By Jennifer Rubin
Columnist |
Today at 12:00 p.m. EST
As a candidate and then president, Donald Trump regularly cheered violence. He exhorted his supporters to beat protesters at rallies, encouraged cops to rough up suspects and defended White vigilantes. Trump, who escaped military service for “bone spurs,” repeatedly affiliated himself with violent figures, from the war criminals whose sentences he commuted to associates accused of domestic abuse.
Opinions to start the day, in your inbox. Sign up.
MAGA types continue to celebrate violence and weaponry of war. They have released a plethora of ads that depict Republican candidates shooting things, defended violent videos and turned Kyle Rittenhouse into a cult hero. The gleeful display of military-style weapons by the family of Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) in a Christmas photo — just days after yet another mass murder at a school — is typical of this veneration of violence.
Most egregiously, in a repudiation of democracy and the peaceful transfer of power, Republican officials now talk about violence as an acceptable part of our politics. Election workers must now labor under this threatening rhetoric, increasing the concern that the Jan. 6 insurrection was a rehearsal for future coup attempts as Republicans maintain the “big lie” of a stolen 2020 election.
ADVERTISING
It’s no surprise in our political culture awash with guns and a pro-violence ethic that such chest-thumping and cringeworthy displays of toxic masculinity are rampant. But they are hardly the only consequences.
The Post reports: “Analyzing Education Department data, a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found a huge jump in K-12 public school ‘hostile behaviors.’ The most alarming statistic — physical attacks with a weapon nearly doubled early in the Trump administration. In a two-year period, from school years 2015-2016 to 2017-2018, attacks with weapons jumped 97 percent, according to the most recent data available. At the same time, hate crimes increased 81 percent and sexual assaults rose 17 percent.”
Trump thrilled his supporters with nonstop bullying, name-calling and racist rhetoric. He cultivated an environment of anger, resentment and White entitlement. It is no great leap to conclude that certain behaviors have became more common, if not normalized, among his millions of cult followers, including young people. The Post reports, “In its examination of hostile behaviors, GAO found that ‘bullying is widespread in schools nationwide,’ hurting 5.2 million students ages 12 to 18, about 20 percent of the school population, in the 2018-2019 school year.”
Once upon a time, Republicans condemned Hollywood for producing violent or desensitizing entertainment. Now, they specialize in propounding their own culture of violence, vigilantism and defiance of societal norms.
To be clear, politicians are not solely responsible for the surge in violence in our schools and society at large. Individual crimes generally cannot be tied to political rhetoric (with the exception of those who declare their racist, replacement theory ideology). But when MAGA voices exhort followers to march on the Capitol and “stop the steal,” no one can be shocked when their cult followers take them literally. And when gun-fetishizing becomes rampant in politics and the larger MAGA cultural realm, no one can be surprised when young, disturbed people mimic what they see.
It is too much to hope that Trump and his supporters will end their deification of guns and violence. But other adults in public life and in positions of responsibility (e.g., clergy, parents, celebrities) have to send a different message that vigilantism is unacceptable and that bullying and violence are deplorable.
President Biden would do well to speak publicly about the normalization of violence and commit to zero tolerance for the sort of vigilantism seen in the Ahmaud Arbery murder case. Biden did say he was running for president to save the “soul of the nation.” Now, he should address that theme in some depth with the benefit of the presidential bully pulpit.
And perhaps some religious communities could take a breather from the QAnon conspiracy theories and put aside their racial and cultural resentments. They might even go back to spreading a message of nonviolence, empathy, kindness and love.
Columnist |
Today at 12:00 p.m. EST
As a candidate and then president, Donald Trump regularly cheered violence. He exhorted his supporters to beat protesters at rallies, encouraged cops to rough up suspects and defended White vigilantes. Trump, who escaped military service for “bone spurs,” repeatedly affiliated himself with violent figures, from the war criminals whose sentences he commuted to associates accused of domestic abuse.
Opinions to start the day, in your inbox. Sign up.
MAGA types continue to celebrate violence and weaponry of war. They have released a plethora of ads that depict Republican candidates shooting things, defended violent videos and turned Kyle Rittenhouse into a cult hero. The gleeful display of military-style weapons by the family of Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) in a Christmas photo — just days after yet another mass murder at a school — is typical of this veneration of violence.
Most egregiously, in a repudiation of democracy and the peaceful transfer of power, Republican officials now talk about violence as an acceptable part of our politics. Election workers must now labor under this threatening rhetoric, increasing the concern that the Jan. 6 insurrection was a rehearsal for future coup attempts as Republicans maintain the “big lie” of a stolen 2020 election.
ADVERTISING
It’s no surprise in our political culture awash with guns and a pro-violence ethic that such chest-thumping and cringeworthy displays of toxic masculinity are rampant. But they are hardly the only consequences.
The Post reports: “Analyzing Education Department data, a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found a huge jump in K-12 public school ‘hostile behaviors.’ The most alarming statistic — physical attacks with a weapon nearly doubled early in the Trump administration. In a two-year period, from school years 2015-2016 to 2017-2018, attacks with weapons jumped 97 percent, according to the most recent data available. At the same time, hate crimes increased 81 percent and sexual assaults rose 17 percent.”
Trump thrilled his supporters with nonstop bullying, name-calling and racist rhetoric. He cultivated an environment of anger, resentment and White entitlement. It is no great leap to conclude that certain behaviors have became more common, if not normalized, among his millions of cult followers, including young people. The Post reports, “In its examination of hostile behaviors, GAO found that ‘bullying is widespread in schools nationwide,’ hurting 5.2 million students ages 12 to 18, about 20 percent of the school population, in the 2018-2019 school year.”
Once upon a time, Republicans condemned Hollywood for producing violent or desensitizing entertainment. Now, they specialize in propounding their own culture of violence, vigilantism and defiance of societal norms.
To be clear, politicians are not solely responsible for the surge in violence in our schools and society at large. Individual crimes generally cannot be tied to political rhetoric (with the exception of those who declare their racist, replacement theory ideology). But when MAGA voices exhort followers to march on the Capitol and “stop the steal,” no one can be shocked when their cult followers take them literally. And when gun-fetishizing becomes rampant in politics and the larger MAGA cultural realm, no one can be surprised when young, disturbed people mimic what they see.
It is too much to hope that Trump and his supporters will end their deification of guns and violence. But other adults in public life and in positions of responsibility (e.g., clergy, parents, celebrities) have to send a different message that vigilantism is unacceptable and that bullying and violence are deplorable.
President Biden would do well to speak publicly about the normalization of violence and commit to zero tolerance for the sort of vigilantism seen in the Ahmaud Arbery murder case. Biden did say he was running for president to save the “soul of the nation.” Now, he should address that theme in some depth with the benefit of the presidential bully pulpit.
And perhaps some religious communities could take a breather from the QAnon conspiracy theories and put aside their racial and cultural resentments. They might even go back to spreading a message of nonviolence, empathy, kindness and love.
