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Folks, I\u2019ve been wanting to write about the events of the past week, namely, the shooting in El Paso and its aftermath, but, alas, I\u2019ve been neglecting this blog almost as much as I have the weed-choked \u201cflower bed\u201d in the backyard.<\/p>\n
We started with a killer and his \u201cmanifesto\u201d full of ramblings on immigration as well as environmentalism and what-not, and with the anti-immigrant hatred demonstrated in the act of travelling specifically to that border town in order to target Mexicans.\u00a0 Accusations swirled:\u00a0 Trump is not merely prejudiced, but an actual white supremacist, as are, what\u2019s more, anyone who supports immigration enforcement, as well as anyone who supports Trump or, in fact, anyone who does not denounce Trump \u2014 and that means not merely rejecting actions of Trump which are racist (as defined\/interpreted by the hearer), but utterly and completely denouncing Trump and anyone associated with him in any way. \u00a0 (To what extent this is further based on racial prejudice of any sort being deemed full-blown \u201cwhite supremacism\u201d isn\u2019t clear to me, in part because I\u2019ve been trying to avoid articles that make these claims, to avoid metaphorically banging my head against the wall too much.)\u00a0 And, likewise, not only has the killer been deemed a domestic terrorist but Trump and, well, anyone connected with him, are all one and the same.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019 Rich Lowry writing at Politico<\/a>, who expresses my opinion:<\/p>\n The El Paso massacre, carried out by a white nationalist waging a lunatic war against Hispanic immigration, is being used as a bludgeon against Trump and immigration restriction more broadly.<\/p>\n After years spent trying to rule immigration restriction out of bounds, as much as argue the merits, the left is doubling down on ruling immigration restriction out of bounds. . . .<\/p>\n First, let\u2019s stipulate that Trump\u2019s words on immigration often are crude and inflammatory . . .<\/p>\n That said, nothing he\u2019s ever said could possibly justify indiscriminately shooting people. Trump is not a terrorist, a supporter of terrorism or an enabler or terrorism. To suggest otherwise is a slander born of partisan hatred.<\/p>\n The El Paso shooter\u2019s apparent manifesto overlaps with some of Trump\u2019s rhetoric, but what gives the manifesto its motive force is its apocalyptic argument that slaughter is the way to fight \u201cto reclaim\u201d the country.<\/p>\n The gulf between that view and Trump\u2019s\u2014that we should protect the border by getting Congress to build a wall and change some highly technical asylum rules\u2014is vast. It is the difference between justifying criminality and advocating legislation, between quitting on America and calling for policies to solve one of its problems.<\/p>\n Much is made of Trump\u2019s use of the word \u201cinvasion,\u201d which also features in the manifesto. This is a loaded term that should be avoided. It speaks to a hostile intent among immigrants who are, by and large, simply coming here because they think they can improve their lives. Although the numbers and relatively robust organization of the various caravans, and the sheer scale of the current migrant inflow, make the word more apt than for routine immigration.<\/p>\n But, again, the impulse to gun down these supposed invaders in cold blood while they are shopping at Walmart and the impulse to exclude them from entry into the country, or quickly and safely return them home once here, don\u2019t exist in the same moral universe.<\/p>\n For all that the language police profess to care deeply about words, they aren\u2019t very careful about rendering Trump\u2019s. No one notes that in his Florida rally where a rally-goer notoriously yelled \u201cshoot them,\u201d and Trump shook his head and smiled, \u201conly in the Panhandle,\u201d the president was in the midst of saying of border patrol agents, \u201cDon\u2019t forget, we don\u2019t let them, and we can\u2019t let them, use weapons.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n And here\u2019s a twitter exchange tonight, initially with reference to an article about the successful lawsuit against a neo-Nazi group by a woman they had relentlessly harassed:<\/p>\n I actually prefer the modality of hanging them by the neck until dead, or parking them against a brick wall for a firing squad after a Nuremberg style trial, but that's just me https:\/\/t.co\/M8hjiLki4y<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) August 10, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n