Tuesday Reads: Donald Trump is A Threat to National Security and to Democracy
Posted: December 8, 2015 Filed under: morning reads, U.S. Politics | Tags: Adolf Hitler, domestic terrorism, Donald Trump, immigration, ISIS, Muslims, Overton window 37 Comments
Trump cartoon by Matt Bors, http://www.gocomics.com
Good Afternoon!!
It’s time to break through the Overton window and speak truthfully about Donald Trump. This awful man is a national emergency. The extreme language he has been using in his campaign for President is damaging our country both domestically and internationally.
Trump is playing into the hands of ISIS and other extremists, including right wing groups here in the U.S. His words have already inspired violence and could lead to more attacks on Muslims, African Americans, and Latino-Americans. He is an embarrassment that all Americans should reject–but many won’t.
Trump can no longer be viewed as just a clown or a blowhard jerk. He is dangerous.
What if Trump somehow wins the Republican nomination? What if he actually wins the general election and his fascist ideas become White House policy? He has to be stopped. But how?
Yesterday Trump called for a ban on all Muslim immigration to the U.S. Here’s his campaign press release:
(New York, NY) December 7th, 2015, — Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on. According to Pew Research, among others, there is great hatred towards Americans by large segments of the Muslim population. Most recently, a poll from the Center for Security Policy released data showing “25% of those polled agreed that violence against Americans here in the United States is justified as a part of the global jihad” and 51% of those polled, “agreed that Muslims in America should have the choice of being governed according to Shariah.” Shariah authorizes such atrocities as murder against non-believers who won’t convert, beheadings and more unthinkable acts that pose great harm to Americans, especially women.
Mr. Trump stated, “Without looking at the various polling data, it is obvious to anybody the hatred is beyond comprehension. Where this hatred comes from and why we will have to determine. Until we are able to determine and understand this problem and the dangerous threat it poses, our country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in Jihad, and have no sense of reason or respect for human life. If I win the election for President, we are going to Make America Great Again.” – Donald J. Trump
The hatred being spewed by Donald Trump and his advisers is what is “beyond comprehension.” It’s gotten to the point that I’m afraid to look at the latest news for fear there will be more ugly hateful reports on the latest speeches and statements by this evil man.
Fortunately, some Republicans are finally speaking out against him, although not very forcefully. Republicans are probably the only people who can stop this man, but they are going to have to get organized very quickly if they really hope to do it. Two Republican reactions:
Time Magazine: Speaker Paul Ryan Condemns Donald Trump’s Ban on Muslims.
House Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday condemned Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s call for a ban on Muslim immigrants to America “until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.”
Ryan, who has been Speaker of the House for less than six weeks, had previously eschewed weighing in on presidential politics. He did so Tuesday after an announcement late Monday that Trump would no longer be participating in a Republican National Committee fundraiser later this week.
“This is not conservatism,” Ryan said in the RNC lobby on Capitol Hill. “What was proposed yesterday is not what this party stands for and more importantly it’s not what this country stands for. Not only are there many Muslims serving in our armed forces, dying for this country, there are Muslims serving right here in the House working every day to uphold and defend the constitution. Some of our best and biggest allies in this struggle and fight against radical Islamic terror are Muslims, the vast vast vast majority of whom are peaceful, who believe in pluralism and freedom, democracy and individual rights.”
WMUR ABC9 (Manchester, NH): State GOP chairwoman says Trump’s call to ban Muslims from U.S. is ‘un-American.’
State Republican Party chairwoman Jennifer Horn said Monday that Donald Trump’s call for a “total and complete shutdown” of Muslims entering the United States is “un-American.” ….
Horn, who has been a frequent critic of Trump in recent months, said:
“There are some issues that transcend politics. While my position (as party chairwoman) is certainly political, I am an American first. There should never be a day in the United States of America when people are excluded based solely on their race or religion. It is un-Republican. It is unconstitutional. And it is un-American.”
All well and good.
But two top Trump supporters in New Hampshire said the controversial Republican presidential frontrunner is right.
State Reps. Al Baldasaro of Londonderry and Steve Stepanek of Amherst said Horn should resign her post for criticizing Trump because she is not being neutral in the presidential primary.
Mediaite reports: Several Papers Depict Donald Trump As ‘the New Furor’ With Hitler Comparisons.
Following Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump‘scall for a ban on all Muslim immigrantson Monday, newspapers and digital media outlets around the world responded with tired Nazi comparisons. In particular, the Philadelphia Daily Newsand the Times of Israelpaired their stories with images depicting Trump giving what looks like the infamous Nazi salute.
The Times of Israel‘s image selection was especially noticeable for two reasons, the first being that it was taken fromTrump’s speech at the Republican Jewish Coalition meeting last week. The New York real estate magnate, standing before the crowd of conservative Jewish voters, is seen giving what looks an awful lot like Adolf Hitler‘s trademark stance.
Excuse me? “tired Hitler comparisons?” Who else should Trump be compared to based on his language and stated policies? The Philadelphia Daily News put a photo of Trump as Hitler on its front page. From Business Insider:
The Philadelphia Daily News had a hard-hitting reaction on Tuesday to Donald Trump’s proposal to bar all Muslim immigrants and tourists from entering the US.
The tabloid’s cover directly compared Trump to Adolf Hitler, using a photo of the Republican presidential front-runner with his arm raised to look like a Nazi salute. The front-page headline further used a “furor” pun to compare Trump to the German führer.
And there’s this news from Philly.com: Severed pig’s head left at N. Phila. mosque.
Philadelphia police, the FBI, and the city’s Human Relations Commission launched investigations Monday after a worker at a North Philadelphia mosque found a severed pig’s head outside its door.
Surveillance video outside the Al Aqsa Islamic Society, on Germantown Avenue near Jefferson Street, showed a red pickup truck drove past the building twice just before 11 p.m. Sunday.
The first time it crept along slowly near the curb. On its second pass, the video shows, someone extended an arm from the passenger window and tossed something that rolled to a stop near the mosque’s front door.
An employee found the bloodied animal head there around 6 a.m. Monday. Pigs are considered insulting to Muslims who observe halal dietary laws.
Police and the FBI confirmed they were reviewing the incident, though they said it was too early to discuss potential charges.
“We’ve got to be involved,” said Officer Pete Berndlmaier of the 26th District, who gathered information at the scene. “If they get away doing something like that, they are going to up the ante.”
No kidding. Just as Donald Trump keeps “upping the ante.”
According to Politico, he is “not bothered by comparisons to Hitler.”
Donald Trump went on a series of rhetorical rants on Tuesday morning, saying he does not mind comparisons to Adolf Hitler and tussling with morning show anchors about his proposal to temporarily ban all Muslims from entering the United States, calling his approach more akin to what Hitler’s American contemporary did during World War II.
“You’re increasingly being compared to Hitler. Doesn’t that give you any pause at all?” ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos asked the Republican poll leader on “Good Morning America,” displaying an image of the Philadelphia Daily News’ punning Tuesday front-page headline “The New Furo
In response, Trump said no, invoking what he termed President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “solution for Germans, Italians, Japanese many years ago” during World War II. “This was a president that was highly respected by all,” Trump said, remarking upon the Democratic president’s actions during the war. “If you look at what he was doing, it was far worse.”
Yes, and Ronald Reagan approved reparations for Japanese Americans. But apparently Trump thinks one terrible mistake justifies his own ghastly policies.
And get this: Trump wants to shut down the internet to stop jihadists from communicating with each other!
The Verge: Donald Trump thinks he can call Bill Gates to ‘close up’ the internet.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump just said the US should consider “closing up” the internet to curb radical extremism. Trump, a man that routinely claims everyone in charge of the US is stupid, believes that as president he could just call up Bill Gates to help him shut off the internet. Trump floated the idea at a campaign rally at the USS Yorktown in South Carolina tonight as a way to stop ISIS “jihadists” from recruiting Americans to commit acts of domestic terrorism. The idea is so dumb it almost has us, too, at a loss for words.
“We’re losing a lot of people because of the internet,” Trump said. “We have to see Bill Gates and a lot of different people that really understand what’s happening. We have to talk to them about, maybe in certain areas, closing that internet up in some ways. Somebody will say, ‘Oh freedom of speech, freedom of speech.’ These are foolish people.”
Trump may be ignorant. He may even be stupid. He’s also very dangerous.
What stories are you following today?
peej
Carissa
dakinikat
ecocatwoman
grayslady
mablue2
JJ Lopez aka Minkoff Minx
peggysue22
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
I disagree with only your last comment, BB. The man is not ignorant or stupid, saying that will get us in trouble. He is dangerous. He speaks incredibly well to people’s secret fears. If his audience is as touted, they are the very ones who do not have the money to be up to date on the internet, who may be intimidated by the ideas of phishing, id loss, and other personal attacks.
I didn’t say he was stupid or ignorant. I said “He may be.” That was in response to the article I quoted. I don’t think he’s stupid, but I do think he’s clearly ignorant of how government works, the Constitution, our laws, and the internet. Obviously I believe Trump is dangerous or I wouldn’t have written this post.
He strikes me as street-smart but not so much with the book-learning. In this campaign release there are numerous grammatical errors-
“Without looking at the various polling data, it is obvious to anybody the hatred is beyond comprehension. Where this hatred comes from and why we will have to determine. Until we are able to determine and understand this problem and the dangerous threat it poses, our country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in Jihad, and have no sense of reason or respect for human life. If I win the election for President, we are going to Make America Great Again.”
The second “sentence” is a fragment.
Next sentence – “our country cannot be the victims” – victim should be singular I believe.
And it isn’t “people that” it is “people who”.
That is really piss-poor writing there and you know HE wrote it and would never allow anyone to edit him.
Trump is a malignant narcissist and sociopath.
His wife must be thrilled to have this asshole out of the house. She is free from his nonstop yakking that must induce headaches after awhile.
Wow. You used the “s” word!
Umhumm.
You nailed it on the head…………….great post here.
I just don’t think he cares how it works except as it affects him. As one oligarch to another, with weight of the Government behind him, he believes he could call Gates and pressure him into “shutting down” the internet, albeit temporarily. The expansion of Presidential Proclamations, first by Bush and now Obama gives the right side fits, but he would use it. Yes, there are safeguards, but a lot of damage can be done in a short time, before those safeguards kick into effect.
Business Insider: Donald Trump’s ex-wife once said Trump kept a book of Hitler’s speeches by his bed.
http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trumps-ex-wife-once-said-he-kept-a-book-of-hitlers-speeches-by-his-bed-2015-8
After listening to him on msnbc for an hour, I asked them to proceed with another hour of video’s from Hilter during the 1930’s. I know damn well that sound so much alike. MSNBC has responded to my request.
It was so bad yesterday, that I had to get the hell away from tv today. It did me wonders, I can honestly say I hate him, and Ted Cruz.
4% of our military are made up of non-citizens, that is what, about 1 in 25 enlistments. Do you think Paul Ryan would work a bill to make them citizens? He’s talking much like Trump, and wouldn’t dare lift a finger to help those serving our country.
Even Dick Cheney spoke out about Trump’s views on immigration.
Too bad he never bothered to familiarize himself with the differences between the Sunnis and the Shiites when he laid plans to invade a country that was blameless for 9/11.
Things would be a whole lot different today had someone’s been mindful of that divide which eventually birthed ISIS.
I loathe this man.
I’m with you, I could care less what he has to has.
I was just trying to demonstrate that even a man who supports torture has problems with what Trump is saying. I certainly didn’t intend to praise Dick Cheney. Sorry to offend you guys.
Understand……we see both sides, and we know you aren’t praising the Dick.
I think it was worthwhile to post what Cheney said for exactly those reasons, BB — it shows just how extreme Trump is.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/12/08/why-richard-engels-condemnation-of-donald-trump-is-a-big-moment/?tid=sm_fb
Engels nails Trump.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2015/12/donald_trump_is_expressing_the_bigotry_of_the_republican_party_s_base.html?wpsrc=sh_all_dt_tw_top
Bigotry of Republican base is the problem.
Saletan is just waking up to this?
Evidently.
According to the LA Times it looks very much like the Supreme Court will outlaw “one person, one vote.” That could make Republicans the majority party in perpetuity.
Supreme Court appears poised to order a big shakeup in how election districts are drawn
Talk about freaking out!
There is but one reasonable hope left for this country. Hillary Clinton has to be elected, ideally by such a large margin that the Democrats can take back the Senate. Then she has to win a second term. At some point, one or two of the right-wing ideologue Justices will likely have to leave. A new more moderate Court would potentially overturn both this impending decision, and Citizens United. If this does not happen, the Republicans will indeed have a permanent Congressional majority, and if one of the Republicans ever wins the presidency, virtually every bad thing imaginable will happen to our political, economic, and social system.
And Hillary is the only Democrat with the will and the intelligence to try to rebuild the Democratic Party state by state. Somehow we have to take back the House at some point, even with all the extreme gerrymandering the Republicans do. Paul Ryan, whom the media likes to portray as a thoughtful and reasonable Republican, is actually a very strange and unsettling Ayn Rand devotee, who will not compromise on anything, and who is determined to see one of his draconian budgets actually become enacted, thus permanently destroying the safety net and the middle class. Boehner looks like the most flexible person in the world, compared to Ryan.
Absolutely agree, William. It’s Hillary or the abyss.
CNN: White House: Donald Trump Muslim plan ‘disqualifies’ him from presidency.
“all GOP presidential candidates have signed a pledge to support whoever is the eventual nominee.” That’s rich!
That’s what they usually do, as do the Dems for whomever their nominee is (or they at least have a verbal agreement). However there’s no reason they can’t announce they are not going to honor that agreement if it’s Trump.
Newsweek:
Accused Planned Parenthood Shooter Asked for Directions to Facility
http://www.newsweek.com/accused-planned-parenthood-shooter-asked-directions-402535
Some positive news:
Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis resettles Syrian refugee family despite GOP governor’s objections
A heartbreaking story from Rolling Stone:
Scott Weiland’s Family: ‘Don’t Glorify This Tragedy’
History will show that this country was rescued from a fate we witnessed in the not so distant past because we elected a Democrat to the White House in ’08 and ’12. Imagine if we hadn’t and we had continued to spiral into economic collapse. We would have all of the elements that led to the fascist dictatorship in Germany in the 1930’s. All Trump really needs to complete the tale is a broken U.S. economy and desperate voters would elect him hoping that this time it would be different. Talk about a slippery slope, we are very close to sliding down head first.
Trump,is at most times of his life a fool with a mission; but sometimes he loses site of where he wanted to go. One of my colleagues raised an interesting notion a few days ago. He said “What if the Donald got up one day and thought: ‘Hmmm, it’s campaign season, I have more money than God, I’m going to run, but this time I’m not going to drop out until I’m pushed out, I’m going to say all the things that the far lefts can’t say, but are thinking; get it all out there and let’s see what happens.”
Maybe he’s right, maybe Trump is just wild enough to do something like that. But the horror his immature behavior is creating is grossly impacting the weakest of our society.
Oops meant ‘far rights’
I knew that’s what you meant.
Oh, good grief!
Netanyahu to meet Donald Trump in Israel this month.
I’m speechless.