The American Culture of Sadism

With the advent of Trump, we live in an age of cruelty-child abuse, bullying, vicious ad hominem attacks, racism and misogyny construed to create maximum hurt, maximum shame. Nazis troll and shoot; the Klan sheets are out; the meanest forms of discourse are employed. Honor, concern for the humble and weak are gone; these now have targets on their backs. We have become the Roman circus, but instead of gladiators, small children are torn apart for the spectacle to satisfy the bloodlust of the Trump supporter, who must be defeated in strength, the only coin of the realm they understand.

A METONYMY

The Wall is a metonymy for institutional racism and atrocities like the policy of family separation. Ditto Trump's national emergency, which is based on wholesale lies that everyone, Trump supporters included, knows are lies. These lies are now the basis for a radical, largely unlimited expansion of presidential power. If your antennae aren't twitching grave danger right now, you don't know history, or haven't learned from it.

Rope

When I watched the coverage of the 2012 Republican Convention, I saw Obama posters with thick nooses saying "Rope." I also saw the president depicted as a monkey. "This is the Tea Party, the lunatic fringe," I thought (it *was* 2012). How naive I was. I am a Manhattan dweller, a writer, surrounded by all nations jubilantly making art; I was concerned mostly by the prejudice against mentally ill people that directly affected me. These past two years have schooled me about what we are up against: 35 percent of our nation, 100 million people, who hold their noses or not, but support Trump because he and they are racists. And tens of millions who call racism good fun, or heritage. So, I'm learning. Because I have skin in the game -- as long as there are people wearing black face, there will also be people like Trump mocking me, discriminating against us all.

There is no such thing as nonviolent Nazis

Or Klan. 
They want to kill you. If you are disabled, mentally ill, black, brown, Muslim, feminist, Jewish, LGBT, or leftist, they want you dead or enslaved. Don't be confused about that. And their affiliates want the same. They are much more extreme than you can imagine. I spend time on their websites for a book I am writing, and almost pass out from the murderous rage of these monsters. Almost. 
They are lifting weights, stockpiling arms, get ready as we speak. The president of the United States loves them. Do not think Trump will not use them for violent ends.
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Trump University: Creating Racism 101

As the recruitment guide for Trump University's prospects specified, economic vulnerability and fear are fertile grounds for victims of fraud. Trump's campaign runs true to this strategy. "Your problem," he tells voters,"is immigrants, Muslims, and Mexicans, and I, The Donald, will solve it."
How well is Trump University doing? People who were not racist before are racist now, and long-time racists are more active than ever. Look at this endorsement from Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, now running for the Senate in Louisiana:
"I thought, wow, here's a man embracing the core issues I've fought for my whole life."
Even if Trump loses in November, and this is no certainty, graduates of Trump University are not going away anytime soon.

Not about Economics

I watched televised coverage of the last Republican convention. The Obama Hope poster renamed "Rope" and showing the image of the President being lynched. And monkeys, and God help me, all manner of vile stuff. They allow this? I thought. No, I realized today, they sow this. And that was before Trump. The President is right: If you support Donald Trump, it's not about the economics.