(Image: DonkeyHotey/flickr/cc)
Jul 18, 2016
The warning is out after today that both sides need to cool their rhetoric. But is it comparable? Trump is the one who believes guns are the answer. A good man with a gun would have solved Paris and Orlando attacks according to him. Trump is the one who had no idea who David Duke is. Trump is the one who publicly expressed his desire to punch someone in the face. Trump is the one who wants to waterboard and kill families of terrorists. The CEO of MMA will be a speaker at his convention! Trump is the one releasing the gas of intolerance and violence. It permeates. Everywhere.
I reject the thought that "both sides" need to watch the rhetoric. We hear no talk of guns as a remedy from Clinton, or Sanders or Stein or Johnson or Warren or Dean or Ruth Ginsburg - no threat of personal violence. Why did Ruth regret what she said? She should have embraced it. He needs to be called out on what he says. The language from the other side is not the same as his. For starters we actually hear a complete sentence. Trump is unique in his agitating and despicable weaponized language. Call him out. Daily. Haunt him with the words he uses to give license to low, base behavior. His answer to the consequences of his acidity is to give more of the same and to condemn Obama and Clinton as weak.
If Christian Republicans believe the invisible power of prayer will help the victims and survivors of gun violence the reverse has to be true. Trump offers up counter prayers. That invisible energy also has power. It takes the lid off. The fact that cameras and microphones are cocked his way is confounding. It certainly campaigns his counter prayers which contain the most ludicrous and insipid sentence fragments and logic. But it also reaches all kinds of itchy trigger fingers.
The two recent police shooters were ex-military. Two minds cocked and loaded by the country they turned on. The police who recently killed black citizens, also cocked, loaded and afraid. Human beings on hair triggers and for a year we have had a steady bark from a sociopath shrieking simplistic violent solutions to all issues. The two police shooters had the military training but the uniforms they targeted changed. Not sure what kind of training the policemen in Baton Rouge and St. Paul had. But an atmosphere gave the release. If you can say, which is said ad nauseum, our hearts and prayers are with the families - there was also a heartlessness and a counter prayer that preceded the killing.
I think about the famous quote from Julius Caesar - "Friends, Romans, Countrymen - lend me your ears." Lend me your ears. I have stopped lending Trump my ears. Turn the channel. Those who have let him own their ears, either for inspiration or entertainment have opened a portal to poison. How that toxicity will explode depends on the profile and state of mind and level of humiliation of certain individuals. Police or police shooters - both with technicolor circuitry - are susceptible. All fractured and frightened souls need wisdom and sense. That never emanates from Trump. Call him out on that crime.
There is nothing genius or brilliant about what he does. It's simple. Vicious, cynical and simple and aided by news companies that sell commercial space around the farce. Not fun, interesting, profound, important or logical. And yet we're pulled in to actually having a conversation about him. It might be sadly amusing if it weren't for the fact that he is a cheerleader and activator of violence. He doesn't even have a strong line on what the violence should be used for. Violence means strength and results. And that is an end and virtue in itself in his jaundiced universe.
He needs to be called out regularly. Call out all of his handlers and cowed endorsers. He needs not to be strung along like a circus act as everyone watches for what happens next. What happens next is happening.
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Bill C. Davis
Bill C. Davis was a playwright, writer, actor, and political activist. He has been a contributor to Common Dreams since 2001. Bill died on February 26, 2021, at age 69, after a battle with COVID-19. Bill's Broadway debut -- "Mass Appeal," earned two Tony nominations and became a staple of community theater. Bill wrote the screenplay for the 1984 film adaptation of "Mass Appeal," starring Jack Lemmon and Zeljko Ivanek.
The warning is out after today that both sides need to cool their rhetoric. But is it comparable? Trump is the one who believes guns are the answer. A good man with a gun would have solved Paris and Orlando attacks according to him. Trump is the one who had no idea who David Duke is. Trump is the one who publicly expressed his desire to punch someone in the face. Trump is the one who wants to waterboard and kill families of terrorists. The CEO of MMA will be a speaker at his convention! Trump is the one releasing the gas of intolerance and violence. It permeates. Everywhere.
I reject the thought that "both sides" need to watch the rhetoric. We hear no talk of guns as a remedy from Clinton, or Sanders or Stein or Johnson or Warren or Dean or Ruth Ginsburg - no threat of personal violence. Why did Ruth regret what she said? She should have embraced it. He needs to be called out on what he says. The language from the other side is not the same as his. For starters we actually hear a complete sentence. Trump is unique in his agitating and despicable weaponized language. Call him out. Daily. Haunt him with the words he uses to give license to low, base behavior. His answer to the consequences of his acidity is to give more of the same and to condemn Obama and Clinton as weak.
If Christian Republicans believe the invisible power of prayer will help the victims and survivors of gun violence the reverse has to be true. Trump offers up counter prayers. That invisible energy also has power. It takes the lid off. The fact that cameras and microphones are cocked his way is confounding. It certainly campaigns his counter prayers which contain the most ludicrous and insipid sentence fragments and logic. But it also reaches all kinds of itchy trigger fingers.
The two recent police shooters were ex-military. Two minds cocked and loaded by the country they turned on. The police who recently killed black citizens, also cocked, loaded and afraid. Human beings on hair triggers and for a year we have had a steady bark from a sociopath shrieking simplistic violent solutions to all issues. The two police shooters had the military training but the uniforms they targeted changed. Not sure what kind of training the policemen in Baton Rouge and St. Paul had. But an atmosphere gave the release. If you can say, which is said ad nauseum, our hearts and prayers are with the families - there was also a heartlessness and a counter prayer that preceded the killing.
I think about the famous quote from Julius Caesar - "Friends, Romans, Countrymen - lend me your ears." Lend me your ears. I have stopped lending Trump my ears. Turn the channel. Those who have let him own their ears, either for inspiration or entertainment have opened a portal to poison. How that toxicity will explode depends on the profile and state of mind and level of humiliation of certain individuals. Police or police shooters - both with technicolor circuitry - are susceptible. All fractured and frightened souls need wisdom and sense. That never emanates from Trump. Call him out on that crime.
There is nothing genius or brilliant about what he does. It's simple. Vicious, cynical and simple and aided by news companies that sell commercial space around the farce. Not fun, interesting, profound, important or logical. And yet we're pulled in to actually having a conversation about him. It might be sadly amusing if it weren't for the fact that he is a cheerleader and activator of violence. He doesn't even have a strong line on what the violence should be used for. Violence means strength and results. And that is an end and virtue in itself in his jaundiced universe.
He needs to be called out regularly. Call out all of his handlers and cowed endorsers. He needs not to be strung along like a circus act as everyone watches for what happens next. What happens next is happening.
Bill C. Davis
Bill C. Davis was a playwright, writer, actor, and political activist. He has been a contributor to Common Dreams since 2001. Bill died on February 26, 2021, at age 69, after a battle with COVID-19. Bill's Broadway debut -- "Mass Appeal," earned two Tony nominations and became a staple of community theater. Bill wrote the screenplay for the 1984 film adaptation of "Mass Appeal," starring Jack Lemmon and Zeljko Ivanek.
The warning is out after today that both sides need to cool their rhetoric. But is it comparable? Trump is the one who believes guns are the answer. A good man with a gun would have solved Paris and Orlando attacks according to him. Trump is the one who had no idea who David Duke is. Trump is the one who publicly expressed his desire to punch someone in the face. Trump is the one who wants to waterboard and kill families of terrorists. The CEO of MMA will be a speaker at his convention! Trump is the one releasing the gas of intolerance and violence. It permeates. Everywhere.
I reject the thought that "both sides" need to watch the rhetoric. We hear no talk of guns as a remedy from Clinton, or Sanders or Stein or Johnson or Warren or Dean or Ruth Ginsburg - no threat of personal violence. Why did Ruth regret what she said? She should have embraced it. He needs to be called out on what he says. The language from the other side is not the same as his. For starters we actually hear a complete sentence. Trump is unique in his agitating and despicable weaponized language. Call him out. Daily. Haunt him with the words he uses to give license to low, base behavior. His answer to the consequences of his acidity is to give more of the same and to condemn Obama and Clinton as weak.
If Christian Republicans believe the invisible power of prayer will help the victims and survivors of gun violence the reverse has to be true. Trump offers up counter prayers. That invisible energy also has power. It takes the lid off. The fact that cameras and microphones are cocked his way is confounding. It certainly campaigns his counter prayers which contain the most ludicrous and insipid sentence fragments and logic. But it also reaches all kinds of itchy trigger fingers.
The two recent police shooters were ex-military. Two minds cocked and loaded by the country they turned on. The police who recently killed black citizens, also cocked, loaded and afraid. Human beings on hair triggers and for a year we have had a steady bark from a sociopath shrieking simplistic violent solutions to all issues. The two police shooters had the military training but the uniforms they targeted changed. Not sure what kind of training the policemen in Baton Rouge and St. Paul had. But an atmosphere gave the release. If you can say, which is said ad nauseum, our hearts and prayers are with the families - there was also a heartlessness and a counter prayer that preceded the killing.
I think about the famous quote from Julius Caesar - "Friends, Romans, Countrymen - lend me your ears." Lend me your ears. I have stopped lending Trump my ears. Turn the channel. Those who have let him own their ears, either for inspiration or entertainment have opened a portal to poison. How that toxicity will explode depends on the profile and state of mind and level of humiliation of certain individuals. Police or police shooters - both with technicolor circuitry - are susceptible. All fractured and frightened souls need wisdom and sense. That never emanates from Trump. Call him out on that crime.
There is nothing genius or brilliant about what he does. It's simple. Vicious, cynical and simple and aided by news companies that sell commercial space around the farce. Not fun, interesting, profound, important or logical. And yet we're pulled in to actually having a conversation about him. It might be sadly amusing if it weren't for the fact that he is a cheerleader and activator of violence. He doesn't even have a strong line on what the violence should be used for. Violence means strength and results. And that is an end and virtue in itself in his jaundiced universe.
He needs to be called out regularly. Call out all of his handlers and cowed endorsers. He needs not to be strung along like a circus act as everyone watches for what happens next. What happens next is happening.
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