One of the most potent arguments against restoring Donald Trump to the presidency is centered on the chaos and tumult of the former president’s tenure in the White House. Among the undesirable conditions that voters disapproved of in the Trump years, foremost were the regular eruptions of political violence in the streets, only some of which were directly attributable to the president’s supporters. But all of it, Democrats assured Americans, was an outgrowth of Trump’s vituperative style. Once he was gone, the bitterness, the factionalism, and the violent street action would similarly fade away.
It hasn’t quite worked out that way, has it? An outpouring of antisemitic agitation punctuated by episodes of terroristic violence has highlighted the degree to which the chaos incepted in the Trump years was not attributable to Donald Trump’s conduct alone. Jewish business owners are being targeted and terrorized. Visibly Jewish pedestrians — indeed, children — are being assaulted. American citizens are being told to practice their faith quietly and in private, and pusillanimous liberal-leaning municipalities are canceling the celebration of Jewish rituals lest they attract the attention of a psychopathic mob.
Comments