The Long Term Dangers of Divisive Rhetoric - by Greer Clem

After Trump’s election in 2016, President Obama delivered a speech calling for national unity. No doubt, he foresaw the dangers Trump’s hateful rhetoric posed to a heterogenous country. President Obama spoke of the differences between his views and Trump’s, but he reminded us all: “We're not Democrats first. We're not Republicans first. We are Americans first. We're patriots first… That's what the country needs -- a sense of unity, a sense of inclusion, a respect for our institutions, our way of life, rule of law, and respect for each other.” At a time when half the nation was in despair, President Obama took the high road. Not for himself, not for his own legacy, but for the legacy of our country and the greater safety of its citizens. While no predictive powers were required to know Trump would not live up to the opportunity offered to him, the reality that his hateful rhetoric has created poses an especially grave danger today.

My dad called me this morning from my family home across the country. He is hunkered down with my mom, my sister who had to fly home from school, and my brother whose middle school has gone online until further notice. It’s a tremendously hard time to be apart from them and we talked about our worries and plans. I was shocked when my dad told me he had just read a story on the increase in gun purchases. “How could a gun possibly protect from a virus?” I asked. “It’s not to protect from the virus,” he responded. “It’s to protect from people.” The darkness of that statement hung in the momentary silence between us on the phone. I hung up and did my research which revealed an even graver pictures: gun and ammunition dealers have seen a run on supplies over the last 72 hours. In California, New York, Washington, Alabama, and Ohio guns and survival gear have been disappearing from local stores. Customers waited in lines around the block of one California store. In particular, an increase in Asian American gun purchases has been observed since the outbreak of the Corona virus. In a small store in southern California, a gun store owner said, “They’re all coming in because the media is telling them that Asians are being targeted, Chinese are being targeted.” It’s hard not to be sympathetic to this line of reasoning when people like GOP House Leader Kevin McCarthy are calling it “Chinese Corona” or when Senator Tom Cotton refers to the “Wuhan virus.” The origins of the virus are of not consequence here - the danger is in associating disease and danger with people because of their ethnicity. And the rhetoric of assigning danger and fear to people who may be “others” finds it strongest roots in the President of the United States. I here use the term “others” to encapsulate any non-cisgender white people, A.K.A. any group or minority who has previously been subjected to such categorization by Trump and his supporters.

Trump thrives on the creation of a boogeyman, whether it be Muslim immigrants from countries he then bans or Mexicans he classes as rapists. Let’s not forget when he said: “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.” When he says “you” we all know what that means: they aren’t sending straight, white, red-blooded American patriots. It is a poor leader who derives power and support from the creation of fear, but that is who Donald Trump is. And the ramifications of this behavior are playing out, as we knew they would, during a time of greatest crisis. This would be the time for Trump to take the mantle and encourage compassion and unity, to remind us that we are all Americans and all looking out for the safety of our loved ones and families. He should urge people not to fear others, not to take drastic measures to protect themselves. But that would run contrary to his entire platform that the government and the media are not to be trusted. He cannot now, after four plus years of creating rhetoric built on deceit, fear, and suspicion of others stand up and say “actually, trust the government and be kind to one another.” No, no. What he has to do to protect himself is to place the blame elsewhere, to make us distrust everyone he says is different. He started by saying “I don’t take responsibility at all.” Well, in fact, he has to - whether he wants to or not. Not just responsibility for a horrendously boggled response to a global pandemic, but the larger responsibility for the hostility he has built and foddered among his citizens. He built the pyre with divisiveness and suspicion and hate then wants to claim the fire was not his fault because he didn’t strike the match. But it doesn’t work that way.

Seventeen days ago, Trump stood at a rally in South Carolina and called the Corona virus the new “liberal hoax.” Less than three weeks later, gun sales are soaring because people fear for their safety. I’m not biased enough nor stupid enough to sit here and say that is the sole, isolated reasoning. But I am also not naive enough to ignore his role: rhetoric that divides us will bring us down. Words that unite us do so much to hold us together. Think of how much it means to you to receive a postcard from a friend in the mail or get a text from your loved one wishing you well. So I leave you with this thought: we are living in a scary time, made no less scary by the words we hear day in and day out from the leader of our nation encouraging us not to trust and not to care. Don’t listen. No matter where you are from, no matter what you look like or who you love, no matter whether or not you are alone or hunkered down with your family - you matter. You mattered before this crisis and you will matter after. I care about you and someone else does too. Let’s choose to unite together, to grow from this fear instead of tear ourselves farther apart. It is my one wish for us all.