Trump opened that can of worms, and I hope people don't forget it. The extreme rhetoric around him is entirely his doing.
Let's not forget this man enabled someone to feel he should send pipe bombs to all of his political enemies just from the first year of him being in office, that at least three far right extremists groups thought they were given the greenlight to storm the capitol and potentially kill members of the United States government, and that one man died mid social media post attacking an FBI building because Trump weaponized a visit to pick up documents he hoarded, which he later said was a visit that had "death squads" ready to kill him. He's the one that had lawyers argue on his behalf that he can assassinate political opponents and that he will go after all of his enemies. He has called for the jailing of journalists, preparing for a yes man army to take over the government, and wants to shoot protestors. Talking about any of those is "extreme rhetoric" but it all comes from him, from his ambitions, and from his own words.
Donald Trump alone has been the one throwing gasoline on the fire because he bathes in this type of arena. It's all he knows and does. Thinking about it honestly, it's crazy to me that this scale of attack has only happened once, nearly nine years in with this rhetoric and egging on. Think of all of the chaos this man has produced and only on the third go around at him running for office violence comes his way. He has always spoken in ways that promote violence, and that violence has always been presented to his political enemies. This marks the first time someone, potentially from his own political party, took it out on him. The chickens have quite literally come home to roost: an authoritarian who speaks nothing but chaos, disarray, and division is now suffering some consequences of that rhetoric, and like everything else with this monster it's to his benefit in the end somehow.
Assassination attempts like this never, ever go well, regardless if they're successful or not. You'd be a fucking idiot wishing otherwise. One would be a fool to resort to physical violence in general but especially here, as it only ever benefits a fascist. It reifies the movement regardless of the damage done. Everyone will now be talking about "thank goodness he's okay" or "he's strong" and not a peep about him clearly saying he will be a dictator if he wins in November. This failed attempt of his life will not only embolden Trump but give more than enough mindshare away from his violent policies and vision for America. The lesson he'll learn from this if he gets back into office is to make examples of his enemies so that "this doesn't happen again" and because a President is an essentially a legalized war criminal now, that means essentially anything he wants.
If I can ask honestly, when we're talking about an extremist movement, how can it not be talked about in extremist terms? Are people being hyperbolic when a great deal of "it can't get THAT bad" or "he won't do THAT" have all been proven true by his regular critics? Where have people gone wrong calling a spade a spade here? This is the problem with the modern day Republican party: if you talk about them in any honest measure, all you're left with is talking about how they're the most far-right political party with major influence in the western world. And yet they, and they alone it seems, are the only ones who can call things "extreme" which is almost always the obstacles to their ambitions? The media has been treating these folks with kid gloves even still, and yet there's calls the media is to blame for being "too extreme?" What?
I'd love to know what "irresponsible" words the media has used about Donald Trump. The one who has been irresponsible with his words has mostly been Trump himself.
