The former Republican president is a public danger. Every day he works to undermine Americans’ trust in their institutions: the electoral process, the independence of the judiciary, respect for the law as it is applied by police officers and federal agents. We won’t be able to pretend we don’t know when he returns to the White House.
Every voter who chooses Donald Trump has their own reasons, their own dynamics. I just hope that beyond the resentment they hold toward Democrats, leftists, homosexuals, professional women, immigrants, ethnic, cultural, linguistic, sexual and other minorities, they realize that their candidate proves himself every day that he is an authoritarian, obsessive, slightly manic and vulgar man.
This is not a judgment on my part or an opinion that I share, but simply the observation I draw from reading what he writes on social media and listening to what he says at his political rallies says. Let me give you three recent examples.
The vocabulary of intolerance
Many were outraged by the use of the word “vermin” in a speech three weeks ago in Claremont, New Hampshire, to describe his political opponents: “We will eliminate the communists, the Marxists, the fascists and the thugs of the radical left.” live like vermin within the borders of our country.
This very word occupied a central place in Adolf Hitler’s anti-Semitic speeches. Don’t think Trump got away with it; In early October, in an interview with the right-wing online site The National Pulse, he described the arrival of undocumented immigrants at the Mexican border as “a very sad thing…a poisoning of the blood of our country.” The purity of blood was also a Nazi obsession.
An announced concentration of power
Early on Thanksgiving morning, this man who claims to be worthy of the presidency went on a lengthy rant against him on Truth Social, the social media outlet where he has spoken since his expulsion from Twitter, including: “the racist and incompetent.” The New York State Attorney General Letitia “Peekaboo” James…, the radical left judge who hates Trump, “Psycho” Arthur Engoron… and all the other crazy people on the radical left, communists, fascists, Marxists, Democrats and RINO [faux républicains]”.
The latest example of his delirium: In another message published last Tuesday evening, Trump railed against the left-wing news channel MSNBC, which “does nothing but strike 24 hours a day against Donald J. Trump and the party’s Republicans.” And he demands that “our so-called ‘government’ crack down and make them pay for their illegal political activities.” He vomits about justice, freedom of speech… and he wants to be president again.
Major American media outlets have recently increased their investigations showing that Trump and his entourage are planning a radical expansion of presidential power if he wins the election in November 2024.
We can laugh at the man being grumpy and mean, but imagine that he manages to concentrate even more authority in his hands. It will be, believe me, a lot less fun.
Five excerpts from Donald Trump’s Veterans Day speech in Claremont, New Hampshire
AFP
1. Speaking of migrants entering the United States:
“They treat illegal immigrants coming into our country better than they treat our veterans. You stay in the best hotels. Even I don’t even stay in these hotels.”
2. He reiterates his admiration for Hungary’s authoritarian leader:
“The leader of Hungary, a very tough and strong man, Victor Orban. Have you ever heard of it? Probably. Considered very powerful, very powerful in his country and outside his country.”
3. Adopting the word “vermin” from Hitler and Mussolini:
“We promise to eradicate the communists, fascist Marxists and radical left-wing thugs who live like vermin within the borders of our country.”
4. In his own way, he expresses his sympathy for the veterans who were treated at Walter Reed Military Hospital:
“I went to Walter Reed several times to see the soldiers and always said I could never have been a doctor because I couldn’t stand something like that.”
5. Say to the partisans who came to listen to him:
“You ruined my day by putting this in the middle of the day. You can’t do anything in the morning because you don’t have time. There’s nothing you can do in the evening.”
And also…
“The best properties, the best resorts, I could have had a great time. Instead, I’m here with you on a Saturday afternoon.”