Extremist Violence: A Right Wing Thing

Don't confuse anger with hatred

What happened in Buffalo was all about hate and rage fed by politicians who feed off fear and prejudice. Their power depends on it. So far, it's working. Some 35 percent of Americans—including 68 percent of Republicans—believe the Big Lie, pushed relentlessly by former President Donald Trump and amplified by conservative media, that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. They think that Trump was the true victor and that he should still be in the White House today. Sarah Longwell/The Atlantic April 2022.

The lies about the election are only the surface. Dig a little deeper and you will find bigotry and hatred fueled by Trump's rhetoric. The outcome is violence. 

The NYTimes says over the past decade, the Anti-Defamation League has counted about 450 U.S. murders committed by political extremists.

Of these 450 killings, right-wing extremists committed about 75 percent. Islamic extremists were responsible for about 20 percent, and left-wing extremists were responsible for 4 percent.

Nearly half of the murders were specifically tied to white supremacists.

Replacement Theory

During his Ohio speech, Salon reports Trump amplified his white supremacist race-war fantasies, which are clearly derived from the "Great Replacement" conspiracy theory and fears that white people somehow face extinction at the hands of Black or brown invaders. Trump has now fully mated the Big Lie claim that he is still the "real" president of the United States with white identity politics and grievance mongering:

"The very same people who piously claimed to be defending democracy are the ones throwing open your borders, surrendering your sovereignty, defunding your police, prosecuting your politicians — like nobody's ever seen before, by the way… desecrating your laws, crushing your wages, diluting your vote, and handing your country over millions and millions of illegal foreign nationals — illegal aliens, I would call them — all without your consent.

You haven't consented to that. On top of that you, had a fake, phony election….

But no matter how big or powerful these corrupt radicals may be, you must never forget this nation does not belong to them. This nation belongs to you. This is your home. This is your heritage, and your great American liberty is your God-given right."  Donald Trump

Anger is an emotion characterized by antagonism toward someone or something you feel has deliberately done you wrong. Anger can be a good thing. It can give you a way to express negative feelings, for example, or motivate you to find solutions to problems. But excessive anger can cause problems.
https://www.apa.org › topics › anger

Hate a hostile emotion combining intense feelings of detestation, anger, and often a desire to do harm. Also called hatred.

Hate crimes are any felony or violent crime based on prejudice against a particular group. They are prejudice's most extreme expression. Compared to other crimes, hate crimes have a broader impact on victims and communities because they target core aspects of identity.
https://www.apa.org › topics › hate

Stoking the fires of hatred is the main focus of Trump's rallies, where he espouses the replacement theories spewed by the gunman in Buffalo. His hatred resulted in the slaughter of ten innocents. The killer was disappointed. He wanted more.

We, in the media, need to help people connect the dots. Ignoring the obvious will result in the further rise of the narrative embraced by so many of Trump's followers. An obvious question for Republicans, do you think our children should be exposed to
The Great Replacement Theory (GRT)? Are you willing to speak out against Trump's use of GRT to fire up his base?