The View From Down Under

Sydney Morning Herald:

It was only two weeks ago when Trump inspired an auditorium full of his supporters to chant “send her back” in reference to the country’s first elected black Muslim congresswoman, Ilhan Omar, who was born in Somalia and migrated to the US as the young daughter of refugee parents. Earlier in the year, Trump smeared all immigrants approaching the US-Mexico border as invaders when he said, “People hate the word ‘invasion', but that’s what it is.” Trump has also referred to Latin American refugees and asylum seekers as “rapists”, “criminals”, drug dealers” and “terrorists”. It’s worth remembering that when a Rwandan politician described Rwanda’s Tutsi minority as “cockroaches” it started a genocide that resulted in the deaths of upwards of one million people in that country. These are the same flames Trump fans with his dehumanising discourse. It is no coincidence that far-right extremists were responsible for 100 per cent of all terrorist attacks on US soil since the end of 2017, according to the Anti-Defamation League, and why hate crimes against Jews, Muslims, and other minorities are at unprecedented levels. Much of Trump’s political shtick is pivoted on the white nationalist notion that white Americans find themselves in a do-or-die struggle with non-white immigrants, and thus framing Hispanics, Muslims, Jews, African Americans, and other ethnic minorities to be an external threat, or “invaders”. Just hours before Robert Bowers walked into the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh on October 27 last year, he posted on social media that the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society wants “to bring hostile invaders to dwell among us. It’s the filthy EVIL Jews. Brining (sic) the Filthy EVIL Muslims into the country!! Stop the kikes then Worry About the Muslims!” Making matters worse is the fact that Trump and his supporters are hyping themselves in what can best be described as a positive reinforcement loop, in which his supporters reward his racism with approval, and he, in turn, rewards them, whether that be by calling on a ban on Muslim immigration or channelling funds from the Pentagon for the construction of his border wall. In time, we will learn exactly what drove the suspect to carry out today's mass shooting, but what we know for sure is the United States finds itself in the midst of a domestic white nationalist terrorism crisis.