After El Paso, Trump fans still stand by their man
Let the deflection begin.
In the aftermath of the El Paso massacre, loyal Arizona supporters of President Donald Trump leaped to his defense, horrified that I had the nerve to ...
Quote him.
How dare you use his words, they cry.
Words like these, that Trump tweeted to his critics in July 2015 as he was running for president.
“WHAT U REALLY SHOULD B ANGRY ABT IS THE INVASION OF MILLIONS OF ILLEGALS TKING OVER AMERICA! NOT DonaldTrump.”
And words like these, in October 2018 as Central American families fled north to seek asylum in America: “This is an invasion of our Country and our Military is waiting for you!”
Nope, nothing there to fire up the white nationalists — or to spur the most warped among them to take Trump’s pronouncements as a call to arms.
Count Jeff of Phoenix among the Trump supporters who see absolutely no connection between the president’s repeated warning of INVASION and a 21-year-old white supremacist’s decision to grab his AK-47 and slaughter 22 innocents at an El Paso Walmart.
“Just wondering if you know many shootings have been in Chicago so far this year and how many people have died and been injured?” he wrote in a Facebook reply to my Monday azcentral.com column. “How about Baltimore? Is that Donald Trump’s fault as well?”
And John, of Cave Creek: “Who do you blame for violence in Chicago?” he asked. “How about holding the criminals responsible instead of politicians?”
Likewise, Shari sprung to the president’s defense.
“Saying Trump is somehow responsible is like saying a woman is asking to be raped if she dresses provocatively,” she wrote. “It puts no responsibility on the accused perpetrator.”
Of course, the only person criminally responsible is the murderer who pulled the trigger.
But those trigger pulls were powered by the racist rants that regularly flow forth from the mouth (or the Twitter feed) of the most powerful man on Earth.
Like it or not, the president owns this. He is a role model for an awakened white nationalist movement in this country.
They eat up words like these, in a February Facebook ad, one of 2,200 Trump Facebook ads since May 2018 that have used the word “invasion,” according to Media Matters:
“We have an INVASION! So we are
BUILDING THE WALL to STOP IT! Dems will sue us. But we want a SAFE COUNTRY! It’s CRITICAL that we STOP THE INVASION. Nancy Pelosi and Democrats have no negotiated in good faith to fund a wall at our Southern Border, proving that OBSTRUCTION is far more important to them than YOUR SAFETY...”
But it would be wrong, I am told by Trump backers, to think such a warning would spur one of his supporters to take action.
“This incident was not perpetrated by Trump supporters,” Cory wrote. “It was perpetrated by a triggered liberal antifa socialist. And the words that frothed him up were by the left.”
“All of the hateful vitriol and rhetoric is coming from the left today,” wrote Daniel, of Scottsdale.
“This President had nothing to do with the shootings!” Craig told me, via email. “Nothing! You are a desperate person to try and link his Tweets to this shooting. He has stated facts and if you want, go to the feds and do some research! As the President he has every right to communicate his thoughts and wishes to the American people.”
He has indeed communicated his thoughts and wishes. He’s made it clear that he brown horde is invading and our safety is at risk.
“How do we stop these people,” Trump asked at a May rally in Panama City Beach, Fla.
“Shoot them,” an ally attendee shouts.
The president of the United States laughs then responds, “That’s only in the Panhandle, can you get away with that statement, folks.”
On Saturday morning, a 21-year-old white supremacist drove to the border city of El Paso, where he shot and killed 22 innocents at a Walmart.
“This attack,” he wrote, “is a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas.”
Donald Trump rocketed into the White House on the fuel of a toxic fire he regularly stoked, one that has swept the country.
And, on a Saturday morning in a crowded El Paso Walmart, that fire raged out of control.