![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I Want To Talk About Trump's Address
Mar. 1st, 2017 01:05 pmLast night we had what was, technically, not the State of the Union Address only because it was Trump's first address after having been elected. There's been some commentary, in the media, about how he went the entire address, 108 minutes, without referencing the size of his electoral victory or the size of his crowds and without attacking the media. That was even referred to as the moment he pivots and becomes Presidential.
The depth of how low a standard that is for a President should be acknowledged, but is of lesser importance. Also of lesser importance is Trump's advocating for infrastructure spending after Obama tried to get that done and was blocked by Republicans who now give the basic concept a standing ovation. At least that's of less immediate importance. Doublethink in the highest levels of government is alarming. But, there's the terrifying aspect of the address.
There are three points, each frightening on their own, that I want to talk about. In combination, they're an indicator of a horrible direction for this administration and for my nation.
1. Terrorism as completely owned by foreigners and Islam. Hear that, white nationalists and Christian dominionists? Dylan Roof and Robert Deer don't count!
2. A complete refusal to even acknowledge wrongdoing on the part of police. Unity with law-enforcement cannot happen without law-enforcement acknowledging that it has done wrong.
3. VOICE: Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement. VOICE is about victims of illegal immigrants, despite the fact that, statistically, your neighbor who was born and raised here is more of a threat than an undocumented immigrant.
Individually, each of this should frightening. The denial of home-grown terrorism marks that law enforcement will take the eye off of that and focus on stoking fear of the different. Denial of police brutality and police shootings of unarmed black men will, at best, ignore legitimate fears. VOICE is, in no uncertain terms, a propaganda wing of the Department of Homeland Security.
I don't know where this *can* go in a country with checks and balances. I do know where it's trying to go and that place isn't America. It was Germany.
The depth of how low a standard that is for a President should be acknowledged, but is of lesser importance. Also of lesser importance is Trump's advocating for infrastructure spending after Obama tried to get that done and was blocked by Republicans who now give the basic concept a standing ovation. At least that's of less immediate importance. Doublethink in the highest levels of government is alarming. But, there's the terrifying aspect of the address.
There are three points, each frightening on their own, that I want to talk about. In combination, they're an indicator of a horrible direction for this administration and for my nation.
1. Terrorism as completely owned by foreigners and Islam. Hear that, white nationalists and Christian dominionists? Dylan Roof and Robert Deer don't count!
2. A complete refusal to even acknowledge wrongdoing on the part of police. Unity with law-enforcement cannot happen without law-enforcement acknowledging that it has done wrong.
3. VOICE: Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement. VOICE is about victims of illegal immigrants, despite the fact that, statistically, your neighbor who was born and raised here is more of a threat than an undocumented immigrant.
Individually, each of this should frightening. The denial of home-grown terrorism marks that law enforcement will take the eye off of that and focus on stoking fear of the different. Denial of police brutality and police shootings of unarmed black men will, at best, ignore legitimate fears. VOICE is, in no uncertain terms, a propaganda wing of the Department of Homeland Security.
I don't know where this *can* go in a country with checks and balances. I do know where it's trying to go and that place isn't America. It was Germany.
