Hate works for him
by digby
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| The Christchurch killer flashes the white power hand signal |
Exactly one month ago today a Trump-admiring white supremacist walked into a mosque in Christchurch New Zealand and killed 50 Muslim worshippers and injured 50 more.
And the President of the United States is doing this:
President Donald Trump on Monday ramped up his attacks against Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) —this time labeling her statements “ungrateful” and “hateful” toward the United States—while newly accusing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of ignoring what he claimed was a record of anti-semitism by the Minnesota congresswoman.
If that wasn’t enough, Trump also baselessly asserted that Omar had been exercising “control” over the top Democrat.
The tweet is the latest escalation in Trump’s targeting of Omar after he drew widespread condemnation on Friday for sharing a video that used out-of-context remarks Omar had given during a Muslim civil rights event to play over graphic images of the 9/11 attacks. Democrats and prominent progressives have since rushed to Omar’s defense, accusing the president of using the inflammatory video to suggest that Omar had downplayed the 9/11 attacks.
Pelosi on Sunday became the highest-ranking Democrat to forcefully denounce Trump over the video. She also announced through a statement that she was consulting with Capitol Police to ensure Omar’s protection.
Shortly after Pelosi’s statement, Omar revealed that she has been subjected to an increase in death threats against her in the days since Trump’s 9/11 video attack.
Perhaps the worst aspect of this, aside from the dangerous incitement, is the fact that they are openly using this as a way to appeal to their voting base:
But Trump’s tweet on Monday came as a clear signal that he intended to ignore his critics, and perhaps even capitalize on the division. The New York Times reported that Trump’s pummeling of Omar, one of the only two Muslim women in Congress, is now a full-on White House strategy aimed at wooing his base. The next stage of that campaign will likely take place later Monday as the president visits Omar’s home state for a so-called economic roundtable.
I think this says as much about his base as it does him. The President is obviously a deranged bigot. We know that. For the most powerful man on earth to dishonestly misrepresent the words of a Muslim congresswoman to incite religious hatred and racism is one of the lowest things he’s done. But his followers are clearly the same if they respond to this sort of attack.
What do we do about the fact that 60 million of our fellow Americans think this way?
By the way, here are some white supremacist Trumpies flashing that white power hand signal in the White House:
Yes, of course, they knew what they were doing.
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