They ought to be ashamed…
They (immigrants) are poisoning the blood of our country … They (political opponents) are vermin. Donald J. Trump 2024
Parroting Adolf Hitler, Donald Trump maintains that immigrants are poisoning the blood of our country.
Donald J. Trump has come out in the open. Parroting Adolf Hitler, Donald Trump maintains that immigrants are poisoning the blood of our country. Trump also parrots Adolf Hitler in calling his political opponents “vermin.” For years Trump has been proposing, and where possible, practicing, fascist notions and practices. And as discussed herein (and elsewhere, by many others) he has created a cult and now has tens (hundreds?) of thousands of his cultist sycophants – including the majority of what used to be the Republican Party – espousing and promoting his fascist notions. [I won’t catalogue all of these here. Having been reported extensively by news outlets, they are well known. I’ll touch only on some that are relevant to this blog.] As an aside, Trump maintains he is not familiar with Adolf Hitler’s writings. But his former wife Ivanna says that Trump kept a book of Hitler’s speeches on his bedside table.
Let’s be clear…
First, we should not dignify the “vermin” and “poisoning the blood…” notions by considering them to be aspects of a standard – if obnoxious – political ideology. They are plain, run-of-the-mill, foul racist notions.
Second, Trump did not have to work hard to convince his cultists to follow him. They already had racist beliefs but were in the closet – they dared not express their racist beliefs in public for fear of being ostracized. With his MAGA movement Trump created a political climate, a vehicle, as it were, in which racism could flourish openly. He gave the closet racists license to come out of the closet. Which they have gleefully done.
Ivana Trump says that Trump kept a book of Hitler’s speeches on his bedside table.
And, frankly, the media – even the allegedly “liberal” outlets – are complicit in the flourishing of the Trump-MAGA racist movement. They cover Trump’s every assertion and lie as if he were still in office. In knee-jerk fashion they cover his campaign rallies and press conferences as if they were important happenings. The 11th Circuit Appeals Court recently noted correctly that who used to be “President Trump” is now “citizen Trump.” Yet some reporters continue to refer to him as “Mr. President.” An old Mexican adage I grew up hearing comes to mind in this respect: “Darle atención a un pendejo es darle importancia” (To pay attention to a fool is to accord him importance).
The Trump-MAGA racism is not harmless…
The racism exemplified by Trumpism-MAGA-ism can be, and has been, deadly. It is at the root of several murders – some examples:
* 2017: Marching under Nazi and the treasonous Confederate flags, white supremacists marched through Charleston, Virginia chanting “Jews will not replace us!” One of those white supremacists murdered a young woman who was there to protest white supremacy. Trump described the white supremacists as “fine people.”
* 2018: A white supremacist went to the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to “kill Jews” because they were helping refugees (who, according to Trump, “poison the blood” of our country) settle in the U.S. He killed 11 Jews who were in prayer at the Synagogue.
Shrine honoring the dead in El Paso shooting.
* 2019: Echoing Trump’s false assertion that there was an “invasion” of the U.S. by Mexicans, a white supremacist set out to “kill Hispanics” and stop the “invasion.” He killed 23 Walmart shoppers and wounded 22 others in El Paso, Texas.
* 2022: A white supremacist killed 10 Black people in a supermarket in Buffalo, New York. The white supremacist says he was motivated by the “replacement theory” promulgated by Trump and other right-wingers.
These are just examples. There are other similar, although perhaps not as egregious, instances.
And the MAGA-inspired insurrection of January 6, 2021 had racist murderous intent. The insurrectionists – who by their own admission were inspired by Trump – acted under the treasonous Confederate flag, and one of the most visible insurrectionists wore a “Camp Auschwitz” sweatshirt. The insurrectionists set out to kill policemen –whom they called n#***r as they mercilessly beat them – and to murder Vice President Pence and Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The only reason the insurrectionists didn’t accomplish their murderous intent is because the police officers fought back and the insurrectionists couldn’t find Pence or Pelosi.
What is mind-boggling is…
A recent poll showed that 39% of Latino voters supported Trump.