The Fuse
A 46 year old white man took an AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifle and three handguns into a synagogue in Pittsburgh and killed 11 people while they were praying and welcoming a new baby into their community. 6 others were injured, including 3 officers. Hours after the mass shooting Trump went through with his speech at the FFA convention and joked about having a bad hair day.
When he got back to the White House he tweeted about baseball — nothing sincere about the murder of 11 innocent people in Pittsburgh. No calls to families. No plans for a visit. Nothing. He doesn’t care.
The shooter fell for the right wing, Trumpist conspiracy theory that Jews are helping transport migrant caravans across the border. He believes that Jews are helping terrorists cross over, disguised as refugees. Trump and the right wing media have been hammering down on this conspiracy theory for weeks. A couple of hours before the shooter entered the synagogue, he ranted on social media and blamed a Jewish immigration resettlement organization for the caravan. The Jews “like to bring invaders in that kill our people.”
He yelled out that Jews must die before he began shooting them.
Trump said that the shooting didn’t have anything to do with guns. They brought this on themselves because they didn’t have any armed guards defending their house of worship.
Marco Rubio and other Republicans hopped on social media to scold people for blaming the acts of one lone maniac on Trump even though Trump warned the country that there will be “violence” if the Republicans lose their majority in Congress as a result of the 2018 midterms.
MS-13, ISIS, Antifa, immigrants, Democrats, they’re all the same. Trump is exploiting all of them to scare people into voting for Republicans on November 6.
Mike Pence said people should pray. People were praying when they got shot.
A month ago, Ted Cruz said that we have school shootings because we’ve taken God out of our schools. Since 11 people were killed while praying, what would Ted say now? They were praying to the wrong God?
The followers of the MAGA cult are feeding off of Trump’s delusions and building on them. The dangerous and hateful rhetoric can no longer be contained inside MAGA rallies — it has taken on a life of its own and has busted through stadium walls and is running loose in the community. No one who isn’t white, “Christian,” male and heterosexual is safe.
Candidates in Pennsylvania canceled their events after the shooting out of respect for the victims and their families. Trump should have done the same and addressed the nation in a proper way but he doesn’t care. His cult followers praise him and are starting to make good on his threats. They are consumed with hate and rage. They feel like now is their time. The fuse has been lit.
This is what Trump’s press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, has to say about Jews being killed in a synagogue in America. She tweeted, “Is there any tragedy the Washington Post won’t exploit to attack President Donald Trump?The evil act of anti-Semitism in Pittsburg was committed by a coward who hated President Trump because the president is such an unapologetic defender of the Jewish community and state of Israel.”
Nationalists committed two huge acts of terrorism the same week that Trump declared himself a Nationalist — the biggest assassination attempt in US history and the worst anti-Semitic massacre in US history.
Last year, The Anti-Defamation League reported that antisemitic incidents rose almost 60%, the largest single year increase on record.
The Jews have made it back up to the top of the haters’ list.
Antisemitism is alive and well in America. It’s always been there, but in times of peace it resides just under the surface, until there is a crisis and Jews are scapegoated again. In Charlottesville, the marchers chanted “Jews will not replace us.” Trump called them “very fine people.”
“TRUMP declared himself a nationalist and Neo-Nazis celebrated across America. This is reality. WORDS MATTER. Trump and his vile accomplices in the billion $ propaganda industry, abetted by the silence of complicit political cowards in the GOP have lit a match. Tragedy has come” — Steve Schmidt
