Donald Trump and the Hate Games

Published in El Mundo
(Spain) on 26 October 2018
by Gina Montaner (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Lena Greenberg. Edited by Eric Stimson.
Since the 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump’s rhetoric has centered around spreading hate and conspiracy theories. The country that’s lost splendor he was supposedly going to bring back was, according to him, a wasteland plagued with crime, misery and immigrants stealing the bread of native-born citizens. His opponent, Hillary Clinton, was at the center of most of the conspiratorial plots Trump propagated from his podium.

From that populist message came aberrations such as Pizzagate, that crazy episode in which an ultra-nationalist appeared armed with a rifle in a popular Washington, DC pizzeria to rescue children that Clinton and her campaign chief were supposedly sexually abusing in the basement. The alt-right movements had spread a perverse lie on social media: the former secretary of state was presiding over a pedophile network in which her fellow party members participated. All this was taking place as the current president was openly asking the Kremlin to hack his rival’s campaign emails. The spiral of Russian interference and “fake news” had been unleashed.

Almost two years later, the environment is one of a dystopia, a contemporary rather than futuristic one. The presidential tweets are the Big Brother that never rests. Every day begins with a new shocking episode. And as it happens, this week the scares weren’t figurative but rather came in the form of explosives wrapped in manila envelopes addressed to prominent Democratic or Democrat-linked figures that have been the target of defamatory comments from the president.

The first attempted terrorist attack was against philanthropic liberal millionaire George Soros, enemy of populists on both sides of the Atlantic: in the United States, he’s been accused of “financing” those that protested Judge Brett Kavanaugh, as well as the caravan of Central American immigrants. This is an accusation that has also been spread throughout Europe, where Soros is blamed for “paying” immigrants, though no proof has been provided to back up this claim.

The same day that Hillary Clinton, former President Barack Obama and other members of the Democratic party were victims of these attempted homemade bomb attacks, Alexander Soros, the son of George Soros, who is president of the Open Society Foundation, wrote a New York Times opinion piece that held Trump responsible for the prevailing polarization. In his piece he emphasized that his father (a Holocaust survivor) has been the target of anti-Semitic attacks, and ever since the triumph of the New York real estate tycoon, this sentiment against Jews has been stoked among supremacist groups.

Hours after the shock caused by the explosives, which were even found in CNN’s New York office, Trump publicly condemned these terrorist acts and called for unity, but at this point his words are empty. In fact, that same night, during a political rally, he attacked the media again, blaming them for creating a “hostile” environment, in front of an audience that sees journalists as the “enemy.”

Conspiracy theories from the most reactionary populism are now the “opium” of the people, and the White House has become the platform from which the hate games spread. In a 2017 interview, the well-known novelist Philip Roth said of the current president, “What is most terrifying is that he makes any and everything possible.” The author of "The Plot Against America" predicted the turn the country would take.


Donald Trump y los juegos del odio

Las teorías de conspiración del populismo más reaccionario son hoy el "opio" del pueblo y la Casa Blanca se ha convertido en el minarete desde donde se difunden
Desde la campaña presidencial de 2016, el discurso del presidente Donald Trump se centró en la propagación del miedo y las teorías de conspiración. El país al que supuestamente le iba a devolver un esplendor perdido era, según él, un erial plagado de crimen, miseria e inmigrantes que le robaban el pan a los nacionales. Su oponente, la candidata Hillary Clinton, estaba en el centro de la mayoría de las tramas conspirativas que desde la tribuna lanzaba Trump.De aquel mensaje populista surgieron aberraciones como el Pizzagate, ese episodio delirante en el que un ultranacionalista se apareció armado con un rifle en una popular pizzería de Washington D.C. para rescatar a niños que supuestamente Clinton y su jefe de campaña agredían sexualmente en los sótanos del establecimiento. Los movimientos 'alt right' habían diseminado un perverso bulo en las redes sociales: la ex secretaria de Estado presidía una red de pederastia en la que participaban otros correligionarios. Todo eso sucedía mientras el actual presidente pedía abiertamente al Kremlin que hackeara los correos electrónicos de la campaña de su rival. La espiral de la injerencia rusa y las 'fake news' se habían desatado.Casi dos años después, el aire que se respira es el de una distopía contemporánea sin tener que echar mano de una serie futurista. Los tuits presidenciales son el Gran Hermano que nunca descansa. Cada día amanece entre sobresaltos. Sin ir más lejos, esta semana los sustos no han sido figurados, sino vinieron envueltos en sobres Manila que contenían explosivos dirigidos a figuras prominentes demócratas o vinculadas a este partido que han sido blanco de comentarios difamatorios por parte del presidente.

El primer intento de ataque terrorista fue contra el filántropo millonario liberal George Soros, bestia negra de los populistas a uno y otro lado del Atlántico: en Estados Unidos se le ha acusado de "financiar" a las manifestantes que protestaron contra el juez Jeff Kavanaugh y a la caravana de migrantes centroamericanos, acusación que en Europa también se ha esparcido, culpando a Soros de "pagarles" a los migrantes en ese continente sin aportar ni una sola prueba que avale dicha conjetura.El mismo día en que Hillary Clinton, el ex presidente Barack Obama y otros miembros del partido demócrata fueron víctimas de estos intentos de ataques con bombas caseras, Alexander Soros, el hijo del presidente de Open Society Foundation, responsabilizaba a Trump en un artículo de opinión publicado en el 'New York Times' de ser el instigador de la polarización reinante. En su escrito resaltaba que aunque su padre (un superviviente del Holocausto) ha sido objeto de ataques antisemitas, desde el triunfo del magnate neoyorquino este sentimiento contra los judíos se ha avivado entre grupos supremacistas.Horas después de la conmoción causada por los explosivos que se hallaron incluso en las oficinas de CNN en Nueva York, Trump condenó públicamente estos actos terroristas y apeló a la unión, pero a estas alturas sus palabras resultan huecas. De hecho, esa misma noche durante un mitin político volvió a arremeter contra los medios, culpándolos de propiciar un ambiente "hostil" ante un público que ve en los periodistas al "enemigo".Las teorías de conspiración del populismo más reaccionario son hoy el "opio" del pueblo y la Casa Blanca se ha convertido en el minarete desde donde se difunden los juegos del odio. En una entrevista que le hicieron en 2017, el recordado novelista Philip Roth dijo del actual presidente: "Lo más aterrador es que con él todo es posible". El autor de 'La conjura contra América' auguraba la deriva del país.
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