So President Trump has been shot. Honestly, I’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner. The US media and the Democrats have been labelling him as the enemy of the people and a danger to democracy for years. Democrats.org wrote an article titled “Donald “Dictator on ‘Day One’” Trump Is an Existential Threat To Our Democracy.” After calling him a fascist and telling people he would be a dictator is it any wonder someone finally took a shot at him.
Someone Tried To Kill Trump: How The World Reacted
As usual, almost everyone’s reaction about Trump is entirely predictable, except for that of Trump himself. The right leapt to his defence as a patriot and a hero, the left told him it was about time or that he deserved it. There’s definitely a cohort of the left who would have wanted him to flee the stage cowering like a little girl so they could laugh at him. It’s the exact same people claiming he brought this on himself. But Trump seemed pumped to be alive.
As candidate and as President, Trump opened up a can of worms on American politics unearthing forces of hate from all sides – he definitely emboldened anti-immigrant rhetoric with his condemnation of illegal immigrants. Even if you dislike the policy I believe you should never demonise those trying to make a new and better life for themselves but instead, the policy that allows for the destabilizing of communities.
Although Trump’s campaign was doused with anti-immigration and anti-leftist sentiment, the disdain and anger coming from the media and the Democrat politicians and supporters eclipsed any right-wing hatred Trump unleashed. Kathy Griffin posed for a picture with a model of his decapitated head. I believe in their right to say it. But their vitriol is, in my opinion, equal to anything that Trump supporters hurl at “leftists”.
They hated him, his supporters, and even more so, his black supporters. They questioned their skin colour if they chose to voice support for Trump. Adam B. Coleman told me on my podcast that he was called an “Uncle Tom” and I’ve seen some black Trump supporters compared to Samuel L Jackson’s character of Steven from Django Unchained. They called all Trump supporters enemies of the people, racists who brought back 1930s Germany to America.
We Have Forgotten The Lessons Of 2016
It’s as if people don’t remember 2016. I was told it was over for democracy. That all civil liberties would be removed and we were about to repeat the pre WWII saga of Europe and witness the rise of a powerful far right. Instead, Trump was mostly incompetent and ineffective, his health care plan was a joke, Republicans in the House and Senate had no idea what they were voting on. Soon Trump was not only facing a hostile media and Congress, he was being opposed by the entrenched powers of Washington who were putting a stop to anything too disruptive to the status quo. The President is much less powerful than many like to imagine. If the rest of the apparatus of government doesn’t work with their administration, it can be difficult for Presidents to achieve anything. There were some victories, but he never turned into the dictator I was promised he would become.
Trump started zero new wars and achieved peace in the Middle East. I believe we should give credit where it’s due in his case a huge victory against the war hawks that usually control these positions of powers.
Then we had January 6th. Trump supporters and possibly members of the intelligence agencies stormed the Capitol – though despite one lady being shot the Trumpers entered and exited with very little fanfare. They were at least more peaceful than the mostly peaceful BLM riots.
A Threat To Democracy?
Despite firmly believing the election was stolen based on compelling evidence of irregularities, Trump ordered the mob to go home, never actually encouraged them to commit violence, in fact, he told them to “peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard,”. Eventually, despite never admitting that he had actually lost, still claiming the election was rigged, Biden took over and we had a peaceful transition of power.
There was no end to democracy last time and there won’t be one this time. Having been shot and facing an increasingly senile Joe Biden, Trump is almost certainly going to win.
What I’m more interested in is whether some of the journalists gleefully saying Trump brought this on himself will examine the way they speak about Trump and his dangers to democracy. They’re doing everything they accuse him of doing. Projection at its finest.
If you liked this article please sign up to my mailing list!
