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.

November 29, 2017: The President Spends His day "Legitimizing Religious Bigotry."

 

11/29/17: By now anyone with a modicum of common sense knows the president is a dick. The only surprise is how much of a dick he is. 

Today he begins his morning at 6:37 a.m. by retweeting three anti-Muslim videos from Britain First, a right-wing fringe group in that country. 

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“Trump sharing Britain First. Let that sink in. The President of the United States is promoting a fascist, racist, extremist group whose leaders have been arrested and convicted. He is no friend of ours.” 

British lawmaker

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Condemnation from decent people is swift. Sen. Lindsey Graham warns that the president is “legitimizing religious bigotry.” When we ask Iraqis or Afghans or Kurds for help this is likely to backfire. “We need Muslim allies in the war on terror,” Graham explains. “I can only imagine how some of our Muslim allies must feel when the president gives legitimacy to it.” 

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper calls Trump’s decision to retweet the videos “bizarre and disturbing.”

 

Prime Minister Theresa May sends out a spokesperson to relay this blunt message: 

Britain First seeks to divide communities in their use of hateful narratives which pedal lies and stoke tensions…. British people overwhelming reject the prejudice[d] rhetoric of the far-right, which is the antithesis of the values that this country represents [emphasis added, unless otherwise noted]; decency, tolerance and respect. It is wrong for the president to have done this.

 

Members of Parliament join the chorus. Speaking in the House of Commons, one notes: 

It appears that the President of the United States has, in recent moments, been retweeting comments from far-fight organisation Britain First – highly inflammatory videos, including some posted by an individual who I believe has recently been arrested and charged relating to certain serious offences.

 

Another member offers biting assessment: “Trump sharing Britain First. Let that sink in. The President of the United States is promoting a fascist, racist, extremist group whose leaders have been arrested and convicted. He is no friend of ours.”

 

Brendan Cox, whose wife Jo Cox, a British lawmaker, was gunned down by a man shouting, “Britain first!” has this to say. “Trump has legitimised the far right in his own country, now he’s trying to do it in ours. Spreading hatred has consequences & the President should be ashamed of himself.”

 

As if on cue, Press Secretary Pinocchio is forced to go out and try to cover again for Trump and his spew. It doesn’t matter if the videos are real or not, Sarah Sanders insists, because “the threat is real.” 

Yes. It’s the dick in the Oval Office.

March 5, 2018: "Well, Children, Ms. Volitich Won't Be in Class Today."

 3/5/18: I think we can assume that students had questions when Ms. Dayanna Volitich didn’t show for Monday classes at Crystal River Middle School, in Citrus County, Florida today. 

And I’m kind of guessing here – but I suspect the woman is a big, big Trump fan.

Found on her Facebook page.

 

It’s unlikely that Ms. Volitich will be returning anytime soon, pending an investigation into reports that she hosted a white supremacist podcast, under the pseudonym, “Tiana Dalchov.” Throw in a few anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, spice it all up with a dab of anti-Muslim thought, and there you go. 

In one episode, she agreed with a guest who suggested that “a kid from Nigeria and a kid who came from Sweden” should not be expected to learn in the same way, and in the same episode said “science” has provided evidence that some races are smarter than others. She also boasted of pushing her beliefs in class. Volitich said in a statement released Sunday that the podcast was “satire,” and that she never injected her politics into her lessons.

 

So, she kept her hate a secret? While molding the minds of impressionable young kids? I feel “better,” for sure.

 

BLOGGER’S NOTE (6/12/2022): I went checking for info on Volitch’s ultimate fate. Turns out she was forced to resign in March 2018– as she says. She had a Facebook page, once upon a time. And her final post, on September 20, 2020, was clear and concise. 

“Trump 2020!” she wrote.

March 17, 2019: Judge Jeanine on Fox Dials Up the Hate

 

3/17/19: Since our topic of late is hate, let’s focus on Judge Jeanine Pirro. The Judge gets yanked from the air after attacking Rep. Ilhan Omar on religious grounds. Omar has been critical of Israeli policies in the Middle East. Pirro decides to focus on what Omar wears, and by extension cast doubt on the loyalty of all Muslim-American women. 

“Think about it: Omar wears a hijab,” Pirro points out, “which according to the Quran, 33:59, tells women to cover so they won’t get molested. Is her adherence to this Islamic doctrine indicative of her adherence to Sharia law, which in itself is antithetical to the United States Constitution?”

 

I’m not going to bother quoting any religious books, but direct right-wing haters to Article VI of the U.S. Constitution. 

It reads in part: 

The [U.S.] Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the members of the several state legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United States and of the several states, shall be bound by oath or affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.

 

That means a Muslim-American woman can wear a hijab if she likes and still serve in Congress if elected. 

(I wonder if Amish women, with their conservative clothing, scare Pirro?)

 

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NATURALLY, President Trump throws his support behind Pirro, ignores the fact she has denigrated all Muslim-American women – that is, citizens Trump has sworn to protect and defend – and in backing up Pirro’s right to attack religious freedom, attacks the free press again. 

“Bring back @JudgeJeanine Pirro,” he tweets. “The Radical Left Democrats, working closely with their beloved partner, the Fake News Media, is using every trick in the book to SILENCE a majority of our Country. They have all out campaigns against @FoxNews hosts who are doing too well.” 

At no time since he was elected, by a minority of voters, has Trump had the majority of Americans on his side.

July 20, 2019: At Heart Trump and All Haters Are Alike

 

7/20/19: Donald R. Trump (we are giving him the honorary “R.” for Russia; but it could also be for “racist”) spends his morning tweeting, like any other 73-year-old with nothing better to do. 

This time he’s retweeting posts from Katie Hopkins, a British woman known for racist rants. Naturally, she’s one of Trump’s biggest fans. 

How racist is she? 

Hopkins - probably trying to show how white she is!

 

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Think Trump’s not a racist? Then admit he’s a hater for sure.

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Hopkins has described dark-skinned refugees coming to Europe as “cockroaches.” As for news that hundreds were drowning in the Mediterranean as they tried to cross to Europe, she responded, “No, I don’t care. Show me pictures of coffins, show me bodies floating in water, play violins and show me skinny people looking sad. I still don’t care.” 

After a terror attack in Manchester in 2017, Hopkins responded to the very real horror by suggesting a far greater horror, a “Final Solution” for Muslims living in the U.K. It was no coincidence she used the same slogan Hitler used to describe liquidation of  millions of Jews. 

In 2018, Hopkins called a Twitter critic a “jigaboo,” clinching her blue-ribbon racist credentials.

 

Naturally, a racist is going to support a racist president, even though Hopkins insists Trump is not a racist. He has, instead, she claims, made 2020 a “binary choice.” It’s Trump. Or it’s those four congresswomen, all of whom just so happen to have dark skins. It’s Trump’s way. Or it’s socialism – higher taxes on billionaires – and the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse. 

Think Trump’s not a racist? Then admit he’s a hater for sure. The Know Nothing Party of the 1850s was made up of haters of immigrants. Hitler was a hater of Jews. Members of the Westboro Baptist Church hate LGBQT folks. Kim Jong-un is a hater of critics. Trump is a hater, too. 

At heart, all haters are alike.

October 4, 2019: For $1,500 Per Ticket, You Can Party with Haters at Mar-a-Lago

 

10/4/19: The weekend arrives! Our beleaguered president has little reason for joy. You’d think Trump would be fine, as unemployment falls to the lowest level in fifty years: 3.5 percent. 

Unfortunately, he has several daunting problems to address. First, North Korea has launched a nuclear-capable missile from a submarine, which this blogger would argue is not Donald J. Trump’s fault. What is his fault, is that he has allowed himself to be played for a chump. Even Trump fans will remember when he claimed, wrongly, that North Korea was no longer a nuclear threat. 

North Korea can now park a sub off the U.S. coast and, in event of war, wipe out any city it might choose.

 

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WHEN IT COMES to growing threats, we learn that September was the hottest September ever recorded, just slightly hotter than the record set in 2016. If you weren’t an idiot, you’d be worried, as August was the second hottest August ever, and July was the hottest July. June was the hottest June. 

The problem, of course, is that the president is an idiot. 

Future generations are screwed.

 

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A practicing Muslim “cannot be a loyal citizen of the United States.” 

ACT America

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IN BONUS STUPIDITY, we learn that ACT America, an anti-Muslim group, is planning to hold their gala at Mar-a-Lago in November. Because what better way to say, “I love freedom,” than to host a group that hates not just terrorists, but all Muslim Americans and all Muslims round the world! 

If you are willing to cough up $1,500 per ticket, for ACT America’s party, you can rub elbows with bigtime haters. Michelle Malkin will be there, spewing venom. So will Brigette Gabriel, founder of the group. 

According to the Anti-Defamation League, ACT America “propagates the hateful conspiracy theory that Muslims are infiltrating U.S. institutions to impose Sharia law.” Gabriel’s organization pushes the idea that “headscarves are a sign of radicalization” and claims that “25 percent of Muslims approve of terrorism.” The ADL warns that ACT America has attracted “far-right extremists, including white supremacists and militia group members [emphasis added].”

 

In Ms. Gabriel’s world, the 3.3 million Muslims living in our country are terrorists in waiting. In 2007 she made that position clear, insisting that “a practicing Muslim who believes the word of the Koran to be the word of Allah…who goes to mosque and prays every Friday, who prays five times a day – this practicing Muslim, who believes in the teachings of the Koran, cannot be a loyal citizen of the United States.” If a mosque was built anywhere in America, Gabriel warned, the F.B.I. must be notified. We were to assume that the mosque would be a den of jihadis. 

Last, but not least, Gabriel warned that Muslims were trying to take over our schools, by insisting that if students were taught about different religions, they should be taught about Islam, too. 

At any rate, ACT America will be hosting a party at Mar-a-Lago next month. At least no strippers are involved.

This Muslim American soldier gave his life for this country.

(Something NO Trump has ever done.)