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https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/01/trump-remorseless-advocate-crimes-against-humanity.htmlTrump Is a Remorseless Advocate of Crimes Against Humanity
By William Saletan
Jan 18, 2020
10:00 AM
Its hard to keep up with President Donald Trumps scandals. One day hes covering up taxpayer-funded travel expenses for his family. The next, hes stealing money for his border wall. The next, hes being implicated by an accomplice in the extortion of Ukraine. But one horror is right out in the open: Trump is a remorseless advocate of crimes against humanity. His latest threats against Iran, Iraq, and Syria are a reminder that hes as ruthless as any foreign dictator. Hes just more constrained.
Trump admires tyrants and defends their atrocities. He has excused North Korean dictator Kim Jong-uns mass executions (Yeah, but so have a lot of other people) and Russian President Vladimir Putins murders of journalists and dissidents (At least hes a leader). As a presidential candidate, Trump shrugged off the gravity of using chemical weapons. Saddam Hussein throws a little gas, everyone goes crazy, he joked.
At home, Trump has encouraged religious persecution and political violence. He called for a ban on Muslims entering the United States (he later imposed a modified version of the ban) and for collective punishment of Muslims who live here. As a candidate, Trump urged his supporters to knock the crap out of protesters. In 2018, at a political rally, he praised a Republican congressman for criminally assaulting a reporter. Any guy that can do a body slam, said Trump, hes my guy.
Trump has long advocated war crimes. He has endorsed torture not just for information, but because our enemies deserve it. As a candidate, he proposed that for the sake of retribution, the United States should take out the families of terrorists. Wives and children were legitimate targets, he argued, because by killing them, we could deter terrorists who care more about their families than they care about themselves. Two months ago, he intervened in legal and military proceedings to thwart punishment of three American servicemen who had been indicted for or convicted of atrocities. Then he deployed the men in his reelection campaign.
Trump agrees with past presidents that we and our terrorist adversaries have played by two [different] sets of rules. But unlike his predecessors, he takes no pride in Americas higher standards. He sees them as a needless impediment, defended by weak and stupid people. In 2016, Trump complained that ISIS was cutting off the heads of Christians and drowning them in cages, and yet we are too politically correct to respond in kind. Torture laws should be relaxed, he argued, so that we can better compete with a vicious group of animals. You have to play the game the way theyre playing the game, he explained.
Trump takes no pride in Americas higher standards. He sees them as a needless impediment, defended by weak and stupid people.
Some presidents have caused pain through recklessness or indifference. Trump inflicts pain on purpose. To deter migration from Latin America, his administration separated migrant parents from their children. Trump argued that the separation was a disincentive. Too many people, he explained, were coming up because theyre not going to be separated from their children. Later, he used the same sadistic logic to force a migration in Syria. He boasted that by facilitating Turkeys invasion of that country, he had precipitated the pain and suffering necessary to compel Syrian Kurds to leave.
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Having an evil president doesnt make the United States evil. We have a lot to be proud of: a culture of freedom, a strong constitution, vigorous courts, democratic accountability, and laws that protect minorities and human rights. On balance, weve been a force for good in the world. But Trumps election and his persistent approval from more than 40 percent of Americans are a reminder that nothing in our national character protects us from becoming a rapacious, authoritarian country. What protects us are institutions that stop us from doing our worst.
Botany
(70,626 posts)... in the Bahamas. With water being 20 to 25' deep over large areas and people being swept out to sea he called people who had lost everything drug dealers and thugs and denied them entry to the U.S. because they didn't have their "papers." As if somebody hanging onto a tree and their family as flood waters wash over them has time to get their I.D..
The man is sick.
KentuckyWoman
(6,697 posts)A surgeon will cut to save a life. Pain on purpose.
This sorry excuse for a human has only one "purpose" for causing others pain that that is to bring himself joy. No one really knows another person's emotions, but i have seen enough of this person to see he gains intense pleasure from other people's pain.
He doesn't give one shit about deterring people from crossing the border. The wall, the detention centers etc are there to bring profits to himself and his friends. And I would not be at all surprised to find out he give himself "happy endings" watching security footage from inside the female area of the detention centers.
He is an incredibly horrid person.
BigmanPigman
(51,646 posts)dalton99a
(81,656 posts)meow2u3
(24,774 posts)He not only has no conscience, he also corrupts those around him. He's a complete monster with no redeeming qualities, yet he demands adoration.
uponit7771
(90,368 posts)... migrating to America by taking children.
Text book, nearly word for word
Leith
(7,813 posts)That phrase is a genteel way of describing it.
littlemissmartypants
(22,840 posts)To "love" is to hurt. The cruelty IS exactly the point. It's very difficult for a normal person to even entertain the notion of such a twisted mind.
babylonsister
(171,104 posts)in this position. The gop really sucks.
littlemissmartypants
(22,840 posts)The complacency and the basic amorality of those around him is stunning in itself. They either don't have a clue what they are dealing with or they don't care because they are just as sick as he is, either way it's frightening that these are the people who make up our current government.
The Wizard
(12,552 posts)acting under the color of law.
hay rick
(7,650 posts)The only thing left of whatever was once decent about these people are the crumbs on Trump's napkin.
NCLefty
(3,678 posts)They didn't know for sure, but they loved the sound of it.
Trump is merely their latest catalyst.