El Paso and Dayton: Presidential Word Crimes

As the Decade of the Gun continues, 31 people (as of 8/7/19) lost their lives in El Paso, TX and Dayton, Ohio within hours on Saturday.  Lives lost because two young men with an agenda and a small arsenal took advantage of lax security to open fire on places where people would normally gather.

The aftermath has been almost as predictable.  Calls for Congress to pass new laws on guns that won't be heeded.  Finger-pointing from both parties blaming the other for "reasons" why shootings occur, including mental illness and video games.  "Thoughts and prayers" are delivered as loved ones bury their dead.  And life goes on.

Not every mass shooting is the same, of course.  El Paso resonates because of its proximity to the U.S.-Mexican border, which has been the subject of President Donald Trump's ongoing campaign to keep bad hombres from crossing over, even if they happen to be families fleeing oppression and needing asylum.  The suspect in the shooting allegedly targeted Hispanics, who he believed were part of an "invasion" of Texas.

The alleged shooter and possibly others in the white supremacist movement must have gotten their ideas from President Trump, who has been a thorn in the side of minorities for a long time.  In recent weeks, he told four Congresswomen of color to go back to where they came from.  He slandered the city of Baltimore as "rat-infested", and its African-American congressman for not taking care of his district.  He has allowed the mistreatment of migrants who are currently being locked up in cages.  He justifies it all by using language on his Twitter feed and at his rallies that entertain his base, but scares the hell out of normal people.

If Donald Trump were anywhere but the White House and continued to use rhetoric like that, he would lose his career and his fortune like that.  But Trump is President of the United States.  As we know from the Mueller Report, Trump can't be prosecuted while in office, and his term still has over a year to go.  His Democratic opponents can say whatever they want about him, but he must be hoping public amnesia will lead to a second term.

And as long as Trump is President, we can expect more mass shootings--just like every President so far this century--and more excuses from politicians who know which side of bread theirs is buttered on.  It's all coming to a neighborhood near you.