Trump is making Americans worse

WHEN A NATURAL DISASTER OCCURS anywhere in the United States, Americans step in to help. I live in Virginia, which largely escaped the wrath of Hurricane Helene, but within hours I saw news that rescue teams from Maryland, Virginia, and other jurisdictions were rushing to help in western North Carolina (some by mule!). First responders living hundreds of miles from affected zones are getting into their vehicles to help. People like you and me donate. Local and state governments, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and hundreds of private charities such as the Salvation Army, Red Cross, World Central Kitchen, Americares and Save the Children are providing food, water, shelter, toiletries and medical assistance.

Natural disasters are moments of unity. They remind us of our weakness in the face of nature. These are matters of life and death. We don’t ask if you live in a red or blue state before sending help. When my family first moved to our current neighborhood in suburban Washington, D.C., neighborhood kids asked if they could set up a table in our yard to raise money for Texas hurricane victims. After Hurricane Sandy, Chris Christie and Barack Obama exchanged hugs. Some things transcend politics. It’s one of the best things about America.

But not now. Hours after Helene devastated the South, Republican Party candidate Donald Trump appeared in the media gossip in the sense that the Biden-Harris administration and the “Democratic governor of North Carolina” “have gone out of their way to not help people in Republican areas.” Asheville, one of the most devastated parts of North Carolina, happens to be quite blue, but whatever. Trump’s mouth was moving, so he was lying. This is what it does: it sows suspicion, creates resentment and hatred.

When there are no real reasons for fear and loathing, he and Igor JD Vance freely invent things to strike fear into the hearts of their followers. Crime has been declining for three years in a row after rising sharply during the pandemic (when Trump was president). But in the pseudo-reality invented by Trump criminality is “so out of control. . . you can’t cross the street to get a loaf of bread. You get shot. You are being robbed. If you get raped, you get whatever it is.

Immigrants are the probable cause of this plague. Trump speaks in Wisconsin developed about him, that other nations are emptying their prisons and mental institutions and expelling their criminals to the United States (where they are warmly welcomed by the Biden-Harris administration). “I will rid Wisconsin of this massive immigrant invasion of murderers, rapists, hooligans, drug dealers, thugs and vicious gang members. . . . They will enter your kitchen. They’ll cut your throat. . . . Hundreds of small cities and towns are occupied by MK-47 immigrants.”

In addition to the fictitious immigrant crime wave (immigrants commit fewer crimes than native Americans), Trump’s forces have turned an unfavorable election into an opportunity for division, fear and loathing. For 150 years, the losers (mostly) wished the winners well and accepted the will of the voters. After his defeat in 2020, Trump invented a reality in which cunning, bitter enemies conspired to rob the nation of their choice. It was all an illusion, but it nonetheless radicalized and enraged about half the country.

This is the brutal, false incitement that Trump tirelessly inserts into American life. And although it has become common, it is not yet the dominant culture. Trump’s false stories about Haitian immigrants in Ohio have thrown Springfield into chaos. Bomb threats closed schools and universities. The owner McGregor Metal had to cover his eyes at night, buy weapons and change his family’s movements due to death threats in response to his defense of his Haitian employees.

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Here’s what Jamie McGregor said that caused his neighbors to draw a target on his back: “They come to work every day. They don’t cause drama. They are on time. I wish I had 30 more.” You could interpret this remark as indirectly disparaging American workers (Who’s causing the drama? Who’s not showing up on time?), but in the days before GOP MAGAfication, people would probably have reacted with more restraint. Maybe they were pissed. They could have written a letter to the editor. But McGregor was under Trump’s poisonous influence flooded with messages like: “Why do you import third world savages who eat animals and give them jobs instead of US citizens?” A message left on the company’s voicemail read: “The owner of McGregor Metal could take a bullet to the skull and it would be 100% justified.” His children and his 80-year-old mother also received threats. The FBI called, saying some of the threats seemed serious and offering advice on how to stay safe.

Some people were inclined to vote for Trump because he was already president and everything seemed to be fine. The economy was good (until Covid). There were no new wars. But new wars broke out – between Americans. Trump’s relentless lies and incitement have transformed this county into a less rational and less generous nation. That alone should be reason enough to vote for your opponent. One election will not repair the damage done to our national character. However, another Trump term could be enough to tip the scales for a long time.

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