08.22.24, Brunswick Beacon
In his 7/25 column, Tom Campbell called for “toning down the angry, divisive rhetoric.”
President Biden did that in an Oval Office address, telling Americans, “The political rhetoric in this country has gotten very heated. It’s time to cool it down.”
Trump stoked divisiveness at the GOP convention in ad-libbed remarks during his record-long 93-minute speech.
Trump repeated the Big Lie that the 2020 election was stolen. He lied about immigrants “killing hundreds of thousands of people a year" and promised the “largest deportation operation in the history of our country.” He lied about America being a dystopian hellscape on the verge of irreversible decline.
Since then, Trump turned his venom on Vice President Kamala Harris. In a racist dog whistle, Trump joined fellow Republicans in deliberately mispronouncing her name. “I couldn’t care less if I mispronounce it,” said Trump, showing his usual contempt for women and minorities.
Trump traded his racist dog whistle for a megaphone and told the National Association of Black Journalists that Harris “was Indian all the way, and then all of a sudden she made a turn and became a Black person. I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago, when she happened to turn Black. So, I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black? I think somebody should look into that.”
Just what America needs to tone down anger and divisiveness: Racial Identity Police!
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) warned Trump against “playing racial identity politics.” Larry Hogan, Maryland’s former Republican governor, tweeted, “It’s unacceptable and abhorrent to attack Vice President Harris or anyone’s racial identity.” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AL) asked, “Why is race the issue right now?” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said, “I’ve known the vice president for a while. She’s always embraced her heritage proudly, as she should.”
Campbell said he saw “little evidence of de-escalation” in divisive rhetoric. That’s because racism is Trump’s stock-in-trade.
Michael Maisel
Sunset Beach
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