"Send her back" is where racism and authoritarianism meet This viciousness isn't an accident. It's

[riversedge]

Article paints a bleak picture. But it is where we are. damn


“Send her back” is where racism and authoritarianism meet

This viciousness isn’t an accident. It’s what Trumpism is really about.



https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/7/19/20699231/send-her-back-racism-authoritarianism

By Zack Beauchamp@[e-mail] Jul 19, 2019, 8:30am EDT



“Send her back! Send her back! Send her back!”

It’s hard not to feel chills when you watch the video of a Trump rally in North Carolina where this chant, directed at Rep. Ilhan Omar, breaks out. The president, in the middle of a diatribe against Omar, pauses and looks out as the crowd chants — not smiling, exactly, but doing nothing to calm the chanters or quiet their refrain.

That moment, the chant demanding that a naturalized citizen and member of Congress be “sent back” to her native Somalia booming through an audience of thousands, put on display the particular fusion of racism and authoritarianism that defines Trumpism as a political movement.

“Send her back” is not the first such chant to break out at Trump events; it follows “lock her up,” the ritual demand from Trump supporters that Hillary Clinton be sent to jail. Together, “lock her up” and “send her back” demonstrate beyond doubt that the law, in the Trumpian view, is a vehicle for punishing political enemies and minority groups.


In the Trumpian imagination, political opponents are not mere rivals but existential threats aligned with anti-American elements (read: immigrants and minorities) in a bid to undermine everything they cherish about America. As such, Clinton and Omar should not merely be defeated in an election; they must be crushed. If that requires abusing the power of the state and twisting the law to do so, so be it.

This authoritarian impulse, cross-bred with bigotry, has helped birth some of the worst excesses of the Trump era — from the Muslim ban to family separation to the failed attempt to circumvent the courts and place a citizenship question on the census. Such behavior has been made possible and permitted by the Republican Party, whose leaders either are willing to tolerate Trump’s authoritarian white revanchism in exchange for tax cuts and Brett Kavanaugh or, worse, actively agree with it.

Trump’s attack on Omar appears to be a preview of his broader 2020 strategy. There is every reason to expect things will get worse.
What “send her back” and “lock her up” have in common........................






https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/SVYnN1wCuc9Bqt3AyLuiImH8HHQ=/0x0:4267x2845/920x613/filters:focal(1151x184:1833x866):format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/64762818/1156190889.jpg.0.jpg
Trump’s July 17 rally in North Carolina, where the “send her back” chant about Rep. Ilhan Omar emerged. Zach Gibson/Getty Images

[CrispyQ]

1. "...anti-American elements (read: immigrants and minorities)..."

You can add liberals to that list. I have a rwnj cousin who can never use the word "left" without putting a nasty adjective in front of it: angry, hateful, hypocritical, lying, unhinged, violent, are just a few. They also seem highly motivated to piss off the libs. I don't get that. The mistake is in thinking that when Trump is gone things will get better. Someone else will fill the hate-void. Maybe not someone as dramatic & egocentric as Trump, but the right will find someone just as cruel & inhumane.