Kokomo Tribune
When then-presidential candidate Donald Trump called for an outright ban of Muslims entering the country in December 2015, he drew heat from many corners, including some traditionally conservative characters.
When then-presidential candidate Donald Trump called for an outright ban of Muslims entering the country in December 2015, he drew heat from many corners, including some traditionally conservative characters.
While it seemed at the time like new levels of vitriol were being unleashed, Trump was playing a very old game. Over the course of this country’s history, many before him have used the idea of some vague, generalized fear of an “other” to whip up support for their personal gain.
Surely, many after him will, as well.
Wisconsin Sen. Joe McCarthy had the communists. Alabama Gov. George Wallace had African Americans. Many groups have had their time under the scrutiny of a paranoid American populace: Chinese Americans, Jews, Catholics, Irish Americans and Italian Americans. The list goes on and on.
What made Trump’s assertions so poisonous was not limited to his campaign. He opened the door for others to speak openly in the same fashion. Whereas before such sentiments were relegated to the dark corners of conversations, those with hate in their hearts now had an opening to express themselves.
They did in Charlottesville, Virginia, during a white-nationalist rally in August 2017. After a car barreled through the crowd protesting the rally, killing a woman and injuring a couple of dozen others, the president falsely asserted those peacefully protesting were just as culpable for the violence.
And they did outside a Carmel synagogue in July 2018, defiling a wall with spray-painted swastikas and a Nazi flag.
Today, the Black Lives Matter movement is gaining momentum throughout the country. The New York Times reported Wednesday that Americans now support the race and criminal justice issues BLM espouses. “By a 28-point margin, [research firm] Civiqs finds that a majority of American voters support the movement,” the Times said, “up from a 17-point margin before the most recent wave of protests began.”
We live in a pluralistic society. We are not homogeneous in any sense. We are all mixed together in this country, which is exactly what makes us great.
Holding a minority religious or political viewpoint, and especially being of color, doesn’t make someone evil or to be feared. It’s un-American to assert otherwise.
Trump is incredibly cynical. He knows a lot of people feel this way, and he’s just shameless enough, even when the polls are against him, to tap into that fervor.
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