Monday, February 27, 2017

Trump's Clear Signal That Some Count and Others Don't: Another Wave of Bomb Threats at Jewish Centers Today, Another Cemetery Vandalized Yesterday




Jewish community centers in at least 11 states received bomb threats on Monday, echoing similar waves of threats on Jan. 9 and Jan. 18.

Yesterday:



Last week:



Josh Marshall about what all of this means and who is responsible: 

We are of course seeing arguments now about whether this outbreak of anti-Semitic agitation is tied to Donald Trump. I see little point in actually participating in this argument. Republicans and Trump supporters who deny the connection don't really believe what they are saying. It is obvious that they are connected. We've never seen anything like this in decades. Are the KKK and anti-Semitic white nationalist groups really just confused when they say that Trump is the best thing that has happened to their groups in decades? Are we supposed to ignore that the President's top advisor has clear ties to all of these groups and has spent years bringing them to greater prominence? 
This is all obvious - obvious enough that there's really no point debating the point. Whether Trump personally has antipathy toward Jews is irrelevant. His movement and his actions enable and encourage hostility toward Jews and the hostility inevitably spills over into violence. It is not yet as lethal. But it is no different in its basic contours to the immigrant bashing that led to the murder of the Indian immigrant Garmin employee in Kansas
Demonization breeds hate and hate spills over into violence, all as surely as night follows day. There was a new round of bomb threats just this morning.

Supriya Kelkar's response, directed to Mr. Trump: 

You are not making America great again. You are destroying its moral fabric. You are attacking democracy. You are deciding who matters and who doesn't. You are spreading hate and fear daily. You may have tricked some people into believing you will be everyone's president but you haven't fooled me. Your silence says it all, and it's disgusting.

Chris Hedges on what's going on at a fundamental level with the attack on immigrants, Muslims, Jews, and other targeted minority groups: 

White Europeans who are undocumented are not being targeted. The executive orders of President Trump are directed against people of color. They begin from the premise that white Americans are the true victims of neoliberalism, deindustrialization and falling living standards. The Trump orders are written not to make America great again but to make America white

Jamelle Bouie on Trump's total silence about the shooting of two Indian men in Kansas by a shooter Donald Trump shouting, "Get out of my country!":

Donald Trump has not done much as president, but he has done this: He's sent a clear signal to the country about who is worthy of empathy and concern—and protection—and who is not; about who deserves your outrage and indignation, and who doesn't. Trump's double standard is just another of the many ways he has told the American public that the lives and safety of immigrants and Muslims just don't matter all that much.

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