Tag: Trump hate speech

Trump defends rhetoric after critics point finger over mass shooting

The Hill logoPresident Trump on Wednesday defended himself against accusations that his immigration rhetoric inspired the suspected El Paso, Texas, shooter, who shot and killed 22 people after allegedly posting a manifesto warning of a “Hispanic invasion.”

Speaking before departing for El Paso and Dayton, Ohio, the site of another weekend mass shooting, Trump accused his opponents of “looking for political gain” by tying his comments to the shooting in Texas and insisted he would like to “stay out of the political fray” even as he sought to link the Dayton shooter to prominent Democrats.

“I don’t think my rhetoric does at all. I think my rhetoric brings people together. Our country is doing really well,” Trump said at the White House when asked by reporters if his comments contribute to violence.

View the complete August 7 article by Jordan Fabian on The Hill website here.

Several countries warn citizens about traveling to the US, amid back-to-back shootings

One country, Mexico, has even threatened to take legal action after eight of its citizens died in El Paso this weekend.

Two Latin American countries have issued travel warnings to its citizens regarding traveling to the United States, following the back-to-back shootings last weekend that claimed the lives of over 30 people.

In a statement announcing the advisory, the foreign ministry of Uruguay cited “growing violence” fueled by “racism and discrimination,” adding that American “authorities are unable to prevent” due to “indiscriminate” gun ownership that has ultimately “taken the lives of over 250 people in the first seven months of the year.”

When in the United States, Uruguay warned its citizens to avoid areas with large concentrations of people like theme parks, shopping centers, art festivals, religious events, food festivals, and any kind of cultural or sporting gathering.

View the complete August 6 article by Rebekah Entralgo on the ThinkProgress website here.

Obama calls on Americans to reject leaders who feed ‘climate of fear and hatred’

The Hill logoFormer President Obama on Monday called for action in response to back-to-back mass shootings over the weekend and urged Americans to “soundly reject” leaders who feed “a climate of fear and hatred.”

The former president issued a lengthy statement after more than 30 people were killed in mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio. He did not name any specific leaders, but his comments amounted to an implicit rebuke of President Trump.

“We should soundly reject language coming out of the mouths of any of our leaders that feeds a climate of fear and hatred and normalizes racist sentiments; leaders who demonize those who don’t look like us, or suggest that other people, including immigrants, threaten our way of life, or refer to other people as sub-human, or imply that America belongs to just one certain type of people,” Obama said in the statement.

View the complete August 5 article by Brett Samuels on The Hill website here.

Trump on El Paso shooting: We must condemn white supremacy

The Hill logoPresident Trump on Monday called on the nation to condemn white supremacy following last weekend’s back-to-back mass shootings and threw his support behind new measures focused on mental illness, rather than stricter gun laws.

“In one voice, our nation must condemn bigotry, hatred and white supremacy,” Trump said in a nationally televised address from the Diplomatic Room of the White House. “These sinister ideologies must be defeated.”

Trump was delivering his first in-depth remarks on the pair of shootings that left 30 dead and dozens more wounded in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio. He denounced the shootings as “barbaric slaughters” and condemned the El Paso shooter as “consumed with racist hate.”

View the complete August 5 article by Jordan Fabian and Brett Samuels on The Hill website here.

Even if he isn’t encouraging violent attacks on immigrants, Trump may be uniquely unwilling to curtail them

Washington Post logoThis article has been updated.

All of the following statements are true.

  • President Trump condemns racist language and actions when pressed to do so, but often backtracksfrom that condemnation. He has echoed white supremacist rhetoric in the past and made racistcomments.
  • Trump frequently attacks immigrants to the United States from Mexico, Central America or predominantly Muslim countries in terms that suggest they are dangerous criminals or undeservingof being here.
  • Trump supports the ability of civilians to buy weapons such as the AR-15 that are largely similar to the rifles carried by American combat troops.

There is no reason these three things should necessarily blend together into a scenario where someone echoing Trump’s rhetoric commits an act of violence targeting an immigrant community. But it’s not hard to see how they could.

The motive of Saturday’s mass shooting in El Paso which left 20 people dead has not yet been confirmed by law enforcement. There is reason to believe, however, that before opening fire the shooting suspect published a short screed disparaging immigrants to the United States and warning of an “invasion” of Hispanics. That term is one that Trump himself has used to describe migrants seeking entry to the United States from Mexico.

View the complete August 4 article by Philip Bump on The Washington Post website here.

Republican state lawmaker in Nebraska says his party is ‘enabling white supremacy’

Washington Post logoA Republican state lawmaker in Nebraska is calling out President Trump and his party for “enabling white supremacy” in the United States.

In a series of tweets written Sunday night in the wake of mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton, Ohio, that left 29 people dead, state Rep. John McCollister said it pained him to share that conclusion as a lifelong member of the Republican Party.

“I of course am not suggesting that all Republicans are white supremacists nor am I saying that the average Republican is even racist,” wrote McCollister, who represents an Omaha-area district. “What I am saying though is that the Republican Party is COMPLICIT to obvious racist and immoral activity inside our party.”

View the complete August 5 article by John Wagner on The Washington Post website here.

‘How do you stop these people?’: Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric looms over El Paso massacre

Washington Post logoPresident Trump has relentlessly used his bully pulpit to decry Latino migration as “an invasion of our country.” He has demonized undocumented immigrants as “thugs” and “animals.” He has defended the detention of migrant children, hundreds of whom have been held in squalor. And he has warned that without a wall to prevent people from crossing the border from Mexico, America would no longer be America.

“How do you stop these people? You can’t,” Trump lamented at a May rally in Panama City Beach, Fla. Someone in the crowd yelled back one idea: “Shoot them.” The audience of thousands cheered and Trump smiled. Shrugging off the suggestion, he quipped, “Only in the Panhandle can you get away with that statement.”

On Saturday, a 21-year-old white man entered a shopping center in El Paso, according to police, and allegedly decided to “shoot them.” Inside a crowded Walmart in a vibrant border city visited daily by thousands of Mexicans, a late-morning back-to-school shopping scene turned into a pool of blood.

View the complete August 4 article by Philip Rucker on The Washington Post website here.

Talking like Trump in the workplace can cost your employer money and get you fired

Washington Post logoWhile President Trump’s remark that four congresswomen of color should “go back” to their ancestral countries was rightly condemned as racist and wrong, similar comments by others have generated far more serious consequences.

Language like Trump used is against the law in the workplace. Supervisors or colleagues who target co-workers with verbal abuse, and organizations that allow it, can end up in court, facing big fines.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) cites words similar to Trump’s in a previously issued document explaining employment harassment based on national origin:

View the complete August 2 article by Joe Davidson on The Washington Post website here.

Trump rhetoric tests unity among black, white evangelicals

Black religious leaders are asking: Where’s the moral outrage among brothers in faith?

Bishop Richard Howell preaches the word of God to a congregation rarely reflected by the evangelical leaders making headlines. The faithful in his pews are black evangelicals, and many are outraged over the racial rhetoric in Washington and the feeble response from white brethren.

President Donald Trump’s derogatory statements about people of color not only are degrading and dangerous, said Howell, but also are deepening rifts among black and white evangelicals, the latter who overwhelmingly support Trump.

“Make America Great Again — what’s that supposed to mean?” asked Howell, pastor of Shiloh Temple International Ministries in north Minneapolis. “We believe it means the president wants to bring back the days of white superiority in this country.

View the complete August 3 article by Jean Hopfensperger on The Star Tribune website here.

There’s a dark political history to language that strips people of their dignity

Dehumanizing language often precedes genocide.

One tragic example: Extreme dehumanizing language was a strong contributor to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. As I have written, the Hutu majority used a popular radio station to continually refer to Tutsi tribal members, a minority in Rwanda, as “cockroaches.”

As support for this characterization grew among Hutus, it essentially stripped away any moral obligation to see Tutsis as fellow humans. They were just vermin that needed to be eradicated.

View the complete August 2 article by William A. Donohue, Distinguished Professor of Communications at Michigan State University, on the Conversation website here.