| | | What is the craziest thing that has ever happened at a Donald Trump Rally?
John Gulino, Special Educator at Oakland Unified School District
Answered Thu
Seriously. Objectively. Without anger. Without rancor. Is Jonathan Skabelund serious?!? Trump’s rallies are reminiscent of Hitler’s rallies. The crowd was threatening to beat the hell out of anti Trump protesters, and DJT was saying more or less, “okay, go ahead and hit him, I’ll cover your legal bills.” DJT making fun of the reporter with cerebral palsy, and the crowd cheers. The crowd chanting about Hillary, “lock her up.” No substantive discussion of any policy whatsoever. Rah, rah, rah. What is the craziest thing? There’s a list of about five hundred crazy things, where does one start? Trump and his followers and his rallies are terrifying. Quotes: “Kill her.” “Trump that bitch!”
“Build a wall — kill them all.” The New York Times: “what struck us was the frequency with which some Trump supporters use coarse, vitriolic, even violent language — in the epithets they shout and chant, the signs they carry, the T-shirts they wear — a pattern not seen in connection with any other recent political candidate, in any party.” From WIRED magazine: “Trump rallies tell you something about the relationship among the followers and a strong leader. It is an America with a sense of anger and fear, fear that what you value will be taken away," says Reicher. "People are being told that what they value as Americans is under threat from all these forces, that for America to be great, these people have to be excluded—either thrown out from the rally or a by a wall being built.”
The rhetoric of the rallies, then, both reinforces and amplifies those feelings. People feel empowered to defend the collective—like the Trump supporter who sucker-punched a protester being led out of an event. “They are not hitting the person because they have a history with the other person. What they are doing, in a perverse way, is they are acting for the group,” Reicher says. “It’s a very dangerous cocktail.” America has gone off the deep end. And Trump is the drunken, cocaine-addled monkey driving the train. Will he drag us into a pointless war with Iran?
Jonathan, how do you defend someone who makes fun of a disabled person with cerebral palsy?
How do you defend someone who was actively spreading hateful, racist, absurd, xenophobic rumors that President Obama was born in Kenya and was a Muslim?
How do you defend someone who is obviously incompetent?
How do you defend someone who puts Ivanka in charge of appointing the Cabinet, while she doesn’t even know the first thing about what the Department of Energy does? Did anyone elect her?!? Is she qualified beyond selling shoes at Macy’s, perhaps?
How do you defend someone who has legislation written by Jared Kushner? Who elected him?!?
How do you support someone who allies himself with the neo-Nazis who murdered a young woman in Charlottesville?
Do you have difficulty recognizing a con man? A swindler? A grifter? A snake oil salesman? A racist? A Muslim hater? A phony? A man who hates and fears women?
How do you defend someone who said that Hillary had blood coming out “of her…I won’t say it, her you know where”?
How do you defend someone who is sitting in the office of the most powerful leader in the world, in command of the world’s strongest military, and watches television three hours a day? [ Much more than three hours a day. ]
How do you defend a president who proudly states that he doesn’t read? |
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