On Wednesday, August 7, President Donald Trump visits the cities of Dayton, OH and El Paso, TX, which lost a total of 31 innocent people between them in two mass shootings that occurred within hours of each other the previous weekend. The fact that anyone would object to the Commander-in-Chief undertaking such solemn duties is difficult to believe. The agenda behind the objections is purely political, of course, and highly divisive – but this is how the left operates these days: Everything is political and no opportunity to divide the nation is passed up.
Unity has become a big word in American politics. Politicians love to express their desire to bring people together. It is nothing less than comical, though, to hear such expressions from Democrats, who make no secret of their fondness for identity politics – the very definition of divisiveness.
The Politics of Division
Domingo Garcia
White against black and brown, rich against poor, Christian against non-Christian, man against woman, gay against straight, and even rural America against urban. This is the Democratic Party’s agenda in a nutshell – emphasis on the “nut.” Yet Democrats still have the nerve to talk about uniting people.
In the wake of these two awful tragedies, nothing else would be expected of a president than to pay respectful visits to the scenes. The president’s opponents, however, are desperate to deny him any opportunity to demonstrate sympathy or compassion for the victims and their families.
Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-TX) told MSNBC’s Chris Hayes that survivors of the El Paso shooting asked her to “Tell Trump not to come here." Such a thing seems barely believable. Still recovering from this deeply traumatic experience, it is unlikely that these survivors are thinking much about the president or anyone else beyond their own loved ones. Perhaps Escobar should be asked to produce these victims.
The Hill quotes Domingo García as saying, "President Trump owes an apology to all the victims in Gilroy, California, and El Paso, Texas for using a predatory rhetoric and failing to condemn hate groups … “ Garcia is the president of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), an extreme left-wing group which, itself, could be said to pursue a racially divisive agenda.
Quite apart from that, Garcia is wrong on several levels: Directly assigning the blame for these three shootings on ideological rhetoric is questionable but even if one decides to do so, it is worth noting that the president’s rhetoric had nothing to do with the Gilroy and Daytona incidents. The Gilroy shooter, it has been reported, had a list of potential Republican and Democrat targets (buildings rather than named individuals), as well as religious targets.
The Dayton shooter – according to statements from former acquaintances and the content of his now-suspended Twitter feed – was unhappy that Trump had won the 2016 election, supported socialism, supported gun-control, and was an admirer of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).
It is no more reasonable to suggest the President is responsible for any of these incidents than it would be to suggest Warren is – or to blame Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) for the attempted murder of multiple GOP congressmen by one of his supporters.
Failing Candidate O’Rourke Lashes Out
Former Texas Congressman Robert O’Rourke, who hails from El Paso, is going all-in on trying to pin direct responsibility for that shooting on the president. It is, of course, nothing more than a desperate attempt to breathe life into his long-deceased campaign for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination.
Donald Trump (left) and Beto O'Rourke (right)
"Thank you for your leadership, @RepEscobar,” O’Rourke tweeted Tuesday. “When President Trump comes to El Paso tomorrow, I will be joining our strong, beautiful, binational community at #ElPasoStrong. I hope to see you there." Putting politics ahead of honoring the victims of this horrific attack demonstrates what kind of person O’Rourke is. Were he genuinely interested in fostering unity, he would put aside his own partisan hatred and pay tribute along with the president.
Trump is in a no-win situation, of course. While some might suggest that his visits to these cities are too soon after the events, he would also have been criticized had he waited: His opponents would have claimed he did not visit sooner because he does not care enough.
National tragedies should always bring people together, but the left now uses such occurrences to further divide Americans, which in turn fosters even more hatred. Deranged killers are responsible for their own actions and placing the blame anywhere else is not only unhelpful but – if we are to subscribe to the theory that unbalanced individuals act out as a result of political rhetoric – then the current narrative of Democrats like O’Rourke is potentially fueling even more acts of violence.
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Read more from Graham J. Noble or comment on this article at Liberty Nation.com.
