[csusbpeace] Donald Trump Is A Leading Cheerleader Of Political Violence, Historian Says
- From: "raccoon" <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> ("bigraccoon1")
- To: "CSUSBPEACE@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <CSUSBPEACE@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 29 Oct 2022 08:05:53 -0700
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-political-violence-michael-beschloss-pelosi_n_635cc786e4b023ac31c576fe
Donald Trump Is A Leading Cheerleader Of Political Violence, Historian Says
Of 45 presidents of the United States, "all but about one have taken it
seriously that part of their job is preserving public safety,” said historian
Michael Beschloss.
Oct 29, 2022
Former President Donald Trump
<https://www.huffpost.com/news/topic/donald-trump> is a chief cheerleader in
normalizing political violence, a presidential historian warned Friday after
an attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
<https://www.huffpost.com/news/topic/nancy-pelosi>’s husband, Paul Pelosi.
“We’re in a time where violence is licensed and encouraged by an ex-president
of the United States,” presidential historian Michael Beschloss said on MSNBC
<https://www.huffpost.com/news/topic/msnbc>’s “The Beat.”
“An awful lot of people are encouraged by a former president to think the way
you get your political goals — which may be an authoritarian, even fascist,
society — is by encouraging violence,” he added, while noting the motive for
the attack remains unknown. “That’s the climate we’re in.”
The home invasion and hammer attack
<https://www.huffpost.com/entry/paul-pelosi-assaulted-home-nancy-pelosi_n_635bd0cfe4b04dfacf7f659d>
on Paul Pelosi rattled the public, which is still reeling from the siege of
the Capitol in an assault on the government last year.
Suspect David DePape was after Speaker Pelosi
<https://www.huffpost.com/entry/paul-pelosi-assaulted-home-nancy-pelosi_n_635bd0cfe4b04dfacf7f659d>,
who was not at the San Francisco home at the time, according to a source
briefed on the attack. The Republican Party
<https://www.huffpost.com/news/topic/republican-party> has long demonized
Pelosi
<https://www.huffpost.com/entry/gop-demonization-nancy-pelosi_n_635c954ce4b01c1b94e6700e>
in comments and political ads.
Online posts that appear to belong to DePape cite QAnon conspiracy theories
<https://www.huffpost.com/entry/suspect-in-assault-at-pelosi-home-had-posted-about-qanon_n_635ca6cce4b0cf522df8cbb7>
and election misinformation promoted by Trump and fellow Republicans
<https://www.huffpost.com/news/topic/republican-party>. DePape was arrested
and law enforcement said he will be charged with multiple offenses, including
attempted homicide and assault with a deadly weapon.
Threats against federal lawmakers are currently at a record high, MSNBC’s
Katie Phang noted on “The Beat.” U.S. Capitol Police launched investigations
into 1,820 threats and concerning statements in just the first three months
of this year, authorities said Friday
<https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/threats-pelosi-lawmakers-surged-exponentially-police/story?id=92289962>.
Beschloss agreed with other experts and pundits that political violence
threatens the country. He cited the storming of the Capitol last year, calls
then for then-Vice President Mike Pence
<https://www.huffpost.com/news/topic/mike-pence> to be hanged and threats
against others that day, and the invasion of the Pelosi home.
“You and I look at the 45 presidents of the United States ― all but about one
have taken it seriously that part of their job was preserving public safety,”
Beschloss told Phang.
“Once again, Donald Trump as an ex-president and a president is in a dark
category of his own,” Beschloss added. He said Trump “encouraged violence at
his rallies” beginning back in 2015 during his campaign, and “did this
periodically as president of the United States.”
Phang also featured a dire warning from presidential historian Jon Meacham
during an earlier appearance
<https://www.msnbc.com/andrea-mitchell-reports/watch/jon-meacham-america-facing-the-gravest-test-of-citizenship-since-the-civil-war-151804485997>
on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports.”
“One of the marks of the end of a republic is the normalization of political
violence,” Meacham said Friday. “It just is. And everybody needs to remember,
including us, that what we say matters, that words have consequences, and
that things that seem improbable one hour can happen in the next.”
“Violent acts can change history,” he added. “And a mature democratic society
― lowercase ‘d’ ― has to have a way where we mediate our political
differences without political violence.”
Check out the full interview with Beschloss:
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