Trump — America’s version of Le Pen?
For weeks we’ve been talking about the “Trump Effect,” and how Donald Trump’s racist, hard right positions have driven other GOP candidates to embrace similar policies.
Now, it’s going a step further, moving from hateful rhetoric to hateful actions. Case in point: a recent hate crime in South Boston.
Per Sara DiNatale and Maria Sacchetti of the Boston Globe:
“The homeless man was lying on the ground, shaking, when police arrived early Wednesday. His face was soaked, apparently with urine, his nose broken, his chest and arms battered.
“Police said two brothers from South Boston ambushed the 58-year-old as he slept outside of a Dorchester MBTA stop, and targeted him because he is Hispanic. One of the brothers said he was inspired in part by GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump…
“Trump, told of the alleged assault, said ‘it would be a shame . . . I will say that people who are following me are very passionate. They love this country and they want this country to be great again. They are passionate.’…
“The brothers walked away from the scene laughing, a witness told State Police.
“Alerted by witnesses, troopers arrested the brothers, and said the men continued to be disorderly in custody. Steve Leader allegedly urinated on his cell door, and both brothers allegedly made threats to staff members.
“Police said Scott Leader, 38, told them it was OK to assault the man because he was Hispanic and homeless.
“‘Donald Trump was right, all these illegals need to be deported,’” he allegedly told the police.”
Said Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice, “This is a hate crime in its ugliest form and according to Trump these brothers are simply ‘passionate.’ That’s not just disturbing, it’s morally bankrupt.”
Here’s a few other examples of how Trump is legitimizing hateful rhetoric and influencing the narrative on the right.
Iowa Radio Host Expresses Support for “Enslaving” Undocumented Immigrants if They Don’t Leave: Per Joe Strupp of Media Matters: “Influential Iowa radio host Jan Mickelson — whose show is a frequent destination for Republican presidential candidates — is standing by his plan to make undocumented immigrants ‘property of the state’ if they refuse to leave the country after an allotted period of time. In comments to Media Matters, Mickelson described his plan as ‘constitutionally defensible, legally defensible, morally defensible, biblically defensible and historically defensible.’…’All you have to do is put up a sign on the border,’ Mickelson said. ‘Just put up a sign that says ‘After 60 days from this date certain if you’re in the state of Iowa and you are here without legal status and you are criminally in the state of Iowa, you will become the property of the state and we will compel labor from you because you are a criminal and the 13th Amendment allows us.’’”
Ben Carson Wants to Use Drone Strikes on U.S.-Mexico Border: According to Amanda Sakuma of MSNBC, “Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump may want to build a giant wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, but it would be Ben Carson who is open to defending it with deadly drones. While touring the southwest border on Wednesday, Carson — a renowned neurosurgeon running for the Republican presidential nomination — said he would not rule out military drone strikes to keep immigrants from crossing illegally into the United States.” According to a tweet from Dennis Welch of CBS5 News in Arizona, Carson said, “You look at some of these caves and things out there one drone strike, boom, and they’d gone.”
Jeb Bush Says We Need More Enforcement Against “Anchor Babies”: Per Eliza Collins of Politico, “Jeb Bush doesn’t want birthright citizenship to go away, but he is calling for stronger enforcement for people who abuse it. ‘If there’s abuse, if people are bringing — pregnant women are coming in to have babies simply because they can do it, then there ought to be greater enforcement,’ Bush said on Bill Bennett’s conservative radio show, ‘Morning in America’ Wednesday. ‘That’s [the] legitimate side of this. Better enforcement so that you don’t have these, you know, ‘anchor babies’, as they’re described, coming into the country.’”
Added Sharry, “This pattern of hateful rhetoric has officially passed the of point of extremist words and has turned into alarming action. This is more than just bad politics. When political debate encourages an atmosphere where hateful actions and hurtful rhetoric get mainstreamed, it’s bad for the country.”
Follow Frank Sharry and America’s Voice on Twitter: @FrankSharry and @AmericasVoice
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