(Above – Mehdi Hasan)
The Intercept is not exactly a favorite read here, but one of it’s columnists, British Journalist and frequent Trump critic Mehdi Hasan, has something important to say this day after a Trump acolyte targeted Hispanic Americans during his shooting rampage at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas.
Mr. Hasan gets the easy part out of the way quickly, listing some of the many terrorists shot into action by the *resident’s hateful rhetoric, before settling into the meat of his essay:
(Bolds Mine)
“And now, this latest massacre in El Paso. Let’s be clear: in an age of rising domestic terrorism cases — the majority of which are motivated by “white supremacist violence,” according to FBI Director Christopher Wray — Trump is nothing less than a threat to our collective security. More and more commentators now refer, for example, to the phenomenon of “stochastic terrorism” — originally defined by an anonymous blogger back in 2011 as “the use of mass communications to incite random actors to carry out violent or terrorist acts that are statistically predictable but individually unpredictable.”
Sounds pretty Trumpian, right? As I wrote in October: “The president may not be pulling the trigger or planting the bomb, but he is enabling much of the hatred behind those acts. He is giving aid and comfort to angry white men by offering them clear targets — and then failing to fully denounce their violence.”
And as I pointed out on CNN earlier this year, there is a simple way for Trump to distance himself from all this. Give a speech denouncing white nationalism and the violence it has produced. Declare it a threat to national security. Loudly disown those who act in his name. Tone down the incendiary rhetoric on race, immigration, and Islam.
Trump, however, has done the exact opposite. In March, in the wake of the Christchurch massacre, the president said he did not consider white nationalism to be a rising threat, dismissing it as a “small group of people.” A month earlier, in February, Trump was asked whether he would moderate his language after a white nationalist Coast Guard officer was arrested over a plot to assassinate leading journalists and Democrats. “I think my language is very nice,” he replied.”
Hasan then sites the statement released by The Washington National Cathedral earlier this week asking the reasonable question “When will Americans have enough?”
“The escalation of radicalized rhetoric from the President of the United States has evoked responses from all sides of the political spectrum. On one side, African American leaders have led the way in rightfully expressing outrage. On the other, those aligned with the President seek to downplay the racial overtones of his attacks, or remain silent.
As faith leaders who serve at Washington National Cathedral ¬– the sacred space where America gathers at moments of national significance – we feel compelled to ask: After two years of President Trump’s words and actions, when will Americans have enough?…
…We have come to accept a level of insult and abuse in political discourse that violates each person’s sacred identity as a child of God. We have come to accept as normal a steady stream of language and accusations coming from the highest office in the land that plays to racist elements in society.
This week, President Trump crossed another threshold. Not only did he insult a leader in the fight for racial justice and equality for all persons; not only did he savage the nations from which immigrants to this country have come; but now he has condemned the residents of an entire American city. Where will he go from here?
Make no mistake about it, words matter. And, Mr. Trump’s words are dangerous.”
Is it not enough that we have a bigot and a criminal in the Oval office, do we have to put up with him inciting terrorists to commit violence against his political opponents, as Hasan pointed out on Twitter only a couple of hours ago…
I’m old enough to remember when @IlhanMN was maligned and smeared – in a maliciously-edited video – for highlighting the threat from white supremacist terrorism. (Two weeks ago.)
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) August 4, 2019
If we can read we can remember when the White House was not the command center for a vast white power terrorist network taking their marching orders from POTUS.
Thank you, Mehdi Hasan, for using your platform to point this out, as all responsible journalists should be doing.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Please follow me on Twitter @durrati
Stochastic Terrorism was not defined by an “anonymous” blogger. Those of us familiar with Daily Kos know exactly who he is, he is a very intelligent and caring person for whom I have a lot of respect.
I read the entire statement from the religious leaders from the National Cathedral the other day. It was a very moving statement that showed love and concern for all humanity. It was also very factual about what’s going on here. I really want to believe that their message will get across to a large segment of the populace – that the White Supremacists who call themselves “Christians” are, well, NOT. They are not about Christianity at all, they are merely about White Supremacy.
I cannot but believe that there is some kind of signal, real or perceived, that these domestic terrorists are receiving or communicating, that is causing them to step up their violence. I also fear it’s going to get worse before it gets better. Where are we safe? No freakin’ where.
Qanon / 4Chan / 8Chan are connecting all the white terrorists. DKos blogger nailed it. There is stochastic terrorism but also a Stochastic Terrorist in 45. His words are inciting more violence. He gets his narcissistic supply by having his base screaming for him and at the same time sending messages to the crazies that it’s okay to kill those he demeans and bullies. It’s going to get worse because the ones who are committing the actual physical crime are now heroes and martyrs to their cause.
True, beadlady. While I’ve never seen their psycho websites, part of me is tempted to check them out. And the other part wants to go hide under the covers. I think we’ve all read of threats of what will happen if he loses the election.
Remember that old song, “Something In The Air”? “And you know it’s right”? Of course it is. But remember the last verse too, “hand out the arms and ammo, we’re gonna blast our way through here”? None of us ever want it to come to that, but what if it does? What if they’re just practicing, gearing up, now? These people absolutely do not give a shit whom they have to kill to get what they want. It’s that simple. And we are seriously outgunned. We really do have to get our shit together and I appeal to everyone smarter than me to help find a solution. Or an idea that has a prayer of working.
Who exactly is Mehdi Hasan and what are his credentials and background? I have to ask since I automatically discredit everything from the tainted Intercept much as I would nothing from The Daily Caller or InfoWars. I’d specifically like to know what position he took/role he played in the 2016 election because, while his piece here states the obvious we’ve all been saying for a while, I want to know if he had any role in putting Trump in office or in the Russian interference denial that is an article of faith at The Intercept.
OK, I did a little research. He’s a faithful Bernie Bro to this day, but not a Kool-Aid-drinking one.
He has called out people trying to dismiss Jill Stein’s impact on Trump’s election. He has posted stuff like “While Jill Stein wasn’t a decisive factor in Trump getting elected, she definitely was *a* factor, and played a clear anti-Clinton spoiler role” and “I still remember interviewing Jill Stein ahead of the 2016 election and being horrified by her position, eg she told me that her supporters should “absolutely not” vote for Hillary Clinton to stop a Donald Trump presidency, even in a swing state.” He seems to have a relative grasp on reality for a Bernie Bro.
Don’t forget, the Overton Window is so far to the right in the USA that what might appear at first glance to be ‘left wing’ is actually centrist. It is the right wing and their acolytes that are furthest from the truth of actual reality.