The United States just experienced the most heinous acts of domestic terrorism in history – bombs sent to two former presidents, leading Democrats, Trump critics and the press, followed by the worst massacre of Jews in American history – and the only national security threat Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen is focused on is a caravan of desperate Hondurans moving at turtle pace 1,000 miles from the U.S. border.
Republicans are so desperate to stop a feared Blue Wave in the midterm elections, they are conjuring up the ghouls, vampires and zombies to scare their gullible base of deplorables to vote, and at the same time, block or intimidate others.
They are casting Democrats as Socialists (Communists, even!), enemies of the state (along with media), traitors, ultra liberals! And the biggest bogeyman of all, are the black and brown “aliens” who they cast as an invasion force carrying leprosy, smallpox and crime.
This isn’t just coming from the Republican candidates, who have taken to calling their opponents “negroes” (or something else), “monkey”, “traitor,” but from the bully pulpit of the occupier of the Oval Office, and the White House, itself. In fact, they have taken their cues and their memes straight from the White House.
“And honestly, it’s a very dangerous period in our country. And it’s being perpetrated by some very evil people,” Trump declared at the New York press conference. At rallies after the Kavanaugh hearings, he led chants against Sen. Dianne Feinstein (a Democrat, a woman and Jewish), “Lock her up.” Trump doesn’t even bother using dogwhistles any more, he uses a bullhorn.
The White House took the occasion for a press call about illegal immigration to vilify Democrats for the “crisis” at the border.
“This is a fundamental issue of sovereignty,” a “senior administration official” declared. “Republicans want to preserve sovereignty and end loopholes. Democrats want to preserve loopholes and end sovereignty….you have system in which noncontiguous aliens are granted catch and release into our country as a result of Democratic loopholes and fiat….[Sen.] Dianne Feinstein, the fiercest defender on the planet, wants to expand protections never before seen in history. .. Dianne Feinstein [wants to] end of American sovereignty.”
Let’s be clear: Under Obama, there was a bipartisan Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill that did provide for unprecedented funding to secure the border.
It passed the Senate in 2013 but the Republican-led house refused to vote on it, which led Obama to institute the DACA policy. There is a solution to illegal immigration: it’s a structure for legal immigration and residency.
In just one week, two blacks were gunned down at a Kentucky store; a man enthralled by Trump and MAGAism sent 14 bombs to prominent Democratic leaders and a gunman wielding AR15 invaded Pittsburgh’s oldest synagogue during Shabbat services, killing 11, injuring 4 police, but the threat to America is a caravan of desperate Hondurans fleeing violence that the US helped cause?
Trump’s solution? Cut aid programs to these countries meant to mitigate such violence and desperation, threaten to cancel rebranded NAFTA, send 5,200 U.S. soldiers to the border and shutter it altogether.
The Tree of Life synagogue was targeted not only because of anti-Semitism, but because Jews are viewed by White Nationalists as “globalists” who help refugees and immigrants. The massacre was facilitated by the ease of access to assault weapons. (Trump blames the synagogue for not having an armed guard, and “fake news” for informing Americans about his policies.)
The final match was the sense of righteousness in the ability to murder people who are deemed sub-human, not deserving of life or liberty, like the five Baltimore journalists, another group branded by Trump as part of an evil enterprise.
The parallels to the rise of Hitler and Nazi Germany cannot be ignored. You don’t mobilize a citizenry to exterminate six million people who had lived in Europe for 1,000 years without first de-humanizing them.
“Our highest national leaders are legitimizing rhetoric once confined to the paranoid extremes of our society – railing against ‘globalists,’ who all happen to be prominent Jews, complaining about ‘white genocide,’ attacking immigrants for ‘threatening our culture,’ and spreading crackpot conspiracy theories to advocate imprisoning their political opponents. These words are like sparks to the gasoline of disturbed minds. These words can kill,” stated Tom Malinowski, a Democratic congressional candidate in New Jersey who served as assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor in the Obama administration.
“It is fundamental to our American identity that everyone, no matter their faith, race or place of birth, feel welcome among us and safe in expressing who they are. It is fundamental that when Neo-Nazis and other haters march, that we come together against them, and not treat the patriotic Americans who rise up in protest as their equals. It is fundamental that those who represent us do more than release the occasional statement to combat the tide of bigotry that’s been unleashed in our nation. It is past time to put country over party and oppose leaders who cater to extremism and then absolve themselves of responsibility for what they have done.”
These midterm elections are, in fact, the most important of our lifetime, that will set the course and framework for who America is, what America has become.
But if Republicans retain control, Trump will be emboldened, especially with a Kavanaugh Supreme Court anointing him the Unitary Executive inoculated against the Rule of Law. Trump will be liberated to follow up on his worst instincts (no, we haven’t yet seen the low worst), while McConnell will ram through right-wing judges, repeal health care, and slash the social safety net, stripping away Medicare, Social Security, Medicaid, CHIP to pay for the Republican $1.5 trillion tax cuts and exploding budget deficit.
Vote Tuesday, Nov. 6.
