Grief in Pittsburgh Makes Trump's Hard Language

They sang the prayer for healing, mi sheberach . They sing havdalah the song with which the Jews mark the end of the Sabbath and the return to daily life. "But from this Sabbath," says Emily Pressman at the microphone, "we will not be going back to life everyday."

So, remember on Saturday night during a rainy crossing in Pittsburgh, alongside the large Jewish community, hundreds of Squirrel Hill residents, the eleven people who were shot in their neighborhood in the synagogue of the Tree of Life this morning. With candles and tears, with guitar and voice. The vigil is organized by the schoolchildren and when they finally thank the people for coming, someone in the Cree crowd " Vote! Vote! " The choir is taken back en masse : "Vote! Vote! Vote!"

What is first and foremost a subdued commemoration thus acquires the cutting edge of political actuality. Just as the arrest on Friday of the man who sent fourteen bombings to President Trump's critics last week, this assassination attempt is also related to the president's harsh words and the Intensification of the political debate. "It's an attack on me and we all know who did it," says Laura Horowitz, an elder, who regularly attends church services in the same synagogue. "Donald Trump."

Squirrel Hill, in Pittsburgh, is one of the places where the Republican Party is expected to face problems in the November 6 elections: an urban area populated by highly educated people. The city voted for Hillary Clinton, the district in 2016 chose a Republican delegate. In the gardens of single-family homes, there are signs with "whereever you come from, we are happy that you are our neighbor". – in English, Spanish and Arabic. The crossroads around the Tree of Life Synagogue have been completed. A CNN reporter is on the blockade and tells the camera that the neighborhood is "quietly quiet".

Yes, says Tom McManus, who releases his old dog, that's because there are no local residents at the fence to seal the disaster. "We, the Pittsburgh, are not losers." According to him, the neighborhood consists of "50% of Jews" and the why of the author chose this synagogue remains a mystery. "At the top of the hill, there is one that is richer.A few streets further, it is more orthodox."

Twitter for the extreme right

Why Robert Bowers aged 46 years, chose a synagogue became clear after the attack. As soon as his identity was known, the media quickly found the rabid anti-Semitic texts that he had placed on Gab, the Twitter-for-right-hard: general hatred ("Jews are enemies of the white people" ), conspiracy theories ("Being the dirty Jews who bring evil Muslims to this country") and threats ("I can not sit still during the massacre of my people"). In his attack, Bowers highlighted the statistics of Michael Kimmel's book Healing from Hate published this year: 71% of all politically motivated murders committed in the United States in the last decade were committed by right-wing extremists (and 26% by Islamic extremists). The suspect of the bomb packets, Cesar Sayoc, of Florida, had sympathies of the far right.

Bower's last message was: " See your optics, I'm going in " ("Let yourself fall with courtesy, I'm going in"). A few minutes later, he entered the synagogue with a "Death to all Jews!", An AR-15 rifle and three small arms. He fired on the audience for fifteen or twenty minutes. And then came out, where he was shot at by agents. Bowers was injured and could be arrested. He told the police that the Jews had committed genocide and had to die. He is, out of the danger of life, in a local hospital.

The link with Trump and the Jews is established through the march of migrants that seems to be moving from Central America to the US border through Mexico. Trump has repeatedly said that migrants did not start their journey on their own. He tweeted a video in which your men saw money donated to participants and suggested that the caravan be funded by the Democratic Party and by "outside groups". A Republican member of the House of Representatives has added a name to this last description: George Soros

Soros, a Jewish, rich, leftist, is a favored target of right-wing politicians and activists because his Open Society Foundation has always progressive social initiatives. with money. Pittsburgh killer Bowers has also targeted social media on Soros, according to several US media. He sent a movie that, according to the information website The Daily Beast is distributed by a pro-Russian account. In this video, a Star of David, symbol of Judaism, had been mounted on one of the trucks of the migrant caravan.

Gab – who calls himself a Freedom of Speech Platform – had closed the Bowers account on Saturday. for the criminal investigation, according to a spokesman. There were a few Bowers posts on Saturday, including one in which he stood out from President Trump, who now presents himself to the electoral assemblies as a "nationalist". "Trump is a globalist, not a nationalist," wrote Bowers earlier. "There is no #MAGA as long as we still have Jewish contamination." MAGA, Make America Great Again, is the motto of Donald Trump.

As president, Trump has a clearly pro-Israel policy. In summarizing his successes, he always mentions during election meetings that he has moved the US embassy to Jerusalem. His daughter Ivanka is married and converted with a Jewish man. The couple is advisor to the president. Step-son Jared Kushner was commissioned to write a peace plan for the Middle East.

Trump, a fanatical activist to strengthen his party, takes a close interest in everything and everyone who suggests that the president's aggressive style has to do with the tightening of the atmosphere in recent weeks before the elections. of November 6th. According to him, the media are particularly guilty of political and social brutality.

Hate Crime

According to Trump, murder could have been avoided, or at least less murderous than before. the synagogue had been an armed guard. He thought that only the death penalty was appropriate for this killer. In Pennsylvania, it was abolished in 2015 – a measure of austerity. Since the shooting was described as a hate crime the suspect will not be tried in a Pennsylvania court but in federal court. 29 charges were laid against him.

To emphasize that the country should not be terrorized by such extremists, Trump went to an election meeting in the state of Illinois on Saturday night. He made a joke; that he had almost canceled because his dogs had confused his hair. Republicans have said Americans should not reverse their lives for a sick person.

In Pittsburgh, a schoolgirl said during the vigil: "Today, I am a Jew different from yesterday.Till yesterday, I was doing what Jewish girls do without it. think i went to sjoel with my family – sometimes antisemitism was something of the past, from other countries i can only hope that the jew i became today is stronger and better understands the world. "