These days, we seem to be asking ourselves just what in the hell is wrong with our world, and the people in it?
That mystery of not understanding just what the hell is going on is especially relevant here in the United States, where an angry group of tens of millions of voters were so sick of lying, corrupt politicians with a false sense of entitlement, that they elected into the highest office in the land a lying, corrupt, and transparently narcissistic billionaire with a false sense of entitlement.
Guess they showed the rest of us, eh?
There is a gun store with the charming name of Tactical Shit in St. Peters, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis, that asked Facebook followers whether the shooting in New Zealand was a tragedy, or "fucking great?"
According to one screenshot, roughly 15 percent of those who participated in the poll felt that the shooting was something to be happy about, although it was also reported that 87 percent felt it was a tragedy. Not only would that constitute a vast majority, it also qualifies as something that former President George W. Bush might describe as "fuzzy math"). The store, which has a reputation for making a point of being edgy and controversial, even put up a picture of a popular meme of the distracted boyfriend, the one in which the boyfriend looks at an attractive woman and makes no effort to hide his interest, even while holding his outraged girlfriend's hand. But the meme was modified, so that the attractive woman was "one guy shooting Muslims in revenge," and the jealous boyfriend was, according to the illustration, "literally the whole fucking world." Meaning, of course, that the entire world could sympathize with the New Zealand mass shooter, at least secretly.
This, of course, could be shrugged off by the store manager. He acted surprised that the questionnaire, and the altered distracted boyfriend meme, caused hundreds of Facebook followers to unfollow the store. But this is the kind of pushing of the envelope in terms of not only accepting, but increasingly endorsing outright violence which has become commonplace since Trump's political rise. And it is Trump himself who has mastered this threatening undertone, several times suggesting that there could be violence if he does not get his way.
His supporters tend to not be shy about it. I personally have one guy who used to be a relatively close friend, who seems to have gotten lost in this same kind of violent mindset. He always freely mentioned that he was a conspiracy theorist. His mentioning this so openly was something which surprised me a bit, since this is something that I had always thought people would try to hide. Well, I was curious, and checked on his Facebook page. It was loaded with Islamophobic posts, claiming that there was a worldwide invasion, that this mass shooting was fake, basically suggesting that New Zealand was far away and remote, so that relatively few people, presumably, could verify these facts. It is not like there are over four million residents in the country, or anything, or that they are a modern, western nation with pretty much the same technology that other western nations are privy to. None of that matters to him, apparently. And I suspect that, much like with Holocaust deniers, deniers of mass shootings will begin to pop up more regularly. Not surprisingly, this former friend is a fan of Alex Jones, who infamously questioned whether or not the Sandy Hook massacre actually happened, and then got sued. He also got into serious trouble, but still manages to have a following, including this guy, a former personal friend.
Here's the thing (and I am almost ashamed to admit it): when I first got to know him (he was a coworker at my weekend job), he always acted angry, but in an almost exaggerated manner, and usually wound up laughing about it afterward. It did not seem serious, so I admittedly merely joked about his anger, thinking that at least a considerable part of it was just for show. In other words, just an act. We were getting to be closer friends, went to events together, watched an NFL playoff game with my son coming along, and went to a Super Bowl party together, hosted by a black family, and attended by numerous black males. It did not seem to be a problem.
Somehow, though, all of that changed with the 2016 election. He suddenly began to talk about the victimized white race, and was obviously attracted to Donald Trump. We went back and forth, debating each other, and every time that we did so, I got the distinct feeling that he felt personally attacked whenever I dared to question his views, or his, shall we say, "alternate facts." Also, there was no denying that his anger was actually considerable, and it was real. This was no act. Without a trace of shame or embarrassment, he made his profile picture a selfie of himself holding what I can only assume is some kind of semi-automatic weapon. And he became one of those people who very quickly posted NRA and gun advocate nonsense following mass shootings almost as quickly as others expressed horror and indignation at the senseless violence.
In short, he frightened me in a certain respect. Not that I thought he would do anything crazy, or seek me out with that weapon, or anything. But his mind scared me, made me feel uncomfortable, and not in an overawed sense of his being a great intellect. I had assumed him to be relatively intelligent, because he had different interests than most. He loved Russia, and read classics of Russian literature. Even took classes to learn Russian. And he was fairly knowledgeable in history, and could articulate his thoughts fairly well verbally. But those conspiracy theories began to feel ridiculous. He questioned the moon landing, and if memory serves me correctly, once tried to tell me not to dismiss those who believed that the Earth was flat so quickly.
And, of course, there was Donald Trump. While I recoiled in horror with every ridiculous thing that this pathetic excuse for a leader did, and groaned in embarrassment when he shamed this country with some mindbogglingly stupid actions or words (something that he has done with an alarming measure of frequency), this guy (by now a former friend, for all intents and purposes) rejoiced, and seemed to think of Trump as the greatest thing since sliced bread. He expressed appreciation that a billionaire would voluntarily step down to live in the White House, as if that was some sort of slum, in order to, as he put it, save the country. His version of Donald Trump is obviously far different than the one that I see everyday, and he would always accuse me of believing in "fake news." I challenged him, and sarcastically pointed to how frequently he relied on Fox News and Breitbart, asking if this was where I could find more "fair and balanced" news, to which he did not respond. But needless to say, he made his support of Donald Trump in 2020 very, very clear with recent posts.
It saddens me to think about this guy. He made clear to me when we were still friends that he was not especially happy with his life. In certain respects, we could relate to one another. But there was something about him that drew him towards things that I simply could not get into, like an obsession with guns, and an admiration for Trump, of all people. He did not hesitate to express his hatred of certain groups of people, but again, he made it sound like a joke. He claimed that he hated Irish and Polish people, even though he himself was married to a Polish woman. Jokingly, he claimed that this was why he knew enough to hate them.
Yes, it all seemed like a joke, and he certainly never expressed any outright pride about being white when we were friends and coworkers, in a work site where there were plenty of black and Hispanic people. Now, I cannot help but wonder just how much it was all a joke, this hatred of groups of people. And I wonder why he never expressed his apparent affinity for what is now called white nationalism while working with all of those black people that we were mutual friends with.
This guy became the most obvious voice and face of the so-called "Trump nation." In fairness, I know some other people who are fans of Trump, although none of them seemed as blatantly angry and sympathetic to white nationalism as this guy did, and still does. When I think of Trump supporters, it is him that comes to my own mind. And if he were living in the St. Louis area, I can only imagine that he would have found this store, Tactical Shit, and probably followed it on Facebook and other social media sites, perhaps.
Getting back to that store, here is a bit more on that unofficial query, as well as some words by the owner, T.J. Kirgin, this is what he asked customers:
"How do you 'feel' about the NZ Shooting?" the query began. "This poll is because in our posts and news stories, our shitheads seem pretty divided."
Presumably, this store understood that it was basically inviting the most extremist opinions to be shared in a very public manner. But the poll tried to reassure them:
"We are in no way are indicating our opinion," the post added, "just want yours."
Kirgin expressed surprise by how many people seemed to think that this New Zealand massacre was, as he worded it, "fucking great!" Kirgin elaborates:
"That's how polarized this thing is already. So then I'm like, 'Fuck it, fucktards, I gotta find out what you're thinking here,' because it's obviously a polarized thing within our fan base, which are hardcore motherfuckers. So I put out a poll."
"That's hardcore, man. But that speaks to the nature of what's happening in America, the nature of what's happening in the gun community, and globally with this event."
Here, this store is clearly one owned by, and catering to, gun advocates. Supposedly responsible gun owners, right? Yet, here they are, making light of one of the worst mass shootings in modern history. Mind you, this is a gun store, supplying like-minded people with deadly weapons, and they seem to be almost endorsing future mass shootings, so long as these mass shootings target Muslims. Of course, they do it in such a way that they can shrug and deny it, much like Trump does. But the message seems clear enough if you read between the lines. Like New York Times columnist
David Leonhardt suggests about the reality of Trump promoting violence, making the link really is not that hard, and does not require serious or piercing thought. It is almost right there, on the surface. These guys are not themselves picking up assault rifles and doing the shooting, but almost applauding those who do is yet one step closer to doing just that.
That seems to me to pretty well sum up the unofficial tendency, or perhaps you could word it as flirtation, with violent tendencies, even flirtations and expressions of sympathy with hate crimes, among those who identify with Trump. And there is a reason why they like him so much. Because Trump himself has similarly flirted with outright violence, and has actively worked to further the polarized political atmosphere in this country, all while claiming, in words, to be the "president for all Americans," which he claimed he would be on the night when he won the election. His supporters feel empowered by that, and then try to bully everyone else into trying to support "our president," even though Trump makes much more clear with his actions that he is not really the "president for all Americans." After calling for establishing a national registry of Muslims, we can certainly understand that they would not feel like he is their president. After calling Mexican immigrants criminals and rapists, we can understand why they would not feel that he is their president. After referring to dozens of African and Central American nations, as well as Haiti, as "shithole nations," and showing other fairly racist tendencies, we can understand why they also would not feel that he is their president. After an entire lifetime spent openly lusting after women and viewing them as merely sexual objects and nothing else, we can understand why they, too, would not feel that he is their president. And after spending more than two years now trashing news sources that are critical of him in any way as "fake news" and claiming that they are an "enemy of the people," we can understand why so many Americans who are interested in preserving what remains of our democracy also do not feel like he is their president.
That is the problem. Trump lies relentlessly, and talks from both sides of his mouth, and then turns around and points the finger and accuses others of doing exactly what he himself is guilty of. Yet, his supporters believe him, and adore him for it. They feel that he is really pissing off the liberals, and that, to them, is a triumph. Indeed, for them, this is all of the "winning" that Trump promised them. It is clearly not designed for all Americans, and never was. And Trump goes farther than that, like his recent undertone of violence, suggesting that he would hate for his rougher supporters to grow violent, because that would bode well for the Democrats. Trump also claimed that there is no way that he could possibly lose the upcoming election, unless it is specifically rigged in the Democrats favor.
Indeed, David Leonhardt is right in his New York Times column, which I recommend reading (see the link below). It really is not difficult to see how Trump encourages violence, and how this violence seems to be running wild now all over the world. It has empowered some, both here in the United States and in other countries, even as far away as tiny New Zealand, to be more comfortable expressing their hatred, and in the most extreme cases, to lash out with horrific violence. Trump has a big mouth, and when he "jokes" about inflicting bodily harm against those who oppose him, whether it is protesters or members of the media at his ridiculous rallies, or whether he is basically threatening violence if he does not get his way and win the next election, this man is clearly encouraging violence.
Here, specifically, is what Trump said, and note how he can clearly deny any specific incitement to violence, even though he clearly is insinuating, even encouraging, these supporters of his to at least get ready for violence:
“You know, the left plays a tougher game. It’s very funny. I actually think that the people on the right are tougher, but they don’t play it tougher. O.K.? I can tell you I have the support of the police, the support of the military, the support of the Bikers for Trump. I have the tough people, but they don’t play it tough — until they go to a certain point, and then it would be very bad, very bad.”
Leonhardt points out other such instances with Trump:
This wasn’t the first time Trump had mused about violence, of course. He has talked about “Second Amendment people” preventing the appointment of liberal judges. He’s encouraged police officers to bang suspects’ heads against car roofs. He has suggested his supporters “knock the hell” out of hecklers. At a rally shortly before 2018 Election Day, he went on a similar riff about Bikers for Trump and the military.
Leonhardt continues:
I’m well aware of the various see-no-evil attempts to excuse this behavior: That’s just how he talks. Don’t take him literally. Other Republicans are keeping him in check. His speeches and tweets don’t really matter.
But they do matter. The president’s continued encouragement of violence — and of white nationalism — is part of the reason that white-nationalist violence is increasing. Funny how that works.
Trump is sometimes dismissed as incredibly stupid when he stumbles on words, often interrupting his own unclear and unimpressive thoughts, or conducting himself in such a petty and disgraceful manner that it makes any rational person cringe. However, he is shrewd and capable in his own way, and let's face it: he is a master at manipulation. I am not sure about the "art of the deal" self-promotion that he gives himself, but he absolutely knows how to get his way, and how to use people to help him do that. This is exactly what he is doing right now, with his supporters. How else can you explain rural voters so strongly supporting an arrogant New York billionaire with a false sense of entitlement? They actually believe that he is one of them. That is why it matters little whether or not Trump actually himself is an outright white supremacist, or that he never actively encourages any single specific call to violence. But the spike in hate crimes, and the transparent polarization and undertone of anger dominating this country, is very clearly being enhanced by his words and his actions, to the point that it has drawn attention around the world.
After all, it was not without a reason that a white supremacist and mass murderer halfway around the planet called Trump out by name as “a symbol of renewed white identity.”
If that one guy could do the damage that he did in tiny New Zealand, just imagine what some like-minded people could do here in the United States, where they are actively being encouraged by their president to lash out violently against those who oppose them.
Below are the links to the articles that I used, including all quotes, in writing this particular blog entry:
It Isn’t Complicated: Trump Encourages Violence He doesn’t deserve blame for any specific attack. He does deserve blame for the increase in white-nationalist violence. David Leonhardt By David Leonhardt Opinion Columnist March 17, 2019:
TACTICAL GEAR STORE POLLS FOLLOWERS, ASKING IF NEW ZEALAND MASSACRE WAS ‘TRAGIC’ OR ‘F****NG GREAT’ BY SCOTT MCDONALD ON 3/18/19:
St. Louis Store Asks Whether New Zealand Mosque Shooting Was Tragic or 'Fucking Great' Posted By Danny Wicentowski on Mon, Mar 18, 2019
