By Don Todd
No candidate in modern times has been on the receiving end of more demonizing than Donald J. Trump. It spews from leftist publications and blogs, publications and blogs on the right and from the so-called main stream media. Second only to the hate directed at Mr. Trump is the demonizing directed to his supporters.
The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, National Review, Weekly Standard, The New Republic, The Nation, The Dailey Kos, The Huffington Post, and Red State all have joined in a huge spitting squad and the spit is all directed at Mr. Trump. As some of us used to say about during the Cold War about the U.S. Government aiding the Soviet Union, “it is worse than conspiracy, it is consensus.”
If you think this is an exaggeration just Google “Trump Stalin.” You will get 772,000 hits comparing Mr. Trump to one of worlds all time mass murders and leader of The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Then try, “Trump Hitler.” That will get you 2,710,000 hits comparing Mr. Trump unfavorably with the leader of the National Socialist Workers Party.
What has Mr. Trump done to engender this raw hatred from all points of the establishment’s political spectrum? Makes one wonder is there any real difference between alleged conservative Bill Kristol and Democratic Socialist Bernie Sanders. It is like listening to a chorus of the ruling class. The sopranos sound different than the baritones but in reality they are all singing the same song.
Demonization is the name of the game. When Mr. Trump suggests enforcing existing law at the border we are told he hates Mexicans. When he suggests we have a moratorium on Muslim immigration we are told he hates a billion people. Conclusion: He is a hater just like Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin.
When he calls for a restoration of libel laws destroyed by the New York Times v. Sullivan Supreme Court decision he is calling for the repeal of the First Amendment. When he criticizes Obama he is a racist. If he takes issue with Mrs. Clinton he is a sexist. If he does not agree with Bernie Sanders he is an anti-Semite.
When provocateurs invade his venues with the goal of causing violence and they are successful it is his fault and he is roundly condemned. When these same provocateurs illegally block a public highway to attempt to prevent Mr. Trump from speaking they are exercising their First Amendment rights and he is trying to rob them of such rights.
In the world of the Trump haters black is white, wrong is right and up is down. George Orwell, call your office.
As Scott Adams of Dilbert fame and the Breitbart web site have observed, what the media, right, legacy and left is doing consciously or unconsciously is setting Mr. Trump up for assassination, there has already been one attempted assault on Mr. Trump in Chicago. It will be his fault. “He brought it on himself!” This will be loudly and incessantly repeated. The assassination will be a ratings bonanza for the media which will give them the opportunity to make a lot of money while pushing this message and excusing themselves.
What the threats towards Mr. Trump’s children and his sister show is that this scenario not as far-fetched as it may appear at first glance. Can it be stopped? One can only hope.
Don Todd is Director of Research at Americans for Limited Government.
