Sue from Rockville, MD. is a Democrat and a grandmother who has been tasked lately with reassuring her grandkids that Donald Drumpf will not become the Fuhrer. She has an impressive background in early childhood development, education and psychology, so she is well-qualified to deal with real concerns from her own young relatives. They are legitimately afraid of a Trump presidency. Sue explains:
On a recent field trip by the entire 7th grade of grandson’s Middle School to the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C., his group was studying the propaganda by Germans in the run-up to WW II. When my daughter asked if that reminds them of anything today, they all said, How Drumpf talks!
SMART KIDS! STUPID MEDIA!
Not just stupid, but irresponsible, complicit, aiding and abetting this fear and anxiety. Corporate Media has totally abrogated their journalistic duties and mission. Where are the Murrows, Cronkites or Brinkleys? Even my beloved Rachel Maddow, due to the utter destruction of MSNBC has succumbed all too often to this base pandering.
Need Proof? For instance, on the night of March 15 as the Super Tuesday results came in, CNN, Fox & MSNBC totally ignored Bernie Sander’s speech to keep their cameras on an EMPTY stage awaiting The Donald.
Bernie Sanders an exceedingly viable and qualified candidate is not even mentioned as millions are wasted showing nothing.
It is time for all of us to act: Help our kids by calling out all Corporate Media. Please email tweet, write letters & hold them accountable. Expose them and #SpreadTheirShame! Our first duty to our children is: To Keep them Safe! Time for all of us to do exactly that.
Then the tragic terrorist attacks in Brussels, Belgium happened. Now we throw some legitimate fear and terror into the mix and voila! Right on cue, GOP candidates and their cohorts in the MSM create more terror among our citizens, especially our children.
Esquire.com's Charlie Pierce lamented that the blood had not yet dried and the exploitation of the events began on cue, especially by Trump. There's nothing sacred when it comes to his self-promotion, nothing is off limits.
Trump took to Twitter, and to cable news, to express his opinion that the attacks in Brussels were proof that A) he is right about everything, and B) that it's time to "expand the laws" to permit waterboarding, ignoring the fact that "expanding the law" was precisely what the Avignon Presidency did, with the help of magic memos from pet lawyers like John Yoo.
Trump's enabler and CNN host, Wolf 'We'll-have-to-leave-it-there" Blitzer really helps Trump crank up the fear-mongering after Tuesday's attacks. A few excerpts from the interview illustrate the free pass this man gets without a single follow-up question to clarify his wildly inaccurate ravings.
It's fully acceptable to violate the Geneva Code and resume torture. Why? Because Trump says so, that's why! Notice his technique of repetition. I will highlight the key word in a few of his responses.
BLITZER: I just want to point out, it was the CIA engaged in the waterboarding after 9/11. The U.S. military deliberately said they didn't want to have any part of the waterboarding because it wasn't part of their Military Code of Conduct, that's why it was left to civilians working at the CIA with the authorization of the Justice Department, of course, and the Bush administration.
TRUMP: Well, with the authorization, and there's probably a political decision, not a real decision. It wasn't probably, in my opinion, it wasn't a military decision, it was a political decision and it continues to be a political decision.
The problem that we have, Wolf, it's a very big problem. We're fighting by different sets of rules. They're fighting with no rules, no regulations, no anything
.
They can blow people up in shopping centers, they have bombs that are so vicious with the nails and the glass and all of the things come spewing out, blinding, destroying people, killing people, and yet we have rules and regulations we can't waterboard because it's a little bit on the tough side. We have to get smart, Wolf
.
BLITZER: Well, they point out that it's a violation of international law to engage in torture and the U.S. has signed on to these various international treaties banning torture.
TRUMP: Well, I would say the eggheads that came up with this international law should turn on their television and watch CNN right now because I'm looking at scenes on CNN right now as I'm speaking to you that are absolutely atrocious. And I would be willing to bet, when I'm seeing all of the bodies laying all over the floor, including young, beautiful children laying dead on the floor, I would say if they watch that, maybe -- just maybe they'll approve waterboarding and other things.
So Trump has concluded that it is not really a big deal to reinstate illegal torture based on the barbarity of the atrocities committed by criminals and the fact that we can see the aftermath in real time. News organizations like CNN act as both promoter to the madmen who bomb innocent people to gain notoriety, and the sociopaths who want to react in the most detrimental way possible, destroying U.S. security and credibility. Wolf feebly attempts to evoke from Trump the real challenge of extending fair treatment towards American Muslims who are proven patriotic Americans, but he skirts the question and ends the interview without a challenge to his insane suggestions.
BLITZER: Mr. Trump, what do you say to the millions of Muslim Americans who are very patriotic, local Americans, many of whom have sons and daughters who serve in the U.S. military, who feel they would be discriminated against if these policies went forward?
TRUMP: I say we have a problem. We have radical Islamic terrorism problem. That's what Id' say. I have to say that. We have a problem like we've never had before. This is a problem that has gone on. General Pershing had the problem in 1919 in the Philippines with radical Islamic terrorism. And he handled it a certain way. I think you probably know that story. It's a very gruesome story. But you know what, the problem didn't exist for 48 years after that happened. So we have to be a lot tougher than we are. Right now they look at us as weak, soft, stupid people. Look at the scene on CNN right now, where all the bodies all over the floor and we're worried about waterboarding.
Completely ignoring Blitzer's question about how he'd avoid punishing innocent people, Trump recalls a century-old incident where U.S. forces slaughtered Muslims in the Philippines. The military actions were deplorable, but since Trump feels they were effective, such a strategy should form the basis of policy towards all Muslims in this country, innocent people be damned. Blitzer's tacit indifference to this insanity leads Trump and his sycophants to believe this embarrassing, antediluvian foreign policy is laudable and practical. Trump's opinions are nothing short of terrifying and should be censured immediately, but they are allowed to masquerade as valid opinions. That is terrifying.
Special thanks to Sue in Rockville for her collaboration on this article.
