Is President Trump Responsible for the Shooting?
Let me be the first to say, no. Not directly. No more directly than Mitt Romney, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, or any one of us.
The 2016 presidential campaign was probably the nastiest in American political history. The name calling (Crooked Hillary, Little Marco) ..the accusations (he’s a fraud and a con man, she’s a liar) ..the pettiness (he’s short, he has small hands) ..the shameless backstabbing (his wife is ugly, his wife poses nude ...his father shot Kennedy ...) ...set the bar at a new elevated political and civil angst for a country already perched on the edge.
Add to this a biased media with a voracious appetite for for headlines, cheap shots and ratings ..an unprecedented social media network phenomenon ..and a nation at its wits end with the corruption and incompetence of Washington DC, and you have the perfect storm in which America finds itself today.
We are not a nation of bright people. Cunning, calculating and consumer savvy ..but not too bright. Our stupidity and gullibility is the price we pay for our freedoms.
Just look at the entertainment we like, the food we eat, the things we buy and crave. Follow the money. Our sensibilities are in question worldwide. Look at who we vote for. More important, look at who votes, and who runs. And if that doesn’t convince you, look at our educational statistics ..we are near the bottom of the list in every category.
Look at what we did regarding the Paris Climate Accords. Of all the nations in the world who signed up, Syria, Nicaragua and the United States are the only three who did not participate. In fact, the United States withdrew!
See a pattern here?
Winning the popular vote would not necessarily be a good thing.
Looking at all this, and looking back at the 2016 presidential campaign and subsequent election process, the result, and where we are today -- and looking at the recent shooting at the baseball field in Alexandria -- it all makes a kind of macabre sense. Or, better, a macabre no sense.
Macabre, nonetheless.
In trying to track down this American nightmare phenomenon to its root cause, now add the fact that there are millions of guns and assorted military grade automatic firearms and weaponry out there, on the street and on the web, for sale to just about any nitwit, nut job, or mentally ill person who walks in the door.
And, so, here we are. And there is Congressional leader, Steve Scalise, in the hospital fighting for his life forever a changed man.
While we sit and watch it all on TV. Play ball!
So, is Donald Trump responsible for this with his example setting rhetoric, language and divisive tendencies? Is Mitt Romney responsible for overreacting and playing into Trump’s “con man” and “fraud” name calling game? Hillary ..Bernie? The Democrats? The Republicans? The media?
An abused child often turns out to be an abusive adult fraught with daunting psychological problems. We tend to mimic what we see the adults do. Watching the news media, seeing how Washington DC works, the rhetoric ..the winners winning and gloating, the losers festering and calculating. No wonder we’re a nation of nut-jobs. Nut-jobs with guns. Nut-jobs with a license and role model to kill because we see it on television, in the movies, on the news, in the White House ..everywhere we turn.
“They breed, and they vote.”
We ask, “What is to be done?” We pathetically answer, hopelessly, for there is really nothing we can do, “We need to come together” ..”We need to tone down the rhetoric.” Sorry folks, no can do. That cat is long out of the bag. Elvis has left the building.
“We need to pass stricter gun laws.” Sorry, been there done that. No can do.
“More security.” Good luck with that.
“We need to get the mentally ill the help they need.” No, first we need to get Steve Scalise the medical help he needs. He’s in the hospital fighting for his life because all of these flaws in our culture, our society, and the very government that is charged to protect and serve, is not protecting and serving adequately.
Meanwhile, “Our hearts go out to the families.” Okay, thanks, that predictable empty rhetoric helps a lot.
Some say they should have canceled the congressional baseball game. Some say it’s nice that they played on in a show of solidarity, hands across the aisle ..”if we don’t play the terrorists win.”
Well, this wasn’t a terrorist. It was one of our own nut-jobs. ISIS doesn’t need to come over here, we’re doing a pretty good job on our own. It’s ironic but no coincidence they (ISIS) are working their terror all over western Europe, where there are fewer guns in the hands of the public, as opposed to not working in America, where there are millions of guns in the hands of our own citizens, doing the job for them.
I’m afraid that baseball games, holding hands across the aisle and singing Kumbaya are not the fix America needs. We thought Donald Trump was the shot in the arm we needed, instead, Steve Scalise and his teammates got shot.
When Gabby Giffords was shot several years ago at a rally in Tucson, Arizona, by another American bred nut-job, I said to myself, “She was asking for it.” It seemed to me they were all asking for it, all the politicians, holding public town meetings and rallies ..so exposed to the deadly public, ironically, that they are representing. What a despicable crime and shame. There she was working her ideals and trying to do some good, but viewed by some as just another corrupt politician, and some American nutcase changed her life forever. She’s lucky to be alive, God bless her.
Let’s pull for Steve Scalise.
Let’s find a designated driver for America.
John Kushma is a communication consultant and lives in Logan, Utah.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-george-kushma-379a5762
http://newsbout.com/a/John+Kushma
