By Sean Yoes, AFRO Baltimore Editor, syoes@afro.com
After a particularly virulent, mania fueled 72 hours of social media rants by Donald John Trump, George Conway, a well-respected…..in mainstream Conservative Republican circles offered a succinct, cogent assessment of Trump’s state of mind via Twitter on March 20.
“You.Are.Nuts.”
Of course, Conway isn’t just a Constitutional scholar who has argued before the U.S. Supreme Court, he is the husband of Kellyanne Conway, the disheveled and wily senior White House adviser to Trump. So, it is safe to assume George Conway pretty much gets a daily, first-person report on the torrent of insanity that engulfs the Trump White House (many believe Kellyanne Conway is the most copious White House leaker). But, if you are one of the millions of Americans (me included) who is concerned Trump’s mental health is a clear and present danger to the security of not just more than 300 million Americans, but billions globally, last weekend offered no comfort. In fact, over the weekend and over the last couple of days the dung-filled dumpster fire, which is the Trump presidency raged even more wildly, as the 45th president poured gasoline on it.
Trump fired off about 50 grievance filled tweets raging against targets from the Mueller investigation, to selected Fox News anchors, to a Saturday Night Live rerun. But, his ghoulish obsession with, and disdain for the late Arizona Sen. John McCain probably was the most offensive of Trump’s attacks. Trump, a draft dodger who received five deferments from the Vietnam War for alleged bone spurs (and later bragged about it) disparaging a bonafide Vietnam War hero and patriot who has been dead for seven months, was a new level of debauchery.
Sean Yoes (Courtesy Photo)
However, the most diabolical aspect of this madness was the fact Trump spewed all of this invective in the direct aftermath of the terrorist attacks in New Zealand, where 50 Muslims praying in two mosques were slaughtered on March 15 by an Australian White nationalist.
Trump offered a tepid, perfunctory condemnation of the attacks and when asked if he thought White nationalist terror was a problem worldwide (which it is), Trump responded, “I don’t really,” he said. “I think it’s a small group of people that have very, very serious problems, I guess if you look at what happened in New Zealand, perhaps, that’s the case. I don’t know enough about it yet. They’re just learning about the person and the people involved. It’s certainly a terrible thing.”
We’ve seen this movie before, Trump flies with wild, moronic abandon in almost any scenario. But, when it comes to calling out White nationalists (which I and many others argue makes up the majority of his political base) he always feigns ignorance and treads with trepidation. But, in this horrific case the terrorist actually name checked Trump as an inspiration in the White nationalist crusade. In a rambling 74-page manifesto of well-worn Aryan narratives, the killer (I’m not going to use his name) in the New Zealand attacks specifically referred to Trump as “as a symbol of renewed White identity and common purpose.”
He’s not the only terrorist who has been inspired by Trump and his policies. Remember Cesar Sayoc the pipe bomber with the tricked out Trump van who wanted to wipe out all of his Democratic foes? What about Pittsburgh synagogue shooter, who gunned down 13 people praying? He railed on-line against Jews and immigrants, referring to them as “invaders” a favorite Trump trope.
And Trump’s maniacal beat goes on.
New York is the greatest city in the world for myriad reasons, even though it is the city that birthed Trump. But, ultimately, it will be New York, or more specifically The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York I believe, that will one day rid the world of the scourge of Donald John Trump.
But, the question is how much damage will already be done before that day comes?
Sean Yoes is the AFRO’s Baltimore editor and the author of Baltimore After Freddie Gray: Real Stories From One of America’s Great Imperiled Cities.
