In a speech to his fellow republicans last year, former US president Donald Trump made jokes about Paul Pelosi, the husband of former US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Paul was hospitalised after being savagely attacked by a Trump supporter.
The attacker had entered the Pelosi’s home in an alleged attempt to kidnap the former House speaker. He had found her husband instead and had attacked the 83-year-old with a hammer.
“We’ll stand up to crazy Nancy Pelosi, who ruined San Francisco. How’s her husband doing, by the way, anybody know?” asked Trump, drawing guffaws and belly laughs from his comrades.
“And she’s against building a wall at our border even though she has a wall around her house, which obviously didn’t do a very good job.”
What is outrageous here is not just the jokes about a horrendous act of political violence, which Trump should have condemned, it was that his supporters were laughing, believing that beating up an 82-year-old man, naked in his bed, is funny.
One of Trump’s sons had previously posted several photos and comments on Twitter and Instagram making light of the violent attack on Pelosi.
It is in this context that you must understand the assassination attempt against Trump on Saturday.
The act is horrific and should be condemned by all peace-loving people, yet, there should be no doubt about what it says about the US today.
The attempt to kill Trump on Saturday describes what he and the far-right have done to American politics, and what he intends to do to American politics should he win on November 5.
He has normalised the celebration of violence and admiration of the world’s hard men.
He has compared himself more than seven times to the notorious gangster Al Capone, saying the mobster “was one of the greatest of all time”.
He has expressed admiration for dictatorial leaders such as North Korea’s cruel despot Kim Jong-Un and others.
This is a man who warned that there would be a “bloodbath” if he loses the upcoming election.
He once posted an image depicting Biden being kidnapped. With these utterances and his vow to free those who attacked the Capitol building on January 6 2021, Trump has celebrated violence and created a climate that normalises violence. It has now swept him up in its extremely dangerous forward march.
Trump has indicated that he finds nothing appealing about the open democracy that he lives in and, in December last year, explicitly said he ‘won’t be a dictator, except on Day One’.
He has gone back to the idea several times, even telling Time magazine that ‘a lot of people like it’ that he would be a dictator for that one day.
Numerous reports have indicated that he is planning to use his potential second term to employ organs of state to take revenge on his enemies.
From Biden to prosecutors who worked on his numerous cases, no-one will be safe.
Guns are the leading cause of death of children in the US, but Trump wants to make it easier to acquire guns.
What now?
It has been extraordinary to watch as, over the past two weeks, the US public has become entranced with the ‘debate’ about President Joe Biden’s age and his mental acuity.
In just five months the country could very well fall into the hands of an election-denying, dictator-loving, bigoted, convicted felon who is already making plans to turn the US into a dictatorship but, for two weeks now, the country has been in a state of uproar and anxiety, with Biden’s every word and move examined in a hundred columns and thousands of interviews across the nation, that you would think that Biden was the most pressing danger the US faces.
Even longtime democrat fundraiser George Clooney was moved to pen a major essay in the New York Times begging Biden to step down for a younger candidate.
I am not saying scrutiny of Biden is wrong.
The man has just this past week delivered amply to his critics.
At Nato’s Thursday press conference, he mistakenly referred to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as “President Putin”. He then referred to vice-president Kamala Harris as “Trump”.
Biden is not great at all. He is terrible.
He should have indicated his departure ages ago. Yet, Biden or his age or his frequent gaffes are not the problem here.
Even if he was 99 years old and in a coma, Biden would be 10 times a better president than the disaster that Trump is set to be for the US.
Trump’s danger to America is what democrats should be focusing on and getting a new candidate to focus on.
That is what they should be telling every voter in every way they can.
The shooting on Saturday will be exploited by Trump to burnish his macho credentials and to mobilise his base.
He will wipe the floor with Biden in November, and he is most likely to be inaugurated president of the US in 2025.
Then it begins.
Presidential hopeful Trump is the biggest danger the US faces
Columnist
Image: REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
In a speech to his fellow republicans last year, former US president Donald Trump made jokes about Paul Pelosi, the husband of former US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Paul was hospitalised after being savagely attacked by a Trump supporter.
The attacker had entered the Pelosi’s home in an alleged attempt to kidnap the former House speaker. He had found her husband instead and had attacked the 83-year-old with a hammer.
“We’ll stand up to crazy Nancy Pelosi, who ruined San Francisco. How’s her husband doing, by the way, anybody know?” asked Trump, drawing guffaws and belly laughs from his comrades.
“And she’s against building a wall at our border even though she has a wall around her house, which obviously didn’t do a very good job.”
What is outrageous here is not just the jokes about a horrendous act of political violence, which Trump should have condemned, it was that his supporters were laughing, believing that beating up an 82-year-old man, naked in his bed, is funny.
One of Trump’s sons had previously posted several photos and comments on Twitter and Instagram making light of the violent attack on Pelosi.
It is in this context that you must understand the assassination attempt against Trump on Saturday.
The act is horrific and should be condemned by all peace-loving people, yet, there should be no doubt about what it says about the US today.
The attempt to kill Trump on Saturday describes what he and the far-right have done to American politics, and what he intends to do to American politics should he win on November 5.
He has normalised the celebration of violence and admiration of the world’s hard men.
He has compared himself more than seven times to the notorious gangster Al Capone, saying the mobster “was one of the greatest of all time”.
He has expressed admiration for dictatorial leaders such as North Korea’s cruel despot Kim Jong-Un and others.
This is a man who warned that there would be a “bloodbath” if he loses the upcoming election.
He once posted an image depicting Biden being kidnapped. With these utterances and his vow to free those who attacked the Capitol building on January 6 2021, Trump has celebrated violence and created a climate that normalises violence. It has now swept him up in its extremely dangerous forward march.
Trump has indicated that he finds nothing appealing about the open democracy that he lives in and, in December last year, explicitly said he ‘won’t be a dictator, except on Day One’.
He has gone back to the idea several times, even telling Time magazine that ‘a lot of people like it’ that he would be a dictator for that one day.
Numerous reports have indicated that he is planning to use his potential second term to employ organs of state to take revenge on his enemies.
From Biden to prosecutors who worked on his numerous cases, no-one will be safe.
Guns are the leading cause of death of children in the US, but Trump wants to make it easier to acquire guns.
What now?
It has been extraordinary to watch as, over the past two weeks, the US public has become entranced with the ‘debate’ about President Joe Biden’s age and his mental acuity.
In just five months the country could very well fall into the hands of an election-denying, dictator-loving, bigoted, convicted felon who is already making plans to turn the US into a dictatorship but, for two weeks now, the country has been in a state of uproar and anxiety, with Biden’s every word and move examined in a hundred columns and thousands of interviews across the nation, that you would think that Biden was the most pressing danger the US faces.
Even longtime democrat fundraiser George Clooney was moved to pen a major essay in the New York Times begging Biden to step down for a younger candidate.
I am not saying scrutiny of Biden is wrong.
The man has just this past week delivered amply to his critics.
At Nato’s Thursday press conference, he mistakenly referred to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as “President Putin”. He then referred to vice-president Kamala Harris as “Trump”.
Biden is not great at all. He is terrible.
He should have indicated his departure ages ago. Yet, Biden or his age or his frequent gaffes are not the problem here.
Even if he was 99 years old and in a coma, Biden would be 10 times a better president than the disaster that Trump is set to be for the US.
Trump’s danger to America is what democrats should be focusing on and getting a new candidate to focus on.
That is what they should be telling every voter in every way they can.
The shooting on Saturday will be exploited by Trump to burnish his macho credentials and to mobilise his base.
He will wipe the floor with Biden in November, and he is most likely to be inaugurated president of the US in 2025.
Then it begins.
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