The breaking news as I write this is about the killing of a Democratic lawmaker and her husband in Minnesota by an assassin masquerading as a police officer. The spouses of two other state representatives were wounded as well. This awful news against the backdrop of what is happening across the United States and in Ukraine and the Middle East today challenges one’s credulity and belief in humanity. What in God’s name are we thinking by continuing to emasculate ourselves over political and cultural differences? I’m afraid that hate has prevailed in America.
I’m compelled to ask if this is what those who supported Trump envisioned when they repeatedly cast their votes for him. Did they not see him for what he is, or is it that their private and personal needs made them accept whatever means to an end regardless of the possibility of “normalizing” chaos, hate and vengeance in American political life? I can see the faces of friends and acquaintances in their virtual MAGA caps revelling in Trump’s election and reelection despite the horrendous January 6th attack on the Capital. Is there no honesty or dignity for them?
The simple truth is that Donald Trump is the common denominator in so much of what has happened here in the United States as well as in some cases overseas.
Pick an issue, from his attack on the universities, his controversial political appointees (creating a “fake government” staffed by the unqualified), his attack on major law firms, perversion of immigration reform, disparagement and attacks on the media, abuse of the judiciary, including violations of due process of law, the purge of libraries and firing of museum curators for alleged offensive books and materials, attack on medical science, including vaccines, vindictive behavior and actions toward citizens who oppose him, as well as politicians, celebrities, and state officials, using his office for profit and politicizing the military.
There are some who will say that you can’t blame all this on Trump, but yet they are quick to blame everything on Biden, Obama and the Democrats. Like it or not, in American politics, the president and party in power always suffer the blame for what happens on their watch. This is Trump’s presidency now; the war in Ukraine is his responsibility along with everything else. And the list of issues above all bear Trump’s signature; he has initiated them, spoken out about them, and vigorously prosecuted them.
The hate that brought on shooting and killing in Minnesota, the ongoing crisis in Los Angeles and elsewhere, and the “No Kings”protest across the nation yesterday are all the result of Trump’s actions, actions that bear his signature based on his prejudice, partisan politics and insatiable need for recognition and power.
Can’t we come together without regard for our differences and admit that much of the current malaise is the result of our president?