Trump’s Malice

The Orlando massacre is a tragedy, because 49 innocent people lost their lives – and because it might help Donald Trump to conquer the White House.

Whoever thought before today that it probably won’t be so bad with this Donald Trump guy better take a close look at his latest speech on fighting terrorism. He talks like a political extremist, who is not only driven by personal vanity, but also obviously by hate against others.

His speech is a testament of malice. Trump turned the fight against terrorism into an issue the survival of the U.S. will depend on in the near future. He uses that as a justification to take any measures necessary in his assessment.

Trump practically declares all Muslims to be potential enemies of the U.S. Someone who originates from a Muslim country, in which terror attacks against U.S. facilities occurred, should, according to the Trump doctrine, not be allowed to travel to the U.S. Muslims already living in the U.S. are all accomplices of those assassins to him, since “they know what’s going on.” And as a consequence of the Orlando shooting, Trump doesn’t want to see less weapons in private persons’ hands but more – so that everyone will be able to defend themselves against an attacker in a night club.

Trump follows every step of a textbook autocrat. Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan say hello. He is using this crisis to present himself to a partially anxious population as a tough executer with radical solutions. He announced an expansion of the security apparatus, named Muslims as scapegoat, and described the remaining political personnel as weak and incompetent.

The aggressiveness in Trump’s campaign takes one’s breath away. He breaks with all norms of political decency and ridicules with his remarks practically all values America represents: equality in front of the law, open-mindedness, freedom, including the freedom of religion. Trump only seems to have one motto: If you want to dominate the game, change the rules.

If Trump truly became president, the relationship between the Western and the Muslim world would dramatically deteriorate. Trump’s hate-based politics would guarantee additional momentum for the insane cycle of violence and counter-violence in the Middle East and beyond. The Islamic State group headquarters in Syria are probably more than excited about Trump’s potential victory. Not even the gloomiest jihadist could create a better recruiting program.

Trump divides without limits. His reaction to the Orlando shooting proves again that his character is not suitable for a presidential position. Of course there is hope that the majority of Americans will see through his cynical games. But what if not?