Monday, March 14, 2016

Donald Trump and the Ideology of Violence



I see that Donald Trump is back on the road again, after having to cancel a rally in Chicago due to clashes between his followers and protesters.

And he is not just rejecting criticism that his inflammatory rhetoric has created an atmosphere of violence at his rallies. 

He's doubling down. 

Showing few signs of trying to ease the nation's tense political atmosphere, Republican front-runner Donald Trump is standing by his antagonistic campaign rhetoric, rejecting any responsibility for violence at his rallies and defending his supporters who have been charged with assaulting protesters.

He's blaming Bernie Sanders.


And threatening to unleash these kind of people against him.



Some of whom are now volunteering to become his redneck guard or his private army...



Which would add yet another dangerous dimension to that atmosphere of violence and fascism.

Even though Sanders is not the kind of person to direct his supporters to disrupt Trump's rallies.


His campaign is a peaceful campaign of ideas not smears.

And he must surely know that this kind of protest action is not helpful...



For trying to seize the mike, as that protester says he was trying to do, can only inflame an already tense situation.

Allow that bloated billionaire to pose as a tough guy...

And above all play into the hands of his ideology of violence.

This is what Trump supporters hear at his rallies. They are told that America is no longer great. They are told who to blame. They are told that the reason these losers are dragging America down is we have become too politically correct, too scared, too weak, to stop them. 

They are told Trump will pay their legal fees if they want to do what's necessary. "There used to be consequences," Trump sighs. The crowd knows what he's asking. Make Consequences Real Again.

Because that at a time when so many Americans are so angry and so frustrated for good reason, is what makes him so dangerous.



He is a man with an evident appetite for suppressing dissent with violence, a man who believes America's problem is that it's too gentle to its dissidents. Trump is making an argument for a politics backed by force, for a security service unleashed from "political correctness," for a country where protesting has consequences. The results are playing out before us, night after night, on our televisions. 

If Trump wins and this country goes down a dark path, we will never be able to say we didn't see it coming. We will never be able to say we weren't warned.

And why responding to violence with violence is to fall into his trap.

For it's important to remember that's the game the fledgling Nazis played. When they sent contingents of brownshirts into strongly left-wing neighbourhoods.

To be beaten up or killed...



We are building the New Germany. Remember the victims.

So they could be turned into martyrs and used to win them new recruits.

Because while the situation is not there yet, it's definitely heading in that direction.

Now I'm not an American, and it's not for me to tell them what they should do. 

But I do love our neighbours, even if some of them do frighten me. So I will offer up these humble suggestions:

I think progressives should find more creative ways of fighting Trump than disrupting his rallies. Even though there is nothing wrong with peaceful protests, and their anger is legitimate.



I just think there better ways to take their message to Americans like that man in Chicago is doing, which also shows those bigots that progressives are better and more decent than them.

I also think our American brothers and sisters should start organizing and preparing for the next election, and above all coming up with new ways to ensure a massive voter turnout. 

And that when the election campaign begins in earnest, they should rally around the candidate the Democrats choose, whether it be Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton, whatever they might feel about him or her.

Because that candidate will be the only one who can stop Trump, both of them are better than him. And when I hear progressives say they would rather vote for Trump, or nobody, rather than vote for Bernie or Hillary, it makes my blood run cold.

In the meantime, I will keep hoping for a Bernie victory.

And praying that this message prevails...



For diversity, decency, tolerance, and hope are what make progressives strong.

And are like Kryptonite to people like Trump.

So our good neighbours should wave those values proudly, like Justin Trudeau is doing in this country.

And use them like we did, to destroy their dangerous demagogue...

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10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes Simon,when it comes to violence the good old USofA is the be all,cos there is no end all.From forever right in their own streets and backyards to the streets and backyards of the Middle East and other country's there is not a bullet or bomb they haven't used.
Of course it's all Trump's fault.
Obama,Clinton and even Sanders would never dream of doing anything like that.
Simon I truly believe that no matter who gets elected it will be business as usual and anyone who might get the slightest idea that they wanna do it differently might wanna have a quick chat with the ghosts of the Kennedy's and Martin Luther King.
Or George Carlin.
"The reason they call it the American Dream is because you have to be asleep to believe it."

rumleyfips said...

I think the anti - Trump protests speak to motivation. Trump is motivating young voters. Hopefully they will stay with the programme until the election. Harper motivated lots of millennials to vote.

Dan said...

Trump and his gang of clowns feel that only "the other" should suffer the consequences of their actions, never them.

Instead of looking back in introspection at what he's done, Trump's dialed it up because he can't/won't accept the responsibility that his rhetoric has dialed up the crazy to 11 and those protesters have freaked out his not so inner coward now he's lashing out in fear.

Trump's campaign is going to makes things worse before they get better. The only thing that really stops guys like Trump is that their narcissism and the blindly following/stupidity supporters overextend themselves to horrific failure. I hope it happens during the campaign and not what will be a shit show of an administration.

Anonymous said...

Hilary is probably the most qualified, but she does silly things that just cement the negative view people have of her. Last week when she asked where Bernie was in 93/94' when Clinton's were campaigning on health care, and he produced a photo seconds later showing in fact he was very much involved, is just one example. This just makes her look so bad! She's got to stop this, release the speech she gave to Wall Street. I just don't think she really gets it. I wish she did. She's very smart, but she keeps doing things that show her to be opportunistic, and never owning up.

I wish I was wrong.

Oh well.

TS

e.a.f. said...

it might be that Trump considers Saunders his biggest rival. Those who would vote for Clinton, will never vote for Trump, but if Saunders didn't have his supporters, where would they go? Trump most likely thinks they will come to him, given both appeal to the disaffected voter. Unfortunately for Trump, Saunder's voters will either go to Clinton or not vote. They see Trump for what he is.

there is another thing Trump may be trying to do, getting Saunders killed. By blaming Saunders and his supporters for the violence which follows Trump, eventually some are going to start going to Saunders rallies and start fights. given the number of guns in the U.S.A. some one will try to shoot Saunders, if Trump eggs them on enough.

Then the civil war in the U.S.A. can begin. Canada then can look forward to a lot of political refugees coming into Canada. As the one writer said, the world's biggest challenge in this century will be managing the decline of the U.S.A.

iT IS amazing the level of violence Trump talks. it certainly does incite people. How this will end, is anyone's guess. If Trump continues to spew sewage and hate, some may not wait until he is "elected" to start "rounding up" those they feel ought to be "deported" to Mexico or sent "back to where they came from".

The rounding up of 11 million people in the U.S.A. for deportation just sounds so Nazi.

England at one time had a Nazi leader, who spoke in public. I've seen old tapes of him. he was a better speaker, but he does remind me of Trump. I don't remember his name, but he had a son, who also was involved.

Simon said...

hi anon... well who knows maybe you're right. Maybe everything will revert to normal the day after the election. But I doubt it. I think we're in for an extraordinary upheaval. And the only question is will it be democracy or fascism? Because if the choice is Trump it will be fascism...

Simon said...

hi rumleyfips... Trump is attracting some young voters, but they are nothing compared to the numbers Bernie Sanders is attracting. It's not even close. And you are going to see the most amazing voter turnout in recent American history. And it will swamp Trump...

Simon said...

hi Dan...I can't imagine that Trump could win the election. I think people are going to react to his campaign as so many Canadians reacted to Harper's politics of division. His numbers soared for a while, until people were disgusted, and those numbers fell like a stone. I am working on some anti-Trump videos, and I can't believe how much material I already have. When he is hit by his own clown performance in one attack ad after the other sooner or later his campaign will fade....

Simon said...

hi TS...yes, I'm a bit worried about Hillary. She is the apparently safer choice. But whether she is the best candidate to take on Trump remains to be seen. I think Sanders, who is benefiting from the same alienation and anger that Trump is harvesting, might be a better choice. It's going to be a very nerve-wracking election with the future of the world itself at stake. But hey, we survived Harper so we should be able to survive Trump....

Simon said...

hi e.a.f...as I said above, some polls show that Sanders would be a stronger candidate that Clinton. But with the massive support she is getting from African Americans, I don't know how she can be beaten. And yes, far more frightening than Trump himself, are some of his supporters. For he is giving the license to say or do anything...