8/5/19: The nation comes to grips with the tragic events of the weekend. TV screens fill with sad images. Three daughters of David Johnson talk with Anderson Cooper. They tell him their dad shielded their mother and a nine-year-old granddaughter when the El Paso killer opened fire at point blank range. Johnson was hit several times and paid with his life.
All three young women start to cry.
____________________
The
problem Trump doesn’t dare address is the problem itself.
____________________
The name of Arturo Benavides, 60, scrolls across the screen. An army veteran, who liked to talk about his time in the service, Benavides was killed not on a battlefield but shopping at a store. Maribel Latin, describes being wounded in the arm and the foot, playing dead, counting shots fired as she lay. She feared the next bullet might be for her. Paul Gilbert Anchondo, age two months, was grazed by a bullet but survived. Both parents were killed. Now he’s a “mass murderer orphan.” So are his sisters, Skylin, 5, and Victoria, 2. Javier Amir Rodriguez, 15, played soccer in high school last year. He won’t be playing again this fall. Angelina Englisbee, 86, survived eight decades on earth, only to be cut down at Walmart.
The husband of Elsa Libora Marquez speaks, in a sense, for all the grieving families, when he remembers his wife in a Facebook post. “I say goodbye to my partner, the most wonderful woman, a being full of life who will continue to light our path [emphasis added, unless otherwise noted] for the time that life gives us…we will miss you my love!!!!”
The story in Dayton is
equally bloody and grim. Megan Betts, the “bubbly” sister of the killer, is
among those gunned down. Derrick Fudge, 57, is purchasing food at a taco truck
when caught by a burst of semi-automatic fire. Lois Oglesby, 27, a young
mother, will never tuck her two daughters in bed again. Logan Turner, 30,
described by his mother “as the world’s best son,” is dead.
*
Pitting group against group.
AT 10:00 A.M., President Trump appears before cameras in the White House Diplomatic Reception Room. VP Pence stands, a step back, at his side. Trump talks about what he believes must be done.
A “wicked man,” he says, went to Walmart in El Paso and opened fire. In Dayton, a “twisted monster” blasted innocent bystanders at a popular night-life spot. The president’s speech hits mostly correct notes, although Trump seems to be delivering it with the enthusiasm of a child served succotash. He appears to be reciting what’s on the teleprompter and doesn’t appear moved.
“These barbaric slaughters are an assault on our communities,” he recites, “a crime against all humanity.” It is odd to hear the words “all humanity” issue from his lips. Trump spent his entire time running for office, and all his time since, dividing humanity into groups and pitting group against group.
Still, he soldiers on, saying, at least three years too late,
that, “in one voice, our nation must condemn racism, bigotry and white
supremacy. These sinister ideologies must be defeated. Hate has no place in
America. Hatred warps the mind, ravages the heart, and devours the soul.”
This blogger freely admits he finds this president to be a despicable human being. He would credit Trump for such words if he thought they came from someplace in his heart. But it’s easy to check the internet site which compiles all of Trump’s tweets. The site allows a search by word or phrase.
The phrase, “all humanity” has never appeared.
“Hate,” however, comes up hundreds of times, sometimes in harmless fashion, often not. Trump howls about political foes who “HATE our country.” There are “haters and losers,” “Trump haters,” CNN pundits who “hate” him, and a single “Hate Crime” that riles Trump up.
(Until this moment, the only hate crime Trump had ever tweeted about was the case of Jussie Smollett, who faked an attack on himself – and claimed the attackers were men in red MAGA hats.)
“The inherent worth and dignity of every human life.”
“Since Columbine,” Trump continues with his White House recitation, we have “watched, with rising horror, and dread, as one mass shooting has followed another, over and over again, decade after decade.”
“We can and will stop this evil contagion,” he adds, but says it must be done in “a true bipartisan manner.”
In perhaps the most ironic passage of all, Trump looks at the
teleprompter and intones: “Cultural change is hard. But each of us can choose
to build a culture that celebrates the inherent worth and dignity of every
human life.” In what sounds like an aside, diverging from the script, he adds,
with what seems to be a brief touch of sincere emotion, “That’s what we have to
do.”
The president talks for ten minutes. It’s hard not to notice he avoids the main point. “We must reform our mental health laws to better identify mentally disturbed individuals,” make sure they get treatment, but face “involuntary confinement” if required. He talks about regulating “violent video games.” He seems to believe all mass murderers are “mentally disturbed,” but says he wants to add the death penalty in such cases. There’s no evidence a deranged killer would care. The problem Trump doesn’t dare address is the problem itself. Both shooters, as is almost always the case where mass murder occurs, were armed with military-style weaponry. And – more generally – the problem is that the country is awash with three hundred million guns.
Instead, Trump hits a key right-wing talking point in his speech. We don’t need gun control. “Mental illness and hatred pulls the trigger, not the gun,” he insists.
His task nearly complete, Trump wraps up the speech he has no choice but to give. “If we are able to pass great legislation after all of these years, we will ensure that those who were attacked will not have died in vain.” He offers blessings to the memory of the people who died in El Paso. Then: “May God bless the memory of those who died in Toledo. May God protect them.”
It’s a bizarre slip of the tongue, but Trump doesn’t correct
himself. Moments later, he concludes his performance. He exits the room, as if
making his escape, without taking a question from the press.
*
THE DAY DOES NOT END, however, before several Republicans make colossal asses of themselves.
Once again, we hear them argue that banning assault-style rifles won’t help because killers can still use knives. It’s the same line they trot out every time a mass shooting occurs. Killers can use cars, too.
Oh, fuck it. Why not just argue that they can use nine irons, two-by-fours, and frozen turkey legs as clubs?
(Next,
they’d howl: “Liberals want to take away your drumsticks!”)
Ohio state Rep. Candice Keller, the biggest fool of all, places blame for gun violence right where it “belongs.”
In a Facebook post she writes, “After every mass shooting, the liberals start the blame game. Why not place the blame where it belongs?” She kicks off her list: “The breakdown of the traditional American family (thank you, transgender, homosexual marriage, and drag queen advocates)...”
It’s an idiotic response. And to be fair, the Ohio Republican Party chairwoman calls on
Rep. Keller to resign.
*
LEST WE FORGET, there are and always have been Republicans and conservatives who stand for principles any decent human can respect. Nebraska state Sen. John S. McCollister, a lifelong Republican, issues a series of searing tweets:
The Republican Party is
enabling white supremacy in our country. As a lifelong Republican, it
pains me to say this, but it’s the truth.
I of course am not suggesting
that all Republicans are white supremacists nor am I saying that the average
Republican is even racist.
What I am saying though is that
the Republican Party is COMPLICIT to obvious racist and immoral activity inside
our party.
We have a Republican president who
continually stokes racist fears in his base. He calls certain
countries “sh*tholes,” tells women of color to “go back” to where they came
from and lies more than he tells the truth.
We have Republican senators and
representatives who look the other way and say nothing for fear that it will
negatively affect their elections. No more. When the history books are written,
I refuse to be someone who said nothing...
We all like to cite Abraham
Lincoln’s Republican lineage when it is politically expedient but NOW is the
time to ACT like Lincoln and take a stand.
With, that, he posts this picture and calls it a day.
Within hours, the chairman of the Nebraska GOP drums McCollister out of the Republican Party.
And so it goes.
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