Today, Politicians Swear By It

 

Today, Politicians Swear By It

"When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best. They're not sending you. They're not sending you. They're sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems with us. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people." 

Campaign speech from Donald John Trump, June 16, 2015

The Internet has brought a certain anonymity to those who embrace personal attacks and toxic speech. Whether they take the form of comments on social media, chat rooms, angry emails… or out-and-out death threats against politicians or those who stand for anything the attacker does not like. If you listened to Homeland Security and the FBI leaders testify before Congress on December 11th, there is no serious threat from domestic terrorism, notwithstanding the litany of death threats and rising political violence against prosecutors, judges and elected government officials criticizing or pushing back against Trump’s wishes.

According to the December 11th Reuters covering that congressional hearing on leadership issues at Homeland Security, including the FBI, “Michael Glasheen, operations director of the FBI's National Security Branch, said antifa was the agency's ‘primary concern’ and ‘the most immediate violent threat that we're facing.’” But Glasheen could not identify “antifa’s” location, leadership or even the extent of its membership… even as rightwing militia – from the Three Percenters, Proud Boys, Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, Oath Keepers, etc. – were openly training using military tactics and semiautomatic weapons against “antifa.”

These militant groups were heavily represented among those convicted of violent felonies for their actions against Capitol Police, the same Capitol they invaded and ransacked on 1/6/21… attackers who were immediately pardoned as soon as Trump began his second term. If you drill down a little bit, you may realize that “antifa” is a fabricated “enemy” representing any outspoken group or individuals that are “woke” or otherwise resisting Trump’s and his cronies’ mandates.

How did we get here? Have genuine domestic terrorist groups, willing to use their militia force to impose Trump’s autocratic demands, found cover under the 1st and 2nd Amendments for their extremism (including lethal “retribution” against officials who disagree with Donald Trump), bolstered by a tsunami of bizarre Supreme Court decisions, including “emergency docket” postponements of decisions that needed to be briefed and argued, yet issued without opinion… and a terrifying “get of jail free” presidential immunity card? Though a trickle of foul language and escalating threats of political violence were already apparent even before Trump 1.0, Trump went a long way to normalize demonizing people, creating a blame target and vile conspiracy theories… and political violence escalated proportionately along the way.

The language of presidents, on both sides of the aisle, has recently escalated to swear words that were routinely bleeped out over publicly available media. It’s downright nasty out there, as Steven Sloan, writing for the December 22nd Associated Press, points out: “As he shook President Obama’s hand and pulled him in for what he thought was a private aside, Vice President Joe Biden delivered an explicit message: ‘This is a big f— deal.’ The remark, overheard on live microphones at a 2010 ceremony for the Affordable Care Act, caused a sensation because open profanity from a national leader was unusual at the time.

“More than 15 years later, vulgarity is now in vogue…. During a political rally this month in Pennsylvania that was intended to focus on tackling inflation, President Trump used profanity at least four times. At one point, he even admitted to disparaging Haiti and African nations as ‘shithole countries’ during a private 2018 meeting, a comment he denied at the time. And before a bank of cameras during a recent lengthy Cabinet meeting, the Republican president referred to alleged drug smugglers as ‘sons of b—.’… It’s no longer accidental… While the Biden incident was accidental, the frequency, sharpness and public nature of Trump’s comments are intentional. They build on his project to combat what he sees as pervasive political correctness. Leaders in both parties are seemingly in a race now to the verbal gutter.

“Vice President JD Vance called a podcast host a ‘dip—' in September. In Thanksgiving remarks before troops, Vance joked that anyone who said they liked turkey was ‘full of s—.’ After one National Guard member was killed in a shooting in Washington [in November] and a second was critically injured, top Trump aide, Steven Cheung, told a reporter on social media to ‘shut the f— up’ when she wrote that the deployment of troops in the nation’s capital was ‘for political show.’

“Among Democrats, former Vice President Kamala Harris earned a roar of approval from her audience in September when she condemned the Trump administration by saying ‘these mother— are crazy.’ After Trump called for the execution of several Democratic members of Congress last month, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said it was time for people with influence to ‘pick a f— side.’ Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said the administration cannot ‘f— around’ with the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files. Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett, who recently announced her Senate campaign in Texas, did not hold back this year when asked what she would tell Elon Musk if given the chance: ‘F— off.’

“The volley of vulgarities underscores an ever-coarsening political environment that often plays out on social media or other digital platforms where the posts or video clips that evoke the strongest emotions are rewarded with the most engagement… ‘If you want to be angry at someone, be angry at the social media companies,’ Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, said recently at Washington National Cathedral, where he spoke at an event focused on political civility. ‘It’s not a fair fight. They’ve hijacked our brains. They understand these dopamine hits. Outrage sells.’” But open swearing and targeted hate speech, particularly from our leaders, fires up the listeners and, increasingly, is a definite precursor to political violence in a nation with more guns than people.

Other nations (e.g., recently New Zealand) impose guns controls after political violence. Others, with no formal equivalent of the 1st Amendment, determined to stop the fabrication that justifies political violence. Writing for the December 25th Los Angeles Times, Kim Tong-Hyung provides this example that could never fly in the United States: “South Korea’s liberal-led legislature on Wednesday [12/24] passed a bill allowing heavy punitive damages against traditional news and internet media for publishing ‘false or fabricated information,’ brushing aside concerns the legislation could lead to greater censorship.

“Journalist groups and civil liberty advocates urged President Lee Jae Myung to veto the bill pushed by his Democratic Party. They say the wording is vague about what information would be banned and lacks sufficient protections for the news media, potentially discouraging critical reporting on public officials, politicians and big businesses… The Democrats, who have failed to pass similar legislation under past governments, say the law is needed to counter a growing threat of fake news and disinformation that they argue undermine democracy by fueling divisions and hate speech.” Turns out that the dangers of “sticks and stones” pale in comparison with all targeted demonization, provocative conspiracy theories and hate speech, all around us all the time.

I’m Peter Dekom, and the missing ingredient in those hiding their lethal toxicity, under the guise of constitutional rights, is taking responsibility… since some of those utterances cause a whole lot more damage than yelling “fire” in a crowded theater.