Enabling Trump-- That's What Congressional Republicans Continue To Do

Trump by Joel Peter Witkin

In 1790, the first president of the United States, wrote a letter to the congregants of the Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island, which said, in part, that "the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support... May the children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig-tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid. May the father of all mercies scatter light and not darkness in our paths, and make us all in our several vocations useful here, and in his own due time and way everlastingly happy."

Sunday, Jewish community leaders in Pittsburgh sent a letter to the current occupant of the White House, an illegitimate, fake president who stokes hatred and bigotry to unite his violent, hate-filled, moron followers.

President Trump:

Yesterday, a gunman slaughtered 11 Americans during Shabbat morning services. We mourn with the victims’ families and pray for the wounded. Here in Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood, we express gratitude for the first responders and for the outpouring of support from our neighbors near and far. We are committed to healing as a community while we recommit ourselves to repairing our nation.

For the past three years your words and your policies have emboldened a growing white nationalist movement. You yourself called the murderer evil, but yesterday’s violence is the direct culmination of your influence.

President Trump, you are not welcome in Pittsburgh until you fully denounce white nationalism.

Our Jewish community is not the only group you have targeted.  You have also deliberately undermined the safety of people of color, Muslims, LGBTQ people, and people with disabilities. Yesterday’s massacre is not the first act of terror you incited against a minority group in our country.

President Trump, you are not welcome in Pittsburgh until you stop targeting and endangering all minorities.

The murderer’s last public statement invoked the compassionate work of the Jewish refugee service HIAS at the end of a week in which you spread lies and sowed fear about migrant families in Central America. He killed Jews in order to undermine the efforts of all those who find shared humanity with immigrants and refugees.

President Trump, you are not welcome in Pittsburgh until you cease your assault on immigrants and refugees.

The Torah teaches that every human being is made b’tzelem Elohim, in the image of God.

This means all of us.

In our neighbors, Americans, and people worldwide who have reached out to give our community strength, there we find the image of God.  While we cannot speak for all Pittsburghers, or even all Jewish Pittsburghers, we know we speak for a diverse and unified group when we say:

President Trump, you are not welcome in Pittsburgh until you commit yourself to compassionate, democratic policies that recognize the dignity of all of us.

Melania will go to Pittsburgh with Trumpanzee. I bet she doesn't wear that fetching "I Don't Give A Damn" designer jacket this time. It might unsettled the Adelsons and other wealthy kapos and court Jews.

Charlie Dent is a mainstream conservative-- albeit with a 93% Trump adhesion record-- from Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley. He retired from Congress in May and the heart of his old district (now PA-07) will likely go to Democrat Susan Wild. On Thursday, Dent was on a CNN panel when he was asked about his former House colleague Ron DeSantis taking contributions from Nazis in his gubernatorial race. Steven Alembik, who once called President Obama a "Muslim nigger," has given DeSantis thousands of dollars. Dent's response was that he wasn’t aware of it "I certainly would’ve returned it... if he’s getting contributions from people who have this type of history, I would certainly just send it back. I don’t understand why he would hang on to it."



If I lived in Allentown-- I used to live just north of there in Stroudsburg-- I would have admired Dent for that... but because I disagree with him on fundamental issues, I still would not have voted for him. Sure, good for ex-Congressman Dent. But... that's it. Look at that voting record linked in the first sentence of the first paragraph!

It gets worse. Trump and DeSantis are brothers from another mother-- and Trump got him the nomination and has two more rallies in Florida for him in the next week. There are no Republicans in Congress standing up to Trump's poisonous, divisive rhetoric, not even in the mild way Dent stood up against DeSantis. Monday, Bernie wrote to his supporters that "Trump is going to try to divide us in this final week before the election. He is going to try to pit us against each other by race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, immigration status and however he can do it. He is desperate to do it because he knows that if working people, young people, and people of color stand united, we are going to win. If he can divide us up, right-wing Republicans and the big-money interests will win. What I saw on my tour was a people who are united. People who know that real change is possible when large numbers of ordinary Americans speak out, get involved in the democratic process, and vote. Progressive change is coming." Not if Trump-- and his Republican enablers can stop it. And Trump doesn't believe in any kinds of boundaries. He's in it to win it. For him it's all "Fuck the norms; fuck the rules."

Chuck Todd and his crew noted that "Tragedy and terror have dominated the last 72 hours in American politics." It was all about the #MAGAbomber in Florida and the #MAGAshooter in Pittsburgh. "Both," they wrote, "appear to be products of our toxic political environment. Sayoc was a Trump fan who plastered his white van with Trump and 'Make America Great Again' paraphernalia. The accused shooter in Pittsburg posted conspiracy theories and messages about the migrant caravan walking to the U.S.-Mexico border."

But there is a fundamental divide about our current politics-- the overheated and demeaning rhetoric, the inability to compromise, partisanship all the time. While most politicians, Democrats and Republicans, see this as a problem, President Trump sees it as an opportunity. Something to exploit. Something to help turn out his voters.

Consider Trump’s rally in Illinois on Saturday just hours after the shooting in Pittsburgh. The president first addressed the tragedy and condemned the killings. “This evil anti-Semitic attack is an assault on all of us. It’s an assault on humanity. It will require all of us working together to extract the hateful poison of anti-Semitism,” he said.

But then he returned his attention to his familiar targets. On the caravan: “Republicans want no crime, and no caravans, right?... This will be election of caravans, Kavanaugh, law and order and common sense.”

On Nancy Pelosi and Maxine Waters: “Now I did a little tiny bit of research and Mike's opponent, Brendan Kelly, is a vote for Nancy Pelosi, and of course, Maxine Waters, and their job-killing agenda.”

On Elizabeth Warren: “We can’t use Pocahontas anymore, she’s got no Indian blood!” he said. “I have more than she does, and I have none. So I can’t call her Pocahontas anymore, but I think I will anyway, do you mind?”

On his critics and opponents: “You have the haters and they continue to hate. These are foolish and very stupid people. Very stupid.”

John Cohen, counter-terrorism expert at Rutgers University, told NPR this morning that this kind of political rhetoric is dangerous. “Our political rhetoric has become much more demonizing. Your opponent isn’t just somebody you disagree with; it is somebody who is corrupt, it is evil. Problems such as immigration are not simply problems of resources and problems of policy; but the people who are coming here are treated as criminals.”

Trump tweeted last night and this morning that it was unfair to blame him for the pipe bomb scare and the shooting in Pittsburgh. “The Fake News is doing everything in their power to blame Republicans, Conservatives and me for the division and hatred that has been going on for so long in our Country. Actually, it is their Fake & Dishonest reporting which is causing problems far greater than they understand!”

But how can the president participate in finding a solution to the division and hatred when he doesn’t see them as problems-- but instead conditions to exploit?

And while the president views the criticism of his leadership as an opportunity to showcase himself as a victim to fire up his base, the silence of the rest of the GOP is what’s so loud this time.

Compare this moment with the aftermath of Charlottesville. There haven’t been any Republicans who have distanced themselves from Trump. It shows just how much of the GOP’s elected leadership fears the divisive tone Trump has set is actually the KEY to stoking the base for the election.

Let that sink in.

WILL THE LAST 72 HOURS OF NEWS BE THE FINAL ISSUE-EVENTS OF THE 2018 CAMPAIGN?

With eight days to go until the 2018 midterms, it is very possible that the pipe bomb scare and shootings in Pittsburgh are the final issue-events of this campaign season. Of course, there’s still plenty of time for another event or story. But with eight days left...

TRUMP, GOP DEFIANT THAT INCENDIARY RHETORIC DIDN’T CAUSE THE RECENT VIOLENCE

The Washington Post: “President Trump and his Republican allies remained defiant Sunday amid allegations from critics that Trump’s incendiary attacks on political rivals and racially charged rhetoric on the campaign trail bear some culpability for the climate surrounding a spate of violence in the United States.”

More: “Trump, who has faced calls to tone down his public statements, signaled that he would do no such thing-- berating billionaire liberal activist Tom Steyer, a target of a mail bomb sent by a Trump supporter, as a ‘crazed & stumbling lunatic’ on Twitter, after Steyer said on CNN that Trump and the Republican Party have created an atmosphere of ‘political violence.’”

Vice President Mike Pence told NBC’s Vaughn Hillyard this when asked about Trump’s language: "Look, everyone has their own style, and frankly, people on both sides of the aisle use strong language..."

TRUMP “READS THE DUTIFUL WORDS OF UNITY AND GRIEF … THAT AIDES PUT IN FRONT OF HIM, BUT HE REFUSES TO STICK TO THE SCRIPT”

The New York Times: “The president has made clear he does not see national harmony as his mission. He mocks the notion of being ‘presidential,’ and the crowds at his rallies egg him on, eager for him to ‘tone it up’ rather than ‘tone it down,’ as he puts it. He reads the dutiful words of unity and grief and determination that aides put in front of him, but he refuses to stick to the script. His people want a fighter, in his view, and he plans to give it to them. If the mandarins of Washington and the cable channels tut-tut over his language, it is because they are out to get him.”

Best of luck with that attitude. A poll released yesterday by the non-partisan Public Religion Research Institute found that a majority of Americans say there is nothing that Señor Trumpanzee could do to change their opinion of him. More than four in ten (46%) say they disapprove of Trump’s job performance and that there is nothing he could do to win their approval, while 14% say they approve of Trump and that there is nothing he could do to lose their approval. By contrast, four in ten Americans either approve (27%) or disapprove (13%) of the president but say that there is something he could do to change their mind. Among Democrats, almost eight in ten (78%) say they disapprove of the president and there is nothing he can do to win their approval, while 12% disapprove but say there is something he could do win their approval. By contrast, nearly four in ten (37%) Republicans say they approve of the president and that there is nothing he can do to lose their support. A slim majority (51%) of Republicans approve of Trump but say there is something he could do lose their approval."

This morning, though, the Washington Post reported that congressional leaders from both parties-- McConnell, Ryan, Schumer and Pelosi-- have all declined invitations to join Trump on his visit to Pittsburgh, where the city's mayor and most Jewish leaders have pleaded for him to stay away since his regime has fueled anti-Semitism through their rhetoric before and after Saturday’s massacre. CNN reported that "A spate of local and state officials also said they would not appear with Trump when he visits a hospital and pays respects to the 11 victims of Saturday’s massacre."

"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed."

-Proverbs 31:8