February 17-22, 2017: President Trump Stirs the Hatred

 

2/17/17: Trump tweets that the media is “the enemy of the American people.” Those who cherish the First Amendment know this isn’t funny. 

BLOGGER’S NOTE: In the next three years, he will use the word “enemy” to describe the free press in far more tweets than all the terrorists, internal and external combined.

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Trump still hiring immigrant labor. 

2/18/17: Trump Winery applies for special visas to hire 23 immigrant laborers at $11.87 per hour. 

Now you know why President Trump opposes raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour.

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2/19/17: Reacting to Trump’s comments on the media, Sen. John McCain tells a reporter that dictators “get started by suppressing free press [emphasis added].” Without a media capable of expressing itself freely, he adds, “I am afraid that we would lose so much of our individual liberties over time.” (See: 2/17/17.) 

The Trump base isn’t worried – and liberals such as your humble blogger, find that doubly troubling.

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2/20/17: The president’s third choice for National Security Adviser, General H. R. McMaster, takes charge. General Flynn, his first choice, has been fired. 

His second pick, Vice Admiral Robert Harward, a former Navy SEAL, knows a bad mission when he sees it. He declines a chance to take a bite out of what he refers to as a “shit sandwich.” 

Other than that, it’s a good day to be Trump. He still has Twitter!

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2/21/17: The president speaks out against anti-Semitic threats and vandalism in a St. Louis cemetery. He wants to root out “hate and prejudice and evil.” 

This might sound commendable if we ignored Trump’s efforts to stir up “hate and prejudice and evil” against Muslims, Mexicans and protesting American citizens. (See: 3/3/17 and 4/17/17.) 

 

Neo-Nazis love Trump. 

By the end of March it will be reported that anti-Semitic attacks have surged 86% across the U.S., fueled in part by the thrill neo-Nazis feel knowing Trump is seated in the Oval Office. Yes, indeed, neo-Nazis have a real soft spot in their hearts for the brash new Commander-in-Chief!

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2/22/17: In Kansas, a white Navy veteran shoots and kills one man in a bar and wounds a second. “Get out of my country,” he shouts at his targets, who he believes are Iranians and therefore Muslim. Trump offers no comment despite the fact many blame him for stirring up anti-Muslim hatred.  

The two victims are from India.

 

BLOGGER’S NOTE: In a speech to Congress six days later Trump highlights three families who lost loved ones to illegal immigrant killers.  

Right-wing killers? No problem! 

All these killings, of course, are execrable.)

The victim in the Kansas shooting, right, was Srivinis Kuchibhotla.