Trump's entire life has been a charade ... tax evasion, racism, terrible business skills, bankruptcies, a picture of wealth, but, subsidized by Dad.
He had the good fortune to run against a woman everyone distrusted and/or disliked. It wasn't her political party -- it was her. The electorate wanted Bernie Sanders, the DNC picked the recognized name. What a mistake.
People did not vote. They disliked Hillary, and could not believe a racist, sexist, unqualified person like Trump could be elected. Citizens woke up on election morning in horror at this new, orange President.
Now, the electorate has had ample time to see that he really is racist, xenophobic, sexist, a liar, uses his office to make money for his businesses, had a lot of help from Russia in winning the last election -- and that the U.S. faces continued hacking and propaganda from them in 2020.
He favors the rich, the white, destroyers of health and the environment to fatten their wallets. He detests people of color and rages against them at rallies. He loves dictators, not democracy. He's very transparent about all this. Nothing matters to him except getting his own way.
More grotesque than Trump are the people who drink his Kool-aid -- the true believers, the fellow haters, elected Republicans -- and how many there are in the U.S. Who knew this was America?
They're toxic to democracy and to life itself. It's to us, in the moderate and progressive camps, to vote them out.
21
If you don't think in racist terms, you would amply demonstrate that in you speech and behavior. Thus no one would have occasion to accuse you of racism and bigotry, and you would have no reason to defend yourself with the ridiculous line, "I'm the least racist person you know." That line, in fact, tells us everything we need to know about Trump's bigotry: he knows he's a racist but isn't intelligent enough to offer a more sophisticated defense. The line is right up there with "I'm a very stable genius." This buffoon we're supposed to respect as President. What a prepesterous demand, says someone who's the most respectful person toward President you will ever know.
11
You said you don't believe that all of his backers are bigots. If one supports a bigot one is a bigot. If one is not a bigot, one could never support or back him. ALL of his supporters and backers are bigots.
15
Trump has done more to harm our democracy than all the Fundamentalist Islamic terrorist groups combined. They must be celebrating as we tear ourselves apart.
17
Nope, Trump is trying to last at least long enough in office to get his two terms in. Everything else is just frill or better, lipstick on this pig. Nothing else matters, least of all the United States. Hope everyone has a good grip to hang on for the change most of us want.
5
I've reached the point where I find commenting on Trump useless. It's his enablers who need to be held accountable now.
Without them, Trump is very much the ill-informed self-aggrandizing Cassanova-imagining buffoon -- cartoon character -- that a majority of Americans knew him to be before his foray into -- and dumb luck at winning -- elected office. Sadly for the US, he's in the oval office, the absolute worst place for a bounder of his character to sit.
15
You have to wonder which of Trump's amoral henchmen was able to hold his nose long enough to write the phony speech that said Trump abhors racism?
What were they thinking as they wrote it?
If they are in Trump's circle, they presumably agree with his attitudes. How could they reconcile what they know to be Trump's beliefs with the need to pen such absurd hypocrisy?
16
"decrying what he embodies": This includes not only what Mr. Bruni so clearly points out, that while lamenting the internet and social media, Trump can't live without his daily round of tweets, and, as the Times recently reported, without "sharing" his vile views via Facebook. Trump and his lackeys also keep chalking up violence to mental illness, which seems quite apt, given Trump's obvious mental instability, virulent narcissism, and deep fear of knowledge. [The technical medical term just might be "dopioid addiction."] The man is a total mess, makes a total mess, and the clean-up will take a long time. He is unforgivable. Yeah, God told me as much!
8
Frank Bruni believes 100% that Trump is a racist and he does not mean what he says when he condemns white supremacy becouse he criticized people of colour. He also nonstop criticize white people, think Muller & Polanski, does that mean he is anti-white as well? During the 8 years as president, Obama has not changed 1 gun law. Is that also Trump's fault? Also after 8 years of Obama, Trump came in because the USA has not been so divided since the Vietnam war because of identity politics, also Trump's fault?
2
I believe that at some point, Trump simply will play himself out. Anger and vitriol only plays so long until enough people simple tire or it and need something new in their lives. Trump's constant divisiveness, now very much in the form of racism and xenophobia may appeal to a small percentage of the population; but the majority simply does not live their lives in such turmoil.
Trump is not believable to many people. What we are witnessing now are three types of people in this country. First, we have those who want Trump gone because of his lies, politics and hysterics. Second we have those who are true believers; those who actually believe Trump tells the truth. The third group of people are those that are up for grabs politically. These are the people who do not believe a word of what Trump says but have yet to tire of his incompetence, lies and/or his chaos.
Trump's latest lie may or may not be his biggest; but it is the most transparent, full-frontal lie we have seen to date.
3
I have wondered how anyone can accept the long term damage to the nation 45 causes (greater debt, dirtier air and water, delayed action to counter climate change, weakened alliances) in exchange for the few short term gains he accomplishes.
The only answer I can fins id they are as amoral as he is.
6
I suppose that bad examples also have a purpose. They show how bad things can get if we stray too much. Trump will join other deplorable leaders of the past that warn us that care must be taken in choosing our leaders because their characters and backgrounds count as well as their policicies. Fortunately, this too shall pass. However, we will emerge bruised isn our dignity, bloodied in our values and diminished in our reputation.
5
Frank, pieces like this one are now a dime a dozen, and Trump just rolls on undeterred and in no way mitigated. If anything he is more bizarre and brazen than before — as amazing as that certainly is.
Four more years of the Donald and America will be a shambles.
This while the Dems play at presidential candidate king of hill in a vain effort to find coherence, unity, and a message that actually resonates with the voters that can relegate Trump to the trash heap of Americas absolute worst presidents.
7
He can say he's not a racist but his words, his actions, and the actions he encourages say otherwise. Everyone has a choice of either love or hate. If you support the guy who championed the birther movement against President Obama, who has continually sided with white supremacists, who did not immediately condemn the "shoot them" shoutout, who started the send them back incidents, who played golf when learning of the massacre in El Paso, who continues to speak out of both sides of his mouth--then you choose hate. You can rationalize it however you wish but realize in the end supporting trump is supporting hate. It's never too late to turn towards love and the light it sheds. I encourage you to choose now.
9
I heard a report that "President Trump said . . . 'X'." Followed by the reporter stating "and this is true." That says it all. It is news when Trump says something that is in fact true.
2
While this article is impassioned I also think it is part of the problem. The correct response to what is going on is mass demonstration. Sending a million people to surround Congress and not allowing them to do their work until they pass meaningful gun laws.
Besides Mass demonstrations there are other practical things that could be done but again are not for lack of visionary leadership.
It is interesting that Americans cheer and applaud whenever there are mass uprisings around the world like the so-called Arab Spring. Yet back in this country people are totally passive and impotent.
The only thing that moves Americans to mass protests is when the NFL goes on strike. Honestly, we are a society of sloth and indolence excessive verbiage and a paucity of practical action.
I have read that due to the internet the average person has access to as much information as a CIA case officer 30 years ago. However we are all glued to our screens fractured immobilized and impotent.
Martin Luther King would have summoned millions of people to surround the DC vast swamp of corruption.
Today no leaders seem to have that kind of vision or power. The hate mongers have captured the political system and games it in their favor. The rest of us are like Yeats' poem where the evil ones are full of passionate intensity while the good sit wringing their hands.
A society in which the good lack meaningful passion & the ability to take action really does not deserve to exist.
7
Thank you Frank! The more that DJT's lies are exposed and
talked about the better to make certain that he isn't re-elected to another term. Your op-ed exposes the truisms of how disasterous another 4 years with this joker could be.
6
Re Trump: "He’s a moral arsonist, and if he determined that the only way to hold on to power was to burn everything to the ground, he’d gladly be king of ashes. "
Until today, I thought I've said a mouthful just by calling Trump the national homewrecker-in-chief. Frank, you have a way with words, and yours is a very good assessment. This is one of the best nutshell descriptions of President 45 ever. Thanks for your column today.
7
"I also don’t believe that all of Trump’s backers are bigots, and insistences along those lines are an overreach with the unfortunate effect of inviting many of them to tune out their critics."
I know of almost no people/articles that make this contention. As with "both sides do it" or similar statements this is another false trope that is used far too often. It is a misguided attempt to appear fair and balanced or appeal to some of Trump's supporters. In addition to not being true, it undercuts calling out Trump's blatant racism and lies that has been acquiesced to if not embraced by the Republican party.
4
Remember, words may hurt now. What the Republicans want is the power to enact changes commensurate with their words. Scary!!! You can already see that in the S.Ct. decisions. Fight now or get ready to surrender. Turn Texas blue.
1
45 says he is concerned about the "invasion" occurring in our nation. Me, too - his invasion of endless bigotry, racism, and violence, spewed from his own lips. As the saying goes, "violence begets violence." Now, every day, I pray for it/him to be ended.
3
Teddy Roosevelt spoke of the "Bully Pulpit" and was right about the Executive, being a single voice representing an entire branch of government. I don't think our Founders planned it that way (despite the perhaps-revealing arrangement of the Articles of our Constitution), but the single voice of the Executive trumps (excuse me) both other branches combined most of the time.
At least, that's the way things have worked out. But now we have an exponential increase in the volume emitting from the bully pulpit. I refer, of course, to the bully tweet.
It's the equivalent of a nuclear weapon in the hands of a character like Trump, or perhaps in the hands of any politician. (Imagine Sen. Joe McCarthy tweeting and twisting his way out of his brand of demagoguery. It would've been easy.)
So we've arrived at a new cliff, and I wonder of our republic can stand it. Our only defense is to nominate and elect knowledgeable, sensible, decent people at all levels of government. What a concept!
4
Come on Frank, give us all a break. What is this line doing in your opinion, to wit: "I don’t claim that Trump specifically caused or catalyzed El Paso or Pittsburgh or related blood baths..." Have you been away for the last two years in a place that is not reachable by phone, TV, the internet, or newspapers?
Why is it that so many reporters these days refuse to acknowledge, as many political figures and presidential candidates have don so, that the "president" is nothing but a white supremacist racist who has incited the country to the point of unleashing the crazies, and the radicalized to pull off these slaughters all over our country.
It's about time that many in the media stop taking baby steps when it comes to what Trump has done to our country, and what his words mean that stimulate these outrageous killings.
If some in the media cannot tell it like it is, that Trump is an instigator of violence and dissension, then what is the use for all of us to read newspapers, or watch cable news? Trump is a freakish inclusion into our democracy who is bent on destroying our way of life. Please tell it like it is.
11
I’m terribly sorry that so many pundits (which is what Bruni is, not a reporter) make the assumption that their readers have the smarts to connect a dot or two for themselves. Even worse, they’ve a terrible habit of saying what they think rather than what their readers want them to say.
@Robert I don't think it's a matter of connecting the dots as you may think most readers are ignorant. I hope that is not what you feel. I more believe that too many "pundits" seem reluctant to REALLY speak their minds on the basis of adhering to being "politically correct." Though Bruni continued with the typical thrashing of Trump after the statement I discussed, it was quite odd to me that he would start his piece with a message that was inconsistent with the facts.
1
Great column, of course.
I do have to call you out on this one: I don’t claim that Trump specifically caused or catalyzed El Paso or Pittsburgh or related blood baths, because nothing’s that tidy, because I know that mass shootings and mad shooters predate him and because, in a sense, it doesn’t matter.
Sure, nothing's that tidy. And mad shooters predate Trump. But remember, there are killers - terrorists - who proclaim their political fealty to Trump and to his RW extremist hatred. The El Paso terrorist essentially lifted his manifesto from Trump rally hatefests. So I don't share your reluctance to say that Trump caused or catalyzed El Paso or Pittsburg, or that RW hatred of "The Other" caused or catalyzed Sutherland Springs or Charleston.
6
An excellent commentary. But let me take issue with one point: "I also don’t believe that all of Trump’s backers are bigots, and insistences along those lines are an overreach with the unfortunate effect of inviting many of them to tune out their critics."
I would argue that if you support racist politicians and racist policies, you are a racist.
Some of Trump's supporters undoubtedly convince themselves that they support him in spite of his racism. They may feel that, say, the benefit they receive from his tax policies outweigh the harm that is done by divisive and hateful remarks and tweets. But "I got a tax cut, so who cares about those children in cages?" is a morally bankrupt position.
The majority of Trump supporters, it's safe to say, agree with his racist sentiments. They believe this country belongs to white men and that white people are involved in a zero sum struggle for power with the people of color who are "invading" the country and seek to "replace" whites.
Somehow, they don't see this as racist, and they deeply resent being told that it is. Trump knows this, and he is seeking to make this the primary theme of his campaign. He's deliberately making racist statements so that he can defend them, and in defending them, he's defending the beliefs and winning the undying loyalty of his followers.
Anyone who jumps on that bandwagon needs to denounced as a racist. If that causes them to "tune out" their critics, so be it. I doubt they were listening anyway.
2
@Joe M.
As a Trump supporter who doesn't believe the above viewpoints are racist, here's the reasoning. An estimated one million illegal immigrants, a majority of whom are poor, monolingual in Spanish, and from a different culture, are attempting entry this year. Because of their status, these people will need support- support that our country does not have an infinite supply of. And because they are not respecting our immigration laws, they do not definitionally respect rule of law. As such, a plurality if not majority of voters are not in favor of such a significant incursion of illegal immigrants.
Is that racist?
1
Thank you Mr. Bruni. All I can say at this point is what chutzpah, Trump has for even giving his speech. By the way, my college roommate defined chutzpah as, "killing your mother and killing your father and asking the judge for leniency because you are an orphan." How Trump could express sympathy for the people who died in El Paso and Dayton with a straight face is beyond my comprehension. Please Democratic candidates. Get your act together. Stop criticizing each other. Go after Trump. Let us get united and win in 2020.
6
I think there’s a stronger connection between the Trump rhetoric and the El Paso shooting.Every time Trump needs a backdrop for his racist anti immigrant ranting, he goes to El Paso.
So why else would a guy from Allen TX go to El Paso to start shooting if not for the Trump venom? What are the odds that a near 700 mile trip would end in El Paso if not for the Trump rhetoric drawing him there? This was not a random selection.
What care and caution has Trump shown for the people of El Paso? It’s not much of a stretch at all to believe that Trump is guilty of manslaughter. Causing a death by willfull indifference. Maybe just inciting to riot. I truly believe that his careless indifference is bordering on criminal.
4
When LBJ was thrust into the presidency the country was already in another crisis, the lynchings, the church bombimgs, the massacres often by police. When LBJ appeared to a joint session of Congress one week after JFK's assassination, he said we are going to honor President Kennedy by passsing the civil rights act which I have been urging to you to pass since 1957 (LBJ was the Senate majority leader at that time). He passed the civil rights act followed by the voting rights act and the fair housing act. He made Thurgood Marshall the first black US Supreme Court justice. LBJ was a man of action. Trump is a man of talk and his favorite talk is hate speech. How far we have fallen in 50 years!
2
Trump's biggest and most dangerous lie ... so far.
1
I know many republicans who are adamant that Trump is not a racist, and that the real racists are blacks and liberal elites. That’s their story and they are sticking to it.
I am a former republican who was absolutely sure Trump was a racist, and voted for him anyway. I wanted another tax cut. That’s what mattered. Lots of others did the same, maybe for other reasons.
Does that make all Trump voters racist?
Close enough I think
4
"I also don’t believe that all of Trump’s backers are bigots"
Nonsense, they're either bigots or they enable bigotry by supporting the Bigot-in-Chief. No difference.
4
It is more than simply ironic that the "white" descendants of European colonists should see themselves as being replaced by people, who are in large part descendants of Indigenous people, (and a few Spaniards), who were here long before their own ancestors made it to these shores. To stir up resentment about this one does have to resort to the crassest forms of illogical bigotry. The president has done so and shows no interest in halting his own stream of spite and bile. He is one of them.
5
"I don’t have a racist bone in my body.” --Trump
He meant, "I don't have racist bone spur in my body."
6
It seems to me that Trump speaks like a racist is someone who hates white people. That's how he can say he's 'the least racist person you'll ever meet.' I've seen Trump apologists on the news do incredible evasions when asked to define what might count as racism. Simple: they believe whites are the victims of racism.
2
If there is any justice in Trump's election it is that he was spawned in a nation that has been stewing in a pot of racism since I was born.
3
It's The Big Lie all over again.
1
Oh God I miss you Frank Bruni. I switched from CNN to MSNBC a year ago -- didn't know MSNBC was available in Canada -- and never looked back. You, Vicky Ward and Phil Mudd are the only good things about CNN, a station I can barely stand to watch for 5 minutes anymore. An intellect like yourself belongs on MSNBC, especially with people like Chris Hayes. Sigh. Thank you for this column, which hits exactly the right tone.
2
Words from Trump are absolutely meaningless. He says whatever his mouth thinks vacuous part of his base will like. Its useless to consider anything he says. Impeach him for all the crimes and immorality that has been his life.
1
Recounting the obvious...
Trump represents half the voters of America. He has a majority in the Senate and The Supreme Court. He has a seemingly limitless supply of money from the GOP and its big money backers. He has unquestioned and absolute support from the religious right, the NRA and basically racist southern confederate states.
And all these people, organisations and institutions walk in lockstep behind him.
The President ordered flags to be flown at half staff to respect and mourn the victims of last weekend's carnage. Is this not the height of hypocrisy? How dare the GOP look at the flag of the USA at half staff and do nothing?
145
@MrC
According to the constitution, nobody is exempt from the law. The founding fathers have written the constitution to cover the bizarre situation we find ourselves in. I now have so much more respect for their powerful minds. No where does it say to give the president blanket coverage.
In fact, I believe, that if the congress had used its power to declare war, we could have avoided the many conflicts we have found ourselves in. Now we have Trump, a crazy man, who says and does whatever comes into his mind, with no fear that his base will turn against him. Will we survive Trump or, more accurately, will the world survive Trump.
.
17
"American conservatism, not Trump, is the problem."
'Conservatism', as practiced by the republican party, by Trump and his followers, by the oligarchs gaining as much of the nation's wealth as possible are NOT Conservative, and never has been.
We desperately need a balance of what is good and healthy, and must be protected, strengthened and promoted - i.e. Conserved ... and an equally important facility that recognizes and works to repair those realities that limit or harm some or all within on nation and beyond. There is need for a better name for this force. Progressive and liberal are not serving us well, and been successfully vilified. Perhaps Compassionate would serve us better, or perhaps Creative. Maybe Wisdom is what is missing.
6
Trump support is based on white racism. Your citations prove it, despite your mealy mouthed denial of the obvious
7
What’s the difference between a charismatic/narcissistic leader who incites racial hatred, who trades on white supremacy, who desensitizes the citizenry through shamelessly transparent lies and propaganda, and who encourages violence at rallies — what’s the difference between that and, say,
a fascist demagogue? No really...
The question isn’t “Is trump a racist?” — he clearly is— but “Is trump (with miller and bannon behind him) working to build a fascist movement in the USA?”
6
I'd like to ask trump's base,one by one, a simple question: 'Are you willing to die for trump?'
For that is a consequence of their vote. Perhaps not they themselves individually, but far too many --- from shootings, lack of health care, despair when their livelihood disappears and they turn to drugs and suicide.
trump is a public health calamity.
7
"He winks at white nationalists, then points a finger in other directions."
Yes, indeed. Watch any of his smirking, winking, twitching performances at rallies, followed by finger-pointing at protestors, journalists, anyone who questions his performance. Comparisons to Charlie Manson are apt...Manson never personally killed anyone, right?
5
Who knew that electing a racist, misogynistic career con artist as our Potus might be dangerous?
10
These aren't normal times. Sadly, the Progressives have decided that they are the only ones who are moral beings and that their various policies, flawed or failed as they often are, are the only policies that any civilized people can have. And anyone who disagrees must be banished from any public discussion or role.
A few years ago, this would be called arrogant and ignorant and bigoted. And otherwise reasonable people like Mr. Bruni would have called it what it was. Now, he and all the Progressives, see the specter of Trump everywhere and in everything and see no fault in themselves.
This abysmal lack of perspective and insight on the part of the Progressives is good for Trump's chance of re-election. But bad for the country.
1
We need to stop bellyaching about how repulsive Trump is. That is indisputable. We need for the FBI to form a Domestic Terrorism Task Force. More lives in the US have been lost to domestic rather than international terrorism since 9/11. The enemy is us. It is the fervent hatred millions of Americans have towards people of color and it is literally killing us.
Trump and McConnell are poster boys for repugnance, but we need to address the consequences of the hate and bigotry and we need to do it soon or mass shootings will no longer shock us.
How do we move forward in a rational way given the dominance of the GOP and its fealty to the NRA? If anyone knows the answer to this question, please step forward. Lives are depending on it.
4
Trump is a grotesque caricature of something Archie Bunker was a relatively mild satire. He is a product of New York and he has the worst case of Mid-Atlantic attitude around. Perhaps it's time for introspection as well as outrage. Culture change is surely needed somewhere else, but also at home.
3
Stating upfront: I despise Trump. But, let's not let the horror of Trump deflect attention from guns. Guns. GUNS. Trump or no Trump, we need to get rid of the guns.
6
trump may be burning everything to the ground to hold on to power but worse, he just plain loves doing it. Every day he has to feed his insatiable need to create pain and disturbance in others. He can't help himself. From what I have read he was like that as a small child. Now he has rallies to stoke those fires and keep feeding himself.
9
In the quest to save the white majority, those pursuing this madness would do well to pay attention to history.
The path forward is to grow and nurture humanity, decency, justice, and compassion, not division and fear and hatred of the 'other'.
It is astonishing that people marching towards this absurd goal, fail to grasp that even in the imagined white utopia, there would be those fearful and ignorant people shouting the loudest about the 'other', who is somehow hurting them.
And that other would look essentially like them, but would be the new target because they have a certain color of hair or eyes, or a certain faith, or speak with an accent, or have freckles etc.
Ignorance like this must have a target for its hatred and venom, because it can't see beyond these grievances.
The nation is devolving before our eyes.
4
The good people of Dayton and El Paso that turn out to hear this moron mouth his platitudes should be channeling their inner Howard Beales today. They should be "mad as hell", this has gotten ridiculous and your republican legislators won't speak up so it's up to you. We can't let this moment just pass.
8
What irks me the most is the manner in which the Republicans have followed Trump-like lemmings. This is not a party that loves its country, for they follow this lying, cheating, narcissistic man who lacks a moral compass. Is this the price Republicans are willing to pay for being the party in power?
4
Milton perfectly defined the Trump/GOP doctrine way back in 1667: "Better to reign in Hell, then serve in Heaven."
The USA had its time in "heaven", and now it will spend its final few years in a self-made Hell.
3
Frank, like you I was simply sickened by Trump's comments of "thoughts and prayers" but like any good flu, you know it is coming before it actually strikes. You get queasy knowing that his aids will insist that he make a "presidential" like statement. You begin to get cold sweats the moment they announce a national statement. You then get nauseous listening to him.
And if that is not bad enough, you throw up when he announces that he is going to console the families of the murdered and wounded. There is no cure!
Or is there. It is time for action and since Trump is teflon, the action I am speaking about involves shaming all of his enablers.
Let's start with his propaganda channel, FOX. Please have the times post a list of FOX News' sponsors so we can call them out and boycott.
Same goes for the sponsors of Twitter. List them and then boycott them until such a time that Twitter shuts down Trump's account for the same reason it suspends other accounts that spread hateful and threatening messages.
And while we are at it, print a list of general merchandise retailers that sell assault weapons, high-capacity magazines, and bump-stocks.
Finally, pull from the shadows the donors that not only support Trump and his hate machine, but also those that support his enablers, specifically Mitch McConnell (and others but he is a good place to start).
5
I am an old white guy. I spent most of my life a card-carrying Non-Partisan.
It is true, trump has been successful at coarsening the political debate and I have to state trump is not a Racist, he is an Opportunistic Fascist.
Not long ago, I had a very temperate view of republicans and their policies and thought that it was good to have balanced points of view in government. That was about 1990 or so.
Since then, I have seen republican audacity and arrogance grow along with their obvious desire to "rule" instead of simply governing.
All the while providing as little of the benefits of good government to common citizens as possible and in some cases using government to oppress and detain other people trying to come here.
The selection of trump as Candidate for the republican nomination revealed to me just how gullible, and willfully ignorant some people can be.
I rarely have political conversations with anyone anymore because of my disdain for the other sides policies, lying and holier than thou attitudes.
I think a group of patriotic American Conservatives and Journalists should bring suit against the GOP for the Republican brand.
trump took the party in a popular uprising (coup) and has handed it to the Fascists for some legitimacy.
God Save America and don't expect me to ever vote republican again in this life time.
7
After hearing Trump's hollow scripted speech on Monday, I rather he'd said nothing at all.
4
Through the ages an enthusiasm for evil has remained latent in the dark side of human nature, ever present and available for political manipulation.
Human cultures wind up with the leaders they choose to follow and the consequences they deserve. Then their children collect the bounty of their elders' goodness or suffer the debt of evil's legacy.
Over 8 decades I have felt a decline from times of hope, confidence and pride to this time of gathering confusion and dread. As per the dynamics of chaos theory, something has got to give.
1
You are delusional.
1
Only Liberals think Trump is the racist he is. EVERY Republican agrees with everything Trump says or does, therefore all Republicans are racist and intolerant people.
Stop talking about Trump and start talking about the Republican party, please. All Republicans are hateful bigots until they prove otherwise in thoughts, words and deeds.
4
Has this research been done? A word use comparison between Hitler and Trump starting with "infestation."
2
Bravo!
1
Anyone who believes one word thatTrump says fails the IQ test.
5
The most moronic thing he has said, and many others say it too, is: Guns don't kill people. This is so nonsensical it makes me want to scream. Guns only kill people if they are being held by a person.
Given that is fact, there can be no argument. We must get rid of the military style guns and the ammo that goes with them.
Again, it is people with guns who are killing people in this outrageous fashion. Mentally disturbed or not doesn't matter. The only sane response is to remove the guns.
3
Trump support is based on white racism. Your citations prove it, despite your mealy mouthed denial of the obvious
The Holocaust began not with Jews and Catholics being exterminated in concentration camps. It did not begin with the creation of the Warsaw Ghetto. It did not begin with Adolf Hitler's brutal dictatorship.
It began with words.
4
You called it, Frank. Back to his old rotten self in less than 24 hours.
2
Why are we not reminded on a regular basis why this potus is the way he is?
He's a racist that was raised in a racist home, by an abusive father that was arrested for brawling against catholics as a robe wearing Klansman on Memorial Day, 1927. Look up Fredrick Trump on Wickipedia.
Remember awhile back we all wondered why he lied about the birthplace of his father, Why? To distract attention away from his father's past
2
Trump going to El Paso is like dispatching a Grand Wizard to comfort the widow and children of the man the Klan just lynched.
6
Trump is an addict. No, not to booze, and, in spite of the sniffing, probably not to drugs. He is an addict to hate, anger and chaos.
He is incapable of giving up his manner of speech as it is a manifestation of his addiction.
3
Any discussion of the Orange Man's racism is not complete without a discussion of his enablers in the Congress and in the White House staff
The silence of GOP members of Congress and the White House staff speaks volumes
History will judge them as it has judged Hitler's enablers
6
his visits to these two cities will not negate his words up to this point. he hates non whites.
4
The dishonest mentality behind this article is precisely the reason President Trump will be reelected in 2020.
While Trump can surely be criticized, he's no racist. Mr. Bruni and others trying to make a buck mischaracterize and distort everything that Trump says and does. You dimwits are guaranteeing Trump's reelection without even realizing it. Aside from NYC, San Francisco and a few other progressive havens, no one in America takes you seriously.
If Trump's bones had any awareness at all, or dignity, they would collapse under the weight of his bigoted brain.
1
I also don’t believe that all of Trump’s backers are bigots
I believe that when you vote for someone that is demonstrably a bigot, you are a bigot. Or stupid.
2
Agree with everything except for this: "I don't believe that all of Trump's backers are bigots." I vehemently disagree. Trump's enablers in Congress and voters across America are at a minimum guilty of being complicit of bigotry. If you vote for Donald Trump, you are voting for brown children taken from parents and put into cages. If you vote for Donald Trump you are amplifying chants of "send them back" and "lock her up" and "shi*hol* countries." If you support Donald Trump despite his disgusting transgressions, you are affirming his insidious strategy. You're part of the problem. If you vote for Donald Trump because of tax cuts, then you're even worse than a bigot. You're profoundly selfish.
2
"That speech of his was a pantomime ... and it took a hell of a lot of nerve"
Not for Trump - you give him too much credit.
His defining characteristics are that he is completely fearlessness and shameless - these made possible because he doesn't care about anything or anybody but himself.
2
What i heard in Trump's little speech was him telling us we need to get rid of him.
2
Every Democratic candidate for president, not just Pete Buttigieg, should face the cameras and ask every Republican office holder to stand up to President Trump.
1
Since November, 2016, Keats' poem "The Second Coming" echoes constantly in my mind:
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
3
Millions thronged the public roads in Puerto Rico and eventually ousted the governor. Trump does not fear something similar because of the threat of his crazed and well armed supporters.
Congress must impeach him.
2
Well said. One would have to have a complete lobotomy to believe that Don Trump could somehow be a healer of the country. What a sick, disgusting joke. The guy's whole persona is to stoke hatred and division in this country. And he has done is masterfully. I can't wait for him and his Republican enablers to be replaced en masse in 2020.
2
"The obscure we see eventually. The completely obvious, it seems, takes longer."
- Edward R. Murrow
1
The daily barrage of cruelty, madness, lies, subterfuge and pure evil emanating from the current occupant of the Oval Office and those who support him has induced “Trump fatigue” among many who have become weary of the war of words being fought in the media and in conversations around the world. There is no longer a question that we are engaged in an existential battle that threatens nothing less than the soul of our nation and the very survival of our planet. The 2020 elections hold everything in the balance. The Trump re-election war chest is fairly bursting with cash and the forces that would keep Nero golfing while the world burns are building momentum. This is no time for waffling or complacency. The forces that would dismantle the vestiges of a just and moral society are already aligned in the halls of power. The coming national elections hold it all in the balance. Nothing less than complete and total defeat of Trumpism/Republicans at the ballot box will suffice. It will take years to restore and rebuild from the destruction of the Trump years. Government, an unbiased judiciary, roads, bridges, schools and hospitals all have to be restored. A recommitment to nation building at home, based on protecting the environment, will provide the foundation for rebuilding a just, robust economy. Let’s get started electing Democrats NOW!
2
I beg to disagree! Trump's biggest lie is that we have a US of T.
We are becoming a monarchy, a United States of Trump, period.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trump wants everything in this country to be about him.
And the Democrats are letting him get away with his US of T!
I suggest Democrats focus on how Trump destroys democracy.
For example, they can use the words of the DEMOCRACY song.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Leonard Cohen sang, "Democracy is coming to the USA (1992).
I challenge the Times to write about the words of DEMOCRACY.
"Democracy is coming to the USA"
(Let's have a new wave of democracy, and trump Trump!)
Many cities around our country have squelched prostitution by publishing the names and even photographs of the "johns" who patronize "people of the evening".
Why not have the FBI, or any Federal organization with the requisite cyber skills, track and publicly identify people who are posting white supremacist screeds online ... then publish and post their identities (and maybe even pictures) on a national White Supremacy expose' website? Maybe even coming up with photographs.
This site wouldn't actually accuse anyone of a crime -- it would just point out who they are, what community they live in, and summarize what they've written or espoused. Local newspapers and radio/TV stations and peer pressure would do the rest. Local police forces might give these people a little more attention too.
Shining a bright light definitely has a curative effect.
1
@Big Guy
I want to know the name of every political donor to every single candidate for office. So I can make sure no bad guy gets my money.
If this was truly an important issue to him, he would have known that one of the shootings occurred in Dayton and not Toledo!
1
Old news...all of it. When does the press stop this self-righteous posturing, head for the highest mountaintop and scream that we are all in peril at the hands of a party that has morphed into a criminal enterprise, the primary purpose of which is the defense and support of the crime family infesting the White House? All else is complicity.
1
"I also don’t believe that all of Trump’s backers are bigots, and insistences along those lines are an overreach with the unfortunate effect of inviting many of them to tune out their critics. Trump rose and Trump rules for an array of reasons."
Oh, stop it. Yes they are. Everyone I know who voted for Trump was a racist before Trump was a candidate. You cannot say you are not a racist and vote for a man who is profoundly, clearly, unmistakably racist. It just doesn't work that way. Trump won the election not in spite of his racism but because of his racism and he will probably win again because, even though he has done nothing constructive for this country, even though he's done nothing but cause chaos, there are enough white Americans who fear the coming Brown and Black majority who will vote for him even if they won't admit it. It's their last gasp. I predicted Trump's election. I said he would get 272 electoral votes and if he won Florida, 301. He got 304. I was probably the only person in the country that close. And when people, so impressed with my prediction, asked how I knew, I told them I had great faith in the racism of the American people. In 2020, I'm putting my money on Trump.
2
Donald Trump declared bankruptcy repeatedly. Breaking things is what he's good at. For all of the faults of the United States, it speaks very well for the federal government that so far he's damaged it but hasn't broken it. As for telling lies, it's what he does. It's what he's always done: the NY Times' reporting on how his inheritance was handled showed that he's been telling big lies for a long time. All that matters for him is that the lie of the moment feels like it will help him or make him feel good (not really different things to him). Size doesn't matter. Not to Donald Trump. Not about lies, anyway.
1
Bruni writes "I also don't believe that all of Trump's backers are bigots..."
I do.
Some may have been motivated by other concerns or issues, but after three years of hearing what he says and seeing what he does, to still support Trump is to support—either actively or tacitly—the bile and hatred that he spews day after day, week after week.
You can't line up behind this bloated excrescence and step away from his most defining disorder. At this point, it's binary: you're either in on the whole package or you're out.
And if you're in, you're a bigot. Until you prove otherwise.
When will America demand a ban on assault weapons? When you can kill hundreds of people in a few minutes, who needs a bomb? Assault weapons are WMDs (weapons of mass destruction) and they are banned. Trump cut funds for domestic terrorism! Think about it! Wake up America! Our people are dying. Bleeding to death in malls and in the streets. Our children need better schools, not to learn to hide under the desks. We need new roads and bridges; the current ones are dangerous. We need to fix the ACA. We need to address climate change and on and on, yet here we are more thoughts, prayers and funerals. Trump promised chaos and now we have it. Deadly lies and chaos!
2
"Trump will be back to his old tweets and tricks in no time."
Like this very morning, as he lashed out at Beto O'Rourke and the media.
"Have you read The Rise of the Colored Empires by this man Goddard? ... Well, it's a fine book, and everybody ought to read it. The idea is if we don't look out the white race will be -- will be utterly submerged. It's all scientific stuff; it's been proved."
--- Tom Buchanan, in the “The Great Gatsby.”
Trump doesn’t read books, so he must have seen the movie.
1
Trump is making lie a political necessity.
The American Dream has been corrupted by the idolatries (as well as ideologies) of rugged individualism, white supremacy and the "invisible hand of The Market". Many people in this country profess to believe in no god, they remain susceptible to idolatry
The subject is no President.
He just occupies the office.
Any time I hear 45 say something intended to be conciliatory or comforting, I know someone else wrote it. I know this also by the deadpan way he delivers it.
3
Frank, help deflate Trump and just stop writing about him.
1
This quote from Garry Kasparov sums it up for me:
"The point of modern propaganda isn't only to misinform or push an agenda. It is to exhaust your critical thinking, to annihilate truth."
6
What about the bigotry of selective "journalism" ?
Lunatic extremism exists on both end of he ideological spectrum. This is a sixth-grade truth, but it has not trickled down to the op-ed writers (who also write "straight news" )
The ElPaso killer was indeed a "white supremacist," whatever that means --- today. But the Dayton killer was a Leftie, as demonstrated by his social media activities.
So the media decides to talk about one case 24-7, and proudly proclaims their refusal to discuss the other.
1
Trump supporters. Always, always, always victims, no matter what.
2
We know no such thing about the Dayton shooter.
We know these things: he was a sick kid, he had real problems with ugly misogyny, he was fascinated with attacks like Columbine, and he emitted some Tweets citing Elizabeth Warren.
And we know that the far Right has been scrambling to pretend that he was a leftist, and that the El Paso explicit manifesto doesn’t exist.
1
The words he spoke on Monday made you 'feel sick'. I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess had he not spoken them it would have also made you 'feel sick'.
Everyone and I mean everyone knows about Trump's love of the White Supremacists. He showed it clearly during the election and he won because of his shared racism with our racist country and we are indeed a racist hateful war mongering country those are the sad facts of life today.
1
Daily, Trump proves that he works for Putin's benefit to DESTROY the United States of America.
1
How on earth can you narrow it down to one?
Considering that 45 had to be trotted out to condemn white supremacy is in of itself a sign of being off the rails, because it DIDN"T go without saying and nobody believes him anyway.
"I also don’t believe that all of Trump’s backers are bigots."
What else would you call them? Fools? Racists? Cynical opportunists? Agents of Putin? What?
1
Hey Donald.
You like to stir the pot ?
Lookout.
We’re coming.
In ways you can’t imagine
And we’re not on your side.
My "replacement theory" has a "replacement policy": replace all white nationalists by sending them back to their families' country of origin and fill their spaces with people who believe in democracy and equality of whatever color from whatever place.
3
"I also don’t believe that all of Trump’s backers are bigots.."
Really? So the non-bigots are what? Opportunists?
2
Perhaps Republicans could try to elect a decent human being to implement their policies. Seem odd that the party of Lincoln can only offer a white nationalist to advance their agenda.
3
Trump & his GOP know they quickly need to step in front of this one because if they don't, it will be political suicide. The GOP can kiss the Latino vote good bye.
1
“I don’t have a racist bone in my body.”
A plausible claim from a spineless man.
8
“...a pantomime of dignity...”
“He’s not confronting them. He’s letting them off the hook.”
“In retrospect, this was throat clearing...”
“It’s not just an aria but an entire opera of grievance...”
Frank, you truly are an artist! Hands down, First Class.
Too bad a pitiful few of those Redcaps in Pennsyltucky will understand your metaphors, let alone agree with them.
“He’s a moral arsonist...”
He pours the gas on it, claims it’s water, and then demands credit for putting the fire out, even as he arrogantly whinges, “Who you gonna believe, me, the leader of this bigly beautiful country, or your own lyin’, crazy, ugly, not-my-type eyes?”
“Trump recognized an opportunity to connect with the electorate over an issue many considered taboo...”
And I predict he will royally cash in on that by launching his own Trump National(ist) Network to directly compete with Fox when he finally leaves the WH. The irony is, that’s when he truly will rake in the big buck$.
1
Here is my simple request to Trump - please leave this country and never return to its shores. Thank you.
2
“I also don’t believe that all of Trump’s backers are bigots......... but an us-versus them racism is prominent among them.”
1. Who are the overwhelming demographic of Trump Backers and the GOP? Answer: White people
2 Who does Donald Trump consistently attack with words like invasion, infestation, low IQ, ungrateful, unpatriotic? Answer: People of Color
3. So this US Vs Them Racism is about what? Healthcare and Infrastructure?
4. Why can’t White people acknowledge the racism and faults of other
White people? Muslims, Black people are always having to do it!
It’s okay if no one answers. I cancelled my subscription to the New York Times today so I only have a few more days watching the Times gaslight me on what I am most POC feel very deeply.
You are not helping !
Neither are you.
Good piece Frank ...
1
Talk about racism, gun control, domestic terrorism is cheap. It’s been going on longer than he’s been in office. Grieving for the innocent victims of murder by military assault weapons is cheap.
Laying wreaths at the graves of the innocent, candle light marches, while well-intended, may help those who loved the victims but that’s about all.
We are a violent, racist people since we-as immigrants-arrived on these shores and immediately began destroying native Americans and enslaving blacks.
So what’s so new about this guy’s hate for anything not white, Christian and male? In the short term, vote. Vote him and every Republican who are silent in the face of an incipient race war out. Get em out of office. Enact reasonable laws to protect all of us from domestic terroristic neo Nazis, fascists and their ilk.
They’ll still be here, but let them go back to hiding in their hate holes. Let our law enforcement community return to a pre Barr, pre Trump and pre Bannon time and aggressively get these bad guys, prosecute them under touch domestic terrorism laws, put them away.
Then let’s see if we can re initiate a dialogue among decent people of all colors, religions, genders, sexual orientations.
See if it’s possible to make our country look a little like what our framers intended it to be.
The answer, my friends, is blowin in the wind.
2
Well said.
1
In the course of interviews with public officials responding to Trump's bigotry and war of words expressing it, I am astounded at the number of demands that Trump "apologize" for his racist rhetoric.
The fact is, Donald J. Trump will never apologize for anything — ever. In the 2017 tome, "The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump," by Dr. Bandy Lee, 27 prominent mental heath experts examined Donald Trump's state of mind, his history of behavior, of business fraud, and chronic lying driven by his narcissism, signifying a total lack of empathy for his victims, the investors, contractors and his staff, perhaps not even for his family.
The bottom line: Trump is a sociopath beyond redemption. Is his sociopathy a sign of defective DNA — a brain pre-wired for malevolence — or, is it simply a matter of training by a sociopathic bloodline, not to mention his "personal trainer," Roy Cohn, the disgraced and disbarred attorney for Sen. Jos. McCarthy?
Trump was taught to never apologize, to hit back harder when attacked or accused, to use the courts as his weapon of choice against those he has injured. Investors and investor groups, contractors, staff and his "marks" in a con, know him well.
His father and Mr. Cohn fine-tuned his bigotry and overt racism. A reckoning is coming. If he keeps the White House for another four years, it is not inconceivable that a Second Revolutionary War will erupt as Trump tossed the Constitution into the Oval Office fireplace.
Vote in 2020, or else.
1
When you have no soul or feel reflecting on your life and moments are a sign of weakness, you are truly a lost, small, evil person.
Remember this, about HRC?
"If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don't know."
An assassination wasn't needed.
The electoral college, American exceptionalism at work, makes sure people who live in cities are worth less than those who live in rural areas. A 3,000,000 vote win got overturned.
5
@Anne
I understand that you do not care for the electoral college, whether or not you are aware of the reasons for it being designed that way.
If your concept of "reform" prevails, it is -- among other things -- goodbye to the UN as we know it. Logically, it should become the China Nation in NY, or perhaps the Indo-China Nations in NY. One person, one vote, and it's just too bad that I'm too old to learn Chinese.
@wagtail Our founders lived in a time without cities of millions, even those in favor of it should recognize that the discount of urban votes has increased significantly since then.
The larger logic of over representing rural areas is fair, but most countries limit it to their Senate which generally does not have as much power as in the US (judges etc.).
The UN is not fairly structured, even if it is in our (Western) favor. This will become very clear when Britain's seat is challenged by India and others after they drop out of the EU.
Not that the US has ever cared about the UN and its institutions anyway (The Hague, refugees, meddling in other countries, ...).
1
Trump's role in the El Paso shooting is like Global Warming's role the 95-degree heat in Boston last week: while we can state with absolute confidence that Trump's actions and rhetoric fuel hatred and enable violence and that Global Warming fuels extreme weather events, we cannot, with each individual instance, ascribe blame to this (sigh) president or Global Warming.
1
Isn’t bigotry an underpinning of every mass shooter? Nobody commits such heinous acts out of brotherly love for his fellow man. The more we learn about the Dayton shooter, the more we understand just how aligned he was with Democrats too. Did get his hate from the DNC?
The Obama years were horrible for mass shootings & attacks - many of them not by enraged white males either. San Bernardino, Ft. Hood, & Boston all come to mind. I don’t recall the Times or other media outlets blaming Obama for them.
The constant berating of President Trump is, shall we say, convenient. It’s easy. It’s populist red meat for the left’s own ‘base’. Blaming President Trump is essentially all that the authors on these pages know how to do. They’re paid well to repeat the same litany over & over. Daily.
But doing so vastly misses the greater complexity of the underlying problems. The Dayton shooter showed a video of the Tree of Life massacre to a girl on their first date. Can we say ‘red flag’? Any serious proposals from the Trump haters on how to handle that loud & clear signal?
Go ahead and ban guns. Vote Trump out too. But if that’s all you do, it won’t change anything. In fact, things will probably get worse.
1
@Once From Rome Actually, in countries where guns are more difficult to acquire, there are far, far, far fewer mass shootings of the kind we see every week in the U.S. Whenever such an event happens, the Republicans and Trump are quick to blame it on mental illness and say it has nothing to do with guns. But mental illness happens in other countries too. The only difference is how easy it is to acquire guns in the U.S., thanks to those big donors from the NRA.
11
Oh, come on now, Rome; even you can see that the reason the press didn't blame Obama for the massacres on his watch was the fact that he didn't suggest them, and he didn't urge their perpetrators on. Quite unlike the behavior of the current twitterer-in-chief.
And, please, a gun ban may be improbable for now, but simple logic establishes that a ban and effective confiscation would pretty much eliminate free-lance gun crime, leaving the field to officialdom.
1
It’s Trumps words that are the problem. Obama didn’t rail against immigrants, women Representatives of color and he didn’t start his campaign with the divisive language about Mexicans being rapists. You can’t see the forest for the trees. Words matter
1
It's good that this is finally being labeled "white nationalist domestic terrorism" - that's correct, and it indicates progress.
Another sign of progress, which I haven't seen yet, is a reckoning with the left's extreme rhetoric. Their irresponsible claims that "white privilege," "systemic racism," and "toxic masculinity" are responsible for all of the ills of the world, are contributing to this problem.
Demonizing white people is extreme, incorrect, and provocative. If the left treated white men with an iota of the sensitivity that it affords all other groups, then they could honestly say that they're doing everything possible to address this terrible social sicknees.
1
These are the headlines of NY Times opinion pieces on my screen this very minute:
"Trump's Biggest and Most Dangerous Lie"
"When the President is a Bigot, the Poison Spreads"
"Trump Is a White Nationalist Who Inspires Terrorism"
"The Nihilist in Chief"
"Trump, Tax Cuts and Terrorism"
They were only outdone earlier in the year with, "Donald Trump is Trying to Kill You."
Mind you, I'm no fan of the president of the United States, but he is indeed the president of the United States, and he has said many times that you and your colleagues are using your circulation and position of public trust to undermine the U.S. administration and even have him removed from the office to which he was elected.
He is right.
Usually, in offering commentary, moderation, prudence and tempered reflection are wiser approaches. They typically outperform petulance, to say the least. To put it another way, fretful whining, even when consistently delivered with correct punctuation, does not add to the public discourse.
142
@Alan Behr You make an attribution error. A responsible news media has to address outliers as outliers. If they use headlines that suggest they're mainstream, they've deceived the public. It's not an easy situation, but such headlines result from a leader like Trump.
558
@Alan Behr We have never experienced any president like this, ever. The public discourse is one on disbelief, shock and anger. What else could it be?
639
What did Goldwater say in 1964? Something about moderation not always being a virtue? Except there's nothing extreme about the headlines you cite. They're simply factual. It's true that the media didn't use to simply say "lie" and "liar," "bigot" or "racist," but Trump operates in the sphere of the big lie told often enough. Calling him and it out exactly as it is is a moral imperative. Otherwise what is the meaning the most recent deaths?
561
What's scary is these chilling rallys he has. Believe me, the majority of folks sitting up in there would gladly get rid of everybody here that is not like them if they could. LGBTQ, people of color would be gone from this country if they had their way. What gets to me is we are heading towards the day when they actually could. Trump didn't just walk into the White House. Folks voted him in there. And I will bet you ten bushels to a peanut, if you were a fly on the wall in many of these homes, you'd find them actually applauding what happened in El Paso.
905
@Me An acquaintance of mine, who happens to be gay, in 2017 deleted his social media accounts and rather drastically retreated back into a self-imposed closet. He lives in a red state, and is advancing in age like me so he has firsthand experience what those states did to gays in the 1950's. He was absolutely convinced that the government will be coming for the gays.
I thought his to be a substantial over-reaction. At the moment, however, I am beginning to think his clairvoyance was way ahead of its time.
98
@Me I disagree. Race relations in this country have been on the decline going back to Obama. The incessant race-baiting by the left does incalculable harm. At every imaginable point, the race card is played, and the mainstream media is alternately at the forefront or at the least, complicit. If Trump criticizes Bernie or Biden, "he's unhinged." But if Trump dares to criticize an African American, whether it be Cummings or Sharpton, his criticism is instantly branded as 'racist.' When it's learned the El Paso shooter is from the right, then it's Trump's fault. When it's learned the Dayton shooter is from the left, and was a big supporter of Elizabeth Warren, there's relative silence. The left has spewed intense, non-stop hate for anyone who supports Trump since the day Trump was elected, but they like to act like their hate does not inspire violence by the left (see ANTIFA) or anger by those they are constantly attacking. The left likes to say Trump inspires all this violence, but how many times have we seen instances of people wearing MAGA hats being beaten and assaulted? Just last week a man of color who was wearing a MAGA hat in NYC was vicariously beaten by a gang of assailants on a city street. Of course there have been countless individuals beaten by ANTIFA thugs. You never hear of someone being beaten for wearing an "i'm With Her" shirt. The left should take a long hard look in the mirror for being 100% complicit in the further tearing apart of this country.
11
@David
If it's any comfort to you, I'm sure more than one person agrees with you. It's just that so few of the people who do ever read anything.
58
Mr. Bruni you say "I also don't believe that all of Trump's backers are bigots," but at this point to "back" Donald Trump means you're either a coward or a bigot or both. I'm done with excuses and have lost patience for "well but I like his economic policies." Come on, Republicans. What are you really "backing" when you "back" Donald Trump? If you're not bigots and racists, throw him out, elevate Pence, and keep the economic policies without the frightening rallies and incendiary tweets. If you're not bigots and racists, rally behind a primary challenger wth the same economic policies. Enough "both sidesism."
1225
@JBH Don't elevate Pence! Did you see his behavior at the border?
38
@JBH...People who continue to support Trump are essentially saying that Trump is the best candidate Republicans can put forward in 2020. What does that say about the Republican party? What does that say about the character of people who support Trump?
78
@JBH I am not a coward, nor a bigot, and (somewhat) mixed race. Your utter contempt and, yes, drowning in your own hate is far worse than anything you ascribe to Trump supporters. Do you honestly think all 63 million of us are these horrible people you say we are? Even the former Obama supporters? You need to look in the mirror and start questioning your own motives and biases.
6
Why are President Trump's "compassionate" comments read from the teleprompter not filled with the enthusiasm and rhetorical passion of his rock'em sock'em campaign vitriol? Are they deliberately emotionless low-key signals to his flock that he's just saying what he's supposed to say. ("But I don't really mean it, folks.") Is Mr. Trump the 21st century Ozymandias?
Many do look on his creation of falsehoods and weep.
What more doth he have in store?
629
@Doug Giebel What more does he have in store? I shudder to think, but I will write the unthinkable and hope against hope. If Trump loses the election (which he undoubtedly will), he will contest the results. He will then inspire (all the time denying that he is doing so) widespread violence and bloodshed. Our country will be faced with something close to civil war. Trump may (probably will???) refuse to leave the White House. We will be faced with a dilemma as to how to remove him as he remains hunkered down in a structure that contains vast resources and which is almost impregnable. We face extraordinarily dangerous times. We are on the edge of a precipice. In the meantime, the Republicans in Congress will continue play their fiddles and Rome will burn.
45
@Doug Giebel Reading Mr. Bruni’s column instantly reminded me of Shelley’s Ozymandias too. King of ashes indeed.
Trump’s teleprompter speech was hollow and emotionless for a reason. He was gaslighting us, pretending to care about the victims of a man that he partially inspired to act. He is a sociopath, playacting at genuine human emotion, devoid of empathy and morals, stroking his own ego while reaping personal gain. His enablers are happy to eat his scraps, while the rest of us are just collateral damage.
83
@Doug Giebel His "compassionate" rhetoric is lifeless because he doesn't believe or feel it. His campaign vitriol is spirited because he does believe and feel it. He's a very bad actor. Not only can he not act as if he's "compassionate," he doesn't bother, nor does he feel he needs to, act like he's President of all Americans, because he's not and he doesn't want to be.
74
President Obama sang Amazing Grace in a church after a similar tragedy. trump may as well be biting heads off of bats for all the healing and solace he and Pence offer. (no disrespect intended, Ozzie)
1160
@Zeke27 If we needed any more reassurance of Trump's empty condolences, look no further than when he offered blessings to "those who perished in Toledo" ...
He doesn't know, and he doesn't care to know. The violent events that occurred in Dayton and El Paso were simply an interruption to his weekend at his NJ golf club. Truly disturbing.
96
@CA. And he pretended to console the people of Paradise whose town was destroyed in wildfires by calling their town Pleasure. As you say, he doesn’t know and doesn’t care to know.
63
@Zeke27 And trump apparently was at one of his golf courses where he played golf and crashed a wedding.
I miss President Obama.
51
Of course Trump is an agent of bigotry. But once again, a crucial aspect of racism is ignored here.
Many of us understand exactly what racism is. We're the intended victims of white nationalist terrorism. Those of us who are ethnic minorities have talks with our kids about safety that white parents will never have with their kids. We live this experience every day.
But Mr. Bruni leaves out a central theme of the ideology of racism. I understand why he does, because he will most likely never be its victim.
The central element is fear. It isn't only that Trump voters hate us and want to remain separate. It isn't only that they believe they are the "real" Americans. It isn't even that they believe the rest of us should accept the scraps of second-class citizenship. All these statements about them are undoubtedly true. But what is not written about is fear.
Trump and his voters want to instill fear in us. Trump voters want to make sure that we never feel safe in this country, brown-skinned native-born Americans and immigrants alike. They want us to understand that we are only here as long as they permit us to be.
It is this fear that many whites will never understand. It is a given in our communities. We educate our children about the dangers they will face in majority white communities.
Do we care that whites hate us? Personally, I don't care. But this is much more than hatred. This racism is an existential threat for many of our families.
2051
@Henry Hurt. I agree fully about the motivation of instilling fear in the targets of hatred. But as a gay man, Mr Bruni knows all too well what it is like to be worried that every store, restaurant, or public place he enters will bring a confrontation or worse. And it is not just LGBTQ Americans themselves. Those of us with family members who are gay or trans fear for them. Ultimately, the purveyors of this hatred want to overthrow America and in its place leave a country whose central premise is exactly the opposite of the freedoms and human rights we once had.
189
@Henry Hurt I am white, and I am afraid too. These people are just scary. I don't believe for a minute that if incited to violence, they will limit their violence to people of color. They will go after all of us who stand against their hatred.
305
@Henry Hurt
You are right, Mr. Hurt, I will never fully understand unless and until I walk in your shoes. I am pained and discouraged nevertheless. No one should live in fear. Especially, not in America.
The irony in our present climate, for me, is the fact that this land belonged to brown people who were systematically destroyed by - hmmm - "invaders"?
White invaders who claim without recognition or consideration that "this is their land."
181
While undergoing marriage therapy with my philandering, narcissistic husband a few years back, he said "words don't matter". Imagine that....you're trying to understand what caused the fissures in your marriage, under the pretense of salvaging your marriage and your cheating spouse comes out with "words don't matter". Well, words do matter and words that are diabolically opposed to one's actions do not carry the weight of words that are spontaneous, not scripted. Donald Trump has no soul, he'll say anything at any given moment, anything that's politically expedient, anything that keeps the rest of us off balance and thereby keeping him in control. If you believe in truth and if you believe that words and actions must reinforce one another, if you believe in something greater than a political win, a moral victory for example, then you must reject the hollow, mean-spirited, divisive words of this soulless man. What kind of man goes out and plays a round of golf after two mass shootings when he is the leader of that country? Look at his actions. He's incapable of empathy, compassion, humanity. If you can excuse his racist remarks because you like his policies, if you can overlook his lies and his bigotry for whatever reason, perhaps you should be asking yourself "how can I do that?" There's no excusing his words and his behavior, there's no laughing this off, there's no turning your back on it. He needs to be held accountable for his words. He has blood on his hands.
1793
@Kathy Garland Agree! And after playing golf, this soul less Trump knew about the horrendous El Paso, Texas shooting but he chose to spend the evening dropping into wedding receptions and parties. Heartless and soulless!
146
@JS Clement ~
Most economists would agree that trump inherited a strong economy from Obama and he gave it a boost with a big tax cut for corporations and the richest Americans. The roll back of regulations has further spurred the economy (stock market) but there will be a day of reckoning for the reckless despoiling of our environment in the name of greed.
As far as the alternative in 2016, Hillary Clinton is an accomplished stateswoman who would have made a fine President and almost 3 million more voters recognized it and voted accordingly. I can only imagine the hue and cry from the Republicans if there was even a whisper that the Russians tried to sway the election in her favor.
Since you mentioned golf. I am 100% sure that a President Hillary would NOT have played golf after a mass shooting and she would have been more than capable of speaking from the heart, not a teleprompter. It was a sorrowful day in our history when she wasn't elected.
253
@Kathy Garland, "What kind of man goes out and plays a round of golf [on Sunday] after two mass shootings when he is the leader of that country?", and then on Monday, gives a tepid speech that makes me think he knows he is stepping into a bureaucratic racial nightmare of his own making. It doesn't matter what he said because I grok the moment of the US's past, present, and future.
Tomorrow, as I understand, trump is going visiting, these two cities, but I feel that he is not doing it for the victims but rather "testing the waters" of his mixed presidential popularity with his voters.
Who is coming out to meet me? Who is coming out to hate me? Or should I just stay on military bases to give my speeches?
55
When my mixed-race son was in middle school, I worried about him getting bullied. Now with a bully racist president leading our country to ruins, I don't know what I can do to protect my children's future from the horrible future Trump and his supporters envision for this country.
710
@missivy
The the effective hunting of Latinos in El Paso in a place as ubiquitous as Walmart left my wife and I stunned. Our young sons are Latino (we are not). And knowing that our President really doesn't care beyond how if effects his election chances is rather horrifying on personal level that hits way too close to home.
40
@missivy. I share your concern. All my grandchildren and great-grandchildren are mixed race. We have all races in my extended family and I wish my love could protect them, but it's not enough in a country where about 40% of the population is coming out of their racist closets en masse. They will be around long after Trump.
40
@missivy What exactly are you afraid of? Immigration laws being enforced? Fair trade deals? Lack of war with North Korea?
4
"But these aren’t normal times. Donald Trump isn’t a normal president. And those words, which he spoke on Monday, made me feel sick, because they were just cheap and hollow sops to convention."
That about sums it up. Within a month you will hear his divisive, racist rhetoric again. A zebra can't change its stripes. He is a racist, white supremacist to the core.
4
"We must all condemn the fox in the henhouse," said the fox.
4
A leader's responsibiity is to care for ALL people. His failure to show respect for all is the biggest reason that he needs to be impeached.
6
perfect; encompassing.
1
Of course, grotesque and dangerous. We, the outraged public, could all write this column.
It's an old recipe for disaster, handed down through generations:
Political rhetoric loaded with hostility, freely spouted by the president and politicians in the media.
Add to that, legal weapons loaded with bullets, freely carried by anybody in public places.
How to inoculate against this deadly political virus raging thru America? Are we the land of a Constitution that's just interpreted any way the powerful wants?
Land of the Bill of Rights, or Bull of Rights?
Trump is too narrow a target for political outrage.
In a NYT op ed 'The NRA Protection Racket’ by Richard Painter, Bush ethics lawyer, after a massacre of children, he said that we must first rid our politics of dependence on big money from groups like the NRA.
Quote:
“The NRA message to GOP is clear: “We’ll protect your seat from Democrats, spend millions to make your opponent look worse than the average holdup man robbing a liquor store.
In return, we expect you to oppose any laws requiring gun registration, background checks, limits on the right to carry concealed weapons, or on access to semiautomatics, or anything else that diminishes the firepower available to anyone who wants it.
If you don’t comply, we'll load our weapons and direct everything in our arsenal at you in the next Republican primary.”
Painter's picturesque prose is on--target. We need some op ed columns on the obvious remedy.
2
A man I sat next to last evening at dinner, after saying that he supported most things Trump stood for, said that he was not a racist. "You might as well be," I replied.
5
I cannot believe anyone who is not a bigot would support Trump. The president is beyond a shadow of a doubt a racist.
As a simple matter of logic, those who reject racism would have to reject Trump as well.
5
Amen. Well said, and thanks.
1
trump is the personification of bigotry, seconded by the cardboard cutout propped up behind him.
3
After all that Trump has said and done, Bruni covers his own short list of Trump's sins with a couple of disclaimers: “I don’t claim that Trump specifically caused or catalyzed El Paso or Pittsburgh or related blood baths, because nothing’s that tidy, ..." "I also don’t believe that all of Trump’s backers are bigots, ..." I hope that this brief summary of the Opinion provides a feeling that Bruni was laboring under a gag rule. The best line in the piece was Donald J. Trump's: “I am the least racist person you have ever met.” Imagine that on his tombstone.
There is Real Trump, hateful, stupid and feeding on the cult that adores him.
Then there is Hostage Victim Trump. The guy who reads badly from a teleprompter, wishing he were somewhere else, possibly flirting with his grown daughter.
Then there will probably be Dead Trump in 10 years. Most of us are hoping for that one
2
Ever since Trump declared his run for POTUS while gliding down a gold-colored escalator, friends of mine and I knew what he was; a business fraud, a chronic liar, a serial philanderer, a serial business failure and yet, he managed to make money from the failures that cost contractors, employees and investors hundreds of millions of dollars. I mean, name another casino developer/owner who actually LOST the "house." The old saying, "the house always wins" did not apply to Donald J. Trump.
Then there was Trump's intro into politics with his so-called "birther movement" accusing President Barack Obama of being born in Kenya; that his school records were "missing." All to smear and destroy the man he wanted to replace. Or did he? Was the POTUS campaign a big con? Was he hoping to take his losing campaign into the business world as if to burnish his brand?
Well, here's the thing. Most of my friends and I could see through this con artist. We had seen it for decades. So the question that came to mind for us was, "How could so many Americans not know the con was on; more importantly, especially today, how could they absolve him of such a huge litany of sins? Many of his venom-dripping rally supporters, when asked by reporters, simply don't believe Trump's real reputation, a reputation well documented since early adulthood, when the hideous and disgraced Roy Cohn was Trump's personal trainer.
He has a talent for selling snake oil like few before him. His fans are drunk on it.
4
How could so many Americans not know the con was on? I think, frankly, NBC has to bear some of the blame. That noxious “reality” show, The Apprentice, made Trump out to be everything he was not. While most people in the tri-state area who had been treated to years of Trump’s crass behavior didn’t buy it, many in the rest of the country only knew Trump from the role he played on that show. That probably had a good bit to do with why they got suckered in during the 2016 election. Why they continue to buy in after everything he’s done since then continues to confound me.
2
I do blame Trump. He gave momentum to a crackpot racist theory started by, get this, a Soviet-born lawyer, Orly Taitz, to inflame Americans to maybe believe their (our) President, the first Black President, somehow wasn't legitimate, and wasn't even born in the US, that his birth certificate was fake. It was all lies but Trump rode it to national prominence, and hero-status with racist, TeaParty Right.
He wasn't alone. Remember a GOP representative shouting during Obama's SOTU speech "YOU LIE!"...and the GOP didn't throw him out. It was OK to break the rules of how to attack and disagree with the President.
But while lots of people were pouring gasoline all over, it was Trump who lit the match, and keeps lighting it every day. And he pour fuel on it every single day.
Tom Clancy, a hard-core Republican, warned us that when the President gets angry, people DIE! Trump gets angry every day, and people have died at the border, overseas, and on our streets.
Donald Trump lives in a rubber band world. Whenever he deviates from his life-long beliefs, fantasies, behaviors, and methods, to actually act human, the rubber band snaps him back to that life-long path. He doesn't change, he cannot change, he will not change.
2
Whether they are bigots or not, Trump's backers endorse bigotry and white supremacy by voting for him.
3
does it even matter how insightful and erudite you are writing for for the NYT? Nobody who needs to hear this message is reading it. Kellyanne Conway's description of "alternative facts" has turned out to be the truth. There absolutely are parallel realities now. About the only place they intersect is a mass shooting.
The trump mantra = MAHA = MAKE AMERICA HATE AGAIN.
We don't need maga. We are already great except fo our president.
1
It's sad that it's no longer surprising that he can speak, unscripted for more than an hour, at any hate rally, where he spends the entire time either insulting African Americans, riling up the knuckledraggers in the crowd with chants/threats against the news media he's so dependent on, or oafishly boasting about how rich he (supposedly) is. But when he's forced to read a serious speech in the aftermath of a crisis, such as Charlottesville or El Paso, he has to have it written for him; there's no way he could deliver it without reading it from a teleprompter; and it can't last more than a few minutes. And, he gives, by all accounts, a labored, unconvincing performance that would be a joke if it weren't such a tragic matter.
So, he's a natural orator when he's hateful and divisive, but a total phony and fraud when he's denouncing racism. Maybe that's because he knows he's being forced to read words he doesn't agree with. Ya think?
5
Perhaps Mr Bruni and the other pundits should finally admit that Mr. Trump was elected because of those bigots and racists. In an presidential election where the popular vote leader lost, a small handful of votes cast in Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina and Pennsylvania allowed Mr Trump to prevail. Those states all were whisker thin wins for Mr Trump. The overall vote win in those states accounted for less that 0.2% of all votes cast in states that otherwise went for Obama in 2008 and 2012 elections. The margins are so thin that anything that the Republican party can do to drive the vote will be done. Racism is a winning formula, Nixon did it and so does Trump.
2
How obvious is it that the scripted words read from the teleprompter by Donald Trump after the two mass shootings were not his own, but those of one of his aides. He doesn't believe what he said. There was no fury in his demeanor, unlike how he comports himself in his rallies. And standing behind him is our Christian Vice-President Pence who surely must believe the commandment of "thou shall not kill", yet who stays silent, complicit in his silence. How two-faced they both are.
2
Mr. Bruni is accurate when he says that not all Trump supporters are racist or bigots. However,it appears that his supporters have placed dollar over country; party over citizenship, and division over unity. As his presidency continues, I marvel that over 40% of the country believe that he's doing a good job. To all those who support this president I ask,
"Is the economy so important to you that you are willing to sacrifice the values and morals of a country that stood out in a world for so much good?"
4
The truth and facts are, Trump's hostage read speech on Monday with regards to the shootings, was a clear indictment of himself and rationale for the necessary removal of him as president. Anything less is negligence.
5
Further, his entire 'good president' speeches in the aftermath of these shootings are actually just him doing one of his favorite comedy bits from his rallies. This is the 'I can be so presidential' bit, which he loves doing and the crowds at the rallies roar with approval.
In other words, even the calm, deadpan, quietly read teleprompter speeches are a deep and profound insult.
His base knows exactly what he is doing; a conscious mockery of the the rest of the nation and the victims and their families.
He is a deeply immoral man, and so are the base.
10
This a wonderful column, blisteringly honest in confronting the obscenity of this racist presidency and its ramifications. Other columns in today's Times and, I'm sure, in other places are equally eloquent. No issue at this moment is more important. And yet I can't help but remember, as we mourn the victims in Gilroy and El Paso and Dayton, that another week has passed when we've been distracted from the urgent business of impeaching Trump for his criminal acts of collusion and obstruction, among other crimes.
10
Let’s not forget Mr. Trump’s enablers - Twitter, Fox News, his family, the majority of the GOP. They are just as complicit.
12
I was hoping he would cancel his visit to El Paso and Dayton because of security reasons. Some one in the crowds he meets might not be receptive to his presence.
2
If John McCain were still alive he would have refuted each and every bigoted lie crossing Donald Trump’s pouty lips, and he would have been scathing in the process.
During John McCain’s memorial service, Congress men and women from both political parties referenced his honesty integrity, civility, and his willingness to call out bigotry and slander. Those people included Lindsey Graham, who claimed McCain was a dear friend who he respected and thought everyone should have as a role model.
Where are Lindsey Graham and his peers now, when Donald Trump spews forth lies and bigotry on an almost daily basis? They all seem to have all lost their voices, their ability to see, and the ability to hear - but especially their sense of decency, honor and compassion.
11
Last evening was "night out." My wife and I hosted the event on our block. In attendance was Gay couple, a single Lesbian, a Jewish couple, A man with his adopted Filipino daughter, a couple from Croatia, a man with his two children, and us. We adopted two children who are now successful adults with children of their own. We also took in three other children and became their guardians. They, too, are now successful adults. Why do I write this? Because what was in attendance at our "night out" gathering was a United Nations in miniature. There was no hatred present, only a group of people coming together because we love our city and our block. Trump's vision for us is to find what divides us and work that to sew more division. I am thankful that our little United Nations exists and that thousands of more just like it exist.
9
Mr. Bruni is right when s he says: that Trump: did not specifically cause or catalyze El Paso or Pittsburgh or related blood baths". But from Charlottesville, VA to his rally in North Carolina, The president seems to be treating his base as a vigilante group by giving them a pass with a wink and a nod to keep America on the right course which some in the base interpret as all-white and immigrant free.
This is a thinly veiled as it gets.
6
Mr. Bruni, you said in your opening, "And those words, which he spoke on Monday, made me feel sick, because they were just cheap and hollow sops to convention.
He doesn’t believe them. Or rather, he doesn’t care."
That's wonderful! I love mind-readers. Now. I'm thinking of a number between one and a hundred. What is it?
2
One does not need to be a mind reader to know when someone is being thoroughly disingenuous. Trump’s past conduct and statements undermine his newly-professed empathy. I don’t need to be a mind reader to conclude that.
12
@Dryland SailorTrump said more in that speech. He claimed the mass shootings were a product of violent games and social media.
Those two things aren’t absent from other nations. Yet other nations don’t have as many murders per capital as does the U.S. The difference is the number and easy availability of guns.
Don't forget Trump or whoever wrote his speech was unable to say “I condemn racial hatred.” Because clearly he doesn’t. And by his unemotional reading of his speech, the sincerity of his words rang hollow.
2
Dryland, “You shall know them by their deeds and not by their words.”
I want to talk about the parents, the parents that know their son is combustible, that there son laughs at inappropriate humor that there son is having problems communicating, and hasn’t out grown his disruptiveness since the third grade. The same parents who over and over keep hoping that just one tiny act of responsibility means that their child is finally growing up and will be a responsible adult. So they let their guard down or they mentally give up, where is the red flag vs the guilt for them.
3
This post doesn't need publishing. But I just want to commend you for sentences that are beautifully fashioned, with a wonderful grasp of the language. It makes me wonder what book titles you have in your library at home.
Thank you for this piece of great writing.
18
The US is a conquered land from the American Indian, Eskimos, Mestisoes and many other natives since 1766.
America is not a for Europeans only and it belongs to all of us- who were 99 percent refugees one time or another from all over the world.
14
When Trump states he doesn't have a racist bone in his body, this critique he's been making lately after he's had to defend himself from attcks resulting from his obvious dislike of individuals having a swarthy complexion, and then you remember his claim of having bone spurs when he could have been drafted and in the same breath claims he doesn't remember which foot was affected, are you really going to believe his critiquing his physiology?
No, you shouldn't. He's obviously a racist.
9
@merc
A racist to the core.
And saying he is "the least racist," in my mind, says that he is racist. If one wants to say one wasn't racist, one would say "I'm not racist." But we all know about the moron and his words.
Just like he's got the best people, best president ever, etc.
1
Make America Kind!
They’re bringing family values, hard work, and kindness to America. The vast majority of Mexicans are high level, spiritual people, who are better human beings than today’s Senate Republicans. Those senators, most of whom, embrace white supremacy (and dictators) by their silence at this president’s hate-filled rhetoric and ability to cozy up to enemy regimes, are not doing their job. As a result, people are murdered unchecked. No checks and balances in America, which means the Democracy great experiment is in a death spiral.
This President and Senate bring our country down. (Just wait for the economic carnage that is coming no thanks to tariff war and raising the debt ceiling) Vote them out.
Vote for Democrats, who can and WILL win!
Make America Kind!
Make America Decent!
Make America like a G-rated Movie! Safe again!
9
Has anyone considered the possibility that Donald Junior is the one tweeting? Can you imagine trump tweeting on a smartphone? Have you ever seen him even hold one?
2
Or instead of Jr., I think he gets help from Stephen Miller. Sometimes his tweets are a little too articulate...
4
P.S. When it comes to my analysis of thr dangers of Trump it is not only as an American citizen expressing myself: I am double Boarded in Psychiatry. I do know of what I speak, I worked with very dangerous minds.
6
I nearly lost my breakfast reading this. Thank you, Mr. Bruni, for it needed to be written and said. And worth repeating, this:
“On Monday he had the audacity to talk about “the perils of the internet and social media,” saying that we must “shine light” on their “dark recesses.” His Twitter account is one of those recesses. He rued how “hatred warps the mind, ravages the heart and devours the soul.” It was the ultimate distraction, decrying what he embodies.
The biggest lies aren’t discrete. They’re overarching. They’re not incidental. They’re spiritual. And when Trump, having lit one match after another, professes distress over the inferno, that’s a charade as grotesque as they come. As dangerous, too.“
7
Might I suggest a mandatory course in Civics for all Immigrants?
Americanization is the process of an immigrant to the United States becoming a person who shares American values, beliefs, and customs by assimilating into American society. (Google)
"UNITED WE STAND"!
@Dick Grayson
Well Dick, just who determines these American values?
Do these American values, which should be in the course, include:
Greed,
Hatred,
Delusion?
If so, then our 'esteemed' President could certainly pass the test with 'flying colors'.
1
I suggest a mandatory course in civics for Trump.
1
Here are portions of Trump's four recommendations in his speech on August 5th on the El Paso and Dayton mass shootings.
Sure they sound good but not enough. No talk of universal background checks and assault weapons ban. The NRA wins again: "Mental illness and hatred pulls the trigger, not the gun".
On violence glorification, Trump can first stop his dangerous rhetoric. His response, while laughing, at a Panama City Beach rally to an attendee's suggestion to shoot migrants to stop them from crossing the border illegally is unbelievable and unbecoming of a POTUS: "That's only in the [Florida] panhandle, can you get away with that statement."
And what's the use of the death penalty if the shooter dies in the process?
"First, we must do a better job of identifying and acting on early warning signs. I am directing the Department of Justice ... to develop tools that can detect mass shooters before they strike."
"Second, we must stop the glorification of violence in our society...the gruesome and grisly video games that are now commonplace.."
"Third, we must reform our mental health laws to better identify mentally disturbed individuals who may commit acts of violence..."
"Fourth, we must make sure that those judged to pose a grave risk to public safety do not have access to firearms..That is why I have called for red flag laws... I’m also directing the Department of Justice to propose legislation ensuring that those who commit hate crimes.. face the death penalty..."
1
Thank you Frank Bruni for your perfect description of how I and I hope others felt when watching our "stable genius" speak about hatred having no place in America.
Was this not a REAL moment in our history when the President of the USA stands once again in front of the TV cameras and reads from a prepared speech and lies once again straight to our faces? Who has made it legitimate to spew his hatred at rallies where people agreed that shooting immigrants and sending them back to "their " countries was excepted rhetoric and greeted with cheers?
Gilroy, El Paso and Dayton are just a few of the places we
read about almost everyday. HE IS TO BLAME. It must stop and it will because 2020 will hopefully prove we have had enough of this racist and his silent family by doing what democracy is all about. We will vote him out of office and send him back to NYC where the 5th District Court will arrest him and hopefully put him where he belongs. BEHIND BARS.
7
I think trump is inviting folk to re+fight the civil war using new words for bigotry hate and xenophobia
5
Any reasonable person will admit that Donald Trump's a racist. What we're to learn in November 2020 is whether America is also racist. In the past, only parts of our country have been racist; now we're to find out if the country as a whole is racist. While praising the intelligence of the American electorate, Trump secretly knows that they can be led around like bulls with nose rings - only instead of bull rings, he uses their beliefs and prejudices to lead them wherever he wants. If DJT doesn't destroy our fragile democracy, he has published the blueprint and playbook for some other demagogue to do it later. If a democracy like America's is going to exist, there will have to be a paradigm shift in human thought throughout the world. In the near future, we will program the human mind in the computer based on a "survival" algorithm, which will provide irrefutable proof as to how we trick the mind with our ridiculous beliefs about what is supposed to survive - producing minds programmed de facto for destruction. These minds see the survival of a particular belief as more important than the survival of us all. When we understand all this, we will begin the long trek back to reason and sanity.
See RevolutionOfReason.com
2
Trump's speech is nothing more than scripted TV serial. Look how controlled was his delivery in reading the teleprompter giving away how hollow, insincere and duplicitous he is. His efforts to shut up Beto by insulting ( his standard modus operandi of a school yard bully) is exasperated attempt to quell problem. Such acts create more problem and enable his enablers like Mitch and Lindsey. Thank you Bruni for tearing away the veil and pointing out the emperor's clothes.
4
I so admire Frank’s ability to get to the heart of the matter. His use of our language is exquisite. The phrase “he stokes and profits from it...” captures perfectly what Trump does daily. What I would like Frank to write is a column specifically relating to Trump as destroyer, tearing down, rather than the image he sold himself as in the campaign. He portrayed himself as this great builder, blah blah blah. What exactly has he built that elevates our country? I call him the terminator. It is obvious and so horrid that ourcountry which was already great now looks and feels ravaged. The infestation he refers to is in the once-white house....
5
Toni Morrison said it best:
"If the only way you can feel tall is when someone else is on their knees, there is something very, very wrong."
This is Trump to a tee.
14
I don’t think Trump is a racist. I was raised in the South and I have seen real,hard core racism performed by real hard core,who if alive are still racists.
Most racists exhibit their racism and the most closeted racist will
always exhibit some overt physical reaction.
I think in fact he has become a politician. A dangerous one.
He will lose in 2020
Right on! He didn't even identify the right Ohio city.
3
These definitely are not "normal times". Trump is the first "what the end of the world will look like" President. He sees earth heating up and the polar ice caps melting, or someone convinced him of such a phenomenon, and he is running scared as cowards do, and Trump wants to lock himself and his ilk into a safe house or country, wall it off, and fight the rest of the world as it cooks around us, and capture as much resources, water, guns, food and supplies and fight to the finish. That is why he foments racist hatred, and builds walls, to keep the vermin (those who don't look like him) out. This story will play out in other countries as well, but Trump has nuclear weapons, and I believe he will use them to make America Great Again if it comes to it. He has already asked the question, "why do we have nuclear weapons, if we are not willing to use them". This story is going to have a very terrible ending unless we as a human race have a great new human climate change of attitude towards one another. This will require intelligent thoughtful discussions and hopeful solutions and more importantly, empathy for others. It can start in November 2020 with a most urgently needed change in climate in the White House.
2
Superb article but for one point: you mention that you don't regard everyone who supports Trump as a bigot. I do--that's precisely what I think they are. They are people who hear what Trump is saying every day and at the very least, just doesn't bother them. It should, for reasons which now must be all too obvious.
Despite all the vitriol Trump has been regularly spewing, poles show his support has barely wavered. Certainly, Trump eagerly plays with fire, but it is also his supporters who would rather have a king like Trump who rules over hell on Earth than a President who participates in governing a liberal democracy, complete with equality (sexual, ethnic, voting and income), peace, safety, and elected leaders who spend every day trying to make America more perfect by representing their constituents--the citizens who trusted them to represent them.
I grew up with a basic paradox: intolerance is not to be tolerated. But we have to draw the line somewhere; there are limits to everything. So screaming "FIRE!!!" in a crowded, dark movie theatre is illegal, even though we have the First Amendment.
Tolerating bigotry--consenting to politicians vilifying whole swaths of society based on their ethnic origins because those same politicians feed some other real or imagined need--is something I cannot tolerate. I realize that to live in America, I will interact with such individuals and I must treat them with respect and fairness, but they will not be welcome in my home.
3
The nation will not ever fully recover from Donald Trump.
1
A "pantomime of morality". Everyone, everywhere sits with jaws agape as Trump reads some prepared script to pay lip-service to the constant and unrelenting carnage and hatred. I hope folks in El Paso give him the warm reception he deserves and his misinformed visit to the murder scene becomes a turning point against him, the NRA and Republican hypocrisy.
4
Absolutely on the money! A perfect column.
4
Addendum to my earlier comment on death penalty as one of Trump's four recommendations to address mass shooting. It's dealing with the situation after the fact, and not before it - when people have died and most likely the perpetrator/s too.
@Frank Bruni, quit trying to find a reason. Trump is an unreconstructed racist and we better get used to it. He will excite passion among his followers and every now and then we get a Crosius or a Betts. One let through Whites and Blacks but targeted brown people and the other killed mostly black people but managed to kill his sister as well.
I read with sadness comments about being afraid in Red Country. I live in a blue state with neighboring red counties but there is no point in being afraid. You have to confront hate wherever you find it, these haters are cowards. They will mostly back down. Let us not give in to this man, he is an abhorrent sub-human and I hope an ugly blip in our history, we need to get past him.
1
1) It was a woman who shouted “Shoot ‘em" in the Panhandle of Florida. My sex is just as dumb.
2) I have yet to meet a Trump supporter who was not racist.
In the last week I had two distinctive conversations with Trump supporters in the South. One was a Vietnam Vet (I’m a Vietnam Vet yet have NEVER worn a cap--doesn’t define me) who was all agog over Trump’s great TV speech! I simply said “It must have been scripted” and he said “No! It came from his heart!..Not like those black congress ladies!”
I had NO idea of whom he was speaking!
Second guy drove the tow truck to get my car. Nice guy UNTIL I mentioned that working w undocumented Mexican workers was great. “They work so hard. They are the only ones in that Nevada casino town to always pay their medical bills.”
He went on a rant that they USED to be good workers! My friend a contractor could always go to Home Depot each day and find Mexicans to work that day! Paid them $15/hr and EVEN BOUGHT THEM LUNCH!! Now there’s only a few and they walk away...”too good for $15/hr.”
No point saying anything as I’m not going to change their minds. “Gee isn’t it illegal to hire undocumented workers? Perhaps they want a full time job, and benefits--beyond one day’s work and lunch?"
As a woman I have tried but men won’t listen to logic.
Frank tell us about MAGA acolytes who don’t fear the loss of white supremacy. I meet hundreds of different folks each week.Trump supporters are ALL terrified of becoming a minority!
2
After the carnage of the last few days, most people if they were in Trump's shoes would be reflecting upon how their anti-immigrant rhetoric just might be contributing to the increase in domestic terrorism and violent death this country is experiencing and decide to turn the volume down.
But Trump is incapable of contrition.; he has never said sorry to anyone in his entire life. All he cares about is his own gratification for which the legal and moral restrictions of society present no barrier. God save us all if this country is malignant enough to give him 4 more years.
3
No question in my mind that trump stood directly behind the shooter in El Paso. A man drove hundred of miles to a border city, filled with the very people that trump snickered and his base cheered and laughed when a response to his comment on migrants was to "shoot them". Well someone got the message loud and clear.
The Mayor of that city stated he will welcome trump's visit because he still honors the office. Well Sir, trump has soiled and dishonored that office so many times that you should consider to not welcome his presences, in fact reject it outright. This morally corrupt man has to be rejected in every way possible.
11
Thank you, Frank Bruni, for your intelligence and gift of writing. You are always on target re this dangerous political mess we find in this 2019.
8
Yes, Trump did another hostage video statement as he did after Charlottsville.
If he really meant it then he should have the guts to say it at his next rally.
Let's not hold our breath.
5
I kind of don't agree that not all of Trump's backers are bigots. Then what are they exactly? 95% of Republicans support him. There's nothing 'sort of' or ' half hearted' or 'with reservations' about that. They stand firmly behind him. Of all the Republican politicians across the country, what percentage are silent at times like this? Pretty much the same percentage. "We aren't bigotted. We just support one." That is like saying you are aren't a Red Sox fan. You just buy season tickets and attend every game. And whenever the camera rolls around to you, you have a Red Sox shirt and hat on and you are wildly cheering whenever they score a run. And when interviewed you say "I wouldn't call myself a fan". How about a few of the 95% say "Well he looks good on paper. But it simply isn't going to be his year. That would at least offer some sense these people are watching the same team I am . 14 1/2 games out in August is, well, 14 1/2 games out in August.
4
"I don’t claim that Trump specifically caused or catalyzed El Paso or Pittsburgh or related blood baths, because nothing’s that tidy, because I know that mass shootings and mad shooters predate him and because, in a sense, it doesn’t matter." What a terrible thing to say. It matters and how it matters. The president who incites violence and hate, who asks that: "these people be stopped" and who laughs off a demand to kill them is directly responsible for potential massacres, by legal and moral considerations. It is tragic that a vast majority of opinion writers let him off the hook.
3
Is there anyone who hits it outta the park more consistently than Bruni? Most valuable player this season and every season. I wish his columns actually made me feel better. In truth, they just kick me in the gut. Ugh. It is as bad as I thought.
3
Trump's statement "I alone can solve it" epitomizes megalomania.
4
Bruni: "I also don’t believe that all of Trump’s backers are bigots, and insistences along those lines are an overreach with the unfortunate effect of inviting many of them to tune out their critics. Trump rose and Trump rules for an array of reasons."
I see Trump supporters as of the "good people on both sides" variety. Just plain folks who like to chant "go back where you came from"? "Lock her up." Panhandle folks who chant "Shoot them." Poor misunderstood 'birthers'? Am I guilty of overreach?? Do I really invite Trump enablers to tune me out? Hmmm?
2
Trump may well be a bigot. And he is certainly a stumblebum when speaking. Those who continue to fling the “good people on both sides” remark around as evidence of his bigotry are perhaps correct. But the phrase presents very differently when his entire statement about that event is put in front of the reader. Omitting the context, as Mr. Bruni joins virtually every other commentator in doing, makes the words mean something far different from what he actually said. Another reason the deplorables have cause to suspect what they’re told by the media.
"He’s a moral arsonist, and if he determined that the only way to hold on to power was to burn everything to the ground, he’d gladly be king of ashes."
You know you're up against a amoral monster when his own survival depends on convincing the world that you're the problem, and he's the solution.
And when you only care about yourself, there are no guardrails you won't destroy to save yourself--people, party, the country, the economy, and the Constitution you swore to uphold.
The man is dangerous precisely because
he has no respect for morality or truth. So if nothing deters him, he is capable of anything.
5
Mitch McConnell. Focus on the Senate. McConnell is the Palpatine manipulating the weak--willed Darth Donald.
4
"This speech of his was a pantomime of dignity". Actually, it was given by a third-grader with a flat affect.
"Flat affect: A severe reduction in emotional expressiveness. People with depression and schizophrenia often show flat affect. A person with schizophrenia may not show the signs of normal emotion, perhaps may speak in a monotonous voice, have diminished facial expressions, and appear extremely apathetic."
3
Trump's post-El Paso statement was just another veiled "thoughts and prayers, national to-do list" style statement. Kick the can down the road.
The TONE alone of that scripted/teleprompter speech announced to his base and others: "Don't worry. This is not really me. This is a perfunctory statement that really doesn't mean anything or change the way we feel or operate." Wink, wink.
Repulsive? Of course.
Dangerous? Well... that's the problem.
2
Perhaps I am not speaking on target with this column, but I must ask again (and again and again), Show Us Your Taxes!
I find Trump's consistent need to hide where and how he has "earned" his money a reflection of Mr Friedman's portrayal of Trump as two-faced. We know too little about this man!
4
"This country" is so polarized. It's more than one country, really, isn't it? These views are mutually exclusive and virtually irreconcilable. I see groups of states going their own way after this experience.
I see so many similarities with Europe, too, as regions push for greater autonomy.
Stick this in your pipe and smoke it, Republicans: this reprehensible complicity of yours could well break up your 'perfect union'.
1
Spot on Mr. Bruni. Trump's teleprompter speech left me chilled to the bone; your analysis freezes-over my soul.
The Republican party shames this nation, our people, and it terrifies me. I have quit being just concerned.
2
Does Trump and the Republican Party realise the immense damage all this (including the El Paso and Dayton shootings) is doing to U.S. Soft Power?
And how the U.S. appears in international eyes?
Looks like they either don't know or dont care.
1
The general tone of the article and the examples given leads to at least one conclusion.
Trump is a fraud.
1
45 has proven so far, that when a president is inaugurated and puts his hand on the Bible and is sworn to protect the constitution of the United States, laws, from foreign and domestic enemies, that it is worthless.
45 has violated his oath, repeatedly.
Congress has failed, so far, to utilize the mechanisms provided by the Constitution to handle this dire situation that we, as a country, find ourselves in.
2
Like many in the pundit class, Frank has blinders on when writing a column. Is Trump a racist? Obviously, always has been. Is Trump partly responsible for the increase in these attacks? Of course. But you also need to give the entire Republican Party and its voters a large share of the blame. Republicans have used racism and fear to win elections for generations. GOP voters had nearly 20 other choices in 2016; they picked Trump by a large margin. Party leaders and elected officials overwhelmingly support Trump and his racism.
So, to paraphrase the subhead to this column, Republicans are no foes of bigotry. They're agents of it. They love it.
5
Thank you.
Now let's stop calling Trump-McConnell-and the silent GOP a new norm. It is as immoral, malicious and calculated as any inhuman rationale for racism since the beginning of time.
Add to the gOP machine, Rupert Murdoch and his Fox entertainment as amplifiers and mega-phones that repeat and repeat the lies over and over to be self-described "good people" who believe they have the legal right to attack and kill US citizens who are not Christian and nonwhite.
3
Donald Trump calculates the racial (ethnic, sexual, skin color, religious, white nationalist) line and walks right up to the edge. He never overtly encourages discrimination. In his businesses he supported green policies that truly welcome all people to his hotels, golf courses and other buildings - as long as they have a $green card.
Given Mr. Trump's history it is hard to imagine why he toys with those Mrs. Clinton called deplorables. He knows that the entire GOP and his many independent supporters are called out as racists, sexists, and general bigots because they have not condemned Trump or simply because they oppose abortion, affirmative action, open borders, sanctuary cities, disrespect for the men and women in uniform, etc.
My own evolution, is that the more my friends, coworkers, and family suggest racial or sexist motives, the more defensive I've become. I am now completely over the Irish, Catholic, white privilege guilt that modern schools tried to instill.
I fully identify with the slave owners like Thomas Jefferson and George Washington. If slavery were so evil it would not have been unlawful to covet thy neighbor's slaves. Slavery did not end for moral reasons. It ended because it became too expensive to care for slaves from cradle to grave and it became cost effective to use share croppers and low wage immigrants.
Trump has helped me to understand that slavery was good for its time just as concentrations of wealth (i.e. billionaires) are good for our time.
1
Because not every citizen of the USA has the opportunity and privilege to read The Times, Frank Bruni's essay today should become the Holy Grail of the Democratic Party. It should be quoted by all candidates, at all levels of government. It should be made available for circulation through the standard media as well as the social media. Perhaps then, his words will reach those who need to read them, to hear these truths, to come to the realization that they, regardless of their social status, must rise up and demand his impeachment. He will not lose the 2020 election while the economy remains high, unemployment remains low, and the our soldiers are brought home from Afghanistan. Those are top priority achievements that will re-elect him, and sadly white washes his evil.
The mass shootings this past weekend in two separate killing sprees had some important elements in common. Both committed by heterosexual white men, both committed by U.S. citizens. One of the shooters is a white nationalist and the other had a history of threatening women. If you were to extend the lines of thought from both of these men to their point of intersection - where misogyny and white nationalism converge - that point of convergence is to be found in the Oval Office.
3
australia suffered gun massacres and provided the solution:
prohibit import or sale of military weapons to civilians AND
retrieve them from civilians. Worked.
They have shown the way.
Will we have the guts to do the same? Hope so.
Lifetime hunter who never saw a military gun in the fields
1
Trump is not a racist, or even a bigot. No, really, he isn't. He's much worse.
He's an opportunist. He doesn't care who is offended or hurt by anything he says or does, as long as he gets the upper hand in some way.
So call him a liar, a conman, a chiseler, a big mistake of a human in every way, but he's not a racist.
Thank you, Frank Bruni. I was sickened too as I forced myself to listen to this twisted man of a president, a part of me, amazingly, still questioning if this is really happening! We cannot afford to let ourselves be numb. Our silence is enabling the corruption of our society, our institutions and our very own moral character. There are no other more important dangers to our nation than this.
Until this shameful president is rejected along with his poison, we must all raise our voices regularly in outrage and do our part to make America decent again.
6
The long list of racially and ethnically inflammatory acts by Trump are undeniable. The only people who can't see what's happening simply don't want to see it, and no editorials or comments will move them at this point. All we can do is pressure existing public officials to do the right thing on protecting the nation from gun violence, and making sure the majority of voters who loathe Trump and his Republican enablers, and everything they stand for, to vote in 2020 as if the nation depends on it, because it does.
2
The key to what Trump is actually doing and thinking is to look at what he attacks. He's a racist, so he attacks people of color; he's a misogynist, so he attacks women; he's a destroyer of America, so he attacks others as anti-American; and on and on.
In that, he's often enabled by the media, who look too often at his targets rather than at Trump and his projections of his fears, prejudices, and hatreds, and who therefore adopt his framing of issues. Just one example: many if not most of the people who present themselves at the border are refugees (from death squads and other forms of violence, as well as from economic catastrophe), yet the media uniformly present them, as does Trump, as migrants. The US mainly does not have an immigration problem, it has a refugee problem, which is a very different matter.
1
You can’t fight this fire with more fire. Trump sells hate and division. This article sends hate and division in the other direction. Trump is at best nothing more than an actor, B rated at best, and an emblem of problems we must all own. We are going to have to do the hard work of understanding ourselves and democracy in light of Trump instead fixating on all his crimes and spewing venom in his direction.
Mr. Bruni’s Point that Trump will take any position, will strike any pose, to further promote himself, is correct. However, all available evidence suggests that the one area where he actually holds firm and long-standing beliefs is His embrace of white supremacy. Yes, he will do or say anything. But that doesn’t mean that he can’t believe what he says with all his heart on a particular topic. His promotion of racial hatred is not a thoughtless posture, it’s his moral center.
After all that has happened with Trump I wonder what kind of people can continue to support such a man? Any sober person must know that he is a racist and his racism appeals to a large swath of people. Trump's racism is also opportunistic at heart. Trump has no principles other than to win at the expense of others. But because so many in the crowds that animate his rallies are hard core racists and white supremacists they easily overwhelm even those who might not be. Trump and his supporters want their special status as the white ruling class back and those who are different they invite go back to where they came from. In short it is in this crucible of hate that terrorism is spawned.
Regardless of his words Donald Trump is incapable of any real feelings of compassion or grief. In 2020 the nation must make a choice, do we continue to go down the path that Trump and his party has forged, or do we set a new course toward a more humane and inclusive direction that is America's true vision?
1
For the paradigm of a more normal view of an evolving inclusion driven society to be restored, PLEASE, Democrats, don't nominate someone so far left that Trump is identified and seen as the lesser of the evils. We already rue the deal with the Devil we made in 2016. Don't blow it and give him a repeat performance.
1
I don't think Trump is racist - I think the evidence is that he will do anything to occupy the spotlight and feed his ego. Even as a failed developer in his previous incarnation, I'm convinced that he would have evicted little old ladies who voted republican if that was what it took to make a buck. It just so happens that riling up racists is giving him the power platform that he needs. The really ugly reality is that there are so many people out there that are willing to go along with this.
Well, this is about as harsh as it gets. Frank, just guessing now, you don't know Donald Trump, nor do you know anyone who knows him.
For those of us who do know Trump in his business role, directly or indirectly, you should know that's its much worse than you can imagine by only gleaning his public statements, tweets, and contemporaneous remarks. Much, much worse. His so-called "base" likely wouldn't exist if they knew what they were called pre-presidential-candidate days. (It wasn't "deplorables." In old Trump-speak, that term would have been complimentary, compared to how he routinely spoke about lower class folks.) It's fairly common knowledge that Donald Trump generally dislikes minorities and people who live below traditional middle class standards. It's only a question of how much he detests any particular group on any particular day or month.
Frank, Trump doesn't care what you say or anybody says. Likely, not his wife or children, either. It's worse than you, or anyone else, can imagine.
1
Every person who put Trump in power should hang their heads in shame, and that is most of the people who still have the arrogance to trumpet "the truth has a voice." They have yet to admit the extent of their error, and it is fortunate for us all that the music hall turn that got voted in is as obvious as it is. I would still rather see Trump strutting about than Mrs Clinton any day of the week. The lies from the Clinton Project had a lot more depth of evil behind them, and we have been lucky to get away with a buffoon.
"I also don’t believe that all of Trump’s backers are bigots."
You are wrong Mr. Bruni, they are. They've been in our midst since the founding of this nation, and no doubt will always be with us. We have tried to change them and silence them ever since, and still they survive and reproduce. A civil war couldn't do it, or a civil rights movement. They stay in the shadows until a leader like Trump comes along to embolden them. Then like Cicadas, they emerge and make us painfully aware. We can't ignore their existence now. All we can do is try to put them back underground where they are harmless, and realize they are always there, waiting for the right circumstances to make themselves known to the world.
One cannot help but think of the parable of the Emperor's New Clothes. Like the populace in that story, the enablers of this emperor are willfully blind to the obvious. His true condition is uncloaked, but still denied or rationalized by some.
It's tiresome to read columnists repeat the requisite disclaimer that Trump voters and supporters are not bigots and misogynists. Mr Bruni posits that to state they are bigots for following Trump's racial pathology causes these supporters to tune out their critics. Thus we can deduce these supporters lack of critical reflection. Must we believe Trump voters can be trusted to assess the economy but have no critical awareness of a dangerous demogogue who is throwing fuel on a smoldering fire? The Trump voters know exactly what and who they voted for. I for one am tired of being held hostage to "the Trump base" whom we are also told is only 1/3 of the electorate. The only disclaimer they deserve is that they possess no ability for self reflection. They know exactly what and who they are supporting.
Trump is powerless without the support of Congress. That is the issue. He is only the figurehead of an evil and malicious culture. The party chose him to represent them, and to represent every one of you living in the United States, knowing full well what and who he is. Direct your frustrations and anger at them. And only when it threatens them or limits their power will anything change.
1
Trump grasps very well that we're all mentally exhausted by blather, advertising, insincere rhetoric, etc. We live in an age of hokum, of pervasive exaggeration and falsity. It has always been a strain of American life but has now become culturally accepted "legal tender." Obama might well have given a similar speech that was also intended as a sop but it would have been far less outrageously cynical. Outrageousness is Trump's method and understanding why it works still eludes most people.
In the next generation of psychology text books, there will a picture of Donald Trump next to the section on "projection". Being a bigoted, narcissistic, racist, the President has found that the best defense is to project these traits onto others who disagree with him and so to muddy the waters and distract from the fact that when it comes to his supporters, he is not only doing nothing for them, he is savaging their long-term interests (just ask the farmers who are suffering loss of farm income, and some of whom are losing their farms, because of Trump's idiotic trade war.) And the press, by following him down his rabbit hole de jour, is aiding and abetting him, as he knew they would. Frank, please tell your colleagues to focus on the big picture and stop looking for conflict between his would be replacements and start focusing on which candidates offer solutions to the problems Trump called-out only to ignore once in office.
Not a lot of new insight, Frank. Since we all know that Trump is a morally hollow robot who is programmed to "win", which in Trumpworld means to humiliate others and appear to be king of the mountain, tell us this: how do we disable him? It is clear that he cannot be embarrassed by his own failures--he talks through them, denying that which is obviously true. The man and his followers think his own deceitful proclamations of "winning" are every bit as important as actually winning. And his followers. who must know he is a liar and a fraud, still admire his willingness to deny the obvious and to confidently project self-aggrandizing lies. Every robot has fatal weaknesses. You need to answer this: How does a guy like Trump get taken down? We need a column on that issue.
Really well done. The only thing you didn’t say, that I wish you had, was about how clearly Trump’s totally heartless, flat delivery of his speech about hatred showed he didn’t mean it and was actually a sign to the bigots to continue on their path. It was not a real rebuke at all but obviously had less sincerity than a prisoner's parole board statement of remorse just in order to try to secure his parole, or a staged and forced prisoner of war's broadcast that he is being treated well in captivity. It had nowhere near the emotion and animation he has when actually making his racist comments he is here pretending to decry.
Yes, Mr. Trump is a bad person and worse as a president. But, honestly, have you seen or heard in the latest televised debates a Democratic candidate who has the guts, the talent and the competence to beat Trump in 2020? I see none...but wait, AOC, come out of the woods, girl, take the torch and lead us forward!
Dear MR Behr. Have you ever asked yourself why there are so many negative headlines about D Trump ? Just go back and look at his twitter feed, his speeches, his interviews, etc. You will be overwhelmed by the violence of his words. After you have gone back and read all these words and watched the video clips, then look at his enablers, his Republican friends who will not critize him. What has America become ? I am so glad hat the mainstream media is focused on the facts. In an era of fake news and a president who spreads fake news, the mainstream media is essential TO PRESERVING DEMOCRACY.
If this was an episode of Law and Order, Jack McCoy would be charging the President with 22 counts of depraved-indifference murder for his campaign rhetoric encouraging exactly what happened in El Paso. But this is not reality TV. Real people are getting killed in attacks against people of all races and religions, and it is not going to change until we elect a President with the moral compass to lead us back to the principles that this country was founded upon.
1
In addition to being a creature, Trump is a creature of habit. All grifters, hucksters and con-men know that the sucker is the gift that keeps on giving. As long as the maga crowd continues to be played by trump the longer the con with continue. Clearly, there's not much wise-up in that crowd.
Trump has VP Pence stand behind him when he knows that the world does not believe his sincerity. The message being: "Would someone as clean cut as Mike Pence be here if he didn't trust me?" The Answer: Mr. Pence: If you are as moral as you say you are, CALL TRUMP OUT FOR WHAT HE IS!
"I also don’t believe that all of Trump’s backers are bigots"
I disagree wholeheartedly Frank. Any person whole pulls the lever in the voting booth for Trump in 2020 is a bigot. They all know exactly who and what he is. I refuse to give any of them a pass.
My Mom encouraged me to keep a book by my beside, a book she and I chose for me. The book was entitled: “ I Grew Up in a
Treehouse” by none other than my precious grandmother, a writer, a poet and a famous American virtuoso of the mighty pipe organ.
It is full of watching birds and squirrels come and go. ...watching the seasons change and most of all living above the treetops.
My imaginations never ceased those precious growing up years,
I just knew God was there and in my life.
Now, at 81, and groveling at the bottom of not only those trees but in that infamous swamp we were promised would be drained and cleaned.
I don’t see or hear God anywhere any longer.
1
Writing like this is an eloquent, welcome reminder of the power of a free press. It not only enlightens it can also soothe and heal. Thank you.
8
Mr. Bruni, it's increasingly difficult to support the rhetorical game that not all of Trump's supporters at this point are not racists. As the past 60 years, and current events, have proved, it is now apparent that virtually everyone who opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a bigot; their philosophical "states' rights'' argument was the flimsy veil that the rest of us always thought it was.
6
Great column Frank, but I have to disagree with your saying not all Trump supporters are racists. They may not all be card-carrying members of the KKK, but there is a spectrum of racists and racism, as there is for most things, and at the very least ALL of his supporters fall somewhere along that racist spectrum. They hate it when they’re called racists, but it’s the truth and we need to stop pretending that it isn’t.
Sam Stein made a great point in the midst of a soul searching discussion about race relations on Nicolle Wallace’s program yesterday about how in ‘09, the DHS has identified the rise of right-wing terrorism and white supremacy as major threats to the US. Predictably the GOP howled and the Obama administration withdrew the report and apologized even tho everyone knew that the DHS report was accurate. This is the same issue so let’s not make the same mistake. They’re racists; let’s call them that.
22
Why are we worried about Russian intervention in our election process, when we have the NY Times and its liberal and overtly Trump hating, staff? They will never be happy unless and until everyone thinks like they do, accepts their point of view, and behaves the way they tell us we must behave without exception.
I am much more like the first president Bush who left that marvelous letter for Bill Clinton who had recently defeated Bush in his bid for reelection. If our president does not do well, we do not do well. So, I wish our president well just as the first president Bush did. If you cannot respect the man who won the election, at least respect the office he holds.
Also, keep in mind that no one will respect our president more than we do. Trump's ability do deal with many of the problems that face us in the world is greatly hampered because of the lack of respect our major media, many politicians, and others show for our president. The trade war with China, which is very much in the news these days, is a good example. If China thought we were all solidly behind our president, they would take a much different tone. Instead, China is going to try to run the clock out. If it were to seem likely that Trump will be reelected, you will likely see an immediate change in China's attitude.
3
You have it completely backwards. China would indeed pay more attention to Trump if he were popular and certain to be re-elected. But that’s doesn’t mean we owe Trump allegiance. He owes us allegiance: to defend the country from enemies foreign and domestic. He’s done the opposite.
Trump’s power derives from his popularity and suffers from his pinched understanding of what makes America great. Supporting him simply because he’s the president is a most unAmerican act.
1
@jpduffy3 What you are asking the nation to do is shut up and take whatever Trump dishes out to us. You want us to let him incite hatred of immigrants. You want the Left to accept without comment the criticisms he consistently heaps on them day in and day out. You want the nation to ignore the lies he tells every single day.
That is not how our nation works. That's exactly why we have the right to freedom of speech. Our President regularly trashes half the people of the country. Until or unless he starts showing respect to the people he disagrees with we are going to give back to him what he gives to us.
1
jpduffy3, you are in no sense anything like the first President Bush, who had a keen insight into both domestic and foreign politics.
There are times when words don't matter, like when they are spoken into an echo chamber and have no effect on the world otherwise. I'm sure my comment here doesn't matter, and neither does anybody else's, and neither does Frank Bruni's. NRA money has an effect. Citizen's United, supposedly about speech matters, only because it is actually about money, not words. Trump's words have an effect, because he is the official mouthpiece of the United States, but ours don't. Our voices, even our votes, don't matter -only our money and our actions make any difference.
6
It’s true, I don’t like this President. But it can’t just be me that sees and feels that his mannerisms and the delivery of his speech to the nation after these mass shootings rings hollow and suggest that he doesn’t believe a word of what he is saying. I’m not saying he condones these shootings, but I’m not even convinced he opposes them.
21
@James As a narcissistic personality disorder that has been fed adulation and approval his whole life Trump looks at everything--including these horrible deaths--as events that either make him look good or bad. He is an empty shell of a human, a true hollow man.
Trump is a monster, one perfectly described in Yeats' poem The Second Coming. We live in very ugly, very dangerous times.
i heard a brilliant comment from an El Paso resident uttered in response to a request for comment on Trump's recent statements and proposed visit. He stated that he would accept Trump's care and concern if and when Trump "repented" and "apologized" for all of his prior attacks on immigrants and Latinos. He wants Trump to seek absolution and to truly change. That Trump will never, ever acknowledge his evil past tells us all we need to know about the sincerity of his recent comments of concern.
19
Ah, to write political opinion pieces these days. All you have to do is tick off a few Trump follies. We all know what they are. They fill the front section of our newspapers, and the news channels babble them night and day. Noting a few of them takes maybe half an hour and your work is done for the day.
But to address the cause and demand that Citizens United be overturned might offend some of the billionaires who pay for media ads.
8
In his inaugural address, Trump declared, "This American carnage stops right here and stops right now."
Apparently, among the more than 10,000 lies he has told since then, this should be counted as one of the very first.
We have experienced his constant barrage of fear-mongering and hate-inspiring screed since that day. The tragedies of the past week are the fruit of that morbidly infected tree, and his GOP acolytes in the Senate are complicit in allowing it to grow unchecked. As we have learned repeatedly from these past horrific incidents, there will be a lot of prayers and condolences, but nothing significant will be done legislatively.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! The electorate will have to change the majority in both houses of Congress to Democratic, as well as the taking the Presidency in 2020, for any progress to be made to erase the hate and secure public safety in the future. It’s the only moral choice, and it’s up to all of us to do it!
19
I am getting numb to this tragic presidency, to Trump's insanity, and to mass shootings in America. I am an avid reader but have no more energy or willingness to read any more about how things are. I'm trying to live my life with purpose, helping my children make it in this world, but I'm truly losing hope. Our environment is being destroyed, our country is falling apart. I want to believe that a young leader can inspire us with his or her goodness and message of hope, but then I think of the many hurdles that must be overcome: the amount of money that it takes to win an election, the electoral college, gerrymandering. I'm starting to fantasize about leaving this country and going back to Europe to my country of origin, but then I come to reality and my family obligations here in the U.S. I have elderly parents and a baby grand daughter who need me. I am grateful for my citizenship but really think America's standing as a positive leader in the world is diminishing with each passing day.
32
@Silvana: I, too, have thoughts of leaving the country, but it feels daunting to do it, alone, at 68 and without much money. My one and only child is in Europe right now and I've told her I hope she finds a place she loves and make a home there. I know there are problems everywhere but America's struggles are soul-killing and I think, if Trump continues, the race war will get worse. It doesn't feel like a place for a good future, for anyone, even the wealthy. We were built on lies and bigotry, genocide and slavery, and Trump is blowing the lid off of those lies and we can see the degradation so clearly. It's not just Trump. It's all of it.
JUDGE DAVID HALE In Federal District Court in Louisville, KY, found that Trump supporters who followed his instruction to "get rid of them," referring to protesters, were acting AS HIS AGENTS. And that Trump had, through his speech, incited violence--a form of speech NOT protected by the First Amendment. There is legal precedent that Trump has engaged in incitement to violence. So his further incitements to violence can logically be judged by the same standards. Now is the time to rally--to take action--before Trump declares a state of emergency, suspends civil government and imposes martial law on the US. Lest you think this is an exaggeration, just look at the extremely destructive actions Trump has taken so far. You ain't seen nothin' yet. The shooters in Gilroy, CA, El Paso, Tx and Dayton, OH are nothing less than TRUMP'S WILLING EXECUTIONERS. What with automatic weapons easily available, being bought and used by people so severely disturbed that they take Trump's claims of the country being overrun seriously, the bloodbaths next time may well be perpetrated by the US military, based on Trump's dictates. Are you willing to take a chance that I'm wrong before acting to protect your life and the lives of your loved ones and community? Trump will blithely declare martial law, suspend the civilian government and in one fell swoop destroy the US experiment in democracy. I take no pleasure in being right, believe me. Make no mistake about Trump's deadly threat to US.
22
@John Smith. What a diatribe. Do you realize how much hate you are spewing? Your statement about martial law is absurd. You know the shooter in Dayton supported Warren and Antifa, right? Try to get some facts right.
So what are we going to do about it?
What is the take away action variable here?
Next time we vote in a primary or caucus for the next Democratic
candidate for President, think longer and harder about which candidate actually has the best chance of beating Trump in the electoral college in November 2020.
Most likely if the Democrat is going to win the electoral college,
he or she must win the crucial swing States such as Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Arizona and Florida where Democrats no longer have overwhelming strength.
Ask yourself next time would the winning Democratic candidate in these States likely to be at the very far left of the American political spectrum?
13
Perhaps there are Republicans who don’t share Trump’s bigotry. There’s a saying that covers them: silence is assent.
41
@Larry Roth: Our country is being destroyed because cowardly Republicans do not want to be primaried. They are all gutless. What are they afraid of? They might have to take a rich job in the private sector versus the public one? It's not like they are going to starve and be homeless. They all have connections, they can all find well-paying work. Is the graft so good in D.C. that they can't give it up? You'd think they'd want to give up the constant fundraising and behind kissing one must do to the really rich and be their own person with a backbone and a brain.
But. No. And so the country will continue to devolve into chaos and suffering and the shootings will randomly but constantly continue, coming to a Walmart near you.
It's all on the Republicans. They are cowards. The time to choose is now. Grow a spine. Use your supposed morals. We all know what you need to do. Repudiate him and turn away from him now!
Imagine two American cities do not want him there after their traumas. Do not want the president of the United States in their cities. Just let that sit.
@Larry Roth. Do you share Omar’s bigotry? How about Maxine Waters?
I constantly hear that all of donnie's supporters are not bigots. Remembering the 50's I also remember a phrase "fellow traveler". That meant many things, some correct and some not but today as then when some excused Stalinism it applies to those who accept donnie's racism and calls for murder, couched in whatever terms makes it possible for the fellow travelers to sleep at night.
10
why do we continue to treat him as though his prepared words matter? It's been clear for a very long time, that ANY time he reads prepared statements, the words are just PR - hollow and with no personal belief in what is being parroted..
I'm tired of seeing his name, his awful actions, his indecent opinions, his vicious attacks on people, his cruelty, his vulgarity, be headlines or topics of Op Eds. Every day?
Could we PLEASE stop this cycle?
By all means, report and write what matters . But not his every utterance or mindless tweets.
40
@c But these mindless tweets come from The President of the United States. This is how he leads. This is how he makes policy.
Every day I am appalled anew at the depths of crassness, divisiveness and bad governance President Trump can plumb.
And, adding to my horrific wonder is Trump's sheer genius at using the presidency to drive the agenda and to drive his opponents - better yet, his foils and dupes - in to a frenzy. It's as if that is his sole goal of governing.
We are collectively, for the most part, sickened at the President's antics. Yet we are paralyzed - absolutely frozen - in our inability to counter what he is continually spewing forth.
Yet, so many fail to see, and those few who do understand yet do not want to take the necessary action, what we are witnessing - the nadir of Imperial America.
We have in Trump a modern day embodiment of Caligula, Nero and so many of the lesser yet ineffective and venal emperors. But, we can't pull ourselves away from Imperial illusion we've created about the US and make the necessary effort to bring the nation back to what it was - a Republic.
Trump is a mere symptom of the disease that is rotting America to its core. A Democratic win in 2020 may check the rot, but just for a while. Like Claudius, they'll keep the Empire alive, but barely.
America needs reform - drastic reform - through re-distributive powers among the three branches, but mostly back to the States.
If not reform - the State need to consider dissolution of this Union.
If not a peaceful dissolution, the only answer is what this country was brought forth from - revolution.
10
You probably had dozens of readers ready to join you in your comment; and then you blew it. Very few would want to be associated with a call to revolution. Quite possibly none at all.
That's not what I would call common sense.
1
So profoundly true. He indeed has no ethical bone in his body. Anything that will give him what he wants is a fair game.
24
What will be the line in the sand for moderate Republicans? They may be good people - kind and generous, and yet support Trump because they believe he is good for the economy and their investment accounts. What will their children and grandchildren think when they ask where they stood in these times of moral reckoning? Their legacy will be that they chose their wallets over their souls. I hope they can live with that because the rest of they country will have to.
45
I just wish he'd get some better speech writers. Every time, including his addresses to the Nation, his speeches are packed with undergraduate cliches that seem written as a sop to ingratiate whoever might be marking his paper. I suspect Messrs Miller and Kushner in this. Not a lot of maturity or literary talent there.
There is nothing in them that reflects anything about the personality of the man, if there is one, so it's clear they don't represent what he thinks or feels, if he does either.
Other world leaders have speech writers, including previous presidents and not all of them were known for their off the cuff eloquence, but you felt you were listening to the man.
The only time you get a feel of Trump is when he goes off cue, and what you get is `Toledo' and `fine people from both sides', so I guess that's a problem.
The other problem is his delivery. Nobody is rehearsing him. There is a need. Film of him asking a producer to tell him how to say, `you're fired' shows he has a problem with scripted lines so you'd think SOMEONE would twig that if you want a performance you better give the poor man some coaching.
Mind you, if you want him to sound sincere you might be better off giving him an empathy transplant.
A little talent wouldn't go astray ether.
20
This is a person who is smarter than anyone in the room. Why would you expect he would accept coaching much less advisors with exceptional expertise? As for writing that really represents the man, do you really want to hear a speech written in such a voice?
1
@Deirdre Oliver Unsurprisingly perhaps, I find what he says far more offensive than I do his elocution.
The bottom line truth is that our President himself suffers from mental illness.
I am not condoning or excusing it, or endeavoring to dramatize...I am simply recognizing what mature, thoughtful, intelligent Americans already know.
We just don't want to acknowledge this reality...because it threatens our safety and security; even if that safety and security is only an illusion. And, because of what it says about us...about who we've become as a nation, as a people.
We took our eye off the ball, we abdicated our responsibility, we took for granted our freedoms and our way of life.
And that truth is more than we can bear. However, isn't what we are seeing, living, and experiencing under this President - day by day - far more frightening?
Better we recognize, accept and embrace the reality...and free ourselves to change it, empower ourselves to alter our course...than turn a blind eye and allow the damage to become irreparable.
We have always been a nation of courage, it is embedded in the spirit of who we are, in the very birth of the nation...time to dig deep and bring it forward.
31
You are right on the mark. Trump is dysfunctional because of mental illness and his dysfunction is making the whole country dysfunctional and the institutions of government dyfunctonal.,He is a systematic wrecker that only knows one trick-how to tear down and tear apart. The absense of leadership is allowing the wolves to come down on the fold. We are the sheep ripe for the leaner and more hungry wolves and there is no leader competant enough to prevent the carnage. The republicans are useless and passive. the democrats do not quite have the power. We are trapped. At least for now.
@Kelly Grace Smith Worse yet, if he does suffer from mental illness, then we're all going to suffer because of it.
If trump is not a racist, then would someone point one out please? I need an example.
51
@Ronald - Just look at his band of wealthy, elite supporters...the ones who banter with him at his country clubs. They are all around and behind him....he's the front man for all of them and represents exactly what they think and feel.
How about taking this opportunity to develop some disqualifiers for future presidential candidates for the good of our children and grandchildren. Anyone who spews racism, name-calls opponents, and makes derogatory statements about women and non-whites should top the list of disqualifiers. Even without those disqualifiers, he should have been removed from the debate panel if not removed from the election ballot in 2016. What a disgrace for the country and for our future generation to look up to.
36
White Supremacist Tom Metzger, creator of WAR (White Aryan Resistance), 1970s KKK Grand Wizard, and son were found civilly liable ($12.5 Million) for the 1988 torture murder of Mulugeta Seraw, a young college student from Ethiopia. Inspired, encouraged, validated, directly influenced,and egged on by Metzger’s written and spoken words, WAR associates Kenneth Mieske and two other white supremacists went to prison for torturing Mr. Seraw until dead - for his skin color. Through the doctrine of Vicarious Liability, they also shared liability with Metzger for the $12.5 Million. A middle school video kid could easily catalog and stitch together Trump’s direct and implied calls to violence exclusively from his campaign and worship rallies. It takes a unique idiocy and commitment to willful ignorance to claim, with a straight face, there is a difference between the RESULTS of Metzger’s and Trumps WORDS. Emphasis on "Results". Blatantly similar and barely different, with the exceptions of Americans above the Rule of Law the rest of America is held to. Good job, Senate. Nice work, Congress. Your names and votes seal your legacies almost by the hour. How about working towards making America Sane, instead of normalizing national insanities? We might have to give up the arrogance of beliefs before embracing the messy maturity of facts, which includes objective rational thought - always best anchored by patient compassion and calm consistency. Please awaken those still asleep and vote.
30
@indiethnk It's hard to awaken anyone who has a Do Not Disturb sign on the locked door.
Well, maybe he doesn't have a "racist bone in his body" , but what about racists thoughts in his head?
20
Thank you Mr Bruni.
18
Thanks for the courage you must have mustered to speak truth, Frank - and for the anger that trump's words and actions inspired. All I can say is AMEN.
17
There is a significant body of research that demonstrates the relationships between government hostility toward religious groups and social hostility. Each escalates the other. There is no reason not to expect that this also applies to racial groups as well. The outburst of applause, cheers and laughter after DTs comment about only being able to get away with shooting (I can't even say the whole thing it is so atrocious and evil) in the panhandle demonstrates this. Could we ever have imagined a president making a joke concerning shooting humans.....
22
"I also don’t believe that all of Trump’s backers are bigots..."
Neither does this reader believe that "all of Trump’s backers are bigots," but I certainly believe that bigots have found a home in the Trump party, once known as the Republican Party and the party of Lincoln.
29
It was also obvious from his delivery: I am readying this poorly from a teleprompter.
16
@Wanda: He wanted his supporters to know this was a hostage video and he was being forced to say these words because of political correctness. "No worries, guys, I'm still with you" was the subtext.
1
"On Monday, he had the audacity to TALK about. . . ." Let's be precise with diction. Trump talking is something very different than what he did on Monday, glumly reading the teleprompter as best he could.
Trump READ about "the perils of the internet and social media." His flawed analysis was less incendiary only because he was scripted and reading, not Trump-talking.
19
@David in Toledo Then let's also be precise with grammar: different FROM what he did.
Meanwhile, as usual, I do appreciate what you had to say.
1
OK, Frank. If not all of Mr. Indecent's backers are not bigots, then some are bigots and some are not bigots. Consider backers who are not bigots. Some are not aware that he is a bigot (let's call them ignorant) and some are aware that he is a bigot but back him anyway. What type of person backs a person who is a known bigot? Only somebody who is benefiting from the bigotry. And, full circle, somebody who benefits from bigot is, ipso facto, a bigot.
28
Frank, I am exhausted. Right now I don’t really have many more words. My mind is in shock after seeing pictures today from Galveston ... an African American man ... with rope around him ... being lead away by police on horseback. It cut my breath completely. I felt utterly nauseous. The NYT should have put this on Page One as a lead story not hidden under page one in ten US section. For the last 48 hours I am in that frame of mind where meaningful words evaporate and emotion swells beyond measure. But I am genuinely glad you and your colleagues are at the NYT to still find words for all of us because we need you guys more than ever. Thank you for this piece. As you say “....a pantomime of dignity to give cover to his Republican enablers...”. In a capsule, perfection. Thank you Frank.
36
Those mounted police - those are Trump, right?
I am certain this has been said by many already but it bears repeating: Not all people who voted for Trump are racists. However, all racists who voted support Trump.
26
Well, you've fulfilled your assigned part, rising on Trump's cue to exhibit your refusal of his incontestable platitudes with cruelly wounding remarks on his wholly cleansed past. Nice, workin' for the big guy, is it?
On the one hand was a professed bigot and liar, such a fool on the international stage that he was laughed out of the UN General Assembly.
On the other hand, a former Secretary of State who scared Vladimir Putin to the point ha made sure she could not be elected, who knew the government very well, and wouldn’t have discovered her first days on the job “how complicated it is”.
One may disagree with Ms. Clinton’s policies, but calling her “unqualified” is a lie worthy of Trump himself.
As a result of such lack of understanding of the meaning of “qualification”, and a willingness to support hatred on the part of the electorate in states that have much more power than they deserve- based on population, the all-time loser “won” with @2.8 million fewer votes than the loser - and to insure a nation that would re-elect him, began bringing back the hatred of the 1910s.
Ignorance is an easily cured disease, if the sufferer wishes to work to cure it - I wish you accept the challenge to do so.
16
Has anyone ever seen a more fake, pathetic, listless, and disingenuous speech then the one Donald Trump delivered the other day? He was like a fifth-grader being forced to apologize by his parents to the kid he beat up on the playground.
52
@Chicago Guy Actually, in 5th grade, he was the kid who enlisted other kids to beat up the loner. As adults, many of them (but not the Don) expressed remorse.
@Alan
And Hitler was the fürher.
That is the point.
Speaking, shouting, demanding truth to power is as important today as it was in the early 1930’s.
20
Witness how shamelessly the Democrats and their minions are politicizing these atrocities.....attempting to score cheap pre-election points. Nauseating.
6
Yes...you quite surely are.
32
@Michaela The Democrats??? But it was the Trump who did the talking. And he keeps on giving them points day after day.
1
@Bodymanb
A personal attack. Why am I not surprised...
First things first: The photo at the lead of this article with a protester holding a sign that says '45 Is Responsible,' can and will be used by Trump as a sign of support in his further deceptive and deceitful communications strategy.
Second, the timid apologies for this proven corrupt, greedy and hateful specimen of a human being, aside from being our Devil-In-Chief, are sadly too little and too late. The damage has already been done and the media bears as much responsibility as the subjects they too politely coddle at their own and their country's risk.
If you're outraged, at least have the courage to speak truth to power, however illegal that power may be.
Vote.
11
For two years, Frank Bruni has had the greatest insight into Trump's [lack of] character. Once again, he has nailed it.
32
You've nailed it, Frank Bruni, however terrifying!
13
I agree!
2
Unless and until there is a serious stock market meltdown, nothing will change.
11
Then I should point you to the article on how the tariffs are roiling the markets and the news of China's devaluation of the yen. The economy could get ugly fast if this continues.
15
@greg "could" doesn't quite cut it.
Trump’s speech reminded me of a hostage under coercion, forced to say things he doesn’t believe in.
25
Portions of Trump's speech on August 5th on the El Paso and Dayton mass shootings:
“We are a loving nation, and our children are entitled to grow up in a just, peaceful, and loving society.”
“Open wounds cannot heal if we are divided.”
“Cultural change is hard, but each of us can choose to build a culture that celebrates the inherent worth and dignity of every human life."
“Now is the time to set destructive partisanship aside, so destructive, and find the courage to answer hatred with unity, devotion, and love.”
Really?
The hypocrisy is truly brazen. Or is it just emotional and mental incapacity? How does he reconcile words of tolerance, unity, peace, love! with his divisive and dangerous rhetoric? He is the President of THE United States! and it is very difficult to accept that he gets away with such behavior and lies. Where are the sensible Republican leaders?
25
"He’s no foe of bigotry. He’s an agent of it"
It's in his DNA
He is a vile racist bigot. Period.
Always has and always will be.
26
If the hood fits, he must wear it.
35
Yes, trump plays with fire. And he's playing a deadly game. People get killed in the wake of his venom.
But it isn't only trump and his vile base who got us trump. It's the entire republican party, present and past, who frankensteined this monster and greased the skids for him to come to office.
He's not the first republican president who was also a racist, foul-mouthed and evil like Nixon, calling African people monkeys and making war on the press like saint Reagan.
It's the republicans, stupid! Vote them out before they get us into another stupid, pointless catastrophic war or another republican great recession. They do both so well.
Vote them out!
18
This paper reminds us that Trump is a 'bigot', 'racist', 'misogynist', and 'xenophobe' every single day, multiple times a day. The NY Times feels more like a Super PAC than a newspaper.
8
If the press does not call out the lies and the racism, then the press is complicit. It is repulsive to fault the press because they have a constant stream of racism to report.
19
@Carl Pop ... and because they are doing their duty. they don't exist simply to report on the ball games and stock market gains.
15
You're both right. I concede my earlier point.
Frank, you are so wrong. Should look to hatred and lies amongst Dems. But, of course, the Dems are busy proof reading NYT stories and headlines.
6
Perhaps the New York Times should spend more time reporting the news and not on propagating the works of "Opinionated Columnists.
8
Opinion columns have been a valid, even indispensable feature of newspapers from the beginning, and do not detract from ethical, accurate reporting. If you have a well-reasoned response to this column, then share it with us.
1
@SD But it's the Opinion page, SD. If you don't want his opinions, don't go to that page.
The grotesque vulgarian squatting in the White House is a xenophobe and racist. His awkward and robotic TV denunciation of racism, bigotry and white supremacy rings hollow; he revels in whipping up such hatred. He will ultimately do nothing of import to curb gun violence and racism, will return to his vile ways, and will continue to embolden bigots, racists and white supremacists. In essence, he is a raging vector of moral disease, bigotry, racism and xenophobia, and his unhinged blustering encourages others to model their behaviour and deeds after his hate-filled rants. Good luck to the USA.
13
I, too, was sickened by Trump's little charade where he dishonestly purported to disavow, without an iota of sincerity, all that he stands for, all that he has tried for years to inflame, all of his racist being.
If I were a resident of Dayton or El Paso, I would not want him to visit; I would not want him to befoul the resting places of those who unnecessarily died as a result of his words and urgings. Those communities are aggrieved by their losses. They don't need to have the cause come to them and pretend he disavows white nationalists and white supremacists (when he is, in fact, a white nationalist and white supremacist) and to falsely recite the empty and overused phrase that his "thoughts and prayers" are with those who suffered losses (when, in fact, he has never prayed and is incapable of serious thought).
Trump insults the dead by visiting the places where the deaths resulted from his inducements and inflamed speech.
I am deeply ashamed of Trump. I feel he possesses not a single human trait, not a single trait that elevates himself above animal status.
37
I live 15 miles from Dayton, and am sitting a couple of blocks from the massacre at an Irish jam. We’ve been watching military helicopters case our community. We don’t want trump here. We want him impeached.
41
@Carol Young But that's the campus viewpoint. What do the folks downtown or in Cincinnati have to say?
@The Old Guy Well, let's be fair. He does have opposable thumbs. And he can change his hair whenever he wants.
Trump is horrible. That is clear. So many of us have known that since he surfaced in New York decades ago. But perhaps after we have finished grieving for those lost in El Paso, Dayton and California, we will be ready to consider what actions to take to defeat him and to take the Senate away from the Reps in 2020.
The first step will be to find a Dem who can get those electoral votes in the purple states and govern effectively our wounded country once elected. I am currently living in one of those states and while the weekend's awful news has many independents and moderate Reps looking aghast at the White House, there is no Dem candidate who has caught the imagination on despite Biden's lead in the polls. I hope that the candidate eventually selected will reject Trump soundly, but will welcome our fellow Americans who now regret voting for him and want to see the country move beyond this disastrous and divisive moment in our beloved country's history to a better future for us all.
8
Take heart Mr. Bruni the law of unintended consequences about to convert Trump's words into guardrails for future unhinged tent revivals and racially tinged tweets. The evils listed by the President provide a gauge for grading his behavior. Hypocrisy on display if he reverts to form, a great lie from which recovery even for Trump impossible.
His speech replayed each time be breaches his pledge to rid the US of these evils in a hate filled tweet or incitement at a rally. Can he truly run his 2020 campaign on race baiting after these events and his speech? Or keep trotting out demeaning characterizations of the Squad? Under the new formula does Trump owe Cummings an apology?
The leopard needs to change his spots in a hurry. Even Hannity or Kellyanne cannot spin vile statements graded against the President's own words this time around. Ironic fails to describe Trump's healing effort forcing him into debates on policy. Race baiting and immigrant bashing off the table.
4
I heard Trump give his scripted address while I was driving home yesterday.
Unfortunately it didn’t surprise me. His wooden delivery contrasted with the usual fare: overblown twitter rants and animated campaign speeches about invasions of rapists, murderers, and drug dealers coming across the border, screeds referring to illegal immigrants with terms one usually reserves for infestations of insects and rats. In his speech yesterday Trump didn’t joke the way he does when one of his followers calls for people to shoot illegal immigrants.
We all know Trump didn’t mean anything he said on Monday in opposition to hate and bigotry.
The fact that the shooter in El Paso used Trump’s exact language in his online manifesto is no accident: despite protestations otherwise, the shooter was acting out Trump’s will. Trump is the leader of white nationalism in the US, and his followers hear his call.
If Trump were ISIS leader Al Bagdhadi venting his rage and inciting murder in the West we would decry him as a terrorist. But Trump is our president.
I don’t see the difference, other than matter of degree and the number of dead. Al Bagdhadi has merely been at it longer. To me, Trump might just as well have been there in El Paso pulling the trigger.
The House should add inciting domestic terrorism to the articles of impeachment.
15
Wrong. If the left is going to violate the rule of law(the very reason legal immigrants want to come to the US) by allowing open borders and the patently fraudulent asylum system, then they are as much to blame for the anger infecting this country as the right. And conveniently trying to ignore the fact that most domestic terrorists are angry men—and not always white men, just adds fuel to the fire. The hate that speed from the left is not—is not, justified by Trump. Go back to the Reagan and George W years—many on the left hates conservatives as much as some of these mass murderers hate people of color. One wrong does not make a right. And don’t forget that by the end of this weekend, far more young men of color will muse other young men of color than these isolated white supremacists will kill the rest of this year. There is plenty of hate to go around and it’s not because of Trump.
6
“Donald Trump didn’t get his wall so of course someone shot up a Walmart.”
That’s our new normal: you wouldn’t want more gun massacres, better give Trump what he wants.
It's so obvious teleprompter Trump is not the real Trump. It's the Trump his handlers wish they had. So they write a speech hoping to deflect and defuse the situation his own mouth created. But Trump can't even say it let alone think it.
15
I like Frank's writing and don't doubt his earnestness. But like almost the entire democratic electorate he has settled for constantly setting fire to a straw-man version of Trump rather than dealing with Trump the human person. Trump is a jerk. He's narcissistic and insecure. He has almost no self-awareness. Those are unfortunate traits, but not entirely outside the human condition. What he's *not* is the soul-less sociopath the MSM would seem to prefer. Bigots and Racists appeal to ideology. Trump has no ideology. He likes positive attention and will take it from anyone. He's also a fighter...and a winner, in pretty much what ever zero-sum game he plays. He's a complex human being--not a cartoon character. The Resistance would do well to recognize that basic fact prior to the fall of '20.
6
I respectfully disagree. Racists and bigots are not always proponents of any particular ideology. Many if not most are simply ignorant.
Be best.
5
I hate the phrase “ Be Best” because let’s face it, most of the people who are bullied will never “ Be Best” at anything , according to conventional society. Until Melania starts calling out the hurt her husband causes she has no right to run any kind of antibullying campaign. “ Be Best” is the height of hypocrisy and I feel for American teachers on the front lines of fighting against the wave of bullying coming in this upcoming school year enabled by the hate emanating from the White House. Let’s face it, no amount of digital literacy or citizenship training can stem the hurt caused by kids who will feel they have every right to emulate the model set by this President.
You are wrong about one thing: trump and all who voted for him caused these shootings They all have blood on their hands These people knew who he was when they voted for him
15
Trump’s speech deploring racism was ironically a self revelation. Everything he uttered against bigotry, racism, and hatred he is guilty of. His entire political career is based on demagoguery steeped in racism, conspiracy, resentment and hate. Think of his leading role in birthism with its racism accusing President Obama as being illegitimate; his campaign with its Mexican rapists and its wall; his fine people who are neo-Nazis; his rhetoric of invasion, vermin, and infestation that is copied from the speeches of Adolf Hitler; his inaugural address of American carnage with its stereotypical depiction of black urban slum violence.
His audacity and his hypocrisy in giving this speech reflect his true character. He is a shameless liar and amoral bigot and malignant demagogue. He is not a legitimate President and he should never be forgiven or excused for his moral turpitude! Never! No media rationalizations please. He is loathsome.
15
I just want to note for the manifesto that this article was accompanied by an interactive ad for a violent video game.
I clicked on it.
Look out, world!
2
Uhhh. The ad is probably linked to your search and consumer history. And others see different ads. No ad for video games for me — I’m not the target audience for such ads. And anyway what is your point?
Where was Frank Bruni and those protesters, when Baltimore was having more murders than the dead in Afghanistan war during the Obama years?
Why did you not come up and say '44 is responsible' when Chicago, Baltimore and others were burning?
5
@Autumn Leaf Because (1) it was not politically correct and they would have been called racist, (2) because it would have added to tensions along all fronts, and, finally, (3) it was only within President Obama's prerogative to speak to the sadness of the destruction and death - it was a Baltimore cop who caused the problem and it was Baltimore's and the state of Maryland's duty to fix the problem. I liked President Obama and voted for him twice - I wish he would run again - he could. But President Obama (unlike the current White House resident) knew he was not all powerful, not the Almighty, and he could not control hatred any more than he could control the weather. His Presidency, like all Presidencies, had some problems, mostly caused by white dissidents who hated a (half) black man in the White House, but, also, because black people felt he should give them advantages and make everything all right for them. He had to walk a tightrope his entire Presidency and the strain showed but, overall, he was the finest man for the job in the past half-century. When he left office, the tightrope, already stretched tight by Trump and his fanatic minority, snapped. With no tightrope, Trump is gleefully trying to undue all the good President Obama did.
22
@AutumnLeaf Because Obama wasn’t promoting it as Trump has done.
6
Hum, what Frank said:
Before I go any further: I don’t claim that Trump specifically caused or catalyzed El Paso or Pittsburgh or related blood baths, because nothing’s that tidy, because I know that mass shootings and mad shooters predate him and because, in a sense, it doesn’t matter. The enmity he sows and the hatred he reaps are unacceptable regardless, and they’re certainly not lowering the temperature of political discourse in America.
I am sorry, try again.
2
Actually, Trump did reply to the shouted response in Florida. He said "Only in the Panhandle...". Still, he's enabling hatred. I voted for him because he was the lesser of two bad, unqualified people. 18% of voters felt neither was qualified and trump beat out Hillary by 51 pts.
Now, it is clear he will not unite us. He will only divide us. Plus, he doesn't know jack about economics or monetary policy and he's not a conservative. I might have to vote for "none of the above" in 11/20.
1
That’s a cop out and he is no surprise to many.
11
Hillary was one of the most qualified candidates ever. She was an excellent Secretary of State, a very sedulous and brilliant Senator from New York, and a very engaged First Lady. She is a brilliant and highly educated woman. I think you have listened to Fox News and right wing radio too much because your opinion is sheer nonsense. Now Trump was the least qualified candidate to ever run for office - a fraud, a con artist, and a racist. I hope you reflect a little on how untruthful your statements are!
23
@IN "Trump was the least qualified candidate to ever run for office - a fraud, a con artist, and a racist." Unfortunately, those are the very reasons so many people voted for him...and so far he hasn't let them down.
Trump operates within his and his followers rules of "plausible deniability." This is his whole trick for appealing to his misguided base.
Telling someone "to go back to where they came from" isn't of itself necessarily a racist statement. Australians or New Zealanders say this to British citizens, or Montanans may say this to Californians, or Hawaiians or Parisians may say this to the world in general with no racial overtones at all.
The Tweets are indeed meant to convey racism or sexism or zelophobia but they are broad enough statements to allow he and his followers the "plausible deniability" to claim that Dems are just so lily-livered and oversensitive that they immediately take umbrage.
So, the technique is a vile one of dog whistles and a way of not only disparaging the objects of his bigotry, but also a way to wink and nod at his adoring devotees.
Isn't there a media savvy way to catch and call him out on this? I think it's important not to rise to this particular bait and perhaps this encouragement of violence will expose the technique for what it is.
"Maybe the second amendment people can help with Hillary" is, in fact, threatening firearms violence and as such Trump himself should be put on a domestic, right wing terrorist watch list. What a horrid era we are in.
15
Trump is a stirrer, for sure, but to read bigoted racist intent from some of Trump's ambiguous statements and actions in contravention of some other of Trump's explicit statements and actions is a dangerous betting game for Mr. Bruni to play. Trump does appear malleable under the pressing circumstances of the day. Does that make him a racist bigot and white supremacist? Not necessarily. It does make him a politician, though.
Another question is how to judge, and who is qualified to judge, Trump's bona fides as a racist bigot and white supremacist. Certainly not the myriad Democratic Party candidates for president who are pitching a political narrative to advance their own political interests, or a Times columnist. Trump's character, while weak in many respects, will be subjected to a test on the particular question of whether, as president, he has on balance spoken and acted, and will in the future speak and act, as a racist bigot and white supremacist. So far, I don't see Mr. Bruni's ad hominem case as dispositive, or even likely as an advance prediction of some future historical psychobiography. We shall see.
3
The silence of GOP majority in the Senate since 2015 on then presidential candidate Donald Trump's racists and derogatory remarks about Mexicans , African American Judge , Muslims , "Squad " , House Committee Chairperson , City of Baltimore and others has been mysterious . Also deafening ! This is about time for America to deal with it . What do you think ?
4
It’s so obvious Trump did not believe one word he uttered about the tragedies. When he reads a prepared script, he looks like he’s in a hostage video. There is no emotion; just the dull, flat vocalization of someone who wants to be anywhere else but on that stage saying those words. Contrast that to his behavior at his rallies. Stoking hatred and violence is a much more satisfying milieux for this truly evil man. I believe if he gets a second term, we’re doomed.
16
I wonder who wrote 'his' statement for him. Doubtless someone with a good eye to the political and a far better grasp of the English language than Donald Trump
9
@Anne-Marie Hislop
I share your curiosity about this. Steven Miller would be my guess.
And similarly, most of Trump's tweets are not his creations. Doesn't he have a special "Tweeter Guy" Dan Scavino? Read about it here on the NYT's.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/16/magazine/dan-scavino-the-secretary-of-offense.html
1
@Alan Behr
"Mind you, I'm no fan of the president of the United States, but he is indeed the president of the United States"
No, he's NOT the president of the United States!
He's the ILLEGITIMATE occupier of the Oval Office. The Russian Asset installed by Vladimir Putin, his Puppet Master.
The Illegitimate One INFESTS the White House, which is why Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand said the first thing she would do if she became president was to Clorox the Oval Office and the White House. Sounds like a necessary first step to me!
16
No reporter or journalist should ever get into a discussion with anyone in TrumpWorld (Kelleyanne Conway, for instance) without prefacing the interview with the fact that Trump introduced himself to the political world with racist birther slurs against President Obama, and by calling Mexican immigrants rapists and drug runners.
No matter what a Trumpie tries to say, there is no getting around the undeniable racist foundation of Trump’s presidency. There is absolutely no defense of it.
11
PBS ...the Public Broadcasting System ...all educational and stuff.
Most of its entertainment programming are BBC reruns.
Is that 'white supremacy' education or what?
Downton Abbey rules!
2
Donald cleverly continues to debase truth, his most dangerous enemy. Think he thought of that himself, or is going on his instincts? Wrong. His playbook, similar to Hitlers, was written in Moscow and conveyed during those weekly phone “conversations” he has with Putin. That’s why they are 100pct. private calls! Hard to believe? It is but ...? Yes,it is as he referred to those calls, just last week.
5
He’s an imbecile
Least racist is still racist. Can you be a little racist?
If he said, “I am not a racist.” i still wouldn’t believe it, but or would mean something different than his actual statement.
1
The subtitle of this article should have been your headline yesterday.
Thoughts on The Donald...
Russia told the Ayatollah not to worry, 'I've got you covered when it comes to the USA' and Putin's let the USA know that Russia's got Iran covered. It's the logical 'behind the scenes' reality.
So, in the end, Trump, walked right into a smarter, well armed, determined Putin and once again it's checkmate for The Donald.
He's been checkmated by North Korea, Mexico and Canada, the EU, Venezuela...and China. Trump is and will be checkmated everywhere he meddles as he further erodes American prestige, decades of foreign service effort and expertise. We deserve it. We elected an egotistical con man.
Now here's the interesting part. Remember, Trump's an ego maniac so his compensatory ego cannot admit defeat. He's at his most dangerous and desperate for a victory.
The election is looming.
He is surrounded by 'yes men' and 'yes women'. Be prepared for the only option left for The Donald; Military intervention. Realize how dangerous Trump is and how far his huge ego is willing to go to compensate for his constant failure.
You mean nothing to his ego. He'll sacrifice you in an instant to protect his false sense of success and grandeur. It's what compensatory egos do. It's their job.
In the end, that ego will blame everything and everyone else for failure in order to protect itself. It will never learn. Learning put's it at risk to exposure and self analysis and that leads down a path too dark and too foreboding for The Donald to travel.
9
Columns like these often fail to ask the next logical question. Yes, the President is a toxic narcissist who has relentlessly aided and abetted the most paranoid elements of right-wing politics and villified all perceived enemies. But he doesn't attain the presidency unless the sentiments he has stoked were already burning.
We've spent 40 years as a society methodically breaking down the social constructs that tie us together in community and replacing it with individualism run amok. We've become a more secular society, but we haven't replaced the communal glue which the church provided. We are culturally Balkanized and people are getting lost. These horrific shootings are a byproduct of that reality.
11
@Glenn, I agree with most of your post - but surprised about the US being more "Secular" Really? over in Europe, we are, by a majority, and I thought that your representatives seem religious. I did hear one Congress member admitted she was not, but that was unusual. I am curious if this is true.
5
@Will For many years the church was the foundation of the American community. However, attendance and participation has generally been in decline for many years. With that said, the Church still plays a vital role in the lives of many Americans.I didn't intend to make any judgment about whether religion in civic life was a good or bad thing. Just that it was hub of community life that helped people to stay connected to each other. Nothing has replaced it and that is a serious problem
The hollowness of Trump's words made me sick too.
9
Our President's attitude and behavior are often deplorable. He lacks empathy and his fitness for the position is debatable.
However the problem of this country is that the alternative offered by most Democrat candidates is hardly more appetizing.
The eagerness of some of them (and of some opinion writers) to hijack the drama of these murderous attacks for their party political obsessions sickens me. Our 2020 choice for President may be as challenging as the one in 2016.
2
If you believe that I have a bridge in New York to sell you.
6
2016 wasn’t challenging for the racists and neither will 2020 be.
Regardless of who wins in 2020 I think we will have a succession movement in the USA. None of the Democrats looks to be an Abraham Lincoln and that’s who we need. Our country hasn’t seen polarization like this since the Civil War.
5
@ScottC You mean secession -- not 'succession.' I agree with you: I don't think this phenomenon is tied to Trump, and it's a mistake to state that Trump caused it. Whoever follows Trump, it won't be a globalist like Bush or Obama on either side of the aisle. The left is pursuing its own identity politics (which is the equivalent of white nationalism) and had been doing it even before Trump's racist remarks.
1
Once again, Mr. Bruni enlightens us.
Seeing Trump bottomless lack of moral and ethics as a bad businessman, his inability to close an umbrella (remember at the AirForce 1?), his (ridiculous) suntanned face in winter, I wonder if he is not who sends the tweets. He does not read. I don't think he can type. What if his job is just to be the puppet of Medieval minds like Pence, McConnell and them his ventriloquists?
7
We are at an abolitionist moment. These are perilous times. Do we hold back like Nancy Pelosi or stand strong as Elizabeth Warren? We must hit the streets. But who is leading? Not Indivisible, not churches, not students, not women. We have no Martin Luther King. What has happened to us?
5
It is likely that not all Trump supporters are racists, however, all racists are likely Trump supporters.
17
@C. M. Jones They may not be racists, however, the stench of Trump still sticks to them.
6
Is he an agent OF bigotry, or an agent FOR bigotry? I'm sure you paused on the distinction. And your choice of words is accurate: trump merely is a carrier of the disease. He is not a leader and proponent of the disease. He is a follower of base instincts.
2
"A pantomime of dignity" is good. But what a pathetic, unconvincing one. Whenever Trump has to say something he doesn't want to, he mentally checks out, his voice goes flat, and his eyes roll back so far into his head (figuratively speaking) that you expect them to plop onto the floor behind him.
I had never seen a person utterly without dignity until I saw Donald Trump in action. Even when he tries to read a script crafted to sound "presidential," he undercuts it by conveying boredom beyond measure. And a crass liar who makes outrageous claims for his own "very stable genius" can never earn respect or achieve anything like dignity.
He can't take a stand against his white extremist base; he has to brag so grotesquely that nobody could possibly put any stock in what he's saying. Just last week (July 31, 2019) he tweeted: "I am the least racist person there is anywhere in the world."
He knows he's not fooling anyone. Or maybe he doesn't. Which evil is worse?
13
"I also don’t believe that all of Trump’s backers are bigots..." Maybe not in the narrow sense of the term. But they tolerate and allow what goes on so that the unacceptable continues. In the Nazi era they were called collaborators.
13
Not only is Trump the major vector for vicious and destructive racism and hatred of all kinds but the Republican Party in the House and the Senate and The Supreme Court and in the state governments are all allies and vectors of this disease themselves because they do nothing and say nothing to oppose it, and they are in league with corporate America which pays for the major part of their election. The only thing missing here for the full fascist treatment is the stiff arm salute.
8
Maurice
Australia
Your president is the most dangerous person the world has faced since Mussolini and Hitler. As Hitler's Minister for propaganda Goebbels has discovered you can lie most of the time and get away with it. Trump lies and lies and his blind followers accept his lies and act accordingly.
His wooden delivery following the two massacres was not only heartless but contained a basic lie that is "guns do not kill". All the statistics show that of all the advanced countries in the world yours, regretfully, has by far the highest rate of killings by gun. And yet the bizarre concept that a "good guy" will take care of the bad guy is being seriously advanced. The insanity of this proposition must be exposed. Just imagine that schoolteachers be armed (as Trump has advocated) confront a gunman and in the process more children are killed. The obvious reality is guns do kill and the racist utterances of Trump simply poor fuel onto the fire.
He pretends he is not a racist, yet every utterance of his in the past few years has been that of a man who is racist to the bone.
To distract you all he will do what he can to start a war with Iran.
14
Didn't you hear, Frank? The culprit is video games. Or mental illness. Or Barack Obama. Or anything else you can pull out of your hat. Our rabble-rousing, lying, self-absorbed, big-fat-mouth of a president is blameless.
At least according to Donald Trump.
14
After decades of his uninformed blatherings enabled by entertainment media, Trump is obviously, OBVIOUSLY, a low- I.Q. individual, a racist misogynist and a bad actor. He can't even read a teleprompter without sounding like a long-dead corpse.
11
I love how all the lefties weaponize race and reduce Trump supporters to one stereotyped straw white man. Shakespeare could not pen such irony.
3
Thank you Mr Bruni.
4
Give us all a break with the constant projection. The lefties are the party of identity and race politics. They want race and gender weaponized. They want all aspects of life judged by the level of your race, gender, and class victimhood.
4
But what does this have to do with our dangerous, toxic president?
6
Actual words paraphrased "They are not sending us their best, they are sending rapists and murders" Makes a difference doesn't it? As for the "good people on both sides" quote, he was speaking of the confederate statue controversy, not the white supremacist chanting "Jews will not replace us." And by the way, there has not been an American president in modern history more well liked by the people and government of Israel than Donald Trump. And their qualifications for what is anti semite and what isn't are probably as good as yours.
My point is simply this, if he and his supporters are so incredibly heinous, and such liars, white supremacists, whatever, then you should be able to find more than enough evidence to validate your words and justify your writing them. You don't need to use partial quotes that have been continuously sold as the truth when at best they're gross misrepresentations, and at worst blatant lies. But yet, you do. And why? Because so many people will read what you have written and never bother to research it. You obviously hate Trump and his supporters but rather than use this incredible power you have been given by way of the NYT, to discredit him with the truth you instead lie.
I find this entire column to be childishly hateful and more like something I'd read in the comment section of the Huffington Post than at the NYT. Frankly I'm surprised they published it. Then again, they sure changed that headline quickly last night so cowards will be cowards.
1
And what was that Hitler said about the Big Lie.....
7
I’d like to add a little something on the subject of fear.
Trump traffics in it and eggs on his followers to do the same. When their numbers are greater than the numbers of us who oppose Trump
and his racism, there is fear in lots of quarters.
That includes white people who oppose Trump and all he stands for. I am a white woman and a Democrat living in a very red area—a new neighborhood for me, and how I wish I could just pick up and move. Why?
Well, there is the old white guy a few houses over who says he won’t buy at the local liquor store because it is run by “Arabs” and he “doesn’t want to support ISIS.” A proud Trump supporter and Fox News devotee.
And there is the white couple who moved here from another state wondering why they have to produce “all these documents” to the DMV for their new driver’s licenses, “but the immigrants can walk right in and get one right away.”
Again, MAGA folks. A few attempts to talk with them, to try to understand more about their misconceptions, to talk about facts, have gone nowhere, and left me feeling unsettled and guarded. And alone.
Will I be putting up campaign signs in my yard for my favorite Democratic candidate? Not on your life.
So there is fear in many quarters...maybe right next door.
12
Even that speech was a performance for his base. He mouths the words with palpable insincerity and almost chokes on the word "bipartisan" so that his base knows that he really doesn't mean any of it, but it gives him (and them) cover to pretend that he is not a racist. It's all a theater of the absurd, a scripted shadow play of deception and distraction. We don't just need to Clorox the Oval Office- we need to exorcise it.
4
"I also don’t believe that all of Trump’s backers are bigots, and insistences along those lines are an overreach "
Well Mr. Bruni, what qualifies one of his backers as being non-bigoted? If someone hears the man's statements, reads his Twitter feed, watches or attends his rallies and votes for him, how can they not be a bigot? Or do you suppose that some of his followers can somehow tune out his hateful, vicious spew of racist bile and just vote for the tax cuts for the rich, the support for dictators and the trade policy? Is not aiding and abetting racism itself racist? One cannot support this man and not support his racism and I, for one, have no problem calling that out.
4
The reason that Trump most certainly will be up to his old tweets and tricks in no time is not simply because "he's not going to mess with a good thing." It's because he can't help himself. Let's face it, folks - he's psychotic. He suffers from multiple personality disorders and is incapable of feeling genuine empathy. He only read the script because his aides convinced him that doing so was in his best interests.
4
It is only a matter of time before Trump and other Republicans start talking publicly about white nationalism.
That is the logical next step.
My mind is preparing for that day with trepidation.
The only argument in my mind against him doing that is that he would lose America's allies on a mass scale - and America's national security is dependant on bases in other countries - such as my own - around the world.
4
You know, we can’t stand around uselessly calling Trump names for four years.
I mean, we can, but it looks awfully foolish.
What real recourse do we have? The profiteers, criminals and mass murderers have ridden into town, tied up the Marshal and hung him upside down in a well.
So. Other than name calling. What’s the next real step???
3
I watched the TV serial Loudest Voice and it gave me a bit of background on Trump. The biggest villain for this hateful period in US history is Fox "News" and the right wing radio. Frank you also need to do an article on Stephen Miller the architect of Trump's hate messenger.
4
Not a great image to lead with: "45 is responsible." I understand the contextual sentiment, but frankly, the statement misses the mark by a mile. 45 is the opposite of responsible. His rhetoric is IR-responsible. I know the photo editor was attempting to convey the protests, but this image and this sign are a complete miss.
1
Starting to realize all this soul searching and philosophizing is a complete waste of time. We knew what kind of a person he was and yet he became the president, he continues to break all the rules and yet no one can do anything about it. And he will be re-elected and we will have more editorials and soul searching and thoughts and prayers and the charade will continue. Maybe because we want it to, maybe because we really are all a bunch of gutless cowards.
4
As the greatest Republican President once said, “You can fool some of the people all of the time.” And that’s Trump’s base.
4
Perhaps not all of trumps backers are bigots/racists. But they sure don’t mind when other people are.
3
Teleprompter Trump vs. Twitter Trump
IMO, this “president” has numerous mental illnesses: Narcissistic Personality Disorder for one.
But he also has Multiple Personality Disorder with two distinct personalities.
There’s Teleprompter Trump whom we saw on Monday, right after the 2 mass killings in Dayton and El Paso. He’s a fraud. Nothing that comes out of his mouth has ANYTHING to do with what he really thinks and believes. He mouths the words but doesn’t mean a single thing he’s saying.
Then there’s Twitter Trump. He's also a fraud. But this is the Trump personality that spews hate, bigotry and racism and these are the things that Trump embraces and believes in passionately.
Now Teleprompter Trump and Twitter Trump don’t even know about each other. They would not recognize each other if they were to meet in the White House some day.
So don’t be confused by the conflicting statements you hear from the Illegitimate One. He’s a very, very sick man...
5
Teleprompter Trump vs. Twitter Trump
There’s Teleprompter Trump whom we saw on Monday, right after the 2 mass killings in Dayton and El Paso. He’s a fraud. Nothing that comes out of his mouth has ANYTHING to do with what he really thinks and believes. He mouths the words but doesn’t mean a single thing he’s saying.
Then there’s Twitter Trump. He's also a fraud. But this is the Trump personality that spews hate, bigotry and racism and these are the things that Trump embraces and believes in passionately.
Now Teleprompter Trump and Twitter Trump don’t even know about each other. They would not recognize each other if they were to meet in the White House some day.
So don’t be confused by the conflicting statements you hear from the Illegitimate One.
2
This is what we all must understand: Donald Trump won the election precisely because he is a bigot. The level of racism in this country is just as high as ever, and the president’s rallies are filled with white faces that are filled with hate and anger. It’s scary to watch.
6
Frank he is a proven bigot, failed business leader and conman. Why elect him knowing this if you do not share these characteristics...
3
Trump--is an agent of hate. You got it! Very true.
6
“He’s no foe of bigotry. He’s an agent of it.”
No click bait on this article!
1
So when Omar said we should be afraid of all white men, is that bigotry?
4
Unfortunately the Party Judas controls the Senate.
5
You write "I also don’t believe that all of Trump’s backers are bigots, ...Trump rose and Trump rules for an array of reasons." Right you are! The same could be said of Hitler and his backers!
2
What should scare the majority of the country is that there are 63 million racist and bigots just like trump that inhabit our country. And it is starting to look like some of these people (white supremacist) have fully automatic weapon and are ready to use them. Fanning the fire with his tweets and pep rallies is dangerous for any person of color or someone who thinks this president very insecure lying racist man child.
5
"I also don't believe that all of Trump's backers are bigots..." as and old nun taught me in grammar school.....Show me your friends and I'll tell you what you are.
8
Not “some quarters”, Frank. Racist ones. Bullies are only stopped by confrontation and force. Criminals, like the inciting hatred POTUS, only by law enforcement. His propaganda actually lead to loss of life, as amply shown by the killers citing him. It’s a pattern, and he belongs in jail even just for that. There is a law mandating his kind of responsibility. He also a traitor, a foreign agent, with the whole GOP and the NRA in tow as the fifth column. Or in this case the truth is too hot to be “fit to print”?
5
I am not trying to trivialize this issue, but Trump and his speech can be well described as follows:.
.......a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
Shakespeare, Macbeth.
4
America - The Land of the Free and the
Home of the Mass Shooting
3
This bigoted, amoral man courts hate, encourages division and resentment — exhibiting a sadistic streak, that I believe he enjoys. Just about the most unfit, self-absorbed and dangerous person ever to occupy the Oval Office, surrounding himself with white nationalist thugs like Miller, admiring murderous despots like Jung-Un, *Putin* and Duterte. We can do so much better than this! It's up to all of us to encourage "our better angels" to the polls, to counter this un-American, unacceptable cancer on our democracy.
Vote!
Against hate, against everything he represents.
3
Take a look into our country from the outside, then get angry, then vote all Republicans out of office. The longer this lasts, the more it becomes true: There is a New America. They are not the shining city on the hill anymore. They are not the best. They are a flawed, damaged, scarred, scared, sad, bitter, angry, violent country, just like so many others. They are white bigots and terrorists- fat, greedy and murderous. They cannot be Made Great again. They are all the things their President said in his inaugural address.
6
How ironic that Trump is blaming gun violence on the mentally ill. This president's track record is one of purposefully weakening — not strengthening — gun safety laws. Here's what he's done:
-- Repealed the SSA's rule requiring records be submitted to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System for disability recipients prohibited from possessing guns due to ....significant mental illness.
The result? An estimated 400,000 records will no longer go into the system, and people with severe mental illness — who are prohibited from having guns — can now pass a background check and buy weapons.
-- In 2017, the then Republican-led House also passed a bill that would remove a gun prohibition for Veterans’ Affairs beneficiaries who are...severely mentally ill.
The result? Removing nearly 170,000 records from the background checks system, thereby allowing even more mentally ill people to buy and use guns.
-- Narrowed the definition of who is a fugitive under federal law, allowing more people on the run from the law to pass a background check.
The result? In the first six months after the policy change, background check denials to fugitives plummeted by 80 percent.
-- The gun lobby spent more than $55 million to elect Donald Trump and NRA allies in Congress in 2016.
The result? NRA-backed Republicans introduced legislation to enact the NRA’s top legislative priorities, even overriding states’ gun safety laws. THEY are intentionally making us less safe.
7
Wow, this is the dark circular logic of, well, a religious fanatic. Trump's a heretic, an unbeliever, a blasphemer! He is Satan in the flesh and beyond redemption! And you, the Pope, er, I mean, Mr. Bruni, you KNOW what's in Trump's heart, no matter what he says or does. You KNOW how to judge his words and deeds, never mind what anyone else thinks.
Ok, so, what then? Unless Trump commits hari kari -- literally hari kari -- on national TV, you will never allow him to try to unify and heal? Malcolm X was a nihilist violent revolutionary... until he wasn't. Abraham Lincoln was willing to maintain the Union thru slavery or abolition... until he wasn't.
And you wonder why Trump acts like Trump, and why people respond to that? Why should they do anything else, they can't win with people like Torquemada, sorry I mean, Mr. Bruni...
@Harry Mylar
He will NEVER try to unify and heal - he'd lose his base.
"Bigot - One fanatically devoted to one's own group, religion, race, or politics and intolerant of those who differ." Webster's II New College Dictionary. This describes democrats much better than republicans, Frank, excepting that democrats use words such as bigot, racist, sexist, whatever, to attack their foes, truly turning the English language on its ear.
1
Justice Potter Stewart famously opined in Jacobellis v. Ohio, 378 U.S. 184 (1964) [a famous First Amendment case which grappled with the definition of obscenity], “I know it when I see it.” For those who have heard racial slurs throughout a lifetime and seen the consequent bullying, we don’t need a definition of racism. We know it when we see it. We see the maliciousness in a person’s thinking, words, heart and actions. Thus, when the president reads from a teleprompter that he opposes white supremacy, we don’t believe it because we know the words do not match what is in his heart and soul, as proven by his past conduct - acts and omissions.
Racism flourishes when racist actions are tolerated out of fear of being ostracized. Trump’s biggest acts of racism are his omissions when he refuses to be like John McCain who took the microphone from the woman who said she could not trust Obama because he was an Arab. Trump could stand up to his crowds who shout, “Send her back,” but he is a coward who wants the “love” of racism.
Trump’s teleprompter remarks are vapid, untrue, and pernicious - he is a racist.
7
In regard to the quote, the judge was actually referring to “hard core pornography” and said he couldn’t define it, “but I know it when I see it”. Still a good comparison though.
All of Trumps backers may not be (but likely are) bigots but all bigots are Trump backers.
5
The "big lie" is a propaganda technique first documented in 1920's Germany.
4
Funny how Trump was embraced by Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and Oprah Winfrey, and then when he ran for the White House he suddenly was denounced as racist. But then, understandable ... anyone who disagrees with the left these days is a racist.
3
Funny how you see only what you want to see.
11
All I can say is I won't be going to Walmart ever again. Maybe, just maybe there will be enough other people frightened for their lives like me who will finally break the back of corporate america who bought and sold our country to trump, mcconnell and all the other elected shills for corporate america bought and sold with dark money, citizen's united and funding beyond my comprehension to make us hostage to statesmen who are nothing of the kind.
It is no surprise that this happened on the interim of our congress ending from the most lazy congressional session ever.
Maybe, just maybe the Waltons, the Adelsons and all of the other dynasties who bought this outcome for our country made their final false step.
We can only wish (I don't want harm of anyone) finally we can all agree that for some to benefit so much while the vast majority of the rest of us fail is just not right. Can we all agree and engage in peaceful accessment of the mess we find ourselves in to find a way for all of us who've put in our blood sweat and tears into making lives for ourselves to be just ok? I don't have to be a wild success. Just ok will be fine.
It is my sincerest hope that this is the reckoning point where things start to re-balance without having to go to their logical conclusion for real change to begin.
Who all else is in with me?
7
Let us say that from now on Trump completely changes in the way he speaks at his rallies and he does not spew hatred. Can he be believed, his followers will know that he is still the same Trump and is doing so to confuse the other side.
2
Note perfect, Mr. Bruni.
Come November 2020 we can decide to stay home, vote to continue this, or vote to set off on another path.
I really hope the Ds, the base as well as the politicians, will give us a clear choice between Trumpism and a political philosophy that doesn’t involve demonizing anyone because of race, religion, gender, or place of origin. That’s a much better choice than changing up who gets trash talked.
2
"I don’t claim that Trump specifically caused or catalyzed El Paso or Pittsburgh or related blood baths[s]."
Respectfully, I surely believe he did. And now he's going to take a victory lap in El Paso, just like he did in Pittsburgh, disguised as a condolence call.
10
Until Donald says something like my rallies are part of the problem and I apologize his words have no meaning.
8
Trump’s speech on Monday was a joke. He soothed and reassured no one. Read from a TelePrompTer, his words lacked emotion, empathy or any real feeling. He waited until Monday because that was how long his speechwriters took to slap one together. He sounded like a robot, like he was going through the motions. Why? Because his heart wasn’t in it. He was delivering a speech because he was told by allies that he had to. This was a moment that tested Trump’s leadership ability and like many times before, he failed. It’s clear we have a president who can only inspire people to hate, not help them aspire to greatness.
9
@Ann
Thank you for bringing up Trump's "supporters."
It has been my experience that his supporters write off Trump's racism as a cost of doing business and keeping the economy at a high pitch.
As long as they go theirs, they really don't care about fellow Americans, much less human beings. For example, they don't bat an eye at infant children of undocumented immigrants being held in cages.
These everyday people are the latter-day analogs of the phlegmatic enablers seen in Germany in the 1930s. "How did that happen?" Now we Americans know. However, nowadays digital social media is a catalyst which allows things to transpire much faster and with greater coalescent organization.
It is not only the racial hatred and odium of the Trump administration that leaves one incredulous. It is the venality, and the availing of a foreign enemy like the Russians to advance the domestic social agendas of Trump, McConnell, et al.
Conservative Barry Goldwater called Richard Milhous Nixon the "most dishonest man I ever met."
Well, Nixon would never pull what Trump has done. Not in a million years, and not for any amount of money.
7
Agree. I don’t doubt that Nixon or any other President was a patriot but not today. At least Nixon knew when he was lying
2
All these headlines, all this chaos... there is a reason, because you keep on hearing the President fomenting racial divide further and hatred of the "others", from one side of the mouth... and then from the other side, forced by "Pence-Miller-False-Facade" team, comes this utter lie of a speech.
Only psychopaths think they can lie so publicly, and how dare anyone question their sincerity... normal decent human beings have a conscious and a sense of shame.
Do you see any here?
None.
Also, I do believe Mr Trump's supporters know VERY well, the "real truth" comes out when he speaks impromptu in rallies and early morning tweets.
They are not listening to any of this 'loud-sniffing' doling of a robotic speech.
We know a liar when we hear one and we have heard him a little too many times.
How can we have this mass invasion by this "dark psychic force" (Williamson is right), this blight on the minds of a big chunk of the population... what happened to the plain decency and honesty of the common man (I don't care if you're a democrat or republican)... what happened?
How much more evidence do we need?
Why is 40% of the United States population in such denial?
Is this how societies crash and disintegrate... is this how civil unrest, civil wars start?
Is this it?
7
And let's not forget when he says we should "shine light" on the "dark recesses" of the internet and social media that only a couple of weeks ago, he hosted many of the lords of those dark recesses in the White House to complain about how badly treated he and they are.
I guess the light he wants to shine on them is a spotlight.
5
And we can't ignore Trump's latest tweets, unfortunately. Because today he is ranting that Google is planning on subverting the 2020 election. Trump peddles conspiracy theories still!
Extremists rant about Silicon Valley and immigrants on 8 chan. Trump attacks immigrants and Google on Twitter. Trump is expanding his repertoire, not caring that his evil words have evil consequences.
4
On one major point, Mr. Bruni, I disagree with you. By now, after everything we’ve seen and heard from Trump over the last three years, I think it’s fair to say that all of his backers ARE bigots. That is not to say they all endorse the kind of horrors we’ve seen recently in Gilroy and El Paso — no sane human would — but their failure to turn away from a man who is steering the country into such dark and dangerous waters of racist hatred and violence is reprehensible.
10
Indeed, if Trump's monotone intonation of his speech about the atrocities seems to contain the right words, the morphine drip will be ripped out by tomorrow.
As we write he is circling back to his original harsh, divisive and racist rhetoric.
He always circles back. Always.
13
Bruni is absolutely right. My question is: why haven’t all opponents of this vile racist come together to support a single decent candidate against Trump, whether that person is Joe Biden or John Kasich or David Mattis? The times are way too serious to allow the usual political showboating to divert us from the single imperative of removing this stain on our national honor.
3
The old saying that "actions speak louder than words" is especially appropriate for Mr. Trump. Watching him read the lines obviously written for him by someone else, after all the years of derogatory, slanderous, and yes racist and bigoted diatribes that his supporters eat up, was pretty hard to swallow. We all know it won't be long before he is back to his usual ways - does anyone want to bet that his next rally will be a demonstration of tolerance and unity? That's not what his supporters come to the rally for. They come to see him act like the bombastic showman that he is. Trump will revert to his true self quickly. It's who he is, and he doesn't want to change.
4
Why the general public tolerates a man who demonizes minorities, demeans women, resorts to humiliations, lies and fear as a leader baffles me. This man sows division, hatred, misinformation and bigotry on a daily basis. The people of PR ousted a governor within two weeks because the legal branch was "thinking" what to do.
This problem is not going away, mark my words it will grow beyond anyones control. We are becoming what was being fought in WWII.
This man in the Oval Office needs to be ousted. Congress wont do it. The senate wont do it. This is not a PARTY ISSUE. This is a social isuue beyond party, religion, belief, color, ethnicity or social rank.
He will continue to preside in incendiary rallies where a bullseye is painted on human lives. He will blame everything and everyone. How many times will we turn a blind eye and discredit truth ( plenty of tapes, videos, interviews available). His actions have impacted, children, families, economy and this is only thenbegining
5
Prior to the 2016 election I thought that Trump was the worst that America had to offer.
After a few years of his presidency, I’m certain that he is the worst that the human race has to offer.
10
Our current situation should end forever the belief that certain countries are blessed with an immunity to despotism or fascism or even mass murder encouraged by a political movement. In the last century, many of us sneered at the peoples of the Axis powers and/or those who clamored to support Mao, Stalin or Pol Pot.
In certain circles it was fashionable to believe we Americans would never support a party or leader whose rallies spewed hatred of a designated group and encouraged violence against them. Never would an American leader call others sub-human.
Well, it has come to pass and what is more at least one-third of Americans are solidly in his corner. So, wonder no more how the people of the lands who gave us Dante, or Raphael or DaVinci or Bach and Mozart and Beethoven turned to tyranny and the horrible denigration of some of their own citizens. We are not immune.
4
Better to reign over a ruined country than to be just another crass plutocrat in a noble one.
Misanthropy rather than racism or even misogyny appears to account for Trump's callous approach to his fellow man. To the president's way of thinking, all Homo Sapiens are born losers unless and until he (majestically) proclaims that they aren't.
3
The message should be, yes Mr Trump, your words are not responsible for this, because no one listens to you or no one takes you seriously. Then Sit back and watch his reaction.
1
Historians will conclude that America died on November 8th, 2016. Any and all people of conscience with the means to get out should probably be planning their exit. No doubt Trump will be re-elected and the shambles of the nation he renders will not be a place where anyone with an ounce of goodness in them will want, or be able, to thrive or survive in.
3
We are impotent in the face of the intransigence of Republicans who refuse to denounce Trump, or call him out on his racist rants. Not a word from them when Trump bashed the four young Congresswomen of color telling them to go back to the "crime infested places from which they came", and they had not a word about his Twitter diatribe about Elijah Cummings, not a word when Trump would not condemn the white nationalists marching in Charlottesville, not a word about his rally where he spewed profanities and reveled in the chants to "send them back". Not one rebuke ever of the miscreant who is occupying the White House.
Trump's speech after the unspeakable horror of the weekend was vile in its hypocrisy. Trump has done nothing but encourage racism, xenophobia, and misogyny at his rallies from day one when he was campaigning for the presidency. To stand before this country and try to distance himself from himself was disgusting. He didn't start the firestorm of racism, but he did pour fuel on it and fanned the flames of hatred.
5
Even if trump were able to, for the first time in his life, exercise self control and not tweet out hateful racist speech for the rest of his term, it's too late. That Pandora's box of evil, vile, deplorableness has been left wide open, and you can't get the demons back in.
4
For a man who will lie about anything, and does, it’s nothing for him to read from a teleprompter words that others have written that have no meaning to him.
5
On Monday, Trump read a speech written by someone else for no other reason than that he had to. He’ll be back to tweeting garbage by the end of the week because that’s who he is and what he believes.
3
Trump "the Failing President" is a con artist and a crook. The Republicans that have supported and protected him are much worse. I hope they all do not get re-elected......
4
If Trump is an racist that incites violence, what does that make those who defend and vote for him?
3
When the Fox News crowd starts complaining this week that "leftists" are using a "tragedy" to take away the guns of "mainstream Americans", Trump will be back to his usual nasty ranting and race baiting self.
1
Thank you, Frank Bruni, being the extraordinary writer that you are. Your insights and eloquence continue to dazzle me.
2
As horribly racist Trump may be, he would be unable to spew his lies and hatred and do his damage as effectively without the cowardly and derelict Republicans in the Senate supporting him every step of the way.
That needs to be where we shine the light more often. Maybe some of them have a capacity for shame that our president can't seem to muster.
7
To borrow from a fellow reader who shared an opinion (Alan Behr of NYC) my NYT opinion page shows the following stories:
"Trump's Biggest and Most Dangerous Lie"
"When the President is a Bigot, the Poison Spreads"
"Trump Is a White Nationalist Who Inspires Terrorism"
"The Nihilist in Chief"
"Trump, Tax Cuts and Terrorism"
I am starting suspect that The Grey Lady needs more diversity in its opinion section. This paper is a bastion for liberal thinking, I get it! But this paper is also read by folks like me who moderate between center right and center left. The Paper of Record is looking more like The Paper of Hate with each passing day of the Trump Presidency. Please refrain from spewing this rhetoric as you have become what you despise.
There are a lot of folks out here in America like me that just shake their head when they see article headlines like this; they are no better than the Presidents tweets. Everyone loses when this occurs and The Grey Lady deserves better.
4
Totally agree.
It is like saying “If I say AOC is equally responsible does that make it true? Same goes for AOC saying President Trump is a racist & white supremest. So by her repeatedly saying this, those on the fringe believe her rhetoric, then take extreme actions.
So AOC and the NYT need to tone it down.
1
Cultural Marxists like Bruni need to be more parsimonious with their use of "racist" and "bigotry". Being used so often by the Mandarin elite and our hate-Trump Sovietized mass-media almost losing their pejorative effect, on the verge of becoming a shibboleth for some.
By election, the polis will be inured to them and the left will need to come up something else like tapioca pudding vendor or minority hate-merchant.
Problem, though, he's neither, just being honest about the savaging being done to the integrity of the polis by those who are stomping the rights of others in their effort to create their utopian Grand Collective at any cost, by whatever means. Bruni--QED
2
Bruni over the top again.
4
@NYT Reader
Disagree.
Trump foments hate, his candidacy was predicated on it, creating division and resentment.
3
When being born white is your first and only accomplishment, that's what you go with. You're not wealthy, educated, well-traveled, well read, and have few prospects, but at least you're white. Casting about for scapegoats to explain your enduring humiliation, its easier to go after the distant powerless than to confront the cynical powers that have conspired to keep you and your families treading water, and to continue electing them for decades - while they have done less than nothing to improve your circumstances.
All of Trump's supporters, even the few non-racists, are willing to remain blind to his lies though they have yet to benefit in any material way. They received nothing from the tax cut, the farmers are receiving another body blow from the trade war, and a booming stock market has no effect on them who own no stocks. Meanwhile, they continue dropping like flies from opioid overdoses and Trump wants to take away their healthcare. I know its hard to acknowledge when someone you've put your trust in turns out to have total disdain for you, but that is the state we find ourselves in with people like Trump and McConnell. They consider their supporters as rubes and useful idiots and the rubes and useful idiots just eat it up.
4
There are two meanings of bigotry, the first “obstinate or intolerant devotion to one's own opinions and prejudices: the state of mind of a bigot” and the second “acts or beliefs characteristic of a bigot” (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bigotry ).
For sure 45 is a polarizing figure. A racially polarizing figure. Bruni makes a case for the latter definition.
Malcolm X was a self-described “black nationalist” who stated there was “no such thing as a bloodless revolution” (https://www.brut.media/us/news/malcolm-x-civil-rights-icon-and-american-enigma-579f636c-3c53-410f-8262-62529e3fb750), he was a bigot and a polarizing figure. (And a human trafficker.) Now an icon untouchable even by revisionists.
Charles Blow of the NYT is a bigot (https://www.nytimes.com/column/charles-m-blow) and gets prominent platforms and paid to espouse his bigotry regularly (https://www.facebook.com/NRATV/videos/10155332263672898/ ).
I am not defending bigotry at all. on the contrary, I want to point out that when people are selective in assailing bigotry, they reinforce it everywhere. They make it more divisive.
When is bigotry permissible? When you think it is the truth?
4
There is no conservation in American conservatism anymore. The psychopaths turned the whole English Language on its head.
2
Trump is no foe bigotry or its agent, HE IS A BIGOT! Always has been! It is sad that the mainstream media continues to tiptoe around his bigotry, misogyny and a secular fraud who promotes christian fascism.
1
And such an obvious whopper!
I wonder what enlightenment his weekly prayer circles with the Vice President and his minions provide in these dark times?
1
It certainly didn't take long to figure where this guy is coming from. He hates Trump and doesn't believe he's even human and lies about everything. I've got news for you pal, for you to write an opinion piece based on your hate and prejudice just doesn't cut it.
3
Actually, I'm angrier at (and more afraid of) 40% of my fellow Americans than I am of the ignorant, racist, and dangerous person in the White House.
1
Trump is a needy, greedy, insecure narcissist - he truly doesn’t care if he destroys the fabric of our country as long as he is re-elected.
Barack Obama was re-elected, Trump entire focus is to do the same.
3
TeleprompterTrump was cornered into to giving that speech by the outrage directed his way after the shooting. It was probably written by Stephen Miller who had to do some research on how to write a “ unifying speech.” His specialty normally is the “ I alone can fix it” genre of speech. So it flew flat.... because neither his speechwriter or Trump believed in what he was saying. He just had to appease the firestorm.
Twitter Trump on the other hand, loves his response to his divisive Twitter feeds but nothing revs him up like his rallies. He knows how to rile them up... he reads the crowd, listens to their chants, let’s their adulation soak into his narcissistic egotistical brain and winds them up. “Lock her up, criminals and rapist, invasions, send them back, only in the Panhandle “ those are some of the few great hits.
Trump can’t emote because he has no empathy. It is all about Trump, adulation, his ratings, his crowd sizes, his numbers. Teleprompter Trump is forced to step outside himself. When he does, he fails. Tweet Trump can’t be bothered with policy, details or even a coherent thought. He depends on on Fox and Friends for that and then tweets out the theme of the day and is energized by the reactions.
The only way out of this is to vote him out in 2020. He is a moral and oxygen sucking vacuum that threatens our soul as a democracy. We can’t let him or those that support him prevail.
3
All that you ever needed to know about Trump's embrace of hatred as a political tool is the fact that the only book seen in his apartment was a copy of Hitler's speeches, which he kept on his nightstand.
His father was arrested at a riot in Queens in the 1920's when members of the Ku Klux Klan fought the NYPD over the plan to bring Catholic police officers into the area.
The more things change.......
6
Once again Bruni is late to the game. This guy has never had an original idea, and he jumps on any bandwagon that comes along.
5
@Raz
Bruni's column is clearly a few miles over the head of the average Trump supporter. It's not Bruni's responsibility to dumb it down so far that they can understand it, although that might help.
6
He's suing California .
They gotcha on this one donnie boy .
4
The Grimms fairy tale, “The Boy Who Cried Wolf” sums up our minority chosen president. “No one believes a liar even when he is telling the truth”.
What a descrace!
2
Who is responsible for the 45 people killed in Chicago last month? Who runs Illinois? Who runs Chicago?
5
Not ALL His fans are Racists. But they are certainly Racist adjacent. Wake up, People. Vote them ALL out.
4
supporting this president is supporting misogyny, racism, bigotry, and, now, targeted and specific acts of mass murder
4
It might be true that not all of Trump's supporters are bigots and racists, but they are all supporting bigotry and racism. One can make an argument that their position is morally worse. Without them, Trump is just the ignorant buffoon that we could just laugh at instead of the ignorant buffoon that we have to pay attention to.
1
Trump isn’t just an agent of bigotry. He is the leader.
Trump is the de facto leader of White Nationalists, Nazis and domestic terrorists.
They look up to him and they go out and kill for him in pure hatred.
2
Great New Hashtag #45isresponsible.
2
all true, but let's face it....
he wouldn't be possible without millions of moronic 'folks' goose stepping in lock step with their 'merikan heeerro'
3
I'm disappointed with the Times newspaper headline that they published. Anyone can speak the words from a telepromter and writer them as a gospel, but can you actually believe in the words that are actually coming from your own heart? Times need to do a better job.
1
"I also don’t believe that all of Trump’s backers are bigots ..."
Maybe not, but all of they are enabling bigots, racists, ... And that is just as despicable.
2
Why does the Times bother to have half a dozen columnists all of whom say precisely the same thing? For the record, this is false. Your own headline said that Trump condemned bigotry . . . Until you changed it. Start reporting the news, stop doctoring it.
1
Why are you still peddling this malicious lie about what Trump said regarding Charlottesville? He actually said:
"You also had some very fine people on both sides. . . . You had people in that group that were there to protest the taking down of—to them—a very, very important statue and the renaming of a park from Robert E. Lee to another name.
I’m not talking about the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists. They should be condemned totally.”
Stop spreading misinformation. For shame.
1
Trump yells "fire" in a crowded theater, then refuses to take responsibility for the chaos that ensues. A horrible, angry coward!
Bigotry works for Trump (so far). If Marxism worked, he would be Marxist. Whatever works. This is a guy who has changed party affiliations more often than some change their undies. He has no ideology, no agenda, no policies, nothing that he wouldn't reverse or do away with in an instant. He chooses bigotry because he is stupid abd lazy. Appealing to bigots is easy, requiring no thought process.
I'm am sick to death of the constant concession that "not all Trump supporters are bigots."
Yes, they are.
It's like saying that not all stockholders who profit from big Pharma are capitalists.
Or that not all members of private clubs that discriminate are elitists.
Or that not every member of the Klan is a racist.
Every Trump supporter is complicit in every disgusting thing he does.
If you support this dangerous, racist, incompetent narcissist, you bought it and you own it.
3
What do you expect from people who fetishize guns, drink tears and like to put little children in cages?
2
"That’s what I mean about his big lie. He winks at white nationalists, then points a finger in other directions."
This is what racists always have done and always will do. The people being oppressed are always labeled as the true racists. There is nothing new about this strategy.
We've just never experienced it from our President in "modern" times.
Frank, I’ve tried to post this a dozen times. Please help.
Trump is the Grand Wizard of the GOP/NRA Party.
Nothing more, nothing less.
1
We know, Frank. Tell the Times' front page headline writers.
1
Not a racist, just plays one on TV!
@JS Clement
"People support him for a lot of reasons but the current state of the economy would have to be one of the main ones."
To the extent that the current economy is doing OK, it's thanks to the 8 years under President Barack Obama! Please don't be fooled into thinking that Trump should get credit for the current economy. No! President Barack Obama should!
We'll see what Trump's decisions yield when it's too late -- after the 2020 election or after the 2024 election.
The tax cut bill was Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell's creation. Trump was exactly what Grover Norquist called for in the Oval Office: someone "with enough working digits to hold a pen." (Besides that tax bill exacerbated one of America's biggest problems: an immoral level of income and wealth inequality that is off the charts!) The only thing Trump has done to the economy so far is to create the largest trade deficit, the largest budget deficit and the largest national debt in world history!
Also he's putting a lot of US farmers out of business with his tariffs. Now he's a socialist paying $14.5 Billion in welfare to them. More trouble is on the way as he takes on trade with Europe. And don't forget the fiasco with pulling the US out of the TPP, which handed a HUGE victory to China which was not a signatory, but now will own that space! Trump is a total disaster in every area he touches, including the economy. Forget what the polls say if you want to know the truth about Trumps effect on the economy.
1
Mr. Bruni, you said: "I don’t claim that Trump specifically caused or catalyzed El Paso or Pittsburgh or related blood baths, because nothing’s that tidy."
Well the last part "because nothing's that tidy" is true.
But the first part, I will ask, why not? I know, you will say there is no evidence. But, there is no evidence that he did not cause or catalyze the shootings either. So you go to his behavior and you draw logical conclusions.
Well stated, Mr Bruni. Trump spews racism and hatred, and then attempts to be a leader of unification as if his hands are without blood on them. Jesus Christ spoke of Trump's kind, and his lovers of an evil president, in Matthew 12:34 'You brood of vipers! How can you speak good things, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.' Trump can lie to mindless followers, but surely Jesus knew the brand of evil that Trump perpetuates over 2000 years ago. So, better served is Trump to remember, Time & Karma; 'When a bird is alive, it eats ants, and when a bird is dead, ants eat it. One tree can be made into a million matchsticks, but only one matchstick is needed to burn a million trees. circumstances can change at any time, so don't devalue or hurt anyone in this life. You may be powerful today, but time is more powerful than you.'
Trump's words made me sick, too, Frank. "Hollow sops to convention." And fascist gaslighting. To lie like that, and about these things, from the Oval Office. In order to "give cover to his Republican enablers." Likeminded Republican fascists, and supporters of white supremacy. Yes, he's giving his cult the lie that that they can take to the bank. Fox is doing the same when it repeatedly calls the El Paso terrorist an environmental activist. "Shoot them!" a man shouted at a Trump rally, about immigrants. And Trump smiled. And Goebbels smiled.
9
Mentally ill or just plain evil. It's a toss up.
3
Well written, as Bruni always does. And sad. What can we actually do?
If I may address a comment directly to the NYTimes...
Please consider renaming your daily list of “Most Popular Articles”to something without the word “Popular” – perhaps “Most Read Articles”?
It seems inappropriate that you place articles about the
El Paso and Dayton shootings under a category called “Most Popular”.
3
Fox news and its distortion of the news make Temp appear a hero daily. Millions of people get Fox news all the time as their main news source. Their deliberate force feeding of lies and distortions splits the US into two angry and seething with injury halves. One is delusional thanks to Fox and Trump, the magic mirrors, and the other is sane and furious.
This is a kind of war of two worlds. It reminds me of the fact that there are still people that think the holocaust was fiction and won't be convinced otherwise. There are also still occasionally people that insist the world is flat and not round. Not to mention those that are coming out of the woodwork, like the Hitler fanciers.
It is best to just keep moving forward and let the rest trail on behind until they vanish out of sight, still yelling foul and insisting that Trump is a hero. Hopefully most Americans are not delusional. Lets prove this in the next election.
1
Frank, I agree with you on most of this but your comment about all Trump supporters not being bigots doesn't sit well with me. They know he is a bigot. They choose to not care. Therefore they might as well be a bigot.
3
Trump is an open bigot, but racism has been embedded in the Republican Party for decades. Just read the recently released transcripts of Reagan and Nixon calling UN African representatives monkeys and barefooted cannibals. They would be right at home among white nationalists.
2
This is getting old. He’s a pathological liar. A racist, a misogynistic abnormally sexist human being. He cheats in business and his personal life. He never graduated Wharton. He is lousy at dealing and business contracts. He cheats on his taxes. He has obstructed Justice ten times, and 43% of Americans back him. Oh, what a wonderful world we live in.
7
America has not been made great again it has been made ugly again. It makes me sick,
4
There are six columns and stories right now in the NYT about Trump’s bigotry and racism. It is a constant drumbeat from the left.
Fact #1. Charlottesville. After the violence by some extremists, on both sides, Trump said that some of those protesting the removal of historic statues from the Civil War era were “good people.” He is correct. Not everyone agrees with dismantling statues representing that era. I am one of them and I am not racist.
Fact #2. Immigration. Yes Mexicans are people of color. And they are entering our country illegally. Because I also want illegal immigration to stop, completely, does that make me a racist. If so, I stand guilty with Trump.
This racist card the left continues to play is getting tired and old. And just because it’s repeated a gazillion times by the left does not make it true.
4
Facts 3 and 4: The birthirism fiasco, The Central Park 5.
He is racist. I'll let others provide facts 5 through infinity.
4
@Anne
Trump said that some of those protesting the removal of historic statues from the Civil War era were “good people.”
Nice try. He was asked about the violence in Charlottesville and that's how he referred to people who marched alongside Nazis.
Trump supporters need to indulge in all manner of contortion to convince themselves they don't support a Nazi-sympathizer, but it doesn't change that they do.
5
Right on Mr. Bruni.
2
This president is toxic. His true nature is revealed over and over again, yet too many refuse to call him for what he is--evil incarnate. An amoral, pychopath who uses race as a tool to inflame his supporters and pander to their basest instincts of hate and fear for his personal benefit. He has the blood of many on his hands. Make no mistake. His rhetoric inspired and inflamed killers and would be killers. Who knows how many more are out there, racial hatred fed by the words of the president--"send them back" being the latest hate chant he feeds his mindless followers. How long will we tolerate this? Are we doomed?
3
We have a mindless, heartless, soulless president, per his own description.
5
“racism, bigotry and white supremacy have no place here" but he spews racism, bigotry and white supremacy from his pulpit as the grand wizard at his Klan style rallies. Look he's convinced his core it's us against them and they whoop and cheer everything he says. He has whipped up this fear in white middle America they (and they being everyone who doesn't look like them) are taking their life away. The answer is not to keep on about Trump, we already know what he is, but to ensure we out vote his supporters simple as that.
1
Not only is Trump a bigot, he is also a hypocrite . He blames Social Media for the hate filled acts of White Nationalists , while
The Bully In Chief at the same time spews hate on his Twitter account on an almost daily basis .
He hides his Anti Semitism behind his supposed love of Israel. He is fooling no one . Least of all one would hope those attending a recent meeting of Republican Jews, where when speaking about the then upcoming election he posed the question, 'who do you think will be your next Prime Minster '?, as if Jews were not American citizens.
Some may put a comment like this down to the absentmindedness of an old man , I personally believe that he was dog whistling to his supporters on the Alt Right.
His remarks yesterday were empty words, the rambling of a deeply conflicted man, other than State TV Fox News the networks should have given him no air time , or at least insist that he answers questions, otherwise what is the point.
It is like living in a Fascist State with the leader going on TV and speaking , making edits , while the press sits idly by.
2
"Donald Trump isn’t a normal president." Truer words have not been written because we refuse to admit that we have a mentally ill president in Donald Trump. He suffers from Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD), formerly called megalomania, and defined in the American Psychiatric Association's diagnostic manual. One of its major characteristics is a total absence of empathy. The cruel inhumane treatment of immigrant children at the border who are placed in concentration camp facilities that have resulted in many deaths is just one recent example. The use of abusive language and now "hate speech" that has put the lives of public servants like Reps. Elijah Cummings, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, and Rashida Tlaib in mortal danger is another. And, of course the slaughter of Hispanic citizens and immigrants in El Paso whom he has demonized since he announced his candidacy is the latest. These are all "high crimes" and why the House Democrats are not rushing to protect their own members and the public against the toxic cancer of hate that Trump has unleashed with deadly consequences is the most disturbing outcome. For if the Democrats won't protect their own members; won't defend the Constitution; won't hold Donald Trump accountable through the impeachment process, who will save us from the autocracy of murderous white racist supremacy that he seeks to impose upon America?
2
And of course it's not just the racist in the White House.
A little story. In 2016, senator Roy Blunt (Mo.-NRA) barely won re-election. The NRA funneled $3.1 million dollars into the airwaves of Missouri on his behalf.
Not a one of those $3.1 million (rubles?) was spent on ads saying, "Roy Blunt - He's a terrific guy!" Nope, all of that was spent on ads against his opponent, a decorated war veteran who for one of his ads assembled and disassembled an AK-47 while blindfolded.
Nope, instead there were dark, scary ads, brown Hispanic faces flashing in and out of shadows as helicopter blades bleated overhead, indoctrinating viewers that if they voted for Jason Kander, Mexicans would pour over the border and rape and murder their wives, children and pets.
This carnage is on all republicans.
4
10,000+ lies & counting, amazing anyone can follow him.
5
Trump is purposeful in his bigotry. His hate-filled rhetoric is not benign ageism, tolerable because of some supposed economic good times. He transmits coded messages continually to White Nationalists. They are the vanguard of a future SA. Many of us avoid crowds, outside entertainment, and stores. Peoples of all heritages distrust all others. If 2nd and 3rd generation citizens are told to "go home"--this is just an echo of Hitler's persecution of the Jews beginning in the 1930s. We absolutely have to accept that Trump is a Nationalist and a Fascist, an admirer of Adolf Hitler whose speeches he has studied, by his own ex-wife's account. Every person must be made to understand.
Trump is using the Jews, with pipe dreams of support for Israel, just as Hitler used the Catholics, paying them off to stand back. He is recruiting thugs with his rhetoric, just as Hitler did. Any non-Nordic group will be his targets. The homeless, handicapped, those who need chronic medical care, the mentally ill--all of these he has already worked to prevent receiving governmental help. If he gains enough power, he would exterminate them. We have to stop kidding ourselves, and understand the horror that is his goal. He has tested us, and many are willing to endure.
The 20th century saw the needless murders of 20 to 100 million people and industrialized death camps--and all due to fanatic nationalist or utopian ideology as its source. Are we still rabbits to be hunted unawares?
2
There is one way out of the Trumpian-GOP darkness, my fellow citizens.
Donate to voter registration groups.
https://www.voterparticipation.org/support-our-work/donate-to-vpc/
Then get out and vote with a friend or family member on November 3 2020.
One thing the radical right cannot stand is democracy and the will of the American people.
Let's give it to them good and hard.
3
@Socrates. Why is the US the only civilized country without a permanent voters’ list?
1
Simply put, if the shoe fits...
i just want to comment on one of Mr bruni's statements that said that he doesn't believe that all of Trumps supporters are racist. while that may be true, anyone who still supports him clearly doesn't care that Mr. Trump is! remind them of this the next time you speak with your republican friends.
5
Yes trump is like the arsonist vising the fire he has set after the firemen show up to the scene. No one took his teleprompter remarks about the shootings seriously, not even his followers as they knew at his next rally he would be mocking and denigrating people of color and immigrants. The rest of us know that he has no credibility and assume first and foremost that trump is lying as his his norm.
I do wish that the NYT especially its pundits would stop sugar coating the trumpinistas. They have proven as Hillary called them to be deplorables. Deplorable people laugh at the prospect of shooting an immigrant at the border. Deplorable people shout "Send her back" at a women who risked much to become an American and worked hard to become a US congresswoman. Deplorables turn their backs to the atrocities committed in our names at the Mexican border. Stop making excuses for them. They may occupy the same country as the rest of us but they are NOT Americans. They do not ask "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island.
4
Isn't that enough for impeachment?
3
Was Obama an agent for Tucson, or Aurora, or Sandy Hook?
How about the Boston Marathon, Charleston church, Fort Hood TX or San Bernardino tragedies, was Obama the agent at those?
Just because they were on 'his watch' didn't make him responsible...just thinking, that while Trump isn't my first choice for president, I'm sure as heck not going to blame 1 person for other's actions.
Scapegoating is never right, no matter who does it.
7
Trump is not to blame because El Paso “was on his watch”. But he does bear some responsibility for El Paso because his caustic rhetoric against immigrants and hispanics incites violence against these groups. The President’s words matter!!
3
@Cedar.....Mass shootings did occur under other presidents, but the difference is we can connect Trump’s actual words to the El Paso shooter’s diatribe...that makes him complicit in my opinion.
2
Mr. Bruni
I beg to differ “I also don’t believe that all of Trump’s backers are bigots, and insistences along those lines are an overreach with the unfortunate effect of inviting many of them to tune out their critics.“. They are bigots and if they don’t define themselves as bigots, then they are bigots AND cowards as they let others display bigotry.
Mr. Trump is a bigot and racist but his Republican Senators and Congressmen are even worse as they do not stand up to him. They are also bigots and racists- causing more harm then the president by their quiet agreement. I mean, they must agree with the president, right? Or they would say something, anything.
Do you remember the good old days when we wondered why lower middle class people would vote against their own self-interest and vote for Republicans who deny them health insurance? The answer is that they are bigots and racists and do not want to see the new faces of America. Oh, they are neighborly but they do not wish to see the government in any other color but white.
3
Trump wanted to start a race war, and he has done it.
4
I like Trump. I'd like him in an orange jumpsuit with a few shackles for bling.
2
If Trump actually does visit El Paso and Dayton, it will only be seen as the shameful desecration it is. It's more plausible to believe that he only wants to see his handiwork as prompted by his hateful words. The people of these two wounded cities ought to collectively turn their backs on him, and any other Republican politician who tries to smooth over the tragedies their words and actions (or lack of) have enabled.
As of now, no Republican should be allowed to utter the Pledge of Allegiance, and the words "one nation under God" as they have abdicated any right to do so.
6
I would suggest that believing the change applies to just trump and not the republican party is being unaware to an astonishing degree.
Seems to me while the Left focuses just on trump and ignores all the rest, it gives republicans more free reign to do their worst. As they are doing. The con is working.
2
Leave it to the ‘progressives’ to conflate our nation’s rightful demand for border security and immigration law enforcement with bigotry and mass murder.
When there are over 75,000 foreign migrants illegally jumping our borders EVERY MONTH....it’s correctly labeled an ‘invasion’.
‘Progressives’ provoke, antagonize, and obstruct, and then blame the opposition for the pushback...which, in the case of angry young males who have access to firearms but haven’t a clue what it means to be a man...usually results in violence.
4
Asylum seekers are not illegal.
3
It is easy to see how phony he is and you would ream out a so-called Progressive for faking empathy and tolerance. It’s also easy to see hypocrisy hidden by anger.
1
What we non-Americans will never understand is that although the facts are clear and easy to see for everyone (such as a President who preaches hate and is clearly racist, a Senate speaker who blocks any legislation that might help against gun violence, absurd ideas about the 2nd amendment and a Congress whose republican members are in the pockets of the NRA) again, just like so many times before , nothing meaningful will happen. Lots of talk, thoughts and prayers, ... and the next bloodbath just around the corner.
America, how is this possible? The only answer I have is that your society - proudly calling itself “Christian” - still values an absurd idea of freedom (to buy semi-automatic rifles???) higher than the lives of its children and citizens. And as long as those of you, who try to change this, are still the minority, this is what you are as a society. Denial won’t help.
I guess it will require major efforts and quite some time to change anything- more than letters to the NYT. Members of Congress should be flooded with letters and mails of protest, the NRA should be shamed and criticized constantly, state representatives need to be reminded permanently of the many dead, inaction by your politicians must have consequences. Vote for those who promise gun law reforms, not those who promise tax reductions. Challenge those with a weird and unhistorisch understanding of the 2nd amendment.
Perhaps, at some point, reason will prevail. Good luck.
9
I hate the term “base.” The term is used to imply some small devoted section of the Republican electorate. However it is nearly the entire Republican Party — 60 million plus voters, all appointed federal and Supreme Court judges. Trump appeal is a very very broad base.
Second, as with Trump’s lies you cannot specifically tie him to the recent massacres. But is that true? If you insight white supremacy violence and ideology then you own what they do. Everyone says the same about the election. Oh we cannot tie Russian interference and Trump’s actions with Russia to Hilliary’s lose. But that is not true either. If you do and achieve the outcome that you intended then you subverted the election. You own it. Trump is an illegitimate president who incites Christian violence against non-whites, both Christian and non-Christian. This has immense appeal to his base—over 60 million Americans—including Nile Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. They are the Republican base.
2
I have a modest proposal for Republican Senators (Sen. Collins, I'm looking at you, but surely there are one or two others for whom this might resonate): do not confirm one more nominee for a lifetime federal judgeship while he is President. He lacks the moral compass needed for decisions that will long outlast his four-year term. This is a way to start to redeem yourselves for letting him trash our country and our institutions of government, dividing our country, and generally polluting our national discourse.
2
His carefully scripted, dead pan speech allowed him to place blame on everything but guns. He might at least have suggested that assault weapons give evil ideas an monstrous edge. Almost everybody gets that. But no. Forbidden.
And does he look out over his gleeful red capped rally mobs and see a personal quasi-military ready to throw themselves on the barricades to defend him with those weapons when the officers sworn to uphold the constitution come to haul him out - it's to be hoped - of the white house in January 2021?
3
The frightening fact is that the great narcissist lives in an alternate reality where truth is completely pliable and words are created not to deal with facts but rather to mislead 60 million devoted followers and the pusillanimous GOP to cower in silence...2020 here I come!
1
For every comment I see here about the NYT being unfair, grilling this POTUS, using their platform to attack or other such malarkey, I invite you to use the search function here on the NYT and do some light perusing of the way in which Obama was covered. He was grilled when it was warranted and called out sharply many many times. As was Bush, Clinton, Bush, Regan, etc.
Fair reporting is ACCURATE reporting, its not a popularity contest.
3
"I also don’t believe that all of Trump’s backers are bigots, and insistences along those lines are an overreach with the unfortunate effect of inviting many of them to tune out their critics. Trump rose and Trump rules for an array of reasons."
C'mon, Frank. Stop prevaricating. Trump exists because of his base of information-starved racists. He stokes them, they reward him with slavish support. It's a modern-day Fascist movement, and please stop giving us the "not all of his supporters are bigots."
Yes they are.
3
No matter what you think of Trump's motives and "real" feelings, he is doing and saying the right things at the moment. It is this kind of reporting however that fans the flames of indignation - you (the Times) are doing far more damage with your constant assigning of the most negative interpretations of every word and action by Trump and supporters than he is doing directly. In other words, you (the media) are VERY complicit in the level of hate and anger in this country - not just Trump and his supporters. You assume the worst of every one of us (Trump and his supporters), while holding blameless every obvious wrong-doing on the left (Anti-fascist beating up of journalists and campus conservatives, for example). You (the TImes editors, and the more rabid elements of its readership) need to take a good, long look in the mirror, and if you can not be un-biased, at least try and be a little less obvious about your bias and contempt for anyone who doesn't think exactly like you. The country will be better off for it.
Mr. Bruni,
The only way to beat a bigot is to ignore their hatred and fight them with a tactic my father taught me. Know that you are worthy and that your thoughts and actions in loving and doing good will have a lasting effect. The hater is forgotten and neglected. The ones who love are remembered and attract followers who love them.
2
Rank Bruni, excellent opinion and you skillfully wrote when millions of us feel in hearts and know in our head. Yes, Trump is a "moral arsonist" and gas lighting America in his attempts to divide this country and ignite a racist and bigoted war. It won't work - we are not putty in his evil hands.
1
"You knew who he was when you elected him. "
Sara Huckabee-Sanders former White House Press Secretary
That would be the citizens who elevated this President. This is on you.
4
Hate and cruelty on Trump's part fit like hand in glove. Expecting him to share our common humanity is like hoping that a poisonous tree produce edible fruit, an impossibility. But you must give it to him: he is a superb distractor of his own 'evil' designs concordant with 'white supremacist' goals, the elimination of 'the other' (read 'non-white'). As such, Trump is a most dangerous thug that must be removed from an office he assaulted in 2016, with Russia's help...and continues to abuse royally (with McConnell's complicity).
2
The Trump supporters and apologists on this thread (and anywhere, really) sound absolutely deranged. Not hard to understand how we ended up with this catastrophe as president.
3
When Trump finally ends up in jail after all the countless lies and deceit finally catch up with him,its my thoughts and prayers that will be with him., maybe.
3
Mr. Bruni state states that not all Trump supporters are racists, but, when one supports a bigoted racist as Trump is, well, the stench is hard to clean as it permeates those who support him, including the do-nothing/know-nothing GOP members in our legislative chambers.
And as soon as Trump hits the road for his weekly hate festivals that would be reminiscent of Roman times if gladiators were in the arena, his supporters will flock to be fleeced, again and again, listen to his hateful speeches, chant to send them back and bleat we need the wall to prevent another mass murder rampage perpetrated by a white person.
I agree with Frank. As soon as possible Trump will resume his traveling hate show and his empty speech in front of a teleprompter that contained words he possibly cannot comprehend will soon be history.
And we will see another racist attack by a white person-as opposed to those criminals that are swarming our southern border.
1
Remember the black guy that killed under the guise of Obama and black lives? Hate is always wrong and people will always find a reason to hate.
Actually, I don’t. What are you talking about?
2
Over several decades I have gotten into healthy debates/arguments with friends over past presidents. But it's different now. I consider myself open-minded but I cannot engage in a conversation with anyone who is for Trump. In fact, I have severed relationships with Trumpers. Several of my former friends actually agree that Trump is horrible but say they will vote for him again because their portfolios are thriving. Others, when I call Trump out for the myriad of his terrible remarks and actions, resort to "oh yeah - how about Hillary - she's worse." So, I've had it with Trump and his fan club. I'm also at the breaking point with the hapless Democrats who lack the courage and intelligence to impeach Trump. Their excuse that the Republican Senate will acquit him anyway is lame. But not proceeding with impeachment the Democrats are ignoring their responsibility as delineated in the Constitution. He has committed crimes in office and will again conspire with the Russians in the 2020 elections. Giving him a pass is unconscionable.
17
@nzierler
My wife, who used to self-identify as a conservative Republican, recently read the entire Mueller report. After that she cut off all communication with her family members who express support for trump saying that she's disgusted by how much in denial they are. And she's not one given to cheap hyperbole and drama queening.
3
The paraphrasing of Milton is perfectly apt.
Trump is unable to compete on the merits for anything. He must use chaos, diversion, and cheating to win.
As President, Trump backs out a treaties on a regular basis, unable to come up with an improvement. So, he dashes it on the rocks, glues something back together and declares victory since his results are "better" than the pile that was his cause.
As business man, we all know he's stiffed his contractors, customers, and bankers on a regular basis.
The man has no real friends, just fellow transactors. Everyone with integrity that associates with him for any length of time becomes stained (except for maybe Mr. Mattis) or already was.
5
It's amazing to me that conservative FaceBook friends just don't see it this way at all, even in the face of all the direct evidence, including video. It reminds me of the disputes with my ex, when she and I could not agree on how a particular argument unfolded. I always thought if I had a video of the incident that I could show her, she'd realize how wrong she was. Then my therapist disabused me of this idea, saying it's common that people can have the same experience, but completely different memories of it, not to mention different interpretations. Where is the objective truth when it comes to human relations? Perhaps it doesn't exist.
3
Truth exists all right, don't let Trump convince you that there is no truth. Truth exists, but Trump never looks for it. Maybe he is unable to see anything but himself.
2
Trump is not the only agent of bigotry and outrageous lies. He is no different than the Republic Party, Fox “News”, and alt-right radio actors. The problem runs very deep in our so called conservative politics. Trump is just a symptom. The cause is much deeper and more complicated.
6
"I also don’t believe that all of Trump’s backers are bigots, and insistences along those lines are an overreach with the unfortunate effect of inviting many of them to tune out their critics."
Frank, I disagree. I would argue that the question is not whether Trump "stirs up bigots and bigotry" in leading his backers (that's obvious), but whether his backers know enough to make Trump their leader. Bigotry is high on Trump's resume by any calculation and his backers clearly see that as essential among their list of qualifications for the job of President of the United States.
5
Trump IS a bigot. And a loud mouth. And incompetent. But the Dem alternative is so much worse. And that’s saying a lot! Massive taxation, gargantuan bureaucracies to enable the redistribution of wealth, punishment for success in life, anti-business attitudes. It’s never ending as the candidates aim to out-leftist each other.
Allow me, Mr. Bruni, to return to a suggestion I made once: it is for you, and only for you, to analyze the possible connection between Trump's evil character and his love of cheeseburgers.
I should not be surprised if Trump, after devouring a cheeseburger held in his hands, wipes his fingers and lips with his extra-long tie. He can easily afford to replace a silk tie, costing a three-digit dollar amount, after every meal.
@Tuvw Xyz At least give him a hint. We'd like to ourselves, but none of us has a clue as to what you're talking about.
1
None can doubt that DJT intentionally uses racism. If you use racism you are a racist.
7
@JO ... and a whole lot worse.
3
The whole world knows that Trump is a racist. How much proof do you and the New York Times need? Why are you afraid to call him what he is, a racist?
8
I cringed when I watched Trump's speech. He doesn't give a damn about racial minorities because he can win with the votes of white people.
Aristotle says that "ethos" plays a big part in persuasive rhetoric; that's the ability to appear as an ethical person in speeches and writing.
Aristotle would have given Trump an F for "ethos."
5
And Hillary dismissed a whole basket full of deplorables because she didn’t need their votes.
1
@Ambrose "Aristotle would have given Trump an F for ethos."
Would Trump even care? Would Trump even know what you're talking about?
If Aristotle didn't vote for him, he's not interested.
2
Trump is cringe proof. He only sees, hears and talks about Himself.
This columns points are about as promising as sending Don Knotts to confront Vladimir Lenin...
By the time of the national election, presumably, Donnie wants armed militia to scare away non-Republicans...
1
@Gregory J. Really? What did you think Mr. Bruni was promising?
I fail to understand why the same scrutiny you are currently applying to the Trump administration did not apply to the Obama administration - when there were also several mass shootings. The Obama administration did not enact any meaningful legislation to address gun violence either. Stop placing all blame on one party...as a fellow UNC alum and student in the journalism school...I think our professors would be appalled by your failure to address the lack of response from both sides of the aisles. Balance is key.
3
@brodymom "I fail to understand ..."
Oh, well.
3
@brodymom there is no balance in the Times. This is strictly anti-Trump, anti-Republican land. Period.
2
As a fellow alumnus of the journalism school, you should learn to correct your misplaced modifier.
You've said it all, Frank. But let's not give this sociopath too much credit. Sure, he plants the "Lock her up," and "Send them back" seeds. But some blame rests with those "legislators" who take millions in donations from NRA and gun manufacturers and do their bidding. Senator Roy "Blunt by name, blunt by nature" Blunt of Missouri is my favourite. He stands at Trump's right shoulder. So, address campaign finance.
2
The pundits are always saying that the Democrats have to fashion a message that will resonate with enough voters to beat Trump. Yet I don't hear Democratic candidates coming and saying the things Mr. Bruni says here.
Whenever Trump defends himself, he is appropriating the position of the opposition to his advantage. He is a master of this. But the Democrats are afraid to call him on it. Calling Donald Trump a bigot is barely scratching the surface of his character flaws.
You can be sure that Donald Trump will be assassinating everyone else's character throughout the election. One of the Democrats main messages should be to help people see through his facade and expose him for the empty, manipulative charlatan that he is. If people could get a clearer picture of his true personality they may realize that he cares for no one but himself, that he represents no redeeming American principles, and that he cares not for the damage he will leave behind.
1
This may be divisive but here it is. There is one way to fix this problem. Those of us who strive to be inclusive to the best of our ability to all people, and to reject racism, bigotry, and prejudice in ourselves and others, must not tolerate this behavior in anyone. We must not allow the racists and the bigots to have any validation from us. That includes everyone we know including friends and relatives. If you are a racist I do not want to know you any longer. There can be no negotiation, there is no common ground. This pervasive cancer in our society, in our culture, must be excised and it is up to people of good conscience to make that happen, starting now.
8
@arusso "must be excised and it is up to people of good conscience to make that happen, starting now."
Oh, okay, Annie.
Are you leading the charge? We'll be right behind you.
He probably should stay away from those sites and forget speechifying. It causes more problems than it even begins to solve.
2
@Joan In California But that's the point. If he doesn't cause trouble, how will he know he's being heard?
Trump "rules" because of his Republican enablers at every level beginning with the US Senate. At his "rallies" you can see his level of enthusiasm for the mob vs his mushy low-toned teleprompter performance yesterday. He feeds on the mob and those behind the scenes pillage the public purse and are getting away with it at every level.
2