Four Days Later

El Paso, Texas. Dayton, Ohio.

Two more white male shooters.

One of them:  another white supremacist, who hates immigrants.  He drove 800 miles specifically to kill as many Hispanics as he could. That’s what HE told the police.

He’s not apologizing, either. Sitting in jail, facing the death penalty, he thinks it was the right thing to do. He feels justified.

Let’s be adults, and not try to pretend that this isn’t somehow connected to the angry, inflammatory, nationalistic rhetoric of our President.  Anyone — ANYONE — who tries to disconnect the El Paso shooting from President Trump’s behavior and words…is more interested in protecting HIM than the truth. It’s a pathetic attempt at rationalization.

This IS the end game. This is the inevitable result when you continually, day after day, month after month, deal in the devaluing of a group of people because they are…different, somehow.  It’s okay to kill them.

For a few years, he’s been talking about an “invasion” of immigrants at the southern border.

And, somebody was listening.

The racist-murderer said in his 2,300 word rant that he posted on an extremist-hate website that his actions were a direct “response to the Hispanic invasion”.

Twenty-two people went to WalMart in El Paso. Groceries. School supplies. Clothes for the new school year.

Murdered in cold blood.  No amount of “thoughts & prayers” will bring them back to their families…the husbands without a wife…the children without a mom or dad…the parents without a son or daughter.

Yesterday, looking exactly like someone who was struggling to read a script that he had never seen before, Trump finally denounced white supremacy, and hate…the very things that he has advocated for ever since he started campaigning.

He’s not going to stop. His base — his fearful, brain-washed base — needs Trump to keep reminding them that he is the only one who can protect them from… everything that they’re afraid of. He’s more than their MAGA President.

Trump has become their MAGA Savior. They are members of his cult. They don’t see it, but it’s obvious to everyone on the outside.

His words yesterday notwithstanding, he has given legitimacy to the white supremacy movement. He has emboldened them, calling them “very fine people.”  Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t know of him ever referring to ANY immigrant of color — legal or otherwise — in such glowing terms.

I don’t really care if it makes his followers sad, or angry, when he is labeled a racist; that’s what he is… and he’s documented that himself, over and over and over again.

For the rest of us… for Americans on both sides of the aisle who still believe that we can be patriotic without hating those who are different… we don’t have any other choice than to remove him from office.

We must be vigilant.  When our leaders — from either party, ever — promote hatred, or racism, or use violent rhetoric, we can not be silent. We must hold them accountable, even if we voted for them.

If he isn’t impeached in the next fifteen months, he has to be “un-elected” in November, 2020.

He is a clear and present danger.