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Donald Trump Inauguration: Between “Rivers of Blood” And “American Carnage”

By on January 20, 2017 in Feature, Loon Politics

By Garibaldi

I am not teary-eyed at the departure of President Barack Hussein Obama (though it was damned nice to have a US supremo with that middle name) as many lament his exit. I am not going to say goodbye to “America’s first Muslim president” with cuddly feelings of warmth, like he was a part of the family. I do understand the angst but cannot partake in the nostalgia or sentimental analysis that doesn’t reflect soberly on his track record.

Today is a new day. Gangster-in-chief Trump’s proclamations and cabinet picks will translate into a war on minorities: Blacks, Latinos, women, Muslims, Jews and LGBTQ. The appointment of non-experts in positions such as: Secretary of State, Environment, Education, Housing, etc. means the greater decay of these institutions and the USA. He decried the,

“crime and the gangs and the drugs that have stolen too many lives and robbed our country of so much unrealized potential. This American carnage stops right here and stops right now.”

What this actually means is a throwback and reinforcement of policies that ravaged Black and Brown communities: the war on drugs, the prison industrial complex, harsh laws for petty offenses, draconian immigration laws, and the militarization of the police. To “bring back the borders” means to separate and divide families, for more immigrants and refugees to die of thirst and starvation in the deserts and wastelands of the Southwest.

The animosity and threat isn’t simply subtle or indirect. Based on Trump’s rhetoric and the views of those who surround him, there will be a holy “war on Islam”; fodder for ISIS/AlQaeda videos and recruitment. Trump and company may use rhetoric such as he did in today’s inauguration speech about taking on “radical Islamic terrorism,” and eradicating it “from the face of the earth” but in reality the distinctions between Islam and violent militants will not be hard and clear.

Seemingly positive statements about working with “moderates” and “reformers” will be coupled with the elision of Islam with “terrorism” or as in the Bush years “fascism,” and “evil.” He may even appoint Asra Nomani as Chief Islamic Reformist! On the other side he will empower and embolden Christian dominionists and Zionist allies who can’t wait for Jerusalem to be recognized by the US as Israel’s capital.

Muslim American institutions will be attacked. Ted Cruz’s bill to declare the Muslim Brotherhood a “terrorist organization” is just a front to go after American organizations such as CAIR, ICNA, ISNA, MPAC etc. that the right attempts to label as “Muslim Brotherhood front organizations.” The worst excesses of the “War On Terror” are set to continue and expand, including torture, extraordinary renditions, black sites, assassinations, curbs on civil liberties and personal rights. Anti-Sharia law bills will be reintroduced as they have been in two states already. Hate crimes and violations of civil rights will be given less attention and no priority.

The parallels between Enoch Powell’s “rivers of blood” speech and Trump’s “American carnage” are striking despite the distance of 48 years. It has the same xenophobic stench and the same foreboding darkness. However, Powell never held a senior political post after the speech which was widely panned whereas Trump is slated to lead the US for the next four years.

Not all is lost. This is a time when those in the US and their friends and supporters abroad must come together in true solidarity. It is not Utopian or idealist to believe that we can make the world a better place. Instead of “bringing back the borders,” I hope and pray that we will break them.

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    • Awesome

      You’re welcome. To add further, the difference between absolute tyranny and absolute anarchy is only a matter of perspective, as it is akin to the difference between seeing a glass as half-full or half-empty, or of looking at 12:00 from the AM side or from the PM side.

    • Dr.S

      Muslims talking to people, getting to know them in person, actually helps. Not facts and logic but relating to them on the human level. That works. People who have never met a Muslim–or who know very few–are more likely to hold onto stereotypes than those who don’t. yes, human interaction matters most. See this WP story of Omaha man who hated Muslims until some refugees came to his neighborhood. wapo.st/2kFgG2o

    • Montaigne

      You are such a good fellow and a good example. And what a good answer. An action that speaks to the heart is much more efficient than a fact that does not reach the intellect/reason.

    • Khizer

      That’s a great attitude to hold, sometimes people don’t want to listen to facts BUT showing them kindness and connecting to them emotionally and personally will eventually cause them to change their minds.

    • I’ve see this sort of study before. It’s depressing, but there if facts don’t work, then we need to ask what does.

      Muslims talking to people, getting to know them in person, actually helps. Not facts and logic but relating to them on the human level. That works. People who have never met a Muslim–or who know very few–are more likely to hold onto stereotypes than those who don’t.

      There was a popular story a lot of my friends were discussing a while back. There was a protest scheduled outside a masjid but for some reason, only ONE woman showed up. Determined, she held her anti-Muslim place card and stood there, alone. Some Muslims came out to talk to her, and offer her water, but the discussion was generally hostile. She said why she didn’t like Muslims, they countered with facts and logic, and she doubled down!

      Pretty hopeless, right? Then one woman got the impulse to walk up and hug the lone protester, and she did, at which point the ice melted. The woman was invited to come in and have some snacks and tea or whatever and talk, and she accepted.

      Simple human kindness succeeded where facts and logic failed. A generous heart is the very best weapon against hatred, and if you look at the life of the Prophet, we see his behavior reflects this.

      Remember the person who used to throw garbage on his head daily? How when he went by and the garbage never came hurling down, he went to check on the person? His kindness touched the garbage thrower, who it is said became friendly and eventually converted to Islam.

      Instead of arguing endlessly with people online, Muslims should reach out to people IN PERSON. Visit people. Invite people. Volunteer around the neighborhood to help people. Stay calm in the face of angry people and if they are not actually threatening (if someone is going to punch me, I’m going to run…not go in for a hug. LOL), then talk to them.

      This will make a difference. And it’s STILL not about tossing logic at them. You’d be better off to serve them tea and cookies and make small talk. That works.

      And that’s one of the reasons I spend more time talking to people and less time writing articles and arguing with them here. We only have so much time and energy, so we have to choose where to invest it.

      A few years ago, I read that around 60% of Americans had never met a single Muslim. So Muslims, get out there and meet people! Greet people help people, welcome people….be nice, set a great example. That’s what wins people over.

    • America is still pretty tolerant, actually. More so than media reports imply.

    • GaribaldiOfLoonwatch

      Are you being serious? Unfortunately, he is a sell out who threw Muslim Americans under the bus in order to get influence with the Bush administration.

    • People form opinions and generally don’t like for you to confuse them with facts. That is what I’ve found. Many years ago, I think people were more inclined to accept and consider evidence but now they are less likely even to do that. It seems to be part of postmodernism, where this is no such thing as truth. Just a bunch of mini-narratives that get their “truth” from mere expression.

      It’s very difficult to counter an ocean of hate propaganda. I’m not saying that means we shouldn’t bother at all. But I think each person has to weigh whether or not that effort is worth the expenditure of time and effort.

      I really don’t go along with the left/right paradigm, where leftists and progressive are “good” and the right is “bad.” I think there are good people all along the spectrum, though not at the extremes. I think the left/right and Democrat/Republican ideas are part of the divide and rule strategy. We fight over crumbs and don’t notice the rich have already gobbled up the pie.

      I personally never vote, for a variety of reasons. I wouldn’t say I’m not expressing myself. It’s an expression of “no confidence.”

    • Montaigne

      You say people do not care. I am not so sure. I do believe that if people are fed with “lies” and “alternatives facts” over and over, and if it is the only thing available, lots of individuals will probably believe it because there is nothing else to feed their mind. (Not all people are born independant thinker.; lots of people just repeat what they read or have been told.) That is why you have to voice your side of the story – to show a different point of view.

      I am from Canada, and few days ago, I visited Pamela Geller’s website. What I read there terrified me (it is a euphemism). I saw a side of USA that is way worse than I could imagine. Seeing such irrational and delusional hatred is disturbing. The arguments used to support this hatred were almost “psychotic”.

      Leftist and moderate people have to express themselves much more on the public space to counteract the voice of hatred. Perhaps Trump has been elected not much by people who voted for him, but by people who did not vote at all and did not express themselves.

    • Montaigne

      Ilisha – I truly like your wisdom and the way you stay elegant and polite over such comments, replying with facts. This gentleman just have a very short memory: it is sad to say, but there is still a deep anti-Mexicans sentiment in USA. I am French Canadian, and 60 years ago (and more) in Québec, Jews were hated; in the 1970s it was the black people; nowadays this sentiment is directed towards Muslims. Unfortunately, racism takes turn and changes target from time to time.

    • Khizer

      Yep, in Europe a lot of the white ethnic European population consists of the older generations, and once they die out, the White European population will be decreased heavily. First world European countries are now having their populations filled in by immigrants (Arabs, Poles, even Asians, etc.). if these right-wingers are so obsessed over the preservation of their ethnicity, they should be making more kids of their own (that is if they are competent enough to raise kids). I’d call them professional whiners.

    • 786 I find that strangely comforting somehow…thanks.

    • 786 Be sure to remind them that their OWN failure to reproduce is causing their populations to decrease. Reproduction is the most basic instinct next to survival, and many argue that the reproductive instinct is in fact stronger than the self-preservation instinct. My own experiences as a young man seem to support the latter assertion… When people can’t even f*(k enough to keep their numbers stable, that’s decadence on a profound level. The hysterical bastards are doing it to themselves.

    • 786 I went for the first time yesterday. I wish I had never gone. I didn’t think it my opinion of the far right could get any lower; Breitbart’s comments section showed me the light. Or the darkness, as the case may be…

    • 786 ?por que vienes aqui para insultarnos? ?Es la vida tan aburrido? O, ?quizas que eres loco, y nadie te he ayudado? Nunca hemos te molestado…

    • 786 I am given to understand that all of the pages went away, not just those relating to certain issues.

    • 786 Hisham Kabbani (qs) is one of the greatest shaykhs ever to grace American soil with his luminous presence. I wish there were more like him, many more. I would, literally, give my blood for him.

    • 786 Amin! I wish there was a Hamza Yusuf in every mosque in America; I do not exaggerate when I say I believe this would lead to a new Islamic Golden Age right here at home. (I also wish there were more Ali Gomaas in the world) While I’m at it, I think Loonwatch would benefit immensely if they could make more llishas, and this post just further solidifies my opinion.

    • Not that I’ve noticed. It’s anyone who is Muslim, even nominally.

    • Awesome

      And so the persecution against non-criminals continues by another rogue American government, further undermining the rule of law and the constitution that defines it. Ultimately, the law becomes meaningless and only the rule of authority matters. However, when people aren’t free to do anything, they become absolutely free to do everything. Tyranny and anarchy are lot closer to each other than a lot of people may realize.

    • Does this contacting by the FBI depend on how religious faithful the Muslim is?

    • Khizer

      I read your post and after some consideration, I agree, and have decided to remove the video links. I apologise.

    • 1DrM

      Khizer’s links to youtube videos should be removed. All this guy does is waste his time looking for anti-Muslim video and posts them here. It’s by far the dumbest thing one could do giving filth a wider audience, unless he’s a troll.

      I gave him the benefit of the doubt once, but I’m beginning to wonder again….

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