faux news crowd? If he were not supported by the Heritage Foundation and other Kock-linked organizations that fund Super PACs with dark money to air ads that echo Trump's vile conspiracy theories? If the Republican party did something more emphatic than click their tongues and make excuses for his behavior?
They are all his enablers. He speaks for them, and they love it just as much as the people at his rallys. They are enemies of democracy. Every one of them.
Vote to put the brakes on this run-away train before it runs over us all. Two weeks. Vote Democratic for every office.
18
Everyone, everywhere, who answers to the “brand,” Republican, must be defeated at the polls for as long as he holds office, plus 5 years. Everyone. Too bad, if we lose a solitary innocent.
8
Thanks for calling out Trump for what he is sir. The cancer starts at the top and has filtered to the masses. Scary stuff because it is the new reality - not some TV show and it's not mindless entertainment - it's crazy emotional rhetoric that can and does invoke violence. Seems like each passing week and month require a new level of vigilance of Trump's behavior and that of his cult until he goes away. Dangerous times.
7
From his days as a reality tv star, to his reality tv candidacy, to his reality tv presidency, this Frankenstein's monster has been crafted within the laboratories of the various media,who have gorged themselves on the ratings this Pied Piper brought to their outlets.
And like the earlier Frankenstein's monster, he is out for the blood of his creators. And that is awful, but also predictable.
3
Trump, like the Republican party, rules for the benefit of the rich and the elites that his base so abhors. The Republicans have long appreciated the ability to lie to, scam, and still obtain the support of what they call their "low information" voters. Trump has turned scamming these people into an artform that would make con men worldwide appreciate his chutzpah. Unfortunately, the result of these efforts for our country is intolerance, polarization, disputes over basic facts, voter suppression, environmental decay, massive debt, foreign adventurism by our enemies, and other real consequences.
8
It is illegal for me to yell "fire" in a movie theater. It is illegal to incite violence. It is illegal to solicit criminal activities. We don't need to know who sent the bombs. In a conspiracy, the left hand does not need to know about the right hand. And the GOP just doesn't care. Has anyone in the GOP come out and specifically defended President Obama, Secretary Clinton, Vice President Biden, Representative Waters, et. al.? And specifically condemned criminal solicitation via rally and twitter?
6
If the dems fail to win the House Trump will be emboldened to take more drastic actions and become more vile with his rhetoric if that is possible. Yearning to be adored as Kim is in North Korea Trump might install a Hannity type as Attorney General and Tucker Carson type as Defense Sec allowing him to start a war with Iran based on lies. Jared will be Viceroy of Iran in charge of oil revenues which solves his financial problems. We have no allies left except North Korea , Russia and Saudi all dictatorships Trump's favorite form of government. Think it can't happen here that is what they thought in Germany.
10
Not all arguments are balanced; sometimes one party is demonstrably wrong, or at the very least, more wrong than the other. If two people are arguing whether two plus two equals four or five, it is NOT demonstrating some twisted sense of fairness to declare "well, we'll have to agree to disagree, there are arguments to made both ways, so it remains in doubt." NO! There IS a correct answer, and repeating 2+2=5 over and over again, doesn't make it any less wrong, nor provide grist for arguments that 'the 2+2=5 side should be getting equal time.' NO!
Why am I posing such a ridiculous example? Because it is equally foolish to pretend that Trump isn't wrong here, or at the very least much more wrong than his opponents. He has repeatedly lied and slandered his opposition with false claims for any number of 'very bad' things, and that mendacity HAS egged people on. To do what though, right? He will claim he didn't actively promote violence... wink wink nudge nudge say no more! There is a gross imbalance of blame here, and I am weary of the apologists trying to argue it isn't so.
2+2 does equal 4, and we don't have to pander to the 2+2=5 crowd, nor do we have to appease those who really are stoking the flames of division, and really are more at fault.
14
Okay, we know all there is to know about Trump. The question is when are we going to do something before this nation is at war. We can't rely on checks and balances or the courts. They
are all under his spell. Congress is spineless and or clueless.
Can't one psychiatrist come forward and declare him mentally,incompetent so he can be held and evaluated. Sometimes you have to bend the rules for the greater good. Let his "base" follow him over the cliff. The majority of Americans who despise this demagogue must act now. I apologize for calling him names because he is mentally ill and he deserves the same respect as any other person who suffers from a mental illness.
2
In 2008, three great market systems had boomed into great bubbles. Markets had done this many times before. However, Republicans had sworn for thirty years that bibles were impossible because prices from markets never differed from true vale. They also swore that markets reflect the behavior of rational agents and are self correcting, so any government involvement to moderate market distortions cause market distortions. Furthermore any attempts by government to correct out of control markets will wreck the economy. But there were three crashing markets which had tremendously overpriced products which caused sellers to lose a tremendous amount of money. Two wars following great tax cuts had jacked up the national debt without generating significant economic expansion. Banks had created securities from mortgages which nobody could value. Debt was very high. Housing and building markets were glutted and people could not renegotiate mortgages. It was the greatest mess in the economy since the Great Depression.
It all could be traced back to Reagan and three decades of Republican policies. The response from Republicans was fear that they’d be forced to pay more taxes and support more regulations of markets. It made them angry and determined not to admit to reality. That was when what Trump is doing became what Republicans were doing.
10
Trump and the GOP have been on a path to make us a fake democracy modeled on that existing in Russia. They use the same strategies. What they fail to understand is that the corporations have all control in the US, and that Americans are prone to violence. I fully expect that the violence will increase to the point of economic failure, which will feed more unrest. Faced with economic failure the corporations will reluctantly back opposition to the GOP. It may at that point be too late, but we will see. It really depends on whether the military is a racist and fascist organization or whether they are American patriots. I suspect that it is both and that whoever makes up the majority will tip the outcome to their side.
At this point I see no way that massive violence and economic failure will be avoided, even if the DFL takes the house. They must have a majority in both the house and senate and I just don't see that happening.
4
Pardon me, while I'm not an attorney, nor do I play one on TV, isn't
POTUS, in every other sentence he spurts out, inciting violence?
And isn't inciting violence against the law? Please correct me if I'm wrong. And if I'm right, why isn't anything being done about it? Where are the grownups? The longer this behavior is tolerated and even encouraged, the worse it continues to get. Where and when will it stop and how many lives will that cost? Who's responsible for drawing the line?
So many questions, so few answers, so little time.
Vote.
12
Remember the months of major media wailing about on line threats made by an Israeli, Virginia Tech and Harvard et al admitted to be false sexual assault media sensations, Synagogues repeatedly painted with swarztika by members, and decades of the media and democrats branding anyone who dared disagree with them about almost any issue as racists, bigots, xenophobes, misogamists, intolerant, threatening and disturbing? The political left in this country (that comprises a big part of the 1% and their media propagandist lap dogs) declared war on everyone else 40 years ago, and the majority of Americans have finally decided that they've been humiliated, reputations ruined and shoved into poverty long enough, and are now simply fighting back. The mailing of bombs that never conveniently explode a few days before the election is right out of the sneering Russian revolutionary and neo Marxist play book!
3
as Rubin Hurricane Carter said in jail, having been falsely accused, "hate got me in here-- only love can get me out' I will go with the love. If we hate we become Trump.
2
Let's start with objective facts which disprove some of your assertions. First, it is Democratic Lawyers who traveled to Central America to educate refugees as to the immigration process. I say this as a Republican Lawyer. Republicans are not calling for more illegal immigration or assertions of amnesty from any country. So the evidence of Democratic involvement is that it is Democrats pushing for the inclusion of these individuals.
Next, it is the LEFT who chants NO JUSTICE NO PEACE. The absence of peace is WAR. Bombs are used in war. So if language is now going to be the cause of a lunatic's actions than virtually every Democrat who has ever chanted the above phrase is guilty. I will gladly accept your resignation and removal from all public dialogue in the future if you want to lead by example.
You or anyone from the NY Times failed to call for Nancy Pelosi to accept responsibility for Scalise's shooting so don't think we are going to believe Trump is responsible for this. Worse yet, you have advocated on countless occasions disregarding the law (immigration, stop and frisk, voter id laws, etc.). When you advocate that people are free to disregard certain laws, you may find other citizens believe they can disregard laws that you don't think should be ignored.
Lastly, for all the Lefty's out there. You might read our Constitution. The President and all of his supporters have First Amendment Rights. Hence, the President and all of us are free to criticize the press.
7
Spin. Democrats inform people about the law and that makes people come here. Nonsense and if you argued that way in law school or taking bar exams, you’d be a paralegal not an attorney at law.
6
@Matthew
HUH?
3
Trump supporters, even before Trump, have adopted the whining pose of the various "rights" groups. Both sides now adopt the I am victim hear me roar. Sadly the majority of this country White Protestants have little to complain about. Expanding who benefits under the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence are their goals not their faults.
2
The Republican Party from Mitch McConnell to Ted Cruz, from Chuck Grassley to Orrin Hatch all have responsibilitiy for unleashing this miasma into our country by allowing a demagogue to run unfettered with his henchmen mob behind to deface and defile democracy as we have known it post WWII.
They don’t t care that he has obstructed Justice, has consorted with the enemy, Putin, nor has riled his mobs to dangerous frenzy.
Vote out every last one of them out on November 6th.
8
Very insightful column, Mr. Blow. Methinks we need a Gandhi and a Martin Luther King for this one, and maybe the Koch brothers could have a magical 'ah ha' moment with what is left of their conscience. However, it is so true that Trump is not a president for the USA. He is a president 'dear leader'? for his base and for his big money friends. We seem to be devolving.
10
See how nice the president is behaving, Charles Blow? So why are we all so scared to death? Trump has been releasing explosive devices since he was elected in 2016. What's new about "the Democrat mob rule", the Caravan/Kavanaugh fomentors? America is toxic up the yingyang today, and a civil war initiated by Trump will decimate our democracy to a fare-thee-well.
4
Those that use the " who will rid me of- install an appropriate other here " expect to wear the white robe of innocence when it is the robe of red signifying the spilled blood that they should be wearing. when someone incites to violence it is not just the blood of the victim that is spilled but also the blood of the one who is incited to violence for it is their blood that is sold to the devil, sold by a most vile salesman.
2
Two points. (1) Will you stop calling them conservatives? There is nothing conservative about them. They want to tear down, not conserve. They are radical, revolutionary neo-fascist thugs. (2) There is not a doubt in my mind that the so-called caravan is being funded by the Mercers and/or the Kochs to coincide with the midterm elections. These people will stop at nothing. Expect violence at polling places.
6
In Trump's Bizarro-World -
The media, which includes all entities which say bad things about him, is now the cause of the recent rash of sending explosive devices to those who prominently "dissed" the president in the Fake-News-Media".
So, according to the way Trump's mind works, had the media not given a platform for those attacked to speak out against him, there would have been no bombs sent.
Translation, people speaking the truth had enraged Right Wing-Nuts to act out.
In the past, it has already been stated by die-hard Trump supporters; "If Mueller comes up with any hard evidence and subsequent charges directed at Trump, there will be violence in the streets.
We know that Trump's base will not go quietly into the night.
Sadly, we may only be at the beginning of witnessing the extreme right act out.
November 6th - 12 days and counting - VOTE !
7
"He'll bring them death - and they will love him for it." How true these words are as we experience, horror-stricken, life imitating art, albeit art at its most depressing. We may just be dying, Mr. Blow, or at least very ill. Oh, it's not bodily. More damning, however, it is spiritually. The cancer of hate and violence is threatening to metastasize. And it is that one virus of a barely human being, Mr. Trump, who has infected our democracy and weakened our immunity against all that is vile and wrong.
How many times have we heard ourselves say it can not get any worse, yet it does. Is there no bottom to this abyss Trump is leading us into? Yet somehow I can not help but think we still have justice within this nation of ours, and it is through us. And I believe there are more Americans who are decent and ethical and moral than not. We just have to be relentlessly tenacious in righting all that has gone horribly amok in not even two years.
8
Am I wrong, or Did Mr. Blow, just the other day (oct.22), write a column praising the left mob and counting himself in? Today he decries some sort of right mob. Maybe part of our national-unity, (national sanity) problem is opportunistic news organizations seeking to stir up reader interest (discontent) any way they can to increase their own relevance in a shifting market. Another way to say it is, they only want to sell newspapers, subscriptions, and advertising; they want to stay in business. That's understandable from a practical, conservative, business oriented point of view, but how do holier-than-thou liberals justify it?
6
@Ronald B. Duke
Since there is no "left mob", you argument is without merit. At no Democratic rally have there been calls to lock up anyone. People don't hear the speaker suggest that Republicans are funding people to attack us. No speaker has offered to pay the legal fees (Trump won't do it anyway. He is a cheapskate.) of people in the crowd to beat up protesters of reporters. No one has praised another politician for body slamming a reporter. So, just where is the equivalence? It just isn't there, is it?
13
I listened briefly to Sec. Clinton talk at an event last night, and am reminded of how foolish those voters were for choosing to vote for Trump because they felt Hillary was so bad ----now we know what bad really is. There are so many problems in this country she would have tackled intelligently and instead we are spending our time and monies on tracking down bombers, putting children in cages, weekly travel plans to golf courses, abetting murderous dictators---what a wasted four years this has been.
9
Let's call Trump what he is, a fascist. It doesn't take a massive intellect to become a fascist merely sufficient commitment.
If Americans didn't find the lessons of history so tiresome, they might have recognized where the Trump demagoguery was heading a long time ago. Fascism is a cancer which cannot be removed by one treatment i.e. election rather it takes many treatments in the hope that the cure won't kill the patient, our republic, in the process.
13
For the longest time, I wanted to think Trump was just ignorant, not malevolent. Sadly for our country, he is both.
5
Mob hate fuels his presidency. Mr Blow your column clearly describes his demented behavior, unfit to be president. His rally's are a case study in rhetorical hate- mongering bigotry.
Republicans appear as deaf to his messages of insults and mockery festered on Democrats,journalist and anyone who disagrees with their agenda.
He and the Republican Party are now one and the same.He has usurped the conservatives into his realm of dystopian reality.
8
“But we can say without equivocation that Trump’s stoking of fear and timing of anger is deeply problematic and indeed dangerous.”
Wow! “Deeply problematic” and “indeed dangerous”. Seldom are Trump’s words and actions exposed with such crystalline clarity and such unblinking, intellectual exactitude.
Equivocation. You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
Let’s face it, if sunspot activity suddenly and unexpectedly increased, Charles Blow would find a way to link it to Trump — while at the same time, decorating the sentences of his column with puzzling words sprinkled from a big book.
2
Trump on CNN, “the enemy of the people”. They received a bomb today. Trump on Hillary, “crooked, a criminal, lock her up”. She received a bomb today. Trump on Obama, “born in Kenya, he has pulled one of the great cons in history”. He received a bomb today. Trump on George Soros, “he’s funding the caravan of terrorists and criminals”. Soros received a bomb this week. Trump on John Brennan, “a very, very bad person”. Brennan received a bomb this week.
Trump on the bombs that have been sent to the people he has demonized? “We need to be more civil”. Someone please hand Trump a mirror.
10
"There is no way to consider the explosive devices sent to prominent Democrats and the CNN offices and not recall that Donald Trump himself has created a toxic environment "
Well, thanks for that Charles.
It's good to see that you have all the facts in your hands and can make such inflammatory and insulting remarks based on solid information.
For a minute there, I thought this was just another one of your unhinged ideological rants.
But no one with a shred of ethics would make such an assertion without evidence.
Right ?
7
@Objectivist
So, we therefore conclude that Trump has not a shred of ethics since he makes wild assertions - even dangerous ones as we now see - without a shred of evidence every day of the week. Got it. You are so right!
9
@Objectivist...."But no one with a shred of ethics would make such an assertion without evidence."....He has called Mexican immigrants rapists and murders.. He has said he wanted to ban all Muslim's. He has said he would like to punch a heckler and that he would pay the legal fees for anyone who beat up a protester. He has congratulated a senate candidate for body slamming a reporter. He has equated white supremacists with civil rights protesters in Charlotte when one of the protesters was killed. He has publicly mimed a handicapped person. He has publicly mocked a Muslim women whose son was killed with the U.S. military in Iraq. He has said he couldn't get a fair hearing because the judge had Mexican ancestry. How many shreds do you want? Duh. Trump by his own words and actions is a vulgar bigoted narcissist; he has championed divisiveness and lowered political discourse into the gutter.
14
This is what happens when a man unfit for a tourist visit of the White House is given the keys to it. I have only one word for this malignancy: Impeach.
8
For all those "whataboutists" who don't understand the concept of false equivalence:
When progressives get mad at reactionaries, they write comments to NY Times columns and maybe make derisive puns on them.
When reactionaries get mad at progressives, they try to blow then up.
Nothing more really needs to be said.
12
Trump does so much projection I sometimes mistake him for a multiplex.
11
I recall seeing and hearing some of the film clips of Nazi rallies from the early to mid 1930s; some of what I hear today from Trump's rallies is so strikingly similar: blame and denigrate minorities and opponents, call them opponents of the state, speak lies, and make yourselves the "solution."
5
Trump did not create this toxic environment, he is a product or symptom of it. Yet he has definitely made it much worse. I have had problems understanding how anyone could support his behavior. When you wrote that he had "glamorize it" that's it for me. It is that simple. I am tired of being disgusted. Unfortunately my disgust is turning into fear. Attempted assassinations of political opponents needs a strong forceful response from our leaders. We have instead a weak, immature loudmouth for president. I pray nobody dies or is severely injured. Keep writing your opinions and I'll keep reading them. We need to call on our inner strength to get through these times and hope enough of us can change this country for the better. Hopefully our lame president will soon be a lame duck.
7
Sorry Mr. Blow. There may not be an explicit link between the bombings and Trump's villification of his enemies, but there is an implicit one. The bomber is obviously a supporter of Trump and a watcher of Fox News, deranged though he may be, just like the loony tunes who shot up the pizza parlor where Hillary Clinton had her "child pornography ring."
2
But then I will read comment after comment from the "liberal" NY Times reader complaining about "both sides." The Dems have major problems, but I have not seen rhetoric like this from a Dem politician. Most of them still address this guy as "Mr. President..."
7
@Ray Ciaf
There is NO EQUIVALENCE on the left of the insanity emanating from the right.
6
Thank you, Charles Blow. This is brilliant and truly frightening to have this spelled out so precisely and exact. Keep working to call out this administration and # 45 on the dangerous hypocrisy and projection. Keep speaking for those of us without a platform but just our voice and our vote. Most days our voices and our votes really don't feel like they do much.
3
I agree.
The coming election may help us avoid this but I fear the hidden and not so hidden rhetoric and gestures, gerrymandering, miscounts of votes, voter registration purges and other interference will prevent us from protecting ourselves in a civilized manner. I hope we can protect ourselves civilly. Heather Heyer was not protected.
Is that a Nazi salute I see from Trump in this article below?
https://www.dw.com/en/us-bomb-threats-critics-blame-trumps-toxic-rhetori...
It is hard to build the trust needed to communicate when violence is used to snuff out voices of reason; Khashoggi, journalists worldwide, now because Trumps rhetoric as POTUS gives permission to all nations to kill dissenters.
Violence is quick and easy, fueled by hate. Death is final and frightening. Negotiation is slow and hard and requires diligence, bravery, knowledge, memory, years and intelligence.
Historically, this is what is coming, this is what I fear: When the doors of those who disagree with this administration are knocked down by police with military grade weapons what will those who disagree with this administration have to defend themselves with?
5
He's a nationalist? Seriously? Sounds more like a National Socialist to me. Hey, be careful out there . . . history is definitely repeating itself.
6
FOX News continues to spew conspiracy theories about everything today which throws gasoline on the flames already simmering throughout the country. Sarah Huckabee does the same thing as a spokesperson for the President and as a spokesperson for the Evangelics.
10
I didn't write this... but here is a quote from an article by : ANDREW C. MCCARTHY which says it all:
There is plenty of media commentary at the moment about incivility, in the form of incendiary rhetoric and actions. This is entirely appropriate. But I’m at a loss to understand how the climate is improved by spicing up reports with thinly veiled suggestions that President Trump may have triggered a series of potentially murderous attacks on political opponents. When Bernie Sanders supporter James Hodgkinson opened fire on the Republicans he targeted and nearly killed Representative Steve Scalise, I don’t recall much Times speculation about whether he could have been set him off by Democrats urging their supporters to get aggressive — “get in their face”; “if they bring a knife, we bring a gun” — when dealing with political adversaries.
2
After the first political murder takes place I will say only one thing for ever and ever amen. Lock him up. When his supporters finally succeed there will be only one title for this man: Terrorist Warlord. Oh yeah, spreading hate to a bunch of haters isn't dangerous. He wants unity. C'mon, FBI. You know what is going on here. Do something about it. Trump has screamed "fire!" in a theatre for long enough.
8
Trump says: "“The Democrats want to replace freedom with socialism. They want to replace Texas values with Nancy Pelosi values. And they want to replace the rule of law with the rule of the mob. That’s what is happening. And the Democrats would rather destroy American communities than defend America’s borders.”"
Democrats, actually, have, at least for my lifetime, worked hard to implement social programs that are indeed inline with socialism, which, is not a bad thing.
More recently, Bernie Sanders, with an understanding and focus that exceeds 30 seconds, proposed that we find a way to lower the cost of college for young people instead of squandering our national treasure on war. This is "socialism" for our youth instead of "socialism for military contractors" which is what Republicans support.
So, Trump is just distorting what the Democrats propose either because he did not understand it (most likely) or because he knows what his voters are listening too (Hannity and Limbaugh) and he knows that an undefined "socialism" is routinely referred to as if Nazi's are about to start loading our children into trains again.
So, when a rational Democrat like Bernie suggests public funding be re-directed from killing folks in a foreign country for military profit, and, directed to students int he US...why don't we recognize it and laud it?
4
@Michael
"So, when a rational Democrat like Bernie suggests public funding be re-directed from killing folks in a foreign country for military profit, and, directed to students int he US...why don't we recognize it and laud it?"
Cuz people like Charles Blow were irrationally against Bernie. He went on TV consistently bashing slamming Bernie, despite his own son telling him he gets Bernie.
waiting to hear the false equivalence from the trump supporters
did Biden rouse a chant of "lock him up"
tweet a meme bashing the head in of a CNN reporter?
but but but the emails!
1
“Democrat immigration policies allow poisonous drugs and MS-13 to pour into our country. And Democrat sanctuary cities release violent criminals from jail and straight into your neighborhoods.”
Turns out fentanyl is a synthetic drug. It is manufactured using same meth equipment. No longer drug addicts need Central American drugs, heroin or cocaine. They can obtain synthetic fentanyl manufactured right here, locally, it is more powerful, it is cheaper and it is very frequently lethal. More people die from overdoses than police officers in Manchester, NH can cope with. Fentanyl has given Americans freedom from drug cartels in Mexico or Central America. Trump's arguments fall flat in the face.
4
As you said, Mr. Blow, articulation of their anger is why Trump's followers stick with him. I have spoken to some and that's exactly what they told me.
It boggles my mind that these folks, who are often working class at best, believe that Trump has their best interests at heart. The truth is that he is only interested in himself and maybe his family. The rest of us are only here to serve him.
3
Actually, Obama created the "toxic" atmosphere.
3
Picture a small, square patch of mustache under his nose while he rages, "You know what I am? I'm a nationalist, O.K.? I'm a nationalist. Nationalist. Nothing -- use that word. Use that word."
I heard that very word from such a mouth many years ago and saw what happened next. Isn't anyone listening today?
7
The GOP harbors the worst of this disease. They are complicit.
Trump is a symptom of that disease- hating one another/ the other party more than we love our humanity and our country.
4
Thanks, Charles. You're always spot on.
3
Trump won't be happy until the bombers he incites actually start killing his opponents. Then, as the Roman senator said, the people will love him for it and the US will fall as Rome fell. And Trump will be a pauper like the rest of us with all his dollars as worthless as a Venezuelan Bolivar.
4
Upset about the rhetoric? Upset about the violence? Upset about the bombs? Then VOTE. And if you can, canvass, phonebank, and textbank, as much as you can. Otherwise, buckle in for more of the same.
5
"There is no proof that there are “very bad people” in the caravan, and it is more than a thousand miles away from our border."
... and, they're WALKING. There, fixed it for you.
3
trump keeps blaming everyone except the tooth fairy for all the horrific things that are happening when he really should look in the mirror. If truth be told (something he doesn't understand), it's his rhetoric that has incited what is an unofficial civil war. He's a con artist who thinks by being vulgar and name calling is funny. His supporters at his forever campaign rallies laugh and applaud his nonsense because they just don't understand how dangerous he is and all the damage he has and is continuing to do with his Comedy Central behavior. Why did we sink so low?
6
Where are the Republican leaders? They are hiding in the bushes ready to pounce on Medicare and medicaid. So, so sad. VOTE VOTE VOTE!!!!
4
He incites to riot. Why should we be surprised when some of his most unhinged followers do just that, and in many different ways, including sending bombs to Democrats?
2
Trump "arose" because the he co-opted the 30 year and billions of dollar Republican Party strategy of using fear, "hatred, racism, insecurity, anti-intellectualism" to get out their voters. A decades long effort that paved the road for a lying racist demagogue who they cannot, or will not, control. Republican donors value control of government power at any cost, the politicians comply, Party over country, unrestrained looting of the nation and it's citizens by a government of rich, lying sycophants and cronies.
6
How, pray tell me could you pay someone enough to have them give up their homes and goods and walk for thousands of miles with only what they can carry including any children, to reach the US border where they will be imprisoned and possibly lose those same children forever? Where do you find these people? Only the willfully ignorant can believe things like this. They know that this is impossible yet they profess fervent belief. Trump did not manufacture the rage they feel inside he simply gives it a seemingly plausible way to be expressed, but it only works if you can dispense with nearly all reason.
I suspect the rage arises from childhood insults (traumas) these folks probably suffered at the hands of their parents and that they remember only the rage but not what caused it.
None of them, Trump included, are likely to be introspective enough to ever wonder where these feelings come from and so they are forever stuck in place.
So , what is the cure?
VOTE!!!
4
It's very telling that the same trump-led GOP that rabidly demands that imams and other Islamic leaders (and feminists, and #BLM, and progressives, and, and...) tone down their angry rhetoric because it will incite violence and terrorism, is the same GOP that will mumble and resort to hand wringing instead of loud and insistent condemnation when their own 'leader' spews that exact same hate and anger on almost a daily basis, by tweet and at his rallies.
But he's white, and he's inciting their largely white, largely male base, so I guess that's OK then.
7
Fear and hate fuels his presidency. Mr Blow your column clearly describes his demented behavior, unfit to be president. His rallies are a case study in rhetorical hate-mongering bigotry.
Republicans appear deaf to his messages of insults and mockery festered on Democrats,journalist and anyone who disagrees with their agenda.
He and the Republican Party are now one and the same.He has usurped the conservatives into his realm of dystopian reality.
71
After the births of two siblings, my older sister decided that her real parents were not a farmer and a school teacher, but rather First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and her husband. (I’ve always been jealous of her selection.). What children today would select today’s occupants of the White House...
2
Where, exactly, did anyone think the Donald Trump presidency was headed, other than this? Did we think that, once in office, he would turn to uniting the country, addressing the problems of economic inequality, immigration, health care, Middle East conflict, Russian interference in our elections, the deep political divisions in the US? Did we think he had a trove of really great ideas for addressing these problems, maybe even solving a few?
Or did we expect that he would continue to hold campaign rallies, ratcheting up the racist and misogynistic rhetoric, encouraging his supporters to chant USA! USA!, Lock Her Up!, and CNN Sucks!! Even now, in the face of the obvious connection between Trump's advocacy for committing violence against his opposition, followed by the mailing of pipe bombs to high profile members of his opposition, even now we equivocate on whether there's a connection. It's as though this is all so horrific we can't bring ourselves to look directly at it and see it for what it is.
Which is this: The President of the United States is holding political rallies at which he advocates and condones violence against people and organizations he specifically describes as "enemies", and his supporters are now responding.
I am told not to make a comparison of Trump's rhetoric to Hitler's condemnation of Jews as the enemy, and the subsequent actions of his followers, so I won't. I'll just ask what we expect to happen next.
5
Nice praeteritio in the final paragraph. Cicero would be proud. Of course, it's also a favorite rhetorical device of DJT (cf. lightweight Rubio). See also apophasis and paralepsis.
2
If someone yells "Fire" in a crowded theatre and some people get stomped to death in the panic, should that person be accountable?
Donald Trump may not be sending pipe bombs to his political enemies, but he has stoked the hatred at every turn.
Let's not forget the quote from Trump to Bob Woodward:
"Real power is...I don't even want to use the word...fear."
3
Why a criminal or member of the "very bad people" would be interested in joining a caravan that is watched by the police in all the countries where they transit? Why a criminal would risk his own freedom by a appearing in front of photographers, and answering questions from the press corps?
We can't imagine Pablo Escobar, if alive and free, joining such a caravan. Bad guys work in the night, they prefer the shadows. They use tunnels, submarines, or airplanes to cross the border. No, they don't like selfies with other people.
2
Hatred, anger, bitterness, and fear are what the Republican party is all about. Those in charge of the party know that those who attend these rallies buy into Trumps stoking all of the above, and they chuckle and rub their hands in delight. The suckers and stooges at the rallies are so easily manipulated and conned that the party elites cannot believe it. When George Bush Jr. sold his religious claptrap to the evangelicals and then went behind closed doors and laughed at their gullibility it went completely unnoticed until years later when an insider finally told us the story.
Today however the republicans have found a con-artist greater than Bernie Madoff, Charles Ponzi and William Thompson all rolled into one and they are not afraid to let the world know they don't have to worry about anything he says or does. Look back into history to find the point where once thriving, great, countries and societies went past the tipping point and spiraled downward into collapse or even civil war. I wake up every morning wondering how close we are to that point or if we're already heading down that path and don't realize it. It might be something like climate change, where you won't completely see it until it's simply too late.
4
He learned all this, or maybe he already knew, when he led chants before WWE matches. It is unsettling to watch him then. But it is so easy to see the similarities…
1
We may be witnessing the unraveling of the comfortable life Americans have lived over the last 10 years....since we recovered from the great meltdown of the economy in 2008.Trump is fooling around with global forces which he doesn't understand and are much greater than he realizes.He may have a real crisis on his hands soon,not the silly day-to-day soap opera he has created for himself,Fox News and his howling band of supporters.His antics have kept the media distracted,but investors and corporations are not listening.Whether Trump likes it or not ,their future markets are across the globe,not just in the US. And then there's global warming.
2
Mr. Blow, I suggest avoiding the phrase, "There is no proof that X," to counter Trump's preposterous lies. To do so lends a hint of plausibility to the absurd, as though the facts, when they come out, might go either way, as though it were a 50-50 proposition. Trump's track record of incessant malicious lying fully justifies calling any of his virulent pronouncements an "assumed lie" until there is a scintilla of evidence to support them.
2
It seems that Fox News is a danger to our Republic. How can we reign in the worst of the Network and maintain our free speech? Fox News is flushing our society with untruths into a public unable to parse it, ruining our civic sphere as a result.
3
The stage is almost ready. The pieces have fallen in place. Donald Trump is preparing for the ultimate test of his grab for power and our freedoms: Cancelling the 2018 election.
The announcement will not be an outright cancellation; it will be termed suspension. We will be told we need to hold off until the threats are contained.
And threats there are indeed. An invasion of 3,000 criminals and undesirables from south of our border, organized by the Democrats. Mobs of left-wing extremists inciting riots in the streets. The Democrats instigating bombings. Our election system infiltrated and rigged. Trump’s base will agree we need to hold off on the elections until he fixes the problem. And the ruling congressional leadership will say and do nothing.
The promise of a fair election to be held “soon” will be forgotten.
The Constitution of the United States will have passed into history.
Don’t let this happen. Resist and vote.
1
Official Announcement from the White House dated November 7, 2018 - Due to meddling in our election held yesterday by the Chinese and Russians that helped elect a Democratic House of Representatives, we are taking the unprecedented step of invalidating the the election results. Further to ensure the future of the country and the will of the people be followed, President Donald J. Trump is declaring that all Republican candidates the winners in their election bids. The new Congress will be seated January 2, 2018. God Bless America and Make America Great Again!
Not possible? You haven't been paying attention.
3
I think I finally understand the cries of how Christianity is under attack in America to be correct. Now, it's not the lack of Christmas trees on Starbucks cups or the missing "God bless you" when someone sneezes, it's the assault by those proclaiming this attack and their determination to defend against it (evangelicals and the president and representatives they love to defend in spite of all the ways they practice the opposite of what they preach).
Christianity and its core tenets -- love as Jesus showed us; care for the poor, the weak, the young, the needy; give freely and with an open heart - are under attack daily. Those who are most Christ-like in their thinking are attacked, and those who openly violate key tenets in appalling ways are celebrated.
If ever there was a time to band together in love for and protection of one another, to fight back against oppression and lies and fearmongering, to show these hypocrites and C(onservative)INOs the door, it is now.
Vote. Canvass. Assist. Fight.
6
Blaming President Trump for creating a hostile climate that fosters politically motivated violence will be laughed off by the White House. After all, we have a president who believes that there is no such thing as man-made climate change.
2
Trump's calls to anger and schism are worse than shouts of "FIRE" in a crowded theater. Even after these bomb threats, is there no way to call him to account? It's too long to wait to 2020.
3
No one should realistically expect the White House to acknowledge that the hostile climate created by President Trump has helped foster politically motivated violence. After all this is a President who has made it clear that he doesn't believe in man-made climate change (of any kind).
2
Watching the CNN TV footage of the murder attempts on Democratic leaders led me to think, "Surely the nay-sayers will see now how Trump's divisiveness, inhumanity and conjuring of violence has driven this insanity of national self-mutilation."
We turned the channel to Fox News to see how they were handling the events, and heard Tucker Carlson compare Trump to Lincoln and Gandhi, who were also "nationalists." He went further saying, "Being a nationalist should be a prerequisite to running a democracy."
Here in Portland, we're seeing the real impact that words matter as the mayor considers disallowing political street protests where fist fights have broken out between large groups, with stymied police watching from a distance.
4
Trump is only doing what politicians have been doing in this country since it was created. The foreigners,the red scare,and other ginned up threats to instill fear. Any one with two grey cells to rub together knows that divide and conquer was not invented by the triumph of greed our president represents.
We are all Americans and it is what needs to be emphasized. The Democratic party does not have a program that inspires us to come together Money is what talks in our government and there are enough unprincipled quislings to keep dividing us
This is the madness
This is all Trump has
Without it, he doesn’t really exist
Sums it up pretty well Charles
4
Both political parties, over a period of decades, pursued "globalist" tariff, trade, and immigration policies that have decimated much the American middle class.
People would not care about the color of their neighbors if they had stable employment and the expectation of a brighter economic future.
The Democrats, both culturally and rhetorically, have presented a more contemptuous facade to the displaced. Recall Obama's remark, "clinging to guns and religion because the jobs are never coming back." The jobs were never coming back because of policies he helped champion.
What we are living through now is the inevitable reaction.
1
I had a passing glimmer of hope yesterday, when the pipe bombs began to be discovered. That glimmer, faded quickly now, given Trump's response to yesterday's events, his behavior at last night's rally in Wisconsin, and his tweets this morning, entertained the idea that he might finally realize that this is not a game. It's not a sporting event, it's not a reality television show -- it IS reality, and the stakes could not be higher. That glimmer dared to entertain the idea that he might finally grow up and begin to take seriously the mantle of leadership, that he might consider, even if only for a moment, that he is the President of all America. For all of the reasons you cite -- the quotes from just one recent rally -- and for his behavior in the last 24 hours -- the failure to call or mention by name two past presidents along with the immediate resumption of his excoriation of the free press -- that glimmer has been extinguished. I should have known better, but I guess there will always be a shred of optimism somewhere within me -- the belief that people can change and that somehow we will return to a better, saner time with a mature, truthful, civil president leading our country.
4
It still feels like the sleeping folks of America aren’t getting the historic trouble our nation is experiencing. Extremism on the right has emerged as the head of a violent snake willing to strike with violence; and is openly supported by the top of American political leadership. If this continues this nation will soon be embroiled in a third civil revolution that is beyond the exchange of combative words. The Right has thrown down the gauntlet of violence. Will there be a reactive response from the Center/Left...or more analysis by a docile Center/Left that is struggling to define its purpose and agenda?
I would argue that Trump's rhetoric is way beyond political.
As Charles Blow says, it is emotional, but even before politics, Trump delighted in inflaming racial and cultural tensions whenever he could.
He is a very troubled person who thrives on conflict.
If you've ever been around someone like that you know how much damage they can do.
13
@Baba I have learned this when working with teenagers who have committed sex offenses. There are some people who create conflict for fun. And disappear into the background as they watch. Its a serious emotional illness. Really.
2
So, Trump's rhetoric insights violence. Even before he was elected, his voice alone, could swell a few casual listeners into a frenzied hoard of blood lust zombies.
For today's story, we will not talk about James Thomas Hodgkinson, the radical, left wing shooter that nearly killed Steve Scalise, at a Virginia ball field.
Yesterday, 8 or more bombs were sent to anti-Trump people and institutions. I'm pretty sure the bomber will be caught.
If it turns out to not be the "usual" suspect, White male, life time member of the NRA, Tea Party activist, Confederate battle flag waving kook, what will be the response? What if this is a Hillary or Liz Warren supporter, about to lose everything, because his Obamacare did not cover his out of pocket costs? His domestic terrorism was designed to get out the progressive vote, stop Trump and save America for his progeny.
We'll see. We don't know, we'll see. It could be, somebody, we'll see.
Bit of a tip, okay?
If you’re gonna indulge in flights of fancy larded with vocabulary, don’t start out by confusing “insights,” with “incites.”
See, that sort of confusion among homophones is characteristic of the poorly-educated wannabe, especially when they’re throwing a lot of nonsense around but trying to Sound Impressive.
You’ll do far better to just skip the Foghorn Leghorn, and go with plain American speech. It’ll let you see the logical errors and absence of evidence a lot more easily, too. Might even help you figure out that you’re being played by a born-rich greedhead.
4
@Mike
It could be that famous "400 pound person on their bed".
'Who knows?? Who knows... we'll see.'
"This is not to say that there is an explicit link between the presidents rhetoric and the bombs".
Allow me to vehemently disagree Charles. I find a direct connection starting with the man's comments during the presidential campaigning. Many, including myself just shook heads in disgust, while others listened intently feeling a rising satisfaction toward someone speaking for them.
Further evidence was on display at each and every rally, where his followers were encouraged at times, to attack those in the audience who were his critics. Recall the physical attack against those in the rally crowd. Offering to pay any fines encountered.
Havent even got to mentioning the attack on the free press.
Charles, somewhere in that mob, (in retrospect they have to be referred to as a mob), among donald's loyalists and believers, is a terrorist(s).
4
During the 2016 campaign, David Cohen wrote, in response to comments Trump made at a rally, about the concept of “stochastic terrorism.” That concept is pertinent to what Blow is describing now:
Those of us who work against anti-abortion violence unfortunately know all about this. Valerie Tarico wrote about this form of terrorism following the Planned Parenthood murders in Colorado Springs last November. The pattern she noted there is 100 percent applicable to Donald Trump and his supporters right now – except that we haven’t yet had the major act of violence at the end of the string. As Tarico wrote:
“1. A public figure with access to the airwaves or pulpit demonizes a person or group of persons.
2. With repetition, the targeted person or group is gradually dehumanized, depicted as loathsome and dangerous—arousing a combustible combination of fear and moral disgust.
3. Violent images and metaphors, jokes about violence, analogies to past ‘purges’ against reviled groups, use of righteous religious language—all of these typically stop just short of an explicit call to arms.
4. When violence erupts, the public figures who have incited the violence condemn it—claiming no one could possibly have foreseen the ‘tragedy.'”
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/trumps-assassina...
6
The ascent of Trump is the embodiment of the truism expressed by Friedrich Hegel: “The only thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history.”
7
Four feet are better than two feet.
1
This column reminds me of the knee-jerk coverage of the JFK assassination, when the national media immediately blamed the right-wing elements of Dallas....only to learn within hours that the villain was a dedicated Marxist, recently in Moscow and just returned from meetings in Mexico with Cubans. The pipe bombs are awful; let's wait to pass judgment until full details are available.
2
We don't agree. We don't have to agree. Words are not violence. We have freedom of speech. We have restrictions on inciting violence. We also have some nuts on both sides who are vulnerable to incitement. We should recognize that, but it can't curb our free speech, so long as our speech isn't intended to incite violence. And, finally, let's wait and see who this nut(s) is. This may not derive from incitement, but from strategy.
2
After watching Trump warn the media to be kinder to him or else, we have long passed beyond the Jeffersonian moment whereby we fight to make certain majority rules since so long as any President serving the agenda and impulses of a minority by calling Electoral
College victory a mandate we will suffer the dislocations Trump and the plutocrats enact against the overwhelming majority of Americans. Tocqueville warned of an uneducated electorate and the dangers of four year terms in the highest office. We are living the consequences day in and out of a poorly conceived democracy that would lend itself to imbeciles like W Bush and Trump taking power, and I mean by this minority leaders acting as if they are not. When government subverts the will of the majority it is the duty of the majority to overthrow that government by any means necessary. Mr Trump puts on his bathrobe every night dimly aware that two-thirds of his constituency go to sleep hoping he won’t be here when they wake up. Quo Vadis, brethren?
4
Spot on, and of course Trump will never accept responsibility for anything, even as his favorite news sources make a litany of excuses for his nasty remarks.
3
This is entirely accurate. I live in a rural red area of a blue state, and I hear my neighbors/family justify their votes for trump by saying that they voted for him because the economy was bad (this is demonstratively false) or because they want abortion outlawed because life is so precious (weird because they are vehemently anti-healthcare for babies who are born and when I had a miscarriage not one member of my abortion-should-be-illegal-because-a-fetus-is-a-child so much as sent a card, a text, or called).
Here's what I noticed: Back in 2015 during the unrest in Baltimore many of these neighbors and family posted some pretty racist things about BLM. So much so that I unfollowed them on social media (I can't unfriend certain members of the family--but I can keep myself from seeing their racism and crazy on an hourly basis). During the 2016 election I did not see a single pro-trump post. Why? Because the folks I unfollowed because of their ignorant racism are the same folks who voted for trump.
Coincidentally, they are also the same people who, when I am forced to be around them, tell me that climate change isn't real because if it were real Al Gore would live in a shack, comment that POC (do I even have to mention they don't use this term?) have ruined football by kneeling and insulting the American flag while they simultaneously defend the confederate flag, and tell me that sexual harassment at the work place is a complement and that I should be grateful.
5
"He learned that if you tap into people’s anger — if you can articulate it and vent it, repackage it and glamorize it — their gratitude and appreciation will be expressed as loyalty and adulation."
Boy, is that it in a nutshell. Sickeningly astute. What is the cure????
3
Dear Mr. Blow,
Well said and well argued. Your essay should be used in schools and colleges for an instant understanding of demagoguery and its dangers.
4
Maxine Waters encouraging mobs to surround and harass conservatives; Hillary Clinton saying the left can't be civil with the right; Eric Holder "when they go low we kick them." And of course the congressional softball players who were targeted and shot because they were Republicans. There is rhetoric, mobs and terror on both sides.
4
Because stoking fear is his game, preserving, protecting and promoting race hatred, class hatred, and every other kind of hatred in the the United States is Trump's job #1, period.
5
I wish Mr. Blow to look in the mirror. Since Trump run for Office he (and Krugman) never stopped trying to heat up the readers of their colums. For me - explicitly and totally opposed to Trump - this is just too much and it wears me out. We need to find together in a smarter way.
3
You are correct, he is all that and more. But what of the members of the GOP who lick his boots and constantly cover for his lies and his calls for violence and retribution? What about the " real Americans" that attend his rallies and cheer wildly when he talks about locking up his political rivals or wild conspiracy theories or just plain racism? What about the Evangelicals who have for 40 years warned us about Sodom and Gomorrah and our wicked ways only to embrace this horrible excuse for a human! What Would Jesus Do they love to throw in our faces as they tout their morals, well for certain he would speak loudly and passionately against everything Donald Trump says and promotes, They are all willing and co conspirators in the plot against America . Only by voting can we send them packing and begin to restore civility and decency to America.
4
Trump spouts endless words of hate, then blames the media that accurately quotes him for the effects his words have on his followers.
2
@Joe Runciter "... the media that accurately quotes..."
"...the media that selectively quotes..."
Trump is what happens when a con man successfully manipulates his way into the most powerful position in the world. He has none of the credentials or qualifications of the office, so he is incapable of meeting the intellectual demands of the Presidency. So he spends all day, every day, tweeting, watching television, and sitting at an always empty desk giving photo ops to keep the media engaged. He talks about issues and policies in vague generalities, because he reads nothing, retains no verbal information, and has no power of deductive reasoning. He is a fake, a fraud, an empty vessel, who maintains power only by making impulsive statements based on bigotry and hatred, never on truth, and by capitalizing on the corruption and greed of the majority Party in Congress. But, you have to give him credit. He is great at what he does. Very few people in history could have scammed so many American voters without suffering their disapproval.
11
@Stu "...so he is incapable of meeting the intellectual demands of the Presidency."
Maybe you think he is a dunce. But, based on past performance, could Hillary go rally for rally with President Trump?
Could Hillary do a 90 minute stand up routine, four times a week? Can she even make 4 appearances a week? She doesn't seem to have that cough under control.
What about Obama? He would get bored doing 4 shows a week.
You say Trump doesn't have the smarts. But, he is "gittin' it done".
Is it still too early to simply report that when Trump speaks he’s lying, not speaking “without supporting evidence?”
Is it too early to refer to his “administration” as a regime?
Is it too early to call out the creeping fascism that the authoritarian, wealth coddling Republican Party is pushing on America?
4
…"indoctrinating people in brutality through the systematic use of derogatory language. “
"...he is openly demonstrating the superficial brutality many men think they have to hide.”
Caetano Veloso wrting about his home, Brazil, and the nationalist, right wing Jair Bolsonaro who is running for President.
Sound familiar? A perfect description of Donald Trump and his methods. But it's not just Trump. It's the Republican Party, basking in the advantages - money and power anyone?- they gain through his behavior, encouraging him, exploiting him, rather than protecting the nation from his madness. But then, it's their madness as well, and they are feeding the conflagration of his.
Trump needs to be a focus, but he's also a distraction. Making him the primary focus misses the behind-the-scenes action, the long-term planning and activity of the powers behind the throne - the folks with the money and influence. As the media largely missed the last 30 years of conservative/right wing efforts to take over the courts ("Playing the Long Game for the Supreme Court," Linda Greenhouse, this newspaper, Oct. 25, 2018).
1
Let’s call Mr. Trump’s falsities for what they are: blatant lies. Spreading dangerous lies, Trump says, without a shred of evidence, that the Democrats started the “caravan” of immigrants headed North. But who stands to benefit from this caravan at this time, just before the midterm elections? The Republicans and Mr. Trump, who are using this caravan as a political weapon against Democrats. Mr. Trump accuses liberals of protesting vigorously against the election of an unworthy candidate to the Supreme Court, forgetting that the right to protest is protected by the Freedom of Speech enshrined in the Constitution. At the same time, he publicly incites his supporters to physical violence by endorsing politicians who body slam journalists, offering to pay for the legal fees of anyone who punches his political opponents in the face, suggesting that if he does not win an election his supporters might resort to using their First Amendment “rights” (i.e., use weapons against the winners of elections), and threatening a political opponent with jail while inviting his supporters to chant “Lock her up”. In the meantime, Far-Right activists have killed one demonstrator in Charlottesville and engaged in multiple acts of physical violence and sent bomb packages to prominent opponents of Mr. Trump and his Far-Right ideology. The mobs and terrorists are on the Far Right, let’s get the record straight. This is exactly how Fascism and Nazional-Socialism started in Italy and Germany.
3
Let's not dance around this with niceties and diplomatic excuses and let's face the cold hard truth: there is a direct and inescapable causal connection between this bigoted, ignorant person's hate-filled rhetoric and these acts of grotesque attempted violence against those that this narcissistic demagogue has targeted as his enemies. It must be stopped, and if, as is inevitable, this person's republican enablers remain silent in the face of his continued assaults on decency and democratic values, we all most do the opposite of the demagogue's advice, we must vote, vote and vote to remove this danger to liberty, freedom and democracy. We must not fail. The hour is now.
4
President Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Brennan, Maxine Waters, George Soros, along with all the dedicated individuals who contribute to CNN have all been vilified to the point of dehumanizing by Donald Trump. Violence becomes possible precisely when the opposition is seen as less than human. Human beings are being reduced to traitors, manipulators, criminals, schemers, and imbeciles by the current president. Sure, today Trump condemned the attacks. But it's just a matter of when, not if, he'll be back to his irresponsible behavior. And then it's a matter of when, not if, more acts of violence will follow.
3
On some level, Trump knows his rhetoric has brought this about. It's not a coincidence that he has publicly slandered each of the pipe bomb recipients - by name.
Sorry, but I do blame him. His followers are a cult and a mob, they are irrational and worse - Trump has the support of white nationalist groups. Like any cult leader, he plays on his followers' fears and tells many lies.
I saw these terrorist acts as a warning. And I am very worried.
4
If social media has finally learned to rid us of people like Alex Jones, why does Twitter continue to let Trump spew his hatred and fear (especially on unsecured phones)? If any of us were to post the vile things he does, we'd be shut down quickly. Is he protected because he's president? I certainly hope not. He's one of the worst offenders and abuses his First Amendment rights without even thinking twice about it.
3
You quote the president three times near the bottom of your essay, Mr. Blow, as saying "our country." Stop and consider what that means and for whom the sinister implications are meant. "Our country."
When Donald Trump, in 2011, all but said that the twice duly-elected American president, the first non-white to hold the office, jumped out of a pot in the Kenyan jungles, where was the Republican outrage? There was, on a time, a Republican Party that could effortlessly don the cloak of collegiality and congeniality, however distasteful it might have been dealing with Democrats. And, on that time, Republicans might have been able to declare, with the straightest of faces, that they were patriots.
"Our country." The translation is "very fine people." Whoever mailed the pipe bombs to a former president; a former presidential candidate and secretary of state; to a sitting Congresswoman; to a former C.I.A. director; to a downtown office where a broadcast network, C.N.N. was housed. The person or persons who mailed these weapons are the true enemies of democracy. Yet when the president tells America that the free press is the "enemy of the people;" that the former president is a foreign spy; that his opponent in 2016 was a criminal and deserved to be locked up; all this feeds into a darkly sinister narrative: that these "others" don't belong in "our country."
"Our country." The brazenness of the possessive pronoun chills the very soul. It says, "Americans aren't welcome here."
5
Remember the Unabomber. He sent bombs because he was opposed to industrialization.
Environmental rhetoric could be blamed.
But Ted Kaczynski had trouble with mental illness. "
I am so thankful Charles has listed Trump's insane quotes for all of us Non-Rally attendees to read. The interesting thing is; in the midst of their absurdities, they are still too articulate for him to have conjured up.
Trump has "ear-whisperers" feeding and fueling the madness through which his mouth is used as the portal: The ubiquitous "The Democrats... are doing or saying this...":
Donald Trump simply isn't skillful enough to connect the lunatic rhetoric with the aforementioned alleged actions of The Democrats.
There are- indeed Enemies of the State; Steve Bannon? Steven Miller? Alex Jones?
There simply are too many sick individuals who are feeding an already putrid mind and a minority constituency- frothing and foaming (with just enough Electoral Votes) has taken over: This. Must. Be. Stopped.
4
Mr Blow expresses our dilemma with fervour and eloquence, but he can't do it for us alone. It seems we have little visceral collective idea of the danger we are in. A fascist is taking over the White House with a large coalition of the willing in DC and an armed army of supporters lurking in broad daylight. What are we gonna to do about it?
CNN's Jeff Zucker said after the mail bombs "There is a total and complete lack of understanding at the White House about the seriousness of their continued attacks on the media." Wrong. The folks in the White House understand just fine. They know exactly what they're doing. When I hear Zucker say stuff like this, I wonder what lala land we're in. We must wake up and wake up our neighbours. We're called to protect our democracy.
A lot of people in my generation moan. "What would our parents think," the whine, "about what's happening to our country after all they sacrificed." But tut-tutting doesn't help. We need a powerful drive to take this on and send these fascists home. We need to vote and encourage others to vote. We need to raise consciousness in a mega big way. Solidarity and fellowship, brother and sisterhood. Connection. We all need to step up to the plate in the biggest way ever.
2
Mr. Blow,
As one of the most incendiary columnists opposing President Trump, it is interesting to read of your sudden concern for intemperate speech.
I certainly do not enjoy Mr. Trump's rally speeches, but I am enjoying much of his administration's actions. I believe that it would behoove you, Paul Krugman, and half of the commenters on this site to temper your speech. Regrettably, I doubt that President Trump will ever temper his.
If you wish to claim the moral high ground, and you do, you really, really do in every column, I suggest that you refrain from your own hyperbolic speech. Someone needs to lower the temperature of the national conversation, why not you?
I am glad that no one was hurt by a bomb today, but Representative Scalise was shot, others have been threatened, and mobs on the left and right have attacked passersby and each other over the last couple of years. This needs to stop. Write about that.
4
"Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?" Henry II of England said in exasperation, which his henchmen took literally and murdered Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1170.
MBS has cited the Becket scenario to explain Khashoggi's assassination. His inner circle took it upon themselves to confront Khashoggi and inadvertently killed him. He's in big trouble if that's the best his million a day crisis management team can conjure up. As they say in Kentucky, "It's a turkey and don't fly too good."
But the Becket scenario applies in Trump's case. At 30 mass rallies he's ranted, raved, and verbally assaulted every one on the bomb list. His nonstop denigration and dehumanization of his "enemies" makes it easy for a disturbed person to imagine pleasing Trump by killing his enemies. And there are in Trump's base a lot of disturbed people.
At his latest revival Trump mustered "We need to unify" as his kumbaya just before he resumed winding his base up against "The enemy of the people." Ironic? Hypocritical? As Melania declared: I really don't care, do U?
No one -- not his base nor anyone else -- thinks for a moment his smirk of a mea culpa, or whatever "We need to unify" gets filed under, is anything other than a wink and a nod.
He's the billionaire who claimed he could get away with murder on Fifth Avenue and his MAGA base would still chant Lock Her Up!
Someone needs to tell Trump that moral bankruptcy is a metaphor not a policy option.
12
Democracy's last stand happens on Nov. 6. I hesitated to write that, thinking it might be an overstatement, until yesterday. Events have proven it correct. We are on the brink, teetering on the precipice. Autocracy under Donald Trump and the complicit GOP who meekly follow him is imminent if they retain the House and the Senate, now that the Supreme Court has fallen. Trump has declared himself ("I'm a Nationalist"), knowing that our brains would easily fill in the missing word, White, prior to Nationalist. HIs attacks on people of color, women, immigrants, and transgender people are straight out of the white nationalist handbook. His natural allies and the people to whom he gravitates most easily, are autocrats: Putin,Kim, Orban, Erdogan. Once give unfettered use of all the levers of power, all bets are off. We may never have a free election again between voter suppression, gerrymandering, and the takeover of the judiciary. VOTE the GOP out on Nov 6, no matter what else you might agree or disagree on, if you value a free country. Get yourself and anyone else you can to the polls. Give rides to neighbors; babysit their kids. This is it.
12
Divide and conquer. Blame the messengers. Turn the citizens against each other. Sow chaos. Our president is Putin's Perfect Weapon, a fellow traveler enamored of Putin's strategy to replace democracies of the "free world" with oligarchies run by and for small coteries of men who wield the vast power of unlimited capital.
The Kremlin discerned the potential of their favored candidate, designed and executed a disinformation campaign on his behalf, and now, in the short span of two years, are watching the only power that stood between them and the world they wished to dominate, come apart at the seams. It was sheer genius, a low cost sabotage that could destroy the integrity and resolve of a super power without firing a shot.
4
Even the people that support Trump's behavior know this is a direct result of his tweets and rally performances. Nobody should expect him to admit he bears some or any responsibility. He does not have the moral fiber to behave in that manner.
3
The civil war now breaking into full public view began many years before Trump.
It began with Nixon's 'southern strategy,' Reagan tossing out the correctly-named Fairness Doctrine of public airwaves, and especially with the advent of Murdoch's Fox 'news' and Rush Limbaugh.
Have you ever watched kindling in a fire place as it heats up from the coals below? It just seems to sit there for a while until, suddenly, all the kindling bursts into flame.
That is what Fox and Limbaugh - and for that matter, the NRA - have been fanning the flames of now for several decades. Why should we even expect it to be any different?
When a piece of paper or wood become hot enough, they will, by the laws of nature, suddenly burst into flame, seemingly of their own accord. People are unfortunately not much different.
1
Part of what empowered TrumpMerica was the decades of neglect by the Democrats. While the likes of the Kochs, the Scaiffes, DeVos and other ultra-rich folks invested in discrediting and shrinking government, and championing the free market while using hate, blame, fear, racism, and sexism to mask the giant ripoff of the 99%, the Democrats abandoned values and adopted identity politics so they could play the money game, thereby unwittingly reinforcing the destruction of any sense of "we the people."
If they had run on principles and values that expanded the New Deal to the disadvantaged and emphasized the commonweal, the ground for Trump's hate would have been less fertile, and there would not have been a cohort of angry white men who could be coopted so readily into hate and blame. Yes, there have always been some who were motivated by hate and fear, but the number of people who are susceptible to it was dramatically expanded by Democratic fecklessness.
2
I find myself saddened to think of the huge number of lives given in wars to protect and defend the ideals of this country, to now have some 40% of America stand with Trump and cheer him on as he whips up his followers with blame, grievance, and anger. What will it take to break this dark spell? Evidence and reason are lost--they are happy to live in their alternate-fact universe. Appeals to higher angels don't work, either--look at all the so-called evangelicals who stand with Trump. No, I fear we must go through some terrible calamity for the 40% to lose their enchantment of Trumpism. Perhaps a "mere" deep recession will be enough, but maybe it will take a larger catastrophe. In less than two weeks we will see if the rest of America will stand up and tell politicians with a resounding NO that appealing to the dark fears of the voters is a dead end. If we don't, expect more Trump-like politicians (likely even shrewder and more Machiavellian than Trump) to tap into these dark fears to gain power.
5
Remember the election of Reagan? Shortly thereafter, the infamous attacks on organized labor began, with loosening of rule and regulations protecting the middle class. The "government is the problem" mantra, combined with downsizing at even the local level, has led to a slow increase of misery for the middle class. Our Social Safety Net is at risk due to the Ryan/McConnell tax cut folly, but there is plenty of money for weapons of mass destruction, or to foul the environment. Too often, foolish Dems have capitulated and became more Republican than Democratic, allowing legislation to pass that has slowly shifted wealth up to the top 1 %. How many billions does one person need? Bill Clinton was hardly liberal, and neither was Obama. Gerrymandering, packing the Supreme Court with minds that think "Citizens United" is alright are all of the "little" things that have led to this moment. There is actually too little discussion of the effect of slanted media such as Fox News to not only misinform but to stoke anger. Free speech does not equal false speech. We just have to hope that this is not the start of the downfall of democracy. Our last hope is in free elections, but given that we are bound by the Electoral College, unequal representation in Congress, gerrymandering, discriminatory voter ID requirements and a questionable legal system, is there reason to worry?
1
The words used by trump, and by the way lots of other republicans, are aimed right at the people who are already converted, so to speak. The thing is, they are the minority, and if everyone else choses to do so, they could be crushed at the ballot box. So, get mad, register and vote, and get even.
4
I was nodding along until this statement:
"But it always rewards the person who is best suited and positioned for the moment."
How in the world do you explain Hillary Clinton's nomination then? She was unarguably the worst person suited for the moment but she one the Democratic nomination anyway.
I would have preferred Clinton to Trump. She was admittedly qualified. Republicans, Russians, and everyone else ganged up on her. A female president would be nice for a change.
However, Hillary Clinton was absolutely unsuited to the moment. EVERYONE was telling Democrats not to nominate her. You can lead horse to water but you sure can't make them drink.
1
Excuse me, but have we heard anything from Mitch McConnell? Just a simple question.
2
@Sandra Schofield Naw. He is too busy figuring out how much money he has/will have after the tax cut. That's all he knows or cares about, certainly not this country.
1
Thank you Charles for not tiptoeing around the fact that Donald J. Trump's hateful, us versus them rhetoric is leading the US down a path that could well end in violence. He absolutely owns this moment, he knows it and hence he was unable to bring himself to name Obama, the Clintons, CNN, and others because it doesn't fit with his demonizing strategy.
1
Thank you, Mr. Blow! It's true, but it didn't start with Trump. His words and behavior might be shocking to me, but they are very familiar and comforting to people whose world view has been shaped by name calling, hyperventilating conservative talk radio for the past 30 years. Democrats have made a costly mistake in not actively working to discredit these voices as dangerously unpatriotic. Newt Gingrich made democrats the number one enemy, and talk radio (and later, Fox News) amplified that message. Republicans claimed the mantle of patriotism and made hatred of democrats a sentiment synonymous with their flag decals and support our troops bumper stickers. It has culminated in "I'd rather be a Russian than a democrat" t-shirts and Donald Trump leading his "lock her up" chanting mobs. Gingrich and his ilk are Republicans first and Americans last. Until we thoroughly discredit these unpatriotic voices, Democrats will continue to throw its best policies and candidates to the wolves.
3
"I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters, ok? It's like incredible." (Donald Trump)
"Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him." (Martin Luther King, Jr.)
"Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent." (Isaac Asimov)
"Peace cannot be achieved through violence. It can only be attained through understanding." (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
"Nonviolence does not mean we have to passively accept injustice. We have to fight for our rights. We have to oppose injustice. Gandhi fervently promoted nonviolence, but that did not mean he was complacently accepting of the status quo. He resisted, but he did so without doing harm." (Dalai Lama)
5
Today's Republicans remind me of nothing more than people driving us the wrong way down the highway, and complaining that we're being rude when we shout at them to stop.
7
And let's see what happens to the caravan the day after the election. If it ceases to be an issue for Trump and Republicans I think we know exactly who stirred it up and paid for the marchers.
1
American Democracy
1776 - 2018
Rest in Peace
4
So once again those of us on the left are supposed to be civil, to be peaceful, in the face of the worst assault against our democracy since the Civil War. Mr. Blow is right -- Trump is deliberately stoking racism and hatred in this country.
Trump realized he could energize nearly half of our citizens to take up arms against the other half. Trump understood that those of us on the left wouldn't fight back. He knew that as Democrats we would try to resolve our differences in a civil, respectful manner. And this is why he won, and why his rabid base has stayed with him. We wouldn't fight back -- he knows this, and his base knows this.
But understand this. All this "reaching out" to Trump voters has gotten us absolutely nowhere. In fact, we are in much worse danger that we were two years ago. Trump has told his rabid, armed hordes that we are their "enemies". This group of white Americans is just waiting for him to say the word, and their militias will start targeting us.
This will happen for one reason only: We've shown that we won't fight back.
Meeting threats of violence with a plea for "dialogue" is laughable. Trump voters don't want dialogue. They don't want compromise. They want an ignorant, racist backwater of a country in which their "dear leader" tells them they're superior to the rest of us. This is all they want. This is all they've ever wanted. And they're willing to use violence against anyone who disagrees with them. As for me, I'd rather go down fighting.
207
@Sterling Hayden, I'm angry and fed up as well. And I'm ready to fight for our Enlightenment principles if it comes to that.
I fervently hope that it does not. Vote, vote, vote, in the midterms! Vote straight Democratic, all the way up and down the ticket. By campaigning for decades now using fear, hate-mongering, and racism, it is the GOP that has created Trump's monster mobs, which look like something straight out of Orwell's Two Minutes Hate rallies depicted in "1984."
I still hope and believe that there are more of "us" than there are of "them." But we ALL have to VOTE!!!
22
Doesn't anyone see how this is standard Russian politics going back to the Tsar regimes? Used by Stalin, Putin and many, many others. Create lists of enemies. Create attacks on the enemies. Claim the attacks are disgusting and the work of hoodlums, all the while the attacks are coming from the regimes in power and their operatives. Manipulate the populations through the media.
3
Trump’s world has sunk deeper into madness. Trump incites and promotes violence at his rallies. Indentifying the media and certain politicians as targets. Trump then blames the media for promoting hatred and violence because they accurately reported his inflammatory remarks. The man/child has no shame.
7
As soon as we learn the identity of the Republican pipe bomber, Trump will be calling him "his kind of guy" and the dopes standing behind him will cheer and laugh.
2
In 1857 there was a "caravan" of settlers heading to California via covered wagon. After a brief stop at Salt Lake City to resupply, the emigrants encamped in a mountain meadow 30 miles to the south. There, a local militia (i.e. mob), egged on by a paranoid deviant with 40+ wives, and whipped into a murderous mood by false claims that the emigrants were really part of an invading army sent by the government to destroy their way of life and violate their "religious freedom," massacred a total of 120 innocent souls, including any child old enough to be capable of speech (no witness that way, you see). The infants and toddlers, in the tradition of later policies of several South American military dictatorships, were parceled out among the faithful. After a failed attempt at a cover-up, the murderers and their leaders, naturally, claimed the butchery was actually the work of Native Americans.
A demagogue inspiring fear and hatred, using misinformation, propaganda, and mob hysteria,
brings about the unspeakable. That's why one should be afraid of Trumpism.
6
yes, djt said all the things that are mentioned here.
but no, no, i do not want to read them repeatedly.
and again, he blames the media for the present situation
while his foxed-up mouth[piece] is the medium to blame.
please, PLEASE provide different stories, positive text
about how we can get together and create constructive atmospheres and spaces for beneficial and encouraging
change and resist the temptation of simple[ton] solutions.
to overcome the great divide.
before it's too late as greed and hate seal the world's fate!
[or are we at our wit's end, given CON_servative audacity?]
Right - because Democrats are NOT calling for their supporters to openly harass republicans when they are trying to eat, for example. Puhleaze.
5
Another NYT piece from the left that forgets that starting the night of Trump's election a few American decided violent demonstrations were the correct response, rather than working to elect candidates they favor. No mention of the calls to violence from Maxine Waters or Eric Holder! Nor the sudden surge in physical confrontations with those whose politics are disagreed with! And don't forget the far left groups that mask and arm themselves before attacking motorists or news photographers, or smashing police cars and offices! Of course anyone who sends a bomb deserves jail time but many Democrats have encouraged confrontation and violence! That needs to be acknowledged as well!
4
On stage, he emulates the WWE wrestlers, yet his persona is more like the pathetic Wizard of Oz figure That creates a toxic breeding ground for the development of US policy.
The 3r’s that underpin his presentation, racism, rifle toting, and the really rather rabid religious followers, are not likely to make America great again, but most assuredly will make America hate again.
2
Regarding the phrase "high crimes and misdemeanors" as reasons for impeachment, I have wondered what constitutes the latter. If calling the press the enemy of the people and threatening them in public rallies, or calling the opposition Party the mob, are not calls to violence, i.e. "misdemeanors", what would those be? I now understand that a misdemeanor is something decided by the party in power in the Senate and House. Nothing more.
2
We are living in the middle of a "cold" civil war. There has yet to be the loss of lives of the 1860s; but the similarities are indeed frightening.
I have begun to see families that cannot speak to one another because of political differences. A sad similarity to the pre Civil War America we saw over a hundred and fifty years ago.
About the pipe bombs, which if they had detonated, may have been likened to Fort Sumter:
Trump has not shown to be responsible; but he is accountable for unleashing the hatred, the corruption of his rhetoric.
As in many American wars, the United States won the battles, but lost the Peace.
1
An open question to those who have up to this point wistfully, hopefully, patronizingly dismissed the thought: Can you yet still empirically dismiss the recognition of our next civil war being all but just over the horizon?
I would appreciate seeing the historian Michael Beschloss compare and contrast the years and events leading up to our first civil war with that which we are now experiencing. I cannot imagine the similarities to be all that disparate, the social and tribal segmentations and resultant escalations in personal violence more to the point than the issues themselves that spawned them.
Grim as it is the time has come, indeed has passed, for denial. Prepare!
3
@John Poggendorf, I would argue that we don't have to look as far back as the Civil War for comparison.
In the 1960s, especially at the end of that decade, there were many voices saying that the country was being torn apart and descending into anarchy and civil war. Actual political assassinations (4 that I can recall, and a few more attempted ones), Actual riots in more than a dozen cities at multiple times with actual death and actual large-scale property destruction. Actual domestic organizations advocating actual terrorist actions, and in many cases following through on them: bombings, bank robberies, etc.
@John Poggendorf
Yes, I have seen it coming, and the sad difference between now and then is that the US armed forces are led today by the antithesis of Abraham Lincoln. Another difference is the location of the concentrated ownership of the millions of guns in our society. I fear that there will be no chance for reasoned discussion, no chance for anyone with beliefs opposing those of the controlling parties.
@Phyllis Rodgers
Interesting that you live in Portland. My partner and I are actively exploring a relocation to Portland...and elatedly departing this cultural and intellectual tarpit called Arizona.
Look I grew up in the working class living close to the borders of what a well known German economist called "the lumpenproletariat". So I get why the Trump base is so base and why their championing of Trump is so baseless. Coming from insular communities with very little desire to reach beyond their boundaries they are unable to see beyond their boundaries. Consequently though they may have some education they are not educated. But I do not fool myself. Were it not for a series of happy accidents I'd likely be towing around a Canadian version of Trumpism unable to apply critical thinking to see through the daily onslought of deceit. Without education you cannot call upon history to make reasoned and reasonable interpretations of what is in front of you. And as George Santayana noted those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it. This is what 30-40 years of persistent attacks on education has wrought. And indeed these attacks in the US, Canada and throughout Europe created the rot that now lies at the centre and soul of our societies. I fear there will be no cure for the kind of collective psychosis that we are faced with without a change in education that places virtue back in knowing and knowing history in particular as well as putting the lie to the mirage of alternative facts. A dangerous mirage where the Emperor may have no clothes but he still has pipe bombs.
28
@Geoff, I couldn't agree more. And I would add to that a complete history education, and not the 'white'-washed version that is still taught in most U.S. high schools.
10
@Geoff I, too, agree with everything you're saying. But what is happening now goes beyond lack of education. All that tRump does--lies, brags, cheats, bullies, breaks promises, etc.--are things that most Americans teach their children NEVER to do. How does someone listen to him: Mock a sexual assault survivor and cheer? Tell them what they want to hear (though there are multiple TV appearances where he has said the complete opposite) and cheer? How do they go to church, proclaim to believe in God/Jesus, and go to one his rallies and cheer for most of what he says? All of this leads be to believe that many/most of his supporters are racists or misogynists and those feelings of hatred are trumping any reason, logic, or morals that these people may have.
3
Meanwhile, Trump and McConnell accuse Democrats of acting like a mob and believing in mob justice? No, guys, it's the other way around.
18
@NM
Of course.
DJT Go-Low Strategy 101:
Accuse your opponent of the negative behaviors which you are doing.
NYT, CNN should print a list of innumerable DJT's inflammatory quotes over the last 3 years.
Then the next day, print all his lies. That may take two or three days.
1
Yes, and Trump will pay mouth service for the next few days about the wrongness of the terrorist bombs discovered yesterday. But he will also hear newscasters and newspapers talking about the influence he wields as President, with everything he says and does, and he will find it absolutely intoxicating. And he will not be able to stop himself....
8
I recall with considerable admiration the public relations skills of Dr. Ronny Jackson, Trump’s previous White House physician, in pronouncing him mentally fit-as-a-fiddle on the basis of his 100% score on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, a diagnosis which at the time was greatly ridiculed, but is now widely recognized in medical circles as proof-positive that it is not-only possible, but extremely easy, for Trump to make fools of his supporters all-of-the-time.
15
Violent words breed violent actions. His angry and hateful rhetoric gins up fear in everyone who listens to him and believes what he says.
We have the most powerful military in the world, bar none. And we are supposed to quiver in fear at the sight of 6,000 poor and indigent people looking to escape their country and come here seeking a better life for them and their families? Couldn't we destroy them in one fell swoop if they really were a danger?
The GOP can't run on its record. The stock market is plummetting, they can't run on their tax cuts, they can't run on their ACA hatred and wish to pull the plug on pre-existing condition clauses and they definitely can't run on some kind of higher moral ground with 45 in charge of their party.
This is all a reaction to Obama, his color and his policies. Hopefully, the pendulum will swing back hard the other way and take the Senate and the House into Democratic hands once again.
Vote! Your future depends upon it.
278
Since Trump and his followers have no interest in Civil Discourse, Civil Respect, or Civil Compromise, then the only thing that leaves us with is more of the same or Civil War.
3
Well written. This week's urging for his mob to start using the word "nationalist" was frightening. We are far too close to repeating history. He is drunk with power at this point and he isn't satisfied that he has enough of it yet. If anyone gets hurt along the way, it will not bother him anymore than kidnapping babies as he has no compassion. These are frightening times.
31
"Trump doesn’t operate on an intellectual plane"
kind of says it all, doesn't it?
So hard and frustrating to try to apply "reason" to an irrational person/act.
13
"There is no proof that the caravan of Honduran migrants traveling through Mexico toward the United States was instigated by the Democrats, and the claim is ridiculous on its face."
Absolutely wrong Charles. There are direct ways to instigate behaviors - say, leading a rally - and there are indirect ways - say, establishing sanctuary cities for illegals, providing housing subsidies for illegals, providing education subsidies for illegals, and more. Democrats have established an immigration agenda which unapologetically provides for those who choose to flaunt U.S. law. The message it sends is inarguable: If you come, regardless of legality, we'll do our collectivist best to take care of you. The Hondurans and apparently a new group of Guatemalans have heard the call.
Democrats have not only instigated the caravan, they have rolled out the red carpet in welcome. And a humantarian crisis for our nation is quite possibly on the way because of it. See you on election day.
3
MinnRick,
Thanks for the first class tour of ‘American Xenophobia 1.0 - 21st Century Edition’. It’s enlightening and oh so frightening. Thanks for warning us and everything. When did you become such a ‘nation of laws’ advocate?
But Rick, unless your progenitors sprang from the Minnesota soil just days after the Creation it’s just possible that you are descended from people who emigrated (‘legally’ or otherwise) to this country at some point in time. I know that in my own case I have forebears who came from different parts of Europe in different waves of immigration who were met with shall we say, less than open arms, the same ‘those people’ vibe that you seem to be applying to the desperate folks from Honduras..
It’s also true that I, like many white Americans have family lineage that goes back to the early 18th century. Some of the ‘finest’ Caucasian’s can claim such a heritage, but you know who has a longer, deeper and broader lineage in ‘white historical America’, MinnRick? African Americans, hands down. And how have they been treated historically in this country?
This Nation was founded on the principles of ‘freedom’ and bound itself up fast in the barbed wire of slavery - from the very beginning.
The demonizing of the Honduran refugees, now making their way on foot through Mexico with nothing more than the clothes on their backs is appalling. Those who embrace our racist past seem to disagree.
We are better than this. Are we better than this?
2
@MinnRick - These poor people are not illegal aliens. They are refugees, willing to walk thousands of miles hoping to find peace and freedom. I very much doubt they know what a sanctuary city is, or what they will find when they get to the border. If they knew of this administration's family separation policies, or that we're already keeping hundreds of children in concentration camps.
Their numbers and the threat they supposedly represent have been greatly exaggerated. Humanitarian crisis? Do you really believe we can't deal with a couple of thousand starving, exhausted people in need of our help? Where is your empathy?
2
@MinnRick
Nice try at deflection.
The caravan is happening on the Republicans' watch. Trump owns this, as do his followers, like you for blindly supporting him and his hate filled rhetoric. Because if you're so distracted by your own hate, you can't be bothered to demand meaningful immigration reform. All you can do is blame blame blame others.
Take a look in the mirror. You own this.
1
From his intentional "birther" beginnings to his "in the old days, they would have to be carried out in a stretcher" campaign, Donald Trump has relied on racism, sexism and jingoistic intolerance to stir up his base.
When confronted, he either angrily denies, or he says "it was just a joke".
Today, Mr. Trump, was not a joke.
Though these were the actions of an individual you probably have never met; the events were made more probable by you, and nobody but you.
25
Hopefully no one will be hurt or killed, but make no mistake about it.
The blood will be on Trump’s hands - and the hands of certain Republicans who echo Trumps hate based politics.
Vote my friends,
22
@Steven This is AD 400 over again, as it is in Europe. Of course there will be bloodshed, people are desperate. It will shake society to its core.
2
Last eve after the White House staff propped trump in front of a TelePrompTer to say how very terrible and unacceptable the bomb terrorism was ..............
He had another RALLY in ? Wisconsin
He scolded the news media present in front of the unruly vicious crowd and turned the crowd on the media
No different than usual despite the terrorism he created and supports here and every where he has a despot buddy
Now he has attacked the media and left wing candidates instilling a bit of terror in anyone who opposes his national agenda
Now hired guards will be required for any well known figure to be safe and able to fight back with truth.
my representatives continue their weak rhetorical objections to the fall of democracy
World wide
I am sadly repelled by the behavior of my fellow citizens
Vote
26
The coincidence of rising social tension across the Western world and the decline of the planet’s ability to sustain human life is very sad for those of us who have children, with the possible exception of the believers in an apocalyptic judgement day.
So far, the worst that we are experiencing is a rebirth of the gilded age and Jim Crow, and a tolerance for petrotoxins. But, is the president signaling an ominous course - sending out the army to stop the “invaders” caravan. Will Central America become America’s version of Yemen? Will a war give cover for purging domestic dissent? I wouldn’t bet against it. Look at what his friends do. Saudi Arabia and Russia are showing the way.
Wars are also the convoys on the road to perdition. I am not much for rapture theology, so my hope is that the survivors of the coming chaos will find their redemption from the spirit of Nuremberg.
8
Mr. Blow observes that a critical mass of voters "will forsake their morals and principles" to support a grotesque charlatan who skilfully stokes the darkest recesses if their natures.
Yet everything that follows in his column suggests that few "morals and principles" exist in the first place. That cesspool of incivility exists to be exploited by any carnival barker who drifts into town.
So let us abandon all talk about our glorious American "exceptionality" until we once again show the capacity to exercise our democratic leverage to elect leaders who bring out our better angels.
16
Trump/GOP have been setting the stage for a blow up. A blatantly extremist party dominates our 3 branches and uses its FOX News media to broadcast unreal, outlandish fantasies to the public.
This motivates the acting out of hostility by unbalanced extremists susceptible to going too far. Such individuals and groups translate Trump's destructive talk into destructive actions.
In a less hostile political culture they might THINK them but NOT ACT on them.
Last week we saw alarming news of the violent fight that broke out on NY's Upper East Side in the street after a speech at the Manhattan Republican Club by the leader of the 'Proud Boys', a rw white nationalist hate group. Arrests were finally made after much media publicity. Why did a hate group get invited by the GOP Club in the 1st place?
The Democratic opposition has to keep an even tone, be steadfast, and meet irrationality with consistent evidence and refutation. This won't convince everyone, but will convince some. These are its weapons in this political war.
Personal insults will only enflame hostility and ratchet up the Trump base pushback.
7
Trump is a "Clear and Present Danger".
He is above all a National Security Threat and needs to be removed from office. The sooner the better.
16
"Trump’s hatred, racism, insecurity, anti-intellectualism and grudge against the elite society that had always disdained him was perfectly suited for conservatives who were entertaining the same notions but had no one to openly champion their intolerance with effrontery."
Charles Blow provides us with an excellent, one sentence summary of what the so-called conservative movement has become. It's the direction it's been leaning ever since 1992 when Newt Gingrich pointed the way.
The Koch brothers saw an opportunity to harvest the anti-government resentment and invested heavily. "Academic" think tanks, astroturf organizations, ALEC, the Tea Party, and know-nothing politicians like Sarah Palin were the result. For the Koch brothers, their investments paid handsome dividends. They now have five supreme court justices representing their point of view at the taxpayer's expense, no less.
12
Nice column; you've been miserly doling out credit for our present condition.
Trump would be nowhere without enthusiastic support of the Republican Party, far gone toward self-destruction and national disintegration.
And rich guys: let's not ignore their contribution. As much as Trump would be a puff of hot air without McConnell/Ryan/Collins and those he-man, ju-jitsu specialists crushing the media on his behalf, what makes him matter to the rest of us is his damaged fans shouting 'lock-her up' on cue like the audience at The Price Is Right.
That truly is a despicable crowd, mindless, herd-directed haters with no self-awareness and less empathy.
But here's the thing: they were The American Working Class, and they used to earn better than good enough wages, with benefits, security, a bright vision of the future, faith that their nation was a blessed place of opportunity, security, affirmation.
That stuff didn't just blow away. Our rich (Republican and Democrat) strove mightily to steal it away in the name of democracy and free markets; they did it ruthlessly, without care or concern for the people who made them rich.
When it didn't go as quickly as they liked, the rich bought some politicians, loaded SCOTUS with pro-business dead-heads, and trampled middle America to dust.
Those mindless, faceless Trump hordes are a real and a lasting danger. But they didn't rise unbidden from the Earth. Our rich guys made them. If they had any brains at all, they'd un-make them.
18
After 8 years of an intelligent, rational, sane Democratic President, how are these people so willing to believe that Democrats are mobs trying to bring down the country? They really believe that the Democrats plotted with the poor, desperate Hondurans to have them walk a thousand miles to the US border to ask for asylum they won’t receive? They don’t question that the ACA which brought affordable healthcare to so many is a terrible idea! If someone had said this would happen before Trump came on the scene, we would have said they were crazy. Now the crazy is in the White House and we are all being dragged down with him.
213
@fduchene
We vote straight Democrat in November!
Restore Sanity in America!
9
@fduchene- unfortunately- Obama created this "so called atmosphere of hate" Obama did nothing for this country.
8 years of division, nothing else. The media and folks like Maxine Waters, Chuck Schumer, and Nancy Pelosi, are the real villains in this country. Steve Scalise was almost killed because of the hate spewed out by the liberals.
5
@kathryn kobor It's unfortunate when people aren't able to think for themselves and, consequently, swallow whole hate-mongering messages.
1
I think we over analyze Trump. He doesn’t care what he says. He just gushes forth with anything that gets a crowd going. Content is only important if he gets a reaction. It’s only about the reaction. He craves the applause and the cheers because he feels adored and important. It’s so painfully obvious that this is his fuel. He’s drunk on the limelight. Unfortunately, his adoring base believes everything and that fuels them.
2
@Desert Rat. This brief comment is on target. Trump has been a salesman all his life. Real estate? Yes, but not quite substantive, that is, no real property, just an image of "property." That is why he began selling the name, "TRUMP." He created an image of luxury; it was a glittering, sparkling, shining image that was so "bright" that it hid the fraud behind it. He "sold" a television programme that was itself a false image of how good business people actually deal with apprentices. What was the motive behind the glitter? To aggrandize the Trump name as an actual product. Trump's rallies are celebration of TRUMP--DR is quite right> the Limelight is his addiction, it is his goal. He lives for those moments when he can say evil things about good people and get his crowd to, in effect, shout Trump, Trump, Seig, Seig Trump.
Trump has been lighting this fuse since 2015-we have had three years of his racist dog whistles, xenophobia and insults on a daily basis, and his rallies ratchet all this up to levels that are frightening and oh-so like newsreels of rallies in Germany in the 1930. Anyone paying attention to the denigration of our democracy is horrified by what happened yesterday but also surprised that it hasn't happened before. We have a President who has no respect for the office he occupies and the people of this country-even those who would follow him over a cliff. Our only check on him right now is the ballot box-our country is at risk-make no mistake about it.
8
Big money in politics.
This is what it bought.
6
Mr. Blow, let’s hope these “bomb” incident perps are found and the plot is uncovered quickly. My fear is unless we truly become equal parties in the senate and the house, and we learn to respect each other’s views, we will continue our slide into the lawlessness we see in many dictatorships. We need to Vote for that end this November, otherwise this administration will drive us into the ground. VOTE
7
It takes two to tango. In this case not people, but sides, both of which have their share of irresponsible bad actors. I don’t know who did this. A garden variety lunatic? A fringe right wing lunatic? Or possibly even a fringe left wing lunatic. The shock of the 2016 election brought this country’s long standing cultural and moral divisions out in the open. It turns out that a lot of silent people agree with Trump’s total contempt for political correctness and a lot of vocal people don’t. The result of all this unfiltered public speech is that Americans are acting like red and blue are playing in the Super Bowl and it’s winner take all. The leadership of BOTH sides needs to make a sincere effort to shut down these tremors before they become a bona fide earthquake.
3
@LHP In parts of Europe, the sentiments expressed by LHP are called "Symmetrism", in English more succinctly stated as "a pox on both your houses". However, in this conflict there is only one side that is right, but unfortunately it has largely geriatric leadership which is in hock to its oligarchic donors. Whether a "blue wave" in the election will help resolve matters is an open question, but symmetrism is not the answer.
2
Yes, and he repeatedly creates the scenario for hate. Is this not an impeachable offense?
6
Charles Blow is chronicling the rise of Trump perfectly. But no one yet has a clue how to deflate and neutralize this phenomenon. The Nuremberg rallies met their ultimate, logical end with the Nuremberg trials. But before that happened there was a whole lot of tragedy along the way.
4
If we are devolving into some sort of slow-motion civil war, history will one day marvel that the catalyst was a clownish figment of reality television, a twice-divorced, oft-bankrupted charlatan whose sole talent appears to be an almost mystical ability to harness the zeitgeist of subliminal rage that festers in a portion of our national soul. As the spineless enablers fan the flames of his wickedness, I wonder if they will own their contribution after the dust has settled.
12
You are so correct, "This is all Trump has." There is no there there, just a soulless empty shell.
3
Uh, I would say that Trump's targeting of these individuals and the pipe bombs is a pretty explicit link.
What do we need, Trump on tape giving instructions on how to make and send an explosive device?
His lies stir up fear and hatred, and the media won't even say that there is an 'explicit' link there.
C'mon, Charles, call it what it is: an incitement to violence.
5
I try not to listen to Trump's speeches -- they hurt my ears. But not being able to avoid them completely, in the last few weeks, I have personally heard him calling out Hillary Clinton, George Soros, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Maxine Waters and of course CNN, in the most vial and debasing way. Trump has actually called for violence against reporters and labeled the free press 'the enemy of the people. I can't help seeing a clear connection between the president's rhetoric and yesterday's events.
Furthermore, all that nonsense about Democrat 'mobs' is rather laughable now that we see the Republicans seem to have terrorists in their midst.
12
Ignore Trump and the right-wing echo chamber. Ignore the Trump devotees and their hate. Find that place in your heart that understands the power of kindness and goodwill toward all people. Fervently defend the ideals and practice of democracy and justice as inherent goods without giving fascists and hate mongers the privilege of being a party to your thoughts about these goods. Hold tight the notion of a people who can be kind, truthful and respectful of all peoples and our planet, despite how difficult that may be at times. And most importantly, do something every day, however small, to realize that world.
132
@Don Carder
Agreed. But also get some time in at the gun range.
10
@Don Carder
Thank you Don and Thank you Charles. I need both the critique of Trump and how he works as well as remembering the Parkland kids going out on buses to register young voters. I need to remember the quiet deliberate work of Mueller. I need to believe people will turn out to vote and peacefully rid us of this Trump Senate and Congress. But let us not be naive, Charles is right that Trump has an unbelievable ability to speak to and convert unhappy people. I am beginning to hear "we must appreciate Trump for this successes." What successes?
5
@Don Carder Lovely words, Mr. Carder, but of little worth without action: VOTE Democrat in November and rid out nation of a bit of the madness.
9
"In fact, his supporters are the mob."
And you stoke the fire on why Trump (and many others across all spectrums) see the media as a huge problem. This is such an irresponsible broad brush statement and any news outlet, even in their opinion pages, should not be publishing such stuff if they want to be taken seriously.
And even if you want to play this game, it is not one sided. From violent antifa protests egged on against conservative college speakers to at least implicit approval of folks confronting GOP members as they are eating dinner to statements from folks like Watters and Booker. And even Hillary's recent statements.
Shame on the Times on this one.
23
@Marvin - No, shame on you for this litany of false equivalences. If you don't see the faces of a mob at Trump's "rallies", and the cheering at his personal attacks and vilification of those who challenge his authoritarian rule, you're just not seeing the reality of this dangerous regime.
72
@Marvin: I disagree. Let's call this what it is.
Trump's voters threw a collective temper tantrum and elected a man singularly unqualified to be President. They wanted to burn the government to the ground and start over. The problem is--they don't know where to start over. They don't know how to build a new form of government. They are content to listen to the voice of Der Trumpenfuhrer, and to do whatever he says. They support him without question. They cheer for violence. They chant "Lock her up!" even though Mrs. Clinton has not been charged with or convicted of any crime. And they are quite willing to shout down (or beat up) anyone who dares to disagree with them. They have given up individual judgment and conscience for the illusion of belonging to "the REAL Americans."
That sounds like a mob to me. And compliments to The New York Times for having the courage to print that truth.
62
@Marvin You should take note of a few things. First the Democratic party has nothing to do with Antifa. The primary members of Antifa are anarchists, who oppose the state, including democratic republics. Second people at Democrat rallies are not physically attacking counter protesters and confronting is not a violent act. Trump has called for violence, celebrated violent politicians, and demonized the left, specific politicians, and news outlets (including retweets of meme violence against CNN). Trump is wrong. There are not nice people on both sides. One side has a mob mentality fueling it, and it may not be every Trump supporter, but it is many of them. Wake up to what Trump, Fox, and the Republicans are doing every day.
48
Some of those bombers are really fine people, especially the ones who send their bombs to people like Crooked Hillary and Black Barack. On the other hand, I know for a fact that those bombs were deliberately planted by the Democrats themselves to create sympathy with the voters in time for Election Day. Very sad.
#realdonaldtrumpfakepresident
18
Last night I watched a video replay of Trump's Wisconsin rally where he blamed the mainstream media for the hostility against him and his supporters while refusing even to acknowledge that one of yesterday’s bombs was directed at CNN. And I found myself screaming in despair for the future of a country led by a man who uses the presidency as a bully pulpit for consolidating his own wealth and power, actively inciting division and hatred to those ends, bolstered by a conservative media that fuels his every fire, supported by millions who would gladly hand him the keys to the kingdom.
Then my daughter told me a story of Ady Barkan, a progressive activist she met when they were both law students at Yale. Barkan was only 34 when he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of ALS that will likely take his life before his son turns five. Yet he still spends big blocks of his remaining time in Washington lobbying for progressive causes like healthcare and against consolidations of conservative power such as the tax bill and the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh. My daughter was with him when he recently received news of yet another setback to his efforts, and his response was to merely say, in a voice now partially strangled by his illness, “I need to change my ticket and stay another day.”
So long as the rest of us can still give voice to the majority of Americans who resist our would-be emperor, we too need to stay another day. And a day after that. And a day after that . . .
55
@Steel Magnolia
Never give up!
Never give up!
Never EVER give up!
2
@Steel Magnolia
Truly, truly a wonderful comment. Thank you. Yes, we must not tire. We must stay another day.
3
The voters, enough of them in the right places, created President Trump. These are our neighbors. They are easy to scare, easy to fool, easy to manipulate in many ways. They enjoy a certain kind of entertainment and prefer it to anything life has to offer. They will give up jobs, health care, clean air and water, their kids’ education...for the delight in telling PC liberals where to go. This is what leads me to despair about our country: that a Trump can become powerful by our choice. My votes are aimed to limit the horrors these neighbors want to inflict on us.
30
@DagwoodI feel your pain. This presidency has caused many of us to see just how vapid our Nation has become. We all have friends, relatives and neighbors who have decided that feelings and belief are better than sense, facts and logic.
The shear meanness of this presidency does not seem to phase most of his base. That is the most discouraging aspect of this - people are seeing the destruction of the American ethos and choose to look away and stay with this cretin.
2
The quote from Gladiator is apt. And unfortunately, many of us know what ultimately happened to the glory that was Rome.
15
Accurate article. I watched in amazement as several Republican politicos refused to admit that there is any connection between Trump's rhetoric and these deplorable actions. While the largest problem facing America is the fact that a large majority of voters support Trump's insane agenda, the second largest issue is the continued refusal of Republican office holders to have the courage to speak the truth.
261
@Disillusioned--Does Maxine Waters ring a bell
2
Interesting you mention "the mob." This morning, on one of the cable news/talk programs, the Republican spokesperson mentioned mobs in "Berkeley and Portland" as being somehow equal to the package bombs and examples of the usual false equivalency narrative. I don't know whether these people actually believe their own propaganda or if they carefully cultivate these talking points to create the impression of a "both sides do it" narrative.
24
Republicans have rejected American, democratic, and human values to embrace Nationalism. Nationalism is nothing to be proud of; we fought two World Wars against it to preserve democracy. Nationalism feeds on hate, fear, and destructive disruption.
In the White House, after President Trump’s declaration, a journalist asked him about it. Mr. Trump said, in effect, I am a Nationalist, a patriot. A Nationalist is not an American patriot. Nationalism is fear of loss. Patriotism is reverence for the preservation American democracy, its values summed up broadly in the grand idea One Nation, One People for All People; it is acceptance of all American history, good and evil, to make a country that lives up to the founding ideas. People have given their lives for the more perfect Union we have become.
Nationalism was and remains a movement of the narrow minded, the fearful, the greedy, the hateful, and the anti-democratic. Nationalism excludes those they blame for their grievances, real and imagined. This ugly movement ends up hurting people to slake the thirst for vengeance; then, if it gains enough power, kills people deemed undesirable. For facts sake, read a book. Turn off your “belief” for a moment and think for yourself in a broader context of consequences.
Republican leaders and voters with any slice of conscience left, with any American patriotism left, must condemn the President and his nationalistic movement.
301
@Kathy White
Thank you Kathy. Very well stated!!
10
@Kathy White: Nationalism is a foolish conceit that any nation can wall itself off from the global consequences of human activities.
10
@Kathy White
Well said!
8
For Trump, "unity" does not mean engaging in respectful discourse, in finding common ground, in negotiating effective solutions. For Trump, "unity" means that those standing in opposition to his attitudes and policies must capitulate. They must follow him, support him, and praise him. They must surrender.
This we cannot do. This we will not do.
We will not surrender. Not our values. Not our democracy. Not our country.
Resist.
49
Trump does not exist without the long hard work of Fox News, Mitch McConnell, John McCain’, Paul Ryan , Lyndsey Graham, and scores of other Republicans who over the past 30 years cultivated the ground for trump. Every word that comes from trump’s mouth is the gospel of Republican Party politics. That is what is so frightening about Trump and this time.
46
@BillC
Amen. These are the so called "Leaders" who have all the power to stop him.
Our pressure should be on challenging these men to stop Trump's madness. Write, call, email, tweet them as often as possible asking why they do NOT exercise their constitutional duty to STOP this clearly dangerous man, DJT, creating division and extreme havoc all across our nation.
5
Trump's demagoguery has taken -- is taking -- America in a very dangerous direction. Republican voters who heretofore have thought this was just so much rhetoric, and nothing to be concerned about as long as they got their policies pushed through, should know this: Never in the history of mankind has propping up a demagogue turned out well. Never, ever, ever. The first step in undoing this damage is voting Democrat in the midterms. Waiting until 2020 to turn away from Trump might be too late.
30
History tells us we can never go back. All these Trumpers want to go back in time, some want to go all the way back to pre-13th and/or pre-19th Amendments. But we can only go forward from here. Hegelian thought would see this time as a reaction to what's gone before, with a reaction to this reaction to come. Where does this go? We have been seeing the breakdown of our institutions, new standards for acceptable discourse from the office of the President, the denial of objective reality which is leading to two completely different views of the US and the world; we've seen an escalation of violence among US citizens / residents towards each other. Where does it go? Do these bombs represent one step in a series of escalations? Does this continue to more acts of violence more openly by more and more people? Are we on a path to a second Civil War? I really don't know. I am feeling hatred towards all things Trump. I am feeling like Trump and his followers are ruining my country. But I know individual Trumpers (a few, in Florida) and they are not bad people, I like them, I just disagree with their politics, I don't wish them any harm. But how can we see each other as people of one nation? I don't know. Some of my friends are looking for a Ghandi or a MLK or a Mandela, that quality of leader. Some are looking to ourselves, each other. All of us seem to be caught between growing hate and growing distress at our collective hate. Where does this go?
21
Why am I not surprised by this? After all, this is what Donald Trump has been aiming for ever since he realized it was much more fun to stay on the campaign trail riling up his base, than actually doing anything effective in the Oval Office.
Even now in the aftermath of explosive devices being sent to everyone he has vilified, he doesn't let up by continuing to heap scorn and contempt on Democrats, the non-FOX media, and anyone else who doesn't agree with him and his hate-filled view of the world.
And judging from what we're seeing now, it seems to be working.
250
As I have said before the most famous and infamous "nationalist" was Hitler. Trump isn't as smart as he was but he is still evil. Period.
65
@Jordan Davies
It is said that history doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes with current events.
Trump has near-perfectly followed the tactics in the fascist dictator's handbook. The Trump/Pence regime may not look identical to Nazis, but the similarities to Nazis are beyond coincidence. Everything from "America First" to the scapegoating of various groups to packing the courts with loyalists -- and lots of points in between -- resembles the 1920s and 1930s in Germany.
But, we started down this path many years before Trump's ascendancy to power. Conservative politics have lurched farther and farther to the right, especially since the 1980s. Trump was the next logical step; he's just continuing much of the same agenda, only without coded words.
5
What is sad about these ungodly events are the young children in the crowds of 45's midterm events as he spews lies, hatred, and division. I don't know how else to say it. It is shameful to teach these characteristics. Prejudice and hatred are learned characteristics. A true leader will use guarded words with the intent of unifying, even teaching, a/this country. The late great Senator John McCain, politician, veteran, family man, individual of character etc., warned us of the dangers of divisive ideology. President and Mrs. Obama stood for a better America.
After the Parkland High School shooting 45 showed little to no sympathy for young people who met with him. The young organizers against gun violence have shown more leadership and guidance in the face of tribalism than 45 and the current senators and/or congressmen. The youth response to violence gave the country a positive hope. In contrast, all 45 campaign events create, incite fear, lies and division. One must ask, is there hope?
The question is hard to answer when being branded a mob for having an opposing opinion. It's hard to answer when time and time again a free press is branded the enemy. It's hard to answer when American citizens are branded as being against the safety of this country. It's hard to answer hard to answer when "We the people" are a divided country. Again, our youth are watching.
One can only hope our youth will be a better United States of America.
55
The current American civil war does not look like the previous American civil war. It's not between territories over resources and the right to self-determination. It's a conflict over diverse ideas of what America is, who America is, and what America means. Is it a land of white settlers, or a nation of immigrants? Is it a republic with checks and balances, or a dictatorship that yields to the whims of one party's executive power?
Congress is too paralyzed by antagonism to carry out even the most rudimentary duties of government. The legal system is less legitimate by the day, and the recent Supreme Court appointment converted a political institution into a token in a zero-sum game. Trust in government is in free fall. The Democratic Party is paralyzed. The Republican Party is nothing more than a coalition of hate, fear, ignorance, and racial resentment. The president is a demagogue who incites and encourages acts and crimes of hate based on religion, race, ethnicity, ancestry, gender, and sexuality. He regularly discredits the FBI, the Department of Justice, and the judicial system. Democracies are built around institutions that are larger than partisan struggle; they survive on the strength of them.
The loathing between Americans just keeps proliferating. There is no optimistic scenario here. Nobody is trying to prevent this collapsing of the United States, because nobody wants to consider what's still to come.
39
Once Trump is out of office and retired to Mar-A-Lago (or, prehaps, Leavenworth), I suspect that you will be hard-pressed to find anyone who will admit to voting for him. It will be particularly hard to find a Republican politician who will admit to supporting him and what passes for his governance. I can't wait to try to parse those verbal gymnastics.
45
@Richard Green** I think you are right. The same way they forgot George Bush's years. Only this time it will be way more hypocritical.
2
Sometimes the only way you can stand up to a bully is to bloody their nose. ( a prime example is the majority of the world standing up to Germany and the Axis during WWII)
I am in no way talking of violence (physical or otherwise) and am only speaking metaphorically about voting. The President has had his way for almost 2 years now (seems like a lifetime of pain and anguish) and essentially, has not been held accountable at the polls. This is how the system works, and is the only way to muzzle the vitriol, or at the very least tap it down.
The American electorate must be singularly focused on voting and to take away the megaphone, otherwise there will be simply more of it with possibly more violence associated.
I keep harping as well that the press (part of it) is to blame as it amplifies that megaphone at every opportunity while parroting every line and every tweet over and over again each and every day. They would deem it ''news'', but many would deem it propaganda.
Until voting day, we are all giving up our lunch money.
61
Spot on.
Bannon miserably failed at creating, what Trump in his early days as president referred to as "movement" already.
Before that happens, the question is on his enablers, who pretend caring for your nation, but betray it as we speak.
13
I thought one of the benefits of no longer being the President, or running for President, is that you could stop worrying as much about being the target of politically-motivated violence. Has a former President of the US ever been assassinated (after becoming a former President)? But then again since Trump repeatedly refers to the 2016 election in his speeches and continues to campaign as if that election campaign was still going on, it's possible that some of his not-quite-all-there supporters didn't realize that he already won. Yet one more reason why continuing education for voters is critical.
24
just look at gop run states like texas. most of red state america is worse than third world countires-
no rural schools and hospitals-they are all closing-casualties to republicans ending medicare and medicaid, no doctors for dealing with mental health care, high suicide rates, crumbling infrastructure,massive cuts to rural development,student homelessness, contaminated drinking water and carcinogenic water supply, crop duster pilots releasing toxic chemicals into crops, people and animals, struggling economy, the worst emission standards, toxic emissions from fracking, wildfires and monster hurricanes-worsened by denial of science and climate change,continuous exodus from rural areas to urban centers, cotton crops reliant on government subsidies and it goes on and on.
34
@observer Is that the fault of Texans who vote Republican time-after-time? Sort of seems that way. I mean, why would you vote against your own self-interests? Why would you vote to end Medicare and Medicaid when you you need those programs? Does not make any sense to me. Does it make sense to Texans and if it does why do they do it?
2
All true -and the comments agree.
But I think the sending of the pipe bombs is far more serious and sinister than just someone caught up in Trump's vitriol about mobs and stoking fear in his supporters.
Not that Trump has surprisingly quickly dissolved our democracy and the Republican leaders have allowed him to become the authoritarian tyrannical leader of our nation. There are no checks and balances; no separation of powers.
It follows then that Trump's affinity for Putin, Kim, al Sisi, Erdogan, Duterte and Mohammed bin Salman, makes those who speak out against him "dissidents." While Trump identifies Democrats and the media as the "enemy" the bomber imagines them as dissidents.
The assassination of Khashoggi and the executions and imprisonment of MBS's dissidents seems to have triggered the sending of these bombs as a warning to those who would speak out against this president.
This is serious - failed assassination attempts or warnings?
25
@Mimi
I fear what may happen at the border once Trump's troops and the refugees meet. I fear slaughter of the innocents.
1
Mr. Blow. Thank you.
This is all very sad. It is just so hard to understand why this is happening here in our country.
The explosive devices were sent to several individuals, and others. Two of them to two former US Presidents. Yet, Mr. Trump only identified them and others as 'high ranking government officials'. There is something wrong here. It is not difficult to say there was an assassination attempt on the former presidents. Condemn and show concern. After the incident, Mr. Trump, was calling for Unity. How can this happen, if Mr. Trump does not initiate the call to unite, and take action. We all respect Mr. Trump as the POTUS. He is to all Americans. But, he is creating this impression that he is the leader to just one section of the people - his base.
Mr. Trump is creating this fear and anger amongst the people. He is blaming and attacking everyone - the Democrats, the Media. What does he achieve in all of this?
We can call this recent incident as an act of terrorism, domestic terrorism, or whatever. What is important is for our elected representatives to tell us why this is happening. What is it that is motivating or emboldening the perpetrator?
Our country is already divided, and we have so much to be concerned about. We ask this question - What is happening to the United States of America?
9
James Baldwin wrote about governments role in inciting violence against those they deem enemies:
"A mob is not autonomous: it executes the real will of the people who rule the State. The slaughter in Birmingham, Alabama, for example, was not merely the action of a mob. The blood is on the hands of the state of Alabama which sent those mobs into the street to execute the will of the State.”
Trump's message to his adoring supporters could not be clearer: Your enemies are my enemies. And these enemies are enemies of the State, for I am the State.
As Mr. Blow writes, we don't know If there is explicit link between the president’s rhetoric and the bombs this week.
But we know how this will end if unchecked because it has happened before here and in other countries when leaders incite mobs to hate the "other".
We know how this will end because it always ends the same way, with blood in the streets and blood on the hands of the leaders who led the cheers.
37
Our Lowlife-In-Chief first found his political legs in the despicable Birther Lie, the completely racist and hateful fraud that one of America's finest Presidents and finest citizens, Barack Obama, was not a citizen.
Tens of millions of America's worst Whited Sepulchers R Us were drawn to this tiny, tiny, tiny little man who comfortably peddled the worst racism that America's Jim Crow Neo-Confederacy had to offer.
After wildly succeeding at selling hatred of our first black President with the help of the right-wing Republican propaganda-industrial complex, our Lowlife-In-Chief came out with 'new and improved' racial hatred of Mexicans and Muslims and threw in some good old-fashioned misogyny for good misanthropic measure. Add liberals, the press and any Republican who dared to publicly disagree with him to the mix, and this incredible Lowlife-In-Chief has perfected a national campaign of White Male Spite, with 'conservative' white women dutifully obeying the White Male Spite and racism of their male partners.
Hate crimes reported to the FBI jumped from 10 to 27 the day after Trump was elected in November 2016.
More hate crimes with racial or ethnic bias were reported on Nov. 9 2016 than any other day in 2016 and remained elevated for the next 10 days.
The total number of hate crimes in the 10 largest cities in America jumped in 2017, Trump's first year in office.
Make America Hate Again was elected in November 2016.
Let's VOTE it out of office on November 6 2018.
201
@Socrates
Spot on...
Trump's real motto: "Make America Hate Again"
9
Democracy is failing. When public officials lie with impunity and the crowds still roar approval, we fail. When those in power manipulate the voting process to deny certain Americans their right to vote, we fail. When our leaders attack the press and any other opponent who can call them to account, we fail. When politicians put their ideology and quest for power above the good of the country, we fail. When people of differing political views see the opposition as the enemy, we fail. We need leaders who will stand up for our values and democratic traditions. And citizens who are informed and willing to compromise for the greater good.
38
BerkshireBoy...it's not accurate to say 'democracy is failing'.
It's accurate to say the Republican Party assassinated American democracy, representative government and the will of the people and replaced it with an 0.1% Randian kakistocracy that demands an IV drip of fear, loathing and propaganda to cover up the national train robbery that is the fundamental Republican political principle: unfettered, sociopathic Greed Over People.
Democracy works well, just like universal and single-payer does, in OTHER countries....because none of those other countries has a political party fully dedicated to defeating the truth, suppressing the vote and hijacking democracy to a right-wing Shangri La that has produced the greatest healthcare rip-off in the world and the greatest electoral rip-off in the world.
Democracy works.
But not when the Republican Party assassinates it.
VOTE anyway in historic numbers on November 6.
Sometimes the Hail Mary play also works.
D to go forward; R for reverse...over the cliff.
88
@BerkshireBoy: i do agree.
and the sooner we recognize when & how we failed,
the more time we'll have to improve and win some,
even plenty of hearts and souls back - so i hope.
let's not lose too much time, though!
3
@Socrates... Hi.. I appreciate your thoughts and your passionate writing style. But when I step back and look at the anger in your reply it makes me think that that is part of the problem right now. Too much hate on both sides. Everything becomes a battle to the death. We can't heal until we lower the volume. And someone has to go first.
Most importantly VOTE Don the Con and his compatriots out of power.
All true and almost obvious to any thinking American. But, as Tom Friedman stated a couple of days ago, the comments by Mr Blow and many, many others are just mist if Democratic voters will not get out and vote. It is absolutely the only way to get rid of this particular monster. Of course, the underlying societal disease of "soil and blood" will not go away with the ouster of Trump. there is a much, much deeper illness we have which has only one cure: define a moral compass and follow it. The Constitution's preamble and Jeffeson's words are good beginnings.
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We need to make sure it is never again as easy to elect and retain in a powerful position an Inciter In Chief. This means state legislatures voting out the electoral college. See https://www.nationalpopularvote.com/. And stopping gerrymandering and voter suppression in all their forms. If an Inciter is still somehow elected there need to be ways that actually work to replace him rather than enduring four frightening years of his distortions with a promise of more fear to be piled on every day.
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@freyda
Absolutely true. But with this Supreme Court and judiciary run by The Federalist Society, that will not happen.
So we need to think of creative solutions which include getting out the Democratic voters but which is also long term, if we last that long.
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@freyda There is a way. Unfortunately we have a Congress that is as bad as he is. They like the division. It makes them more money. Our government has lost its way. It is no longer for the people. It is nothing more than the extension of the elite and wealthy to foment chaos among the masses so they can reap benefit from it. This man should have never been put in the Oval Office. He lost. The antiquated system that conservatives like is the only reason he is in the Oval office. They can remove him. But they won't. Not a one of them has the backbone to fight for impeachment. America will burn. The fire will be ignited by the ignorance that follows behind this horses behind while they eat up what he drops behind him.
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An outstanding analysis of the perilous situation we face in divided times under the leadership of a President who owes his rise to power to his ability to fan the flames of fear and hatred.
One weakness in Mr. Blow's otherwise incisive analysis, however, is clear in the short second paragraph, which states:
"This is not to say that there is an explicit link between the president’s rhetoric and the bombs. There is no way to know that at this point. We don’t even know yet who’s responsible for the bombs."
While that statement is true, he should have followed it with the obvious corollary that if it is found that a Trump supporter believed he/she was acting on Trump's frequently-expressed exhortations to violence again political rivals by sending the bombs, then Trump deserves to stand trial for inciting violence. Even if the perpetrator of the attacks turns out to be some seriously deranged individual, Trump's role in transforming fears and paranoia into attempted murder and political terrorism is clear.
The link between Trump's hate-filled rhetoric and violence existed before these latest attacks. In 2016, Trump lamented to a crowd of supporters in St. Louis that “Part of the problem is no one wants to hurt each other anymore.” He got his wish. In 2017, there were 37 incidents of terrorism in the USA tied to racist, anti-Muslim, homophobic, anti-Semitic, fascist, anti-government, or xenophobic motivations. That's a significant majority of all such attacks.
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@Ken and, from the NYT, June 14, 2017
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A lone gunman who was said to be distraught over President Trump’s election opened fire on members of the Republican congressional baseball team at a practice field in this Washington suburb on Wednesday, using a rifle to shower the field with bullets that struck four people, including Steve Scalise, the majority whip of the House of Representatives.
I guess that was Trump's fault, also.
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Yes, it's all true. People need to know how Amazon, and others are complicit in all of this. Watch this segment on Democracy Now.https://www.democracynow.org/2018/10/24/whos_behind_ice_how_amazon_palantir
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Thanks, Mr. Blow, for yet another great column. But these early comments, many from writers I greatly admire, seem far too glum. Yes, Trump is really that bad. But we are not. We are losing battles right and left. But we are not losing the war. This is what reaction to moral progress feels like. It's horrible, but probably inevitable.
Christine Blasey Ford's Senate testimony was not futile. It was one of those hinge moments in history. It can't be undone. I mostly cried through it, perhaps because I sensed that at the time. In moments of fatigue, when I start giving in to the "America is doomed" feeling, I try to remember that and celebrate what it is we're really (somehow) doing here.
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@Jon Do you see your " fellow Americans" that attend Trump rallies? Do you watch TV or read the newspapers and see that outright racism and bigotry has now become an acceptable means of communication again? Hordes of our fellow Americans are just like Trump and unlike him they really believe in the ugly and evil things he says and promotes.
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With very few exceptions (i.e., native Americans), we are all descendents of immigrants, including Donald Trump. You can argue that your descendents came here legally, and maybe they did. But they then passed laws to prevent others from immigrating. Why did your descendents come to America? They were either escaping bad situations in their home countries, or seeking better opportunities for themselves and their families, or both. Why then are so many people opposed to offering the same opportunities to others? America was created in order to give immigrants hope, and to offer them a better life. Without that, we are no longer America, land of opportunity.
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@KenF
I agree with your premise. However, I hasten to add an additional reason another category of persons pilgrimage to America. My descendants were stolen from their homeland and forced to come to America to build this country for free.
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@KenF Do you believe in borders at all? Do you believe in sovereign nations at all? Please answer those questions. If you believe sovereign nations have a right to exist, then why shouldn't citizens of those nations have a right to define and enforce borders? BTW, do you think Canada, Norway, Sweden etc have open borders? Answer the questions, please.
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@KenF
Don't forget Donald Trump's wife and in-laws. Strange how chain migration is a bad thing for everyone else except the Trump family.
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"Politics is not always about the elevation of the best candidate."
Indeed. In my 67 year lifetime, two of the most qualified candidates for President, Adlai Stevenson and Hillary Clinton, never made it, though both tried twice.
We now have an executive and a legislative majority elected by a minority of voters, making lifetime judical appointments to further a minority point of view.
The Electoral College system of elections is an anti-democratic institution. Likewise the partisan establishment of congressional districts. Both of them need to be abolished.
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@Ralph Averill
"...the most qualified candidates for President, Adlai Stevenson and Hillary Clinton, never made it, though both tried twice." Poor Hillary. Stevenson did lose twice but his opponent was an extremely popular World War 2 general, Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was one of the best Republican Presidents ever. Hillary lost to the worst human being to claim being an American and is the worst human being to ever occupy the Oval Office.
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Trump, for some reason, does not really exist for this American voter. He was considered a bit shabby and shady thirty years ago, and when he became president, while this was not a surprise for all of us because our perception is different, I thought he just might be able to hold his own, based on the Will of the People. I was wrong.
The Caravan: This is where the Corporate and Humanitarian world is linked, and funds are needed from the former to help our non-governmental agencies to offer these refugees some life essentials, water and medical care. In the midst of fear and furor, madness and chaos, remember those who care, experts who have chosen to pursue a vocational career.
For those able, fit and capable, consider giving a donation to the American Red Cross Fund, UNICEF, The Catholic Relief Services. There are many reputable and long-standing institutes to choose from, and this will show that America is still in possession of a heart and not only in The Heartland.
Hold strong, Mr. Blow, none of this is easy, but you help to keep some of us steady. This is a gift that we hold dear in these times of nightmare and hatred.
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@Miss Ley
The caravan would be a time for any compassionate leader to find a way to help those that are fleeing right wing instilled violence. Unfortunately their road is the road from fire to the pot. trump will only boil them up to be fed to those he incites.
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Charles needs to develop a more legitimate historical baseline when considering toxic atmospheres. Trump represents merely the inevitable popular reaction to the toxicity unleashed almost on a daily basis for many years by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. Without these two worthies, Republicans probably never would have elected Trump; but they wanted someone who could offer spleen at least as effectively as Frick and Frack.
He should also consider the not-inconsiderable role our liberal MSM (and, fairly, our conservative press as well) played in creating the current toxicity – and with them it was as much to sell newspapers and attract clicks as it was to flog ideological imperatives.
Finally, he should be fair about which oxen actually are gored by the toxicity. These pipe bombs thankfully claimed no lives or injuries (… yet?), but Republicans were shot on a baseball diamond not that long ago, and Democrats are seeking to hound Republicans out of restaurants, violating the most rudimentary tenets of basic civility.
Why, just read a typical Charles Blow column (and, increasingly, a typical Paul Krugman column), and you need look no further to discover effective grist for toxicity.
To Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, Republicans were and are active agents of evil. And I understand that many Democrats believe this, even though I deplore the excess. To Trump and his base, Trump’s comments may be equally excessive but they represent a counterpoint to Democrats that Republicans want.
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@Richard Luettgen - Richard, the polarization of America began far before Pelosi and Reid. The 1960s created divides based on race and ideology that have never healed. My personal perception is that the rhetoric has been more heated on the right (yes, the left has gone over the top as well).
So, how about proposing some way to defuse the situation (short of an unconditional surrender of one side or the other)?
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@John Graubard - John, I have an idea. Though yet in the early testing phase, I am finding that by intentionally seeking out those who do not look like me or are obviously from a background different from my own for conversations, mostly listening, I learn something.
@Richard Luettgen When did Cong. Pelosi or former Sen. Reid have a crowd chanting, "Shoot the baseball players!" and said something like, "I don't like Steve Scalise either." Please give an example of Ms. Pelosi or Mr. Reid cheering on a member of Congress, who is presumably not some nutcake, who attacks a reporter he doesn't think is being deferential enough to him or the other congressman (from S.I.) who threatens on camera to throw a different reporter over the railing from a second-floor balcony. Donald Trump made sure to praise the former this week, but somehow missed out on praising the felonious former Cong. Grimm and endorsed his GOP primary opponent. I am just as appalled when anti-Trump people on line wish the president or his associates physical harm because they really really really want to see him removed from office. We do have ways (and it is NOT a constitutional crisis, since congressional elections that elect the other party and impeachment and conviction are provided for in the Constitution) to remove a president legally and absolutely non-violently. On the other hand, those irrationally desperate anti-Trump people do not sit in the Oval Office, nor stroll the halls of Congress. They have four upvotes on some website and that's the limit of their influence. They aren't the subject of adulation by millions. The irrational Donald Trump, who can't decide if he is president or just an actor playing at being president, does and is.
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At virtually every rally, with virtually every Tweet, and with every secret 2-hour meeting with Pootie-Poot, Pres. 45* confirms he is a clear and present danger to this country, our interests, and our safety.
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"The White House" - no way was it Trump - has sent out a mass email pleading for national unity, as though his fascist rhetoric at his rallies has nothing to do with anything.
Talk about washing dirty hands.
And plenty of people have dirty hands, including the oligarchs and corporations who've benefited so handsomely from his tax cuts and assaults on democracy. But look out. Coupled with the dangerous fallout from Trump's incitements to violence is the plunge in the stock market, caused largely by his trade war.
Capitalism on crack, combined with the crackpot playing at being president, simply is no longer sustainable. With Trump taking off the gloves in that inept and hateful way of his, the mask is coming right off the whole American system.
The refugee caravan from Honduras is the result of the 2009 military coup which ousted the democratically elected Manuel Zelaya, whom the US viewed a socialist troublemaker for instituting such dangerous policies as a national minimum wage, free light bulbs for poor families, and privileging subsistence farmers over multinational agribusinesses. The US then "legitimized" the coup by sending a group of GOP congressmen to monitor another election, "won" by a corrupt strongman with ties to organized crime.
Since then, Honduras has plunged further into poverty and violence. People are fleeing for their lives.
The US, with the history of genocide and slavery it has never reckoned with, now has Strongman Trump to reckon with.
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@Karen Garcia Thank you for pointing out the root cause of the human tragedy causing much of the migration. The USA meddling in Latin America has a sorry history, and those that object to costs of asylum-seekers should gladly back significant investments in development in LA.
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@Karen Garcia
"... the mask is coming fight off the whole American system."
Excellent!
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@Karen Garcia A great comment; you've been silent too long.
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I wonder if our country is worth saving. If this ignorant, mean and pointless excuse for a man can energize so many Americans, then America is doomed.
Any throng that would hang on the president’s bitter lies and pump their fists in approval doesn’t recognize the sacrifice that so many made to improve their lot. The entire last century was measured by how much progress we made in recognizing working people, the old, the sick, women, immigrants, African-Americans and gay people.
It was a struggle. And it’s all going downhill faster than our collective I.Q. We’re an embarrassment on a world stage. Our president coddles genocidal murderers and neo-Nazis and trashes the F.B.I. He attacks education, the climate, our security and our standing as a modern nation.
He is not a leader. He is a disease. He corrodes our discourse, makes us hate each other and eggs on the lowest and meanest of our citizens.
All of this reveals that he knows nothing about sane or prudent leadership. He can only make noise to distract us from the fact that he has no ideas about anything. He reverts to a mean-spirited schoolyard bully who only knows how to destroy and damage every good thing about this country.
He needs to be impeached, flushed back into the swamp, if the swamp will have him. I can imagine that a fetid cesspool might have higher standards than that.
November is coming soon, but it may already be too late. I wonder if there's anything left to save.
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@gemli
When pondering reasons for holding out hope … consider ice cream.
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@gemli I feel your pain. I too wonder if we’re way past the tipping point. And I’m afraid for my children. But I keep recalling the words of Dan Rather, to keep the faith and that so many Americans want better than we have now. I pray he is right.
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@gemli
It's too late. If there were a vote today for a forming a new country of North Eastern States, I'd be first in line to vote yes. Since that is not on the ballot yet, I do my best to avoid every Trumper I can and can't wait for his "tax cuts" so that less of my money goes to support his "base" in the red states. I am being taxed without fair representation thanks to the electoral college and gerrymandering. We know what happened last time Americans felt that way.
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As today's events showed, the chickens are coming home to roost.
No, there is no direct connection between Trump and pipe bombs except for those vile, mendacious words that hang in the dank night air of MAGA rallies, inspiring some really angry dude to take it to Trump's "enemies".
When Trump decided to call Democrats a mob, my immediate reaction was, the only mobs I've seen since 2015 were a constant changing sea of white faces, mouths wide open in chants, with fists clenched into a frenzy egged on by the president.
The symbiosis between the president and his rally mobs is so clear: neither side gets respect so they give it to each other.
I don't think Trump will to follow through on his teleprompter words today, "we must unify."
Clearly the man forced to utter those words doesn't believe them, since all he's done since taking office is divide to conquer.
Our country has become a tinderbox, just waiting for a match to set it ablaze. God help us if the much maligned FBI can't find the perpetrator in time before folks die.
This is a scary time for America.
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@ChristineMcM
Sorry, but I don’t trust the FBI. They just look trustworthy compared to trump and his cronies in government. I don’t believe they are fair or unbiased in their ethos and actions. Some individuals maybe, but not enough to over ride the malignancies of prejudice and right wing conservatism.
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You may have missed a few mobs associated with the left, such as the antifa protests against conservative speakers on campuses and Black Lives Matter protests that illegally shut down highways.
We all seemed to miss the major democrats standing up an emphatically telling folks not to accost congressmen when they are eating dinner or trying to simply enter their offices.
You may have missed statements from Watters and Booker and recently Hillary that are just as potentially inciting.
You may not understand how polarizing and dividing Obama was to many in the country. Obama was the reason the TEAs gained huge grounds in 2010 and why a populist right like Trump was able to garner support.
And listen, really listen, to the spewage from Pelosi and Schumer sometime. As bade as the spewage from Trump.
Yes, we have a problem but to pretend it is on one side more than the other is ludicrous. It lays directly at the feet of the left and the right and it is no wonder the larges political grouping right now is called the "exhausted middle."
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@ChristineMcM - you really need to go to a dictionary and read up on mobs. A mob is not a group sitting in a stadium cheering for someone or thing.
A mob is an unruly group surrounding and harassing and individual or a few - such as dems have done in restaurants, congress, Antifa on Portland streets, etc.
Sheesh can't we even agree on the meaning of words.
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We have been calling this type of behavior the politics of tribalism. No, it's much worse than that. It is the politics of animalism. Trump is tapping into basic instincts of survival. This a dark and purely emotional realm that every being with a frontal cortex has.
Trump's message is essentially "they" are going to get you. They will destroy everything that you hold dear. They will destroy you.
The individual that believes his rhetoric falls under a stupor that their very existence is at stake. Not their political existence, their individual existence. "Jews will not replace us." That is not a political refrain, but a physical one. If the opposition wins, you will be replaced. You are no longer needed.
This is the root motivation of Trump's messages. Do all of his supporters take it that far? No, of course not. But many do. Far too many. Certainly the people that made those bombs did and that's the problem.
The words a president utters hold tremendous sway and power. Not all are capable of tempering their reactions to them. Those are the people act out with violence.
Donald Trump created this mess. He has attacked the truth so viciously, that many listeners cannot distinguish truth from lie. So they end up believing what they want to believe. This is the gateway to animalism. This is a place devoid of reason and morality. This is the world that Trump created and thrives in. He needs to be caged.
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@Bruce Rozenblit
Mr. Rozenblit, Extremely well said, as are all of your comments. Thank you for continuing to speak out. We need your voice now more than ever.
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Trump did not create anything, he exploited a divide that was already there. The country was fractured badly in 2010 with Obama pushing a progressive agenda while smugly lecturing the entire country that he knew what was better for us than we all did.
After some moderate's in Clinton and Bush, folks overreacted and the left leaning Obama and congress swung hard left. Quickly after that the pendulum in Congress swing hard right. After 8 years the presidency swung based on the far right base. Now we are seeing some far left swings in Congress and who knows what 2020 will bring in the Dem candidate.
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@Bruce Rozenblit....sorry to say your eloquence is too apocalyptic. It's leaving me apoplectic.
It's bad enough without exaggerating. There are opposing forces. There are upcoming elections. There's plenty of opposition to Trump. There's plenty of eyes being opened that were half closed before.
At least, I think so.
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