Rim Country Gazette: How to treat Trump and his supporters - Shame them, shun them, and show them the door.

Thursday, June 28, 2018

How to treat Trump and his supporters - Shame them, shun them, and show them the door.

Paradox of Tolerance: should we tolerate intolerance? — Donald Trump is the worst of our species. He ran a blatantly racist campaign. He kidnaps babies and children from their parents who are refugees and migrants. He defends NeoNazis. He calls Latin countries "shithole countries." His Cabinet is full of blatant racists and fascists. His followers are emboldened, so it's time to jettison them all out of civil society.

Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin, a staunch conservative and never-Trumper, wrote a column, “Sarah Huckabee Sanders and the lost art of shunning,” in response to the Red Hen incident of last week (and which Trump stupidly tweeted about today), which should give the Republican establishment pause. A clip:

Unsurprisingly, the restaurant confrontations became a source of debate on cable television. On CNN, Ana Navarro tartly observed, “You make choices in life. And there is a cost to being an accomplice to this cruel, deceitful administration.” So, are these reactions to Trump aides reassuring and appropriate acts of social ostracism that communicate to the cogs in a barbaric bureaucracy that they cannot escape the consequences of their actions? Alternatively, should we view these as a sign of our descent into incivility, evidence that we are so polarized we literally cannot stand to be in the same room as those with whom we disagree?

It depends on how you view the child-separation policy. If you think the decision to separate children from parents as a means of deterring other asylum seekers is simply one more policy choice, like tax cuts or negotiations with North Korea, then, yes, screaming at political opponents is inappropriate. Such conduct is contrary to the democratic notion that we do not personally destroy our political opponents but, rather, respect differences and learn to fight and perhaps compromise on another day. If, however, you think the child-separation policy is in a different class — a human rights crime, an inhumane policy for which the public was primed by efforts to dehumanize a group of people (“animals,” “infest,” etc.) — then it is both natural and appropriate for decent human beings to shame and shun the practitioners of such a policy.

Rubin isn’t alone. There is a Sea-Change-Movement happening that is finally gaining a foot-hold: One Cannot Stand Silent and Watch Atrocities With the Excuse of ‘Tolerance’, or even reticence and fear (David Axelrod, I’m looking at you). The Washington Post entered the discussion today, and is calling for “civility” and to “Let the Trump team eat in peace.” I say no. None of the children, or their parents, or their family members, or a sizable number of ICE officials who hate the child separation policy are able to eat in peace. They aren’t sleeping in peace, walking in peace, or working in peace. The babies and children ripped from their parents will likely have life-long damage to their physical and mental health. There is no reason—none—that the Trump administration has given to institute this inhumane policy except that it is a cruel “deterrent” to migration to the US.

Calling out evil before us isn’t “uncivil,” but should not devolve into vulgarity. Monsters should not be given a peaceful dinner, a peaceful workplace, a peaceful walk in the park, or a peaceful evening at home until they stop their monstrous actions and defense of those actions.

Dem leadership—Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer are calling for “unity” and saying it “isn’t American to call for harassment of political opponents,” both in response to Rep. Maxine Waters’ call for protests (termed “harassment” by Republicans, of course) against the Trump administration. (h/t Randallt) There is credible worry that some children and adults in detention will die. “Unity” and “voting in November” are not immediate strategies to change public opinion to force the Trump administration to stop the child separation policy. There will be no happy ending if Trump and the Republicans are allowed to reshape the United States of America into their twisted, adolescent, and demented Autocratic world view. It is time to make a stand, even if it is uncomfortable — and perhaps terribly uncomfortable.

Here are some examples of courage beyond the Red Hen Restaurant owner:

To the group that started it all—Democratic Socialists of America—a big Thank You:

More protesters outside Sec. Nielsen’s house blare audio of kids crying who were separated from their parents:

Robert Di Niro:
Maxine Waters — encourages us all to use our First Amendment right to protest Trump and his minions (will post video when I locate an embed link).

Rep. Maxine Waters claimed the favor of the Almighty during a speech at a Capitol Hill "Keep Families Together" rally on Saturday. She said cabinet members and highly visible Trump enablers should expect harassment at restaurants, gas stations, shopping places, and even their homes until they change their immigration policy. Several have already been confronted at public places.

Agree, Maxine. Totally. “Harassment” of fascists and NeoNazi’s is not uncivil; it is the constitutional right to protest against tyranny.

Seth Rogen — turned down a photo op with Speaker Paul Ryan recently, and told him:

While attending a summit on brain health, organized by former Massachusetts Republican governor Mitt Romney, Rogen ran into Ryan, who was there with his teenage sons. He recalled the conversation to Colbert, saying the representative from Wisconsin shook his hand and asked if he could get a photo. “No way, man!” Rogen said during the encounter.

“Furthermore,” Rogen said. “I hate what you’re doing to the country at this moment, and I count the days till you no longer have one iota of the power that you currently have.”

The UK: (Trump will visit the UK during the week of July 13, 2018.)

LONDON — A 20-foot-tall inflatable orange baby with the face of President Donald Trump could float over Britain’s parliament next month, one of many acts of protest planned to coincide with Trump's first visit to the U.K. since taking office.

Tens of thousands of demonstrators are expected to march in London, Scotland and elsewhere during his trip, which takes place amid a growing transatlantic trade war and global dismay at the treatment of immigrant families at the U.S. border….

Mass anti-Trump marches have been more than a year in the planning, after May first extended an invitation for Trump to visit the U.K. in early 2017.

The largest are planned in London, where organizers of Together Against Trump estimate up to 100,000 people, including labor unions and rights groups, will march through the center of the city to Trafalgar Square.

Evan Rachel Wood: took part in a hunger strike to protest Trump immigration policies

Protests at the border

COURAGE IS WHAT IS REQUIRED OF US NOW

WE MUST BE COURAGEOUS AND STOP THE TRUMP MENACE.

PROTEST THIS COMING SATURDAY, June 30, 2018, please participate in, or create your own, Families Belong Together march.

#RESIST!