This archive report was first published on 1 August 2019.
Trump's Rhetoric Fuels White Hate Violence ¶
As a former assistant FBI director for counterintelligence, I've seen my share of threats. But nothing compares to the danger posed by President Trump's divisive rhetoric.
Since October, the FBI has made 90 arrests in domestic terrorism cases, with about 40% of its 850 pending investigations involving racially motivated extremism. In 2017 and 2018, the FBI made more arrests connected to domestic terror than to international terrorism.
On July 28, a young man with a rifle took the lives of three people and injured at least a dozen others at the annual Gilroy Garlic Festival in California. Preliminary reports indicated that among the gunman's social media postings was an exhortation to read the obscure 1890 novel 'Might Is Right,' which justifies racism and asserts that people of color are biologically inferior.
That same weekend, President Trump lashed out via Twitter at a black congressman, Representative Elijah Cummings, a Maryland Democrat. Trump expressed his wrath with a message aimed at dividing us along racial lines, calling Cummings' district 'a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess' and implying that no humans want to live there.
Trump's rants emboldened white hate groups and reinforced racist blogs, news sites, and social media platforms. Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota responded, 'This is the agenda of white nationalists, whether it is happening in chat rooms or it's happening on national TV. And now it's reached the White House garden.'
While I'm not accusing Trump of inciting violence, his rhetoric empowers hateful and potentially violent individuals. He has chosen a re-election strategy based on appealing to the kinds of hatred, fear, and ignorance that can lead to violence.
As we've seen in the radicalization of Muslims by internet sermons, unbalanced minds may fail to note the distinction between Trump's words and the violence they inspire. If a president paints people of color as the enemy, encourages them to be sent back to where they came from, and implies that no humans want to live in certain American cities, he gives license to those who feel compelled to eradicate what Trump calls an infestation.
It doesn't matter whether Trump is truly a racist or merely playing one on television to appeal to his base. Either way, his path can lead to bloodshed.
Frank Figliuzzi, a former assistant FBI director for counterintelligence, is a national security analyst for NBC News.
