Two brothers in Boston reportedly urinated on a homeless Latino man and then beat him with a metal pole, leaving him with a broken nose and other serious injuries. When arrested, they justified themselves by saying "Donald Trump was right, all these illegals need to be deported." (Reports don't say whether the victim was in fact an illegal alien, a US citizen, or a legal resident -- not that the thugs could have known anyway, and not that their actions would have been any less evil even if he had been an illegal.)
That would be bad enough, but what is really shocking here is Trump's reported comment when told of the attack:
"It would be a shame," Mr. Trump said, before adding: "I will say that people who are following me are very passionate. They love this country and they want this country to be great again. They are passionate."
Holy shit! He couldn't come up with a word of serious condemnation for a violent assault? He couldn't have forcefully declared that he never intended his words to encourage acts of racist violence, and called upon any other "people who are following me" who might be tempted to such behavior to restrain themselves? What on Earth does beating up a vulnerable person have to do with loving one's country and wanting it to be great? This isn't funny any more.
Some of Trump's fans will likely applaud even this as yet another example of his exuberant repudiation of political correctness. They're wrong. Violence is not the same thing as words, however offensive, and repudiating an act committed by someone else in your name is not the same thing as repudiating your own earlier views.
In fairness it's possible that Trump was misquoted, or that he was responding to a less-than-fully-accurate description of the event. It's possible that soon, realizing the gravity of this, he will condemn those men's actions as forcefully as they deserve. If not, we can only assume that his initial response above actually reflects his true feelings -- and draw the appropriate conclusions.
Update: Trump has condemned the attack.
We'll wait to see if Trump fully realizes that what happened here in Boston is a direct result of his dangerously stupid rhetoric.
ReplyDeleteTrump boasts about not being "politically correct," and his low-info trog followers (and the two criminals who assaulted the homeless man) cheer his brown-shirt ideas, then act on them.
What will Dr. Ben's demented followers do now that he's proposed (re: undocumented human beings) "packaging them up" and just recently said bombing them via drones would be a humane way to solve the immigration problem.
Dr. Ben is a fierce defender of the unborn, but bombing, via drone strikes, real live children? Not so much.
Trump, by not condemning the attack on the homeless dude, is condoning it.
ReplyDeleteTrump doesn't apologize. Sometimes his lawyers will, but he doesn't.
ReplyDeleteI've caught some of the American reports regarding the 2016 election. What dickheads say gets a lot of time. What dickheads mean gets a lot of time, either with wide-eyed amazement or apologist reduction.
ReplyDeleteNot admitting one's mistakes or misspoken words seems a constant piece of furniture within the publicly revealed American political pile of crap. Trump makes a worthy, better than the commonly silent reactions we hear from most about certain events that really should have rattled more cages than it did, then his remarks about a incident that ended in violent pain for someone seem callous, less concern than we might expect from a potential president.
Are we all still expecting things from potential presidents? Are we expecting them from actual presidents, left and right? Have we not watched this foul circus enough times before?
I'm not sure what the point of this comment is, I just felt like commenting.
Thanks Infidel,
Woody
Thanx for the read, because I didnt know about the homeless jumping gig ... Hitler had the German masses in a frenzy over the Jews too ... similar. I will say ... I havent followed Trump's adventures too much, but listening to his immigration deal is confusing ... I mean ... I know kidz in my neighbourhood, that only talk in english (although they also know a lil spanish, but dont really use it), born and raised here, their parents can barely say a sentence in english and are from south of the border (some of course illegal, on rigged paid for documentation) ... I mean, these kidz according to the 14th Amendment are citizens by birth ... and I heard Trump talk about deporting kidz on a news clip. These kidz if sent to a place like Mexico, being born and raised like say in Dallas, wouldnt know whether to laugh, cry, shit or wind their watch if they had to go to some place like Northern Mexico ... I mean, they're American kidz, eh? All in MSM news this morning is about his big 30,000 turnout in Alabama of Trump ... I didnt hardly hear shit about Bernie Sanders 28,000+ in your town of PDX, like the way their playing Trump ... reckon that's the difference when your worth a few billion or a few hundred thousand, eh? {: )
ReplyDeleteBut I will tell Infidel what really has SHOCKED me, I dont know if you checked it out yet ... but Scott Walker's health care plan to replace "ObamaCare" ... talk about one f'd up and twisted health care scam .... I couldnt even come up with such twisted shit! ... and he call's it ... get this ... "The Day One Patient Freedom Plan" ... heh, heh, heh, heh, heh {: ) ... this crap is disastrous to American healthcare to the point where it makes ObamaCare look like God's gift to humanity ... and the presentation speech he gave to the small amount of saps that applauded and attended it is like what you get on a street corner hustle.
Back to Brother Trump though ... I was so impressed last week when he got off his helicopter, with those white pants and shoes he was wearing ... they were so cool ... now you know what to buy me for Christmas (just kidding) ... Later Infidel
There's a difference between being "passionate" and being violent. This attack doesn't bode well for the future. We Americans need to vote for someone sane in 2016, because God help us all if Trump gets into office.
ReplyDeleteAs a side note, Fox News covered a Trump rally in Mobile, Alabama last night, which was both well-attended and jubilant. My stomach knotted up when I saw the audience's blind enthusiasm for that man.
Shaw: The other Republican candidates, even Carson, as are scary as Trump if you pay close attention (some are scarier), even if they're not as flamboyant.
ReplyDeleteMisfit: His first comment sure looked that way. It's disturbing that it took him two days to condemn it.
Jono: And he still hasn't.
Woody: People are fed up with cautious, scripted, inauthentic candidates. Unfortunately that means some are going for a man they think is authentic but merely lacks impulse control.
Ranch: It's that human cost of Trump's sweeping rhetoric that Republicans mostly ignore. He'd end up deporting people who would find living in Mexico just as difficult as you or I would.
They all want to get rid of Obamacare and replace it with some half-assed deregulated mess that would put the insurance companies back in control. Their plans for Social Security are pretty much the same.
Ahab: I'm starting to see Trump as a somewhat Mussolini-like figure. I think our political system is a lot stronger than the one Mussolini managed to subvert, but Trump's appeal and the kind of reactions he's evoking in his followers are comparable. And like Mussolini, he comes across as silly and not to be taken seriously -- which can blind us to the potential danger.
I do get the Il Duce thing... But wasn't Mussolini broadly seen as risible mainly after the event?
ReplyDeleteHaving said all that Trump strikes me as being pretty much the only mainstream (and he is mainstream in terms of the polls) politician in my lifetime (I'm 41) anywhere civilized who prides himself in not having policy at all. That is both counter-intuitive and scary. Scary because it seems to be popular.
We have much the same in the UK (except from the other end) with Jeremy Corbyn who is an Old Skool Commie. They have only one thing in common and that is they are "different". That in itself is scary too because it isn't about being differently left,right, good or bad just "different". We live in interesting times.
I was tempted wrt The Trumpster (you do know what "trump" is English slang for?) to ref dear ol; Silvio but I shan't because I am very tired.
NickM: But wasn't Mussolini broadly seen as risible mainly after the event?
ReplyDeleteNot among Italians. During his regime it was, for example, common for witty schoolboys to entertain their pals with obscene parodies of his speeches.
Also, it's not exactly true that Trump prides himself on not offering policy specifics. Opposing Republicans keep saying that, but his fans point to his books, which do contain detailed policy ideas, or so they say (I haven't read them).
I'm well aware of the British slang meaning of "trump" (my parents were from England), and I've been trying to broadcast that knowledge over here -- we deserve to get a laugh out of all this at least. Some of Trump's fans point to the analogy with Berlusconi as an encouragement -- the guy got elected, after all!
Infidel,
ReplyDeleteDare I say it? Hitler got elected as well. OK, Godwin and all that. As to Berlusconi specifically... Well, us Europeans got our clown before you on the other side of the pond did :-). But the key point (and no, I don't have the Rug-Artiste in Chief on my Kindle) his books are in a sense irrelevant. The key point to me (yes, I know, from here and not there) is that it seems deranged for someone, anyone, standing for high orifice (not an sp in the context) who dismisses policy in such a cavalier fashion is quite scary. Moreover for them to get traction in the polls on that basis is very odd. Especially because he ain't getting it in terms of his good looks or winning personality. The World seems to have slipped past me. I mean I don't recall politicians (wannabe politicians) making crude heckles at at journalists in terms of menstruation for example. And that that crudity can appeal to an, in other contexts, a deeply socially conservative mob is beyond me. And quite simply the Heidi Klum is beyond belief. Not a perfect 10! Well, God alone knows what that makes Trump. I have degrees in maths and physics and that boggles my mind in terms of number theory.