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...

Trump says he would have punched protester who jumped Dayton fence at Kansas City rally pic.twitter.com/aBL0ZT8NMb

— Mashable News (@MashableNews) March 13, 2016

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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