Critics say Trump has fostered the toxic environment for political violence that he denounces



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President Trump and his Republican allies, after attempting to stir public fear of Central American migrants before the mid-term elections, are suddenly accused of contributing to fomenting right-wing extremism on the rise which poses a much greater threat to national security.

In recent days, the murders of two African-Americans in a grocery store near Louisville, a series of mail bombs targeting a dozen well-known Democrats, allegedly sent by a Trump supporter, and mass shootings in a synagogue from Pittsburgh left the country. on the edge.

The common denominator between them seems to be the targeting of specific groups based on race, religion or political belief.

Trump denounced the attacks and called for national unity. At an election rally on Saturday night in Illinois, Trump said that "the scourge of anti-Semitism can not be ignored, can not be tolerated and can not be tolerated".

But his critics retorted on Saturday that the president and the GOP, in a cynical quest for political power, had gone beyond partisan political struggle to engage in demagogy against racial minorities, foreigners, and Jewish political figures.

The Jewish Democratic donor George Soros, for example, became a major target of Republican attack ads before the mid-term, even after a bomb hit his mailbox last week. Trump accused Soros, without proof, of having paid the protesters at his rallies.

These speeches and actions have provided tacit approval to marginal elements contemplating violence, Trump's critics said.

"The many statements he's made, calling himself a" nationalist, "have rallied his crowds at his rallies chanting threats against George Soros – everything is tied up," said Cecilia Wang, deputy director of the group. American Civil Liberties Union.

The assistants of the White House rejected these accusations. Trump said that the suspect in the bombing – Cesar Sayoc, 56, of Florida – should be prosecuted and punished to the maximum, according to law. He described the shooting that killed at least 11 people in Pittsburgh as "heinous murder." "By a man who, according to the police, made anti-Semitic statements.

Since the start of his 2016 campaign, when he denounced Mexican immigrants as criminals and rapists, Trump used language that appealed to the nativist impulses of the electorate – to the point he was endorsed by David Duke, former leader of the Ku Klux Klan.

In his closing message during his presidential race, Trump warned of a triumvirate of prominent Jews – Soros, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, and Fed President Janet L. Yellen – and suggested that his opponent, the Democrat Hillary Clinton, associated with them in bad faith. in order to control the overall power structure.

Last year, Trump was sentenced thoroughly for hinting, in the aftermath of a white supremacy rally in Charlottesville in which a counter-Protestant had been killed, that there was "Good people on both sides".

Last summer, Trump repeated, in a tweet, a theory of white nationalist plot, which he seemed to have heard in Fox News, that white farmers were threatened with mass killings in South Africa. Rumors of "locking it up" about Clinton and other prominent Democrats and "building the wall" to keep immigrants away have been a staple of his election protests for years.

In recent days, Trump has taken action against the caravan of migrant families from Central America who are walking to Mexico hundreds of kilometers from the southern border of the United States. The Trump administration has authorized the dispatch of 1,000 troops as part of border security operations, and the White House is considering a draft comprehensive denial of asylum protection based on national security considerations.

The president suggested, without providing any evidence, that criminals and terrorists from the Middle East were among the migrants. He and other Republicans, including Representative Matt Gaetz (Florida), launched a conspiracy theory that Soros helped finance the caravan.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) Issued a tweet on Tuesday warning Republicans that they were in danger of losing in November due to the financial support given to Democrats by Soros. ecologist Tom Steyer and New York businessman Michael Bloomberg, a former Republican who now supports Democrats.

"We can not allow Soros, Steyer and Bloomberg to BUY the elections!" Wrote McCarthy. "Go out and vote Republican on November 6th! #MAGA. He suppressed the tweet the next morning after the authorities declared that Soros had been targeted in the mail bomb plot.

A spokesman said on Wednesday that the tweet aimed to highlight the huge financial influence of men and did not tolerate violence. McCarthy's office declined to comment further on Saturday.

"It's not credible that the Republican Party refuses to stoke such feelings," said Simon Rosenberg, founder of NDN, a liberal think tank. Rosenberg added: "We know that in the United States and Europe there is currently a rise in right-wing nationalism and the rise of white supremacists in the United States – see the fear of immigrants and people who do not look like them – classic xenophobia, but Trump imitates all the same. "

McCarthy, who could replace the House speaker, Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) If the Republicans retain control after the mid-term, Saturday denounced the "odious" attack on the synagogue of the ### 39, Tree of life. He pledged to "continue to fight for a country where every religious believer can sit safely under his own vineyard and fig tree."

Ryan described the anti-Semitic attacks as an ideology that he believes must be eradicated, and he said the nation "will not tolerate this fanaticism".

Ryan's Super PAC, however, was accused of running campaign ads targeting Democrats in a racially coded language, including a spot that aired images of an African-American candidate in the north-west of the country. New York State. Ryan's staff declined to comment on this story.

"The president and congressional leaders have the opportunity to change the conversation and save lives. They could expel from their base those who seek to win elections by arousing indignation and fear by racist attacks against immigrants or theories of "globalist" anti-Semitic conspiracy, "said Sen. Chris Murphy (D- Conn.), Trial attorney. "They could ask their supporters to appease their speeches and stop demonizing and dehumanizing journalists or political opponents."

Trump has shown no inclination to mitigate rhetoric. During rallies over the past few days, he has targeted the media, accusing journalists of unfair coverage and "negative attacks that only serve to separate people and undermine healthy debate."

Responding to reporters on Friday, he said that if anything should be done, he should "calm the game", and he chose not to cancel a campaign rally in Illinois Saturday despite the tragedy that was unfolding in Pittsburgh. Trump said he was considering canceling the rally, but then "remembered" that the New York Stock Exchange had opened its doors the day after 9/11. (That's wrong.) The stock market has remained closed for six days after the terrorist attacks.)

Speaking to reporters earlier Saturday, Trump said he was rather surprised that the Pittsburgh shoot will occur in 2018. "You would not think it would be possible nowadays, but we do not seem all that. just do not learn from the past, he says.

At a rally in Charlotte on Friday, Trump devoted part of his speech to stir up fears over the migrant caravan and illegal immigration, warning without evidence that "the Democratic Party is openly encouraging millions of people." Foreigners in an irregular situation to break our laws, to violate our borders and bankrupt our country. . . . The Democrats' extreme immigration policy will overwhelm your schools, hospitals and communities, and put a strain on public resources. "

He was also pleased when he seemed to refer to a draft emergency decree aimed at denying asylum to migrants.

"Look next week what's going to happen – wait," Trump said, pulling applause. "It will be exciting. It's going to be awesome."

"This is the central principle of his presidency: to attack and dirty immigrants and refugees," Wang said. "All the violence that we are witnessing is the extreme and radical version of what he implements politically and legally as president of the United States."

Republican commentator Charlie Sykes, a regular Trump critic, said Saturday that the president's attention was flawed. "So, America," he tweeted, "maybe the biggest danger we're facing is not a caravan at 1000 km." is already here. "

Paul Kane contributed to this report.

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