IF IT’S SUNDAY, IT MUST BE TIME FOR TRUMP TO TWEET HIS GOSPEL OF RACE AND HATE
 | I WAS ON THE PHONE Sunday morning from Vermont to Cat, who, as usual, was sleeping-in back home in Rhode Island and not appreciating a call, especially one that sounded more like a sermon than a cheery audio postcard from my Green Mountain vacation. “It used to be that Sundays were for going to church,” I said, “and it wasn’t unusual for the faithful to get up early to do so.” “How do you know that, Phoebe?” Cat hissed. “Isn’t that part of the American myth? I bet the majority of people spent their Sundays, way, way back Whenever, was to hang up the damn phone, or the phone equivalent, and go back to sleep!” “Well, I was driving around the Vermont countryside just yesterday with Our Humans, and practically the only thing we saw besides cows and grass and mountains were churches” I said. "It seems like every time you come to a |
place where two road cross, there’s a church. I’m sending you a picture to prove it.”
“Is there a message here?” Cat asked.
“Sundays are special for Donald Trump, too,” I said. “He practices his faith on Sundays, and gets up early to do it.”
“Pray tell,” Cat said.
“Well, Trump preaches the Religion of Race and Hate,” I said. “He has absolute faith in the Power of Prejudice, believing voters are singing from the Trump Family hymnal - silently - and that when they get to the voting booth, they’ll say ‘Amen.’ ”
“Good lord, Phoebe," Cat said, “enough with the religious similes.”
I explained to Cat that Trump had taken to his Tweeter pulpit at 6:28 a.m. on Sunday to renew his attack on Elijah Cummings, the Maryland Democrat who heads the House of Representatives committee on oversight and reform, and whose district includes parts of Baltimore.
“Is there a message here?” Cat asked.
“Sundays are special for Donald Trump, too,” I said. “He practices his faith on Sundays, and gets up early to do it.”
“Pray tell,” Cat said.
“Well, Trump preaches the Religion of Race and Hate,” I said. “He has absolute faith in the Power of Prejudice, believing voters are singing from the Trump Family hymnal - silently - and that when they get to the voting booth, they’ll say ‘Amen.’ ”
“Good lord, Phoebe," Cat said, “enough with the religious similes.”
I explained to Cat that Trump had taken to his Tweeter pulpit at 6:28 a.m. on Sunday to renew his attack on Elijah Cummings, the Maryland Democrat who heads the House of Representatives committee on oversight and reform, and whose district includes parts of Baltimore.
Someone please explain to Nancy Pelosi, who was recently called racist by those in her own party, that there is nothing wrong with bringing out the very obvious fact that Congressman Elijah Cummings has done a very poor job for his district and the City of Baltimore. Just take... |
Trump’s congregation responded in typical Twitter call-and-response fashion, with 93,595 “likes” and 25,051 missionary-style‘’retweets.” (In between each of the president’s individual Tweets, a Trump antagonist, “Bishop Talbert Swan,” wrote: “REPENT RAPIST”).
“This is all very interesting,” Cat said. “But am I missing the overtly racist parts?”
“Like most things, you have- to have some context,” I said. “Trump actually began spreading the word on Saturday, so these were his follow-up shots after people came to Cummings' defense. You also have to know that Representative Cummings is African-American."
“This is all very interesting,” Cat said. “But am I missing the overtly racist parts?”
“Like most things, you have- to have some context,” I said. “Trump actually began spreading the word on Saturday, so these were his follow-up shots after people came to Cummings' defense. You also have to know that Representative Cummings is African-American."
Elijah Cummings has been a brutal bully, shouting and screaming at the great men & women of Border Patrol about conditions at the Southern Border, when actually his Baltimore district is FAR WORSE and more dangerous. His district is considered the Worst in the USA...... |
“IT'S BECOMING CLEARER,” Cat said. “Many, many elements. Lies. Exaggeration. Animal references. McCarthy-like Innuendo. Hypocrisy.
“Cat,” I said, “how come this is like news to you? What have you been doing back home?”
“Well, at least I’m not working while on vacation, like you seem to be,” Cat said disdainfully. “Why can’t you give this all a rest for four or five days? I thought you said Vermont is beautiful and very peaceful, all the more so because Sen. Bernie Sanders is away a lot campaigning. And all those mountains”
“Because with Trump in the White House, there can be no vacations, no breaks, no rest, no normal. The man is not Normal, Cat. He’s un-normal. He’s immoral. A sociopath. Or a psychopath. Maybe both. And he’s the president of the United States trying to set off a race war.”
Cat yawned into the phone, which then seemed to slip from his paws onto the living room floor back home. I could imagine him waddling to the edge of the couch, practically tumbling onto the floor, and resuming the conversation without bothering to pick up the phone, but breathing into the mouthpiece.
“Two weeks ago it was the ‘Squad,’ the four first-term Congresswomen of color whom he said should ‘go back’ to where they came from, and that message got right through to his campaign choir, who began chanting “Send her home,” meaning Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, the one with a headscarf.
Here’s how those Tweets went two Sundays ago:
“Cat,” I said, “how come this is like news to you? What have you been doing back home?”
“Well, at least I’m not working while on vacation, like you seem to be,” Cat said disdainfully. “Why can’t you give this all a rest for four or five days? I thought you said Vermont is beautiful and very peaceful, all the more so because Sen. Bernie Sanders is away a lot campaigning. And all those mountains”
“Because with Trump in the White House, there can be no vacations, no breaks, no rest, no normal. The man is not Normal, Cat. He’s un-normal. He’s immoral. A sociopath. Or a psychopath. Maybe both. And he’s the president of the United States trying to set off a race war.”
Cat yawned into the phone, which then seemed to slip from his paws onto the living room floor back home. I could imagine him waddling to the edge of the couch, practically tumbling onto the floor, and resuming the conversation without bothering to pick up the phone, but breathing into the mouthpiece.
“Two weeks ago it was the ‘Squad,’ the four first-term Congresswomen of color whom he said should ‘go back’ to where they came from, and that message got right through to his campaign choir, who began chanting “Send her home,” meaning Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, the one with a headscarf.
Here’s how those Tweets went two Sundays ago:
Why don’t they (the Congresswomen) go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came. Then come back and show us how.... it is done. These places need your help badly, you can’t leave fast enough …. |
THE WORST PART, I explained, is that Trump appeared, as always, to be getting away with it. Now, the news analysts are discussing Trump’s racism matter-of-factly, as a campaign strategy. The Associated Press wrote:
"Heading into the 2020 elections, the president is trying to tap into anxieties about demographic and cultural changes in the nation in the belief that the divided country he leads will simply choose sides over issues such as race."
“You know the danger here?” Cat asked.
“What?” I said. “That there’s not enough people speaking up about Trump’s racist incitements?”
“No,” Cat said, “That maybe there’s too much feedback. Number One, rebutting Trump helps amplify his message, spreading it more widely, which works for him, just as long as the message reaches willing ears. And Number Two, it puts the Democrats into the non-racist box, so the bigots, secret or otherwise, will know who not to vote for.”
“What’s the alternative?” I said. “The Democrats put up a candidate who’s slightly racist, signaling that they’re OK on the bigotry front? To say nothing, letting the nation know that it’s acceptable for the Man with the Nuclear Football to be triggering a race war? Is there anything worse than staying silent, not speaking out, not being outraged, not caring?”
“I’m saying…,” Cat stammered.
“Listen, Furball,” I yelled back at the top of my lungs, as if you cared about something enough, you didn’t need a telephone to be heard from Rhode Island to Vermont. “There are millions of voters out there who are not bigots, at least they don’t want to be bigots, who’ve had it with racism, their own and the racism that’s been part of American history from the git-go, and who want to change, to move on and to become better people, and who want their children to be even better. And just maybe there’s more of those voters than there are Trump’s.”
“I’m just saying that the problem, when it comes to countering Donald Trump, is that there’s no obvious way,” said Cat, “You’re always damned if you do; and damned if you don’t.”
“And you’ll only know for sure what is the right answer,” I agreed, “after it’s too late.”
"Heading into the 2020 elections, the president is trying to tap into anxieties about demographic and cultural changes in the nation in the belief that the divided country he leads will simply choose sides over issues such as race."
“You know the danger here?” Cat asked.
“What?” I said. “That there’s not enough people speaking up about Trump’s racist incitements?”
“No,” Cat said, “That maybe there’s too much feedback. Number One, rebutting Trump helps amplify his message, spreading it more widely, which works for him, just as long as the message reaches willing ears. And Number Two, it puts the Democrats into the non-racist box, so the bigots, secret or otherwise, will know who not to vote for.”
“What’s the alternative?” I said. “The Democrats put up a candidate who’s slightly racist, signaling that they’re OK on the bigotry front? To say nothing, letting the nation know that it’s acceptable for the Man with the Nuclear Football to be triggering a race war? Is there anything worse than staying silent, not speaking out, not being outraged, not caring?”
“I’m saying…,” Cat stammered.
“Listen, Furball,” I yelled back at the top of my lungs, as if you cared about something enough, you didn’t need a telephone to be heard from Rhode Island to Vermont. “There are millions of voters out there who are not bigots, at least they don’t want to be bigots, who’ve had it with racism, their own and the racism that’s been part of American history from the git-go, and who want to change, to move on and to become better people, and who want their children to be even better. And just maybe there’s more of those voters than there are Trump’s.”
“I’m just saying that the problem, when it comes to countering Donald Trump, is that there’s no obvious way,” said Cat, “You’re always damned if you do; and damned if you don’t.”
“And you’ll only know for sure what is the right answer,” I agreed, “after it’s too late.”
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