As a Presidential candidate, Donald Trump often lamented at his rallies about missing the good ol’ days when people weren’t afraid of hurting other people. As a candidate, he often used strong, violent language to get his base riled up. And it often worked. There were numerous instances of violence against protestors at his rallies in 2016, which Donald Trump encouraged by assuring his supporters that he’d pay their legal fees.
Despite this, there were still people who claimed Trump was a unifier, not a divider. That he didn’t incite any violence in anyone.
Yesterday, ABC News published an article where they list 36 criminal cases “where President Donald Trump’s name was invoked in violent acts, threats of violent acts or assault.” They could fine no such cases for either Presidents Barack Obama or George W. Bush.
According to ABC News, “[i]n nine cases, perpetrators hailed Trump in the midst or immediate aftermath of physically attacking innocent victims. In another 10 cases, perpetrators cheered or defended Trump while taunting or threatening others. And in another 10 cases, Trump and his rhetoric were cited in court to explain a defendant’s violent or threatening behavior.”
Defense lawyers are citing the language of the President of the United States as being the instigator, the motivator, of the people who exhibited “violent or threatening behavior against others. Some were so inspired by Trump’s words that they yelled out Trump’s name during the attacks.
That is sick, but if anyone is surprised by this then they weren’t paying attention in 2016. Let’s not make the same mistake in 2020. Our country’s democracy and integrity is on the line.
This article was written before the shooting at an El Paso shopping mall where the alleged gunman scoped out the area before the assault to make sure there was a heavy Hispanic presence. There was. So he shot up the place killing 22 people and injuring dozens others. The shooter was apparently inspired by the President’s anti-immigrant rhetoric that referred to immigrants coming to America as an invasion. People are hurting and killing people because they believe they’re taking orders from this President.
Because we have a demagogue and a racist in the White House, people are harassing, threatening, taunting, physically attacking, shooting, and killing other people because they believe that will make them a patriot.
Welcome to Donald Trump’s America.
Please vote in 2020 to take our country back.
aliciajoseph 