The random and the predictable
Conor Friedersdorf reminds us that Trump specifically and explicitly promised that what happened at that Florida school yesterday would not happen under his regime.
In his inaugural address, Donald Trump declared, “This American carnage stops right here and stops right now.” He knew it would not. We know it did not.
“I’ll be able to make sure that when you walk down the street in your inner city, or wherever you are, you’re not going to be shot,” he declared during the campaign. “Your child isn’t going to be shot.” He has not been able to make sure of that––ask any parent whose children were caught up in any of the recent school shootings.
Trump gave those credulous enough to believe him false hope.
“The crime and violence that today afflicts our nation will soon come to an end,” he vowed at the Republican National Convention. “Beginning on January 20, 2017, safety will be restored.” But safety was not restored that day. Neither crime nor violence ended. The vow was a cynical ploy to get votes.
It was that, but it was also a dogwhistle for the racists and anti-immigrants. We were meant to think “crime and violence”=brown people.
Earlier in his tenure, a gunman in Las Vegas killed 58 and injured 851 in the deadliest mass shooting ever committed in the United States. Trump had no plan to stop such an attack, nor did he do anything after the fact that would prevent a similar attack. Such attacks are beyond anyone’s capacity to wholly eliminate, but no one else rose to power falsely promising they could stop such things.
Well, the gunman in Las Vegas was a white guy. White guys aren’t murderers or criminals, they’re Totally Random Insane People Who Just Go Pow All of a Sudden. They’re a force of nature that no one can accurately predict because they’re Just Too Random.
Upon understanding and belief, the US school shooting count SO FAR THIS YEAR is up to 18. That’s about six per week. Could be slightly inaccurate (and the clock is ticking) but it is certainly much more than 18 innocent lives lost.
Their blood is on the hands of the men handing out empty promises like funny money.
Maybe at last someone steps up to the plate and speaks out — does he have a golden throne in his sights?
From Orlando Sentinel:
Worth pointing out that Trump also made it easier for mentally disturbed people to get guns.
Since then he has blamed mental illness several times for mass shootings. Former Obama officials estimate that if the regulations had come into effect approximately 75,000 people would have been added to the background check system.