Thursday, February 16, 2017

Make America Hate Again


In the last year the number of anti-Muslim hate groups in America grew from 34 to 101. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center the overall rise of hate groups is a direct result of the 'incendiary rhetoric' used by Donald Trump. In its annual census of extremist groups the SPLC claims that "Trump’s run for office electrified the radical right, which saw in him a champion of the idea that America is fundamentally a white man’s country".

The SPLC's interactive Hate Map tracks the growing number of hate groups operating in the United States. The map uses colored markers to indicate the category of each hate group shown on the map. If you select a marker on the map you can click-through to learn more about what this type of hate group believes and how they operate.

Donald Trump was asked just yesterday, by an Israeli journalist, how he planned to address rising anti-Semitism in  America. He responded by saying,
"Well, I just want to say that we are, you know, very honored by the victory that we had -- 316 electoral college votes. We were not supposed to crack 220. You know that, right? There was no way to 221, but then they said there's no way to 270. And there's tremendous enthusiasm out there".
I think that this is a convoluted way of saying that the President believes in 'self-love not hate'. Maybe if we all love ourselves as much as Donald Trump loves himself there would be little room left for hate in the world.

A less favorable interpretation of Trump's answer might be that he has no intention to address the growing number of hate groups and hate crimes in America.

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