Hishmeh: Trump scorned after Orlando massacre
By George S. Hishmeh, Special to Gulf News
Published: June 17, 2016
The aftermath of the bloodiest massacre in the history of the United States, since 9/11, which happened at a popular nightclub in Orlando last week, has seriously fractured the American establishment. US President Barack Obama has angrily denounced Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, for his “dangerous” mindset. “We hear language that singles out immigrants and suggests entire religious communities are complicit in violence,” he said.
The New York Times underlined that Obama did not mention Trump’s name, but his statement, according to the New York Times, was “an extraordinary condemnation by a sitting president of a man who is to be the opposing party’s nominee for the White House”.
Obama continued: “Are we going to start treating all Muslim-Americans differently? Are we going to start subjecting them to special surveillance? Are we going to start discriminating against them because of their faith?” Obama wondered whether Republican officials actually agree with this. Because this is not the America we want. It does not reflect our democratic ideals. It won’t make us more safe. It will make us less safe.”
In turn, the Washington Post reported that top Republicans joined with Obama and other Democrats in “sharply condemning Trump’s reaction to the Orlando massacre, “decrying his anti-Muslim rhetoric and his questioning of Obama’s allegiances as divisive and out of step with America’s values”.
The Orlando incident prompted various groups to launch conflicting theories about the objectives of the US-born gunman, Omar Mateen, who, two years ago, had been reportedly in touch with another American who had driven a truck loaded with explosives into a hilltop restaurant in Syria.
The horrific incident in Orlando triggered several oral blasts from leading American figures like Trump, who, according to the Washington Post, “Escalated his already controversial rhetoric about immigrants … even though the shooter was born in New York”. The paper added that in a speech “laden with falsehoods and exaggerations”, Trump accused American Muslims of “harbouring terrorists and blamed them for the Orlando attack, as well as for last December’s shooting in San Bernardino, California”.
Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, said she wasn’t shying away from using the term “radical Islamism” to describe the attack in Orlando, and that she had a plan to address the threat. She told NBC she had a plan to defend America from “lone-wolf” attacks. But “I’m not going to demonize and demagogue” like Trump because “it’s plain dangerous”.
Meanwhile, the Washington-based delegation of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation took an unprecedented step last week of strongly condemning “the violent terrorist” action in Florida, stressing that the threat of extremist groups like Daesh (the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) reaches far beyond our regions … a threat against all humanity that must be confronted by all of us”.
In contrast to Trump’s racist remarks, last weekend saw the memorial service that praised Muhammad Ali, the legendary American boxer who had converted to Islam. Speaking at the ceremony among many others was Rabbi Michael Lerner, the popular radical editor of Tikkun magazine, who said: “We will not tolerate politicians or anyone else putting down Muslims and blaming Muslims for a few people,” — a comment seen as a thinly-veiled criticism of Trump for favouring a ban on Muslim immigration into the US.
Another comment, assumed to be directed at Hillary, was loud and clear: “Tell Israeli Prime Minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu that the way to get security for Israel is to stop the occupation of the (Palestinian) West Bank and help create a Palestinian state.”
In reaction to the rising tide against Trump was his decision this week to bar Washington Post journalists from covering his events — a step he has already taken against more than 10 prominent news outlets. In a surprise report out last Monday, Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank revealed that Harvard University’s Shorenstein Center found that top news outlets gave Trump the equivalent of $55 million (Dh202.29 million) of free advertising last year, and about two thirds of Trump-coverage was positive. “The question is,” according to Milbank “is whether news organizations will recognize that Trump’s ban is not just an attack on the Post, but a call to conscience for all who believe in a free press”.
George S. Hishmeh is a Washington-based columnist. He can be contacted at ghishmeh@gulfnews.com
Source: gulfnews.com