“Not surprisingly, Mr. Trump’s politics of hate is now metastasizing into violence. He incites people—not all people to be sure, but enough. On social media in particular, one sees how he gives his supporters permission to express dark and ugly sentiments that existed before but were generally kept hidden from view.
“Max Boot, a Republican Trump critic who was a foreign policy adviser to Marco Rubio’s campaign, says that he has never experienced as much anti-Semitism as he has since the start of the Trump campaign. There are no filters anymore, no restraints, no cultural guardrails. Now, under the sway of Trumpism, what was once considered shameful asserts itself openly. As we contemplate this, it is worth recalling that the membrane separating what the Scottish novelist John Buchan called ‘the graces of civilization’ from ‘the rawness of barbarism’ is thinner and more fragile than we sometimes imagine.”
—Peter Wehner, “The Man the Founders Feared,” New York Times, 19 March 2016
• • •
Wehner wrote this in the spring of 2016—before Trump was even elected. Eight years later … it’s worse. It’s so much worse. Contrast and compare to this piece, also in the Times:
“It stands to reason that threats of violence kept more Republicans from voting to impeach Trump in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 attack. In fact, Romney confirmed as much. In all likelihood, threats have also worked to suppress the growth of a meaningful anti-Trump faction within the Republican Party. It’s hard, under normal circumstances, to take a stand against the leader of your political party. It is even more difficult, as well as frightening, to do so when the cost of your opposition is a threat to your life or your family.”
— Jamelle Bouie, “Trump Is Playing With Fire,” New York Times, 12 January 2024
• • •
I have a dream, indeed. In this house, Dr. King, we hold that dream ever close to our hearts.
Wanderlustful 