Today in Trump Hatred: He “Declares War on California”—and Even on Eagles
On This Day In 2019
First, a quick editorial: Went recently to an event featuring Doug Emhoff. He is such a decent, caring, inspiring person. The contrast in countenance, humor, and mental faculty to the two guys atop the GOP ticket could not possibly be starker. Unlike his direct Republican counterpart, he did not engage in a “celebration of the human form,” other than to note that GOPers wish to take away women’s rights to control their own bodies.
It's easy to dismiss a buffoon like Trump as a cartoon character. But, his bilious spewing has very real-world consequences. When a president espouses hatred towards whatever particular group he’s annoyed with that week, it makes it okay for all of his supporters to espouse hatred towards whomever they feel annoyed with. Unpleasant feelings of tribal division in this country have intensified sharply since Trump became a candidate 9 years ago; the # of hate crimes has risen approximately 50% since then.
As president, one of Trump’s most-hated targets was the state of California. Essentially, California was Trump's Taylor Swift of 2019.
OTDI 2019, Nobel-prize winner Paul Krugman noted that Trump had “declared war on California” in two ways: 1) Trump tried to block the state’s plan to clean its own air by minimizing car emissions; and, 2) by (oddly) asking his EPA to declare the state’s homeless population an “environmental disaster.” Leading up to the 2020 election, Trump and his allies warned that if he lost, the entire country would turn into California. Nothing could be worse than that, Trump implied.
He’s all about being divisive. It’s Us vs You. And it’s not just about pitting our 50 states against each other, as he did when they needed to buy protective gear for their people during Covid. Trump’s grievances are so petty that he even encouraged his base to hate the Philadelphia Eagles football team. (Okay, NY Giants fans may already hate the Eagles, but that doesn’t mean everyone else should too). He disinvited the Super Bowl champs from their traditional White House visit because he...didn't like them.
Chris Cillizza, of CNN, summarized “Donald Trump’s absolutely appalling statement on the Eagles’ White House visit” this way: “'If you don’t meet my standard of patriotism, you don’t get to come to my house.' There’s a whole hell of a lot of things wrong with the statement, the logic and that Trump decided to voice it.”
Trevor Noah had his take too:
And as you may have noticed, Trump hasn't exactly toned down his hateful rhetoric in 2024 now that he's older and mellower.
Dive Deeper
Paul Krugman’s original column is worth the read
CNN’s coverage of the Eagles debacle includes some pretty crazy quotes