You can’t say the things Trump says and not expect violence

By
Martyn Bradbury
-
12
13

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The violence that erupted at a Trump rally in Chicago can be no real surprise. You can’t say the hateful, divisive and politically spiteful things that Trump has and not expect a violent backlash from those groups he has denigrated.

But this isn’t just Trump’s fault.

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Fox News and the Republicans in general have fed the lesser angels of America’s psyche. They have played to racism and sexism and homophobia. They have played to division and intolerance, that a demagogue billionaire would actively walk in and harvest all that bitter hate fruit for his own ends is as abhorrent as it is ironic. Republicans sowed these seeds, becoming angry that someone else has taken the bounty is not a high ground.

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The violence that is now threatening to swamp the entire election is exactly what you get when allow hate to enter politics.

12 COMMENTS

  2. I followed this incident live. The protesters bear the largest share of the responsibility for this incident.

    I know Trump is a horrible person, but when you and others either support the instigators in this instance or try to lay the blame of the people trying to peaceful attend a POLITICAL RALLY then I really lose respect for you. In this post you just blamed everybody but the people actually committing violence, that is pathetic for someone who calls themselves progressive.

    • Kirwin C says; “I followed this incident live”, but I imagine that he means via TV. Here is the impression of someone who was actually there:

      3. Don’t believe the Fox News lie. Almost all of the “fights” were started by Trump supporters. I was pretty close to several of them.

      4. There are lots of very angry and racially resentful white conservatives in this country. I know this to be true as an empirical fact. Seeing it first hand and listening to them behind me in line is another matter.

      5. The Chicago police exercised great restraint. They were professionals…

      9. I am unsure if Donald Trump ever intended to show up. He is a manager of optics and he may have just wanted to try to gain sympathy and win over more of the Reagan Democrats “law and order” types.

      http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/03/12/1500117/-My-Experience-at-Donald-Trump-s-No-Show-Rally-In-Chicago-With-Video

      • That article…

        She is racist as hell – demeaning people of color who have a different political view as only wanting to “earn points for their white masters”.

        • xdf
          DeVega’s piece was more of a first impression of the protest than a structured article. I disagree that she is;”racist as hell”, but maybe; “mad as hell” would be accurate. I assume that this is the point you are quoting out of context?

          6. Black conservative shuck and buck artists are everywhere. Several of them tried to earn points for their white masters by fighting Black Lives Matter and other protesters.

          7. I can be hard on America’s young people. Based on what I saw with the black, brown, white, yellow, and red brothers and sisters at the Chicago rally I think we may somehow be okay.

          Well here is a quote from an earlier piece of hers that I would call an article, that may go some way to explaining why she is so down on; “Black conservative shuck and buck artists”:

          Republicans have repeatedly used campaign tactics designed to gin up white racial resentment, fear, animus, and hostility toward black Americans and other non-whites. These include Ronald Reagan’s allusions to mythical “welfare queens” and “black bucks” who are social parasites that steal from “good,” “hardworking” white people; the infamous black beast rapist Willie Horton ad that was run by the first President Bush in 1988; the racist ads against Harold Ford Jr. in Tennessee in 2006; the darkening of Barack Obama’s skin tone by McCain-Palin during the 2008 election to make the future president look more “black” and “menacing;” Mitt Romney’s “makers and takers” rhetoric; and Birther conspiracy theories that mark Obama as illegitimate for the United States presidency because he is supposedly “black,” “foreign,” other.

          http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/03/06/1494960/-The-Republican-Party-s-Ku-Klux-Klan-problem-is-much-bigger-than-just-Donald-Trump

  3. “You can’t say the things Trump says and not expect violence”

    “You can’t wear the things she wears and not expect to be raped”

    • False (and distasteful) equivalence from XDF. But if he wants to go there, a better comparison would be; a priest egging on a rape from a pulpit, then acting shocked when some companions of the raped one retaliates.

      Donald Trump actively promotes violence among his supporters – “Knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously. OK? … I promise you, I will pay for the legal fees.”…

      1968 was also the year that Richard Nixon invented the idea of “the silent majority” – such poorer, less-educated whites are clearly the group on whom Donald Trump is depending to propel him to the Republican nomination.

      http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/mar/13/donald-trump-1968-election-violence-chicago-richard-nixon

      It’s amazing how loud that “silent majority” still is (even if no longer a majority – but there are ID laws and caging lists to fix that).

  4. Part of Trumps popularity is due to the failure of the media and U.S. politicians and the failure of
    the people in not speaking out against the hate and racist energy coming from Trumps ignorance.
    Unfortunately the people see in him a false prophet and not a very good leader at all on many levels.
    There is a movement recently that is growing of folks wanting to speak out and raise awareness of the danger
    that Trump elicits. He is not a man of peace and well being for all, he is more of an agitator and a hate monger.

    Glenn Greenwald, yet again, hits the nail squarely on the head :

    https://theintercept.com/2016/03/14/the-rise-of-trump-shows-the-danger-and-sham-of-compelled-journalistic-neutrality/

  5. Inequality breeds resentment and the rise of the downtrodden.

    All Americans are cynical about the trickle-down Chicago-school -economic bullshit that bailed out robber banks and Wall Street.
    Americans are cynical about the Washington (neoliberal) TPPA – ie corporate takeover.

    Problem is, Trump is a Republican and equivalent to our ACT-NACT-Maori-Dunne coalition. White trash, ‘eat roots shoots and leaves’ types with a remote control in one hand and a hot dog/gun in the other, cynical of the Washington set, flocking to Trump.

    Sanders is a Democrat and true socialist and probably equivalent of NZ’s Norm Kirk and to some extent, David Lange. Young cynical Sanders voters are ex-Obama “yes we can!” voters, pissed off with Obama’s “No I didn’t!” neoliberal crock of shit betrayal.

    It’s what we are seeing here, young, disenfranchised and increasingly cynical left and right poor and marginlaised, disenfranchised voters, sick of JongKi Trump and his anti-democratic, poncing about at the Auckland Nines instead of Waitangi.

    We’ve seen the barrow of lies over three terms of do-nothing except hock off half our earning assets to fund 26 Million of a flag referendum and 15 million dollars “thinking about” a convention centre for Christchurch. Bribes to Warner Brothers and Tiwai Point and Saudi sheikhs, BMW’s and MBIE excesses. The young can’t afford houses FFS. The old see the economy stagnate so that there will be no-one to pay for “guaranteed” Superannuation.

    We don’t want JongKi Trump as President in 2017. Time to change the PM, not the flag.

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