Donald Trump's politics of hate, destruction, disease – opinion

They came to Tulsa to show their love but were fed large helpings of Donald Trump's trademark anger, hate, lies and grievances. It was naive to expect anything less, and with about 130 days till the election, the worst is yet to come. For a vulnerable Jewish community, the omens were ominous: as his approval ratings sink and even some Republicans are edging away from him, Trump is turning increasingly to the most radical elements of his base, including far-right, white-supremacist, gun-toting militias – groups seeped in traditional antisemitism. The biggest surprise Saturday night at his Tulsa campaign rally was the poor turnout. Trump boasted of a million requests for tickets, but, according to the fire marshal, about two thirds of the 19,000 seats in the BOK Center were empty, not just empty but blue, the last color Republicans like seeing. An outdoor overflow rally had to be canceled for lack of interest. Campaign manager Brad Parscale blamed it on all the wrong people: “radical protesters” and “apocalyptic media coverage,” not his own inept planning and his candidate. The poor turnout may have reflected disapproval of Trump's bungled handling of the coronavirus pandemic and a premature rush to pack large numbers of people into crowded areas for his gratification. It gave the lie to his boast “I have done a phenomenal job” fighting the disease, and “I saved hundreds of thousands of lives.” Sadly, and revealingly, there was not one word of empathy for 2.2 million confirmed cases and more than 120,000 Americans who have died from the disease, and no hint that he understands or cares about the magnitude of the crisis. That will become clearer as new infection numbers emerge from the Oklahoma and Arizona rallies; it's already up to eight and counting just with afflicted Trump aides and secret service agents. That should worry the 15,000 GOP convention delegates and Trump supporters expected at the Jacksonville, Florida, arena August 27 for his acceptance speech. But it was his continuing and accelerating turn to a base of bigots that was the most striking and most alarming element in his performance. Trump, who had never heard of Juneteenth until a few days ago, seemed unfazed or unaware of Tulsa's tragic racial history as he went on stage. His racist attacks included calling COVID-19 “Kung flu” and the “Chinese flu,” referring to criminals as “hombres” and his usual misogynistic attacks on women of power and color, like the mayor of Washington, DC, and Hispanic and Muslim congresswomen. He accused “leftists” of trying to tear down monuments – he called them “beautiful pieces of art” – to Confederate generals who fought to preserve slavery and committed treason against the United States, and announced Tuesday he would issue an executive order protecting statues of traitors by “hoodlums” and “anarchists.” Just before taking off for Tulsa, he fired the US attorney for the Southern District of New York – a Republican contributor to his campaign – who was investigating Trump finances, businesses and friends like Rudy Giuliani, and a politically connected Turkish bank, and then proudly – and incongruously – told rally-goers, “We are the party of law and order.” THROUGHOUT ALL this was a recurring theme that I found most troubling: the threat of violence. “When the looting starts, the shooting starts.” He threatened violence against demonstrators, who are not peaceful citizens but “thugs,” and his readiness to unleash “vicious” dogs and the army, which would disperse demonstrators “like a knife cutting butter.” The dog whistle he sounded repeatedly in Tulsa and at just about every other opportunity, even when it is unrelated to his topic, is “our precious Second Amendment.” The Democrats are “coming to take away your guns; be prepared,” he said again Saturday night. That has been a mantra since his campaign against Hillary Clinton, and it is a clear signal to the heavily armed far-right radicals who have used his raging presidency to come out from their dark caves – invading state capitals, parading through cities with their semiautomatic weapons, threatening demonstrators critical of police brutality and of the president. It is an invitation to violence and a clear appeal to some of the most dangerous and extreme antisemites in the nation. Trump's turn to overt incitement is certain to intensify as the election nears and his prospects for victory dim. Making him even more dangerous to Jews and every other minority is his blatant disregard for the Constitution and his belief in his own supreme authority. “It can't happen here?” Apparently, he seems to believe it can, and that is very bad news for our community. If crowds continue to disappoint him and poll numbers shrink further, he may grow increasingly desperate and inclined to take dramatic action. Over the next 130 days, look for a continuing series of pity parties where Trump will take credit for everything good and responsibility for nothing. He'll kvetch about how badly the media (whose attention he craves) treat him, how without him the country will collapse in ruin, and how presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is a senile old man who wants to take away your guns. Meanwhile, he'll keep looking for ways to keep Democrats from voting, bloviating about his grievances, boosting the size of the fact checkers' catalogues of Trump lies and scapegoating all the wrong people for the COVID-19 return. But most ominously, he will ratchet up his appeal to a seething underground of racists, xenophobes and antisemites, all the while touting their sacred gun rights – a clear effort at incitement and intimidation. And that, as they say, is very bad for the Jews.

Donald Trump's politics of hate, destruction, disease – opinion

Making him even more dangerous to Jews and every other minority is his blatant disregard for the Constitution and his belief in his own supreme authority.

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Donald Trump's politics of hate, destruction, disease – opinion

Making him even more dangerous to Jews and every other minority is his blatant disregard for the Constitution and his belief in his own supreme authority.

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