Words Matter, Mr. Trump

photo by DonkeyHotey / flickr

Looks like Mr. Trump has stepped in it again. Hillary Clinton and letting the gun owners "take care of her." And then he added: "Whatever that means". That was yesterday. Today, of course, as usual he has said "he did not mean that" and had the audacity to blame all this on the media for mis-interpreting what he said.

Words matter. Even if he did not mean this--he ought to watch carefully what he says. Not too long ago he said that Mrs. Clinton should be sent before a firing squad because of her emails and Benghazi. Words can kill. There are folk out there that can easily take seriously what Mr. Trump said. And that is the dangerous thing. Al Baldasaro, a Republican state representative from  New Hampshire has declared that Hillary Clinton should be "shot for treason." Gabby Gifford who was a victim of gun violence herself has spoken out strongly against this irresponsible talk. We are living in a scary time for many folk. We do not need to make it worse. This is scary business.

A friend recommended a New York Times video which was a compilation of peoples'  rants at Trump rallies around the country. If you can stand vile language and utter ugliness--you might want to view these sad video. Warning: the cursing alone is terrible. This talk does not represent the best of America. Mr. Trump has not said many of these things--but his rallies do not bring out the best in people--and that is one of the tasks of the President and other elected officials.

You might want to read Thomas Friedman's splendid take on all of this in his article in today's New York Times entitled, "Trump's Ambiguous Wink Wink". Mr. Friedman is a distinguished journalist and known for his level-headed thinking. I recommend this article to everyone.

A very wise preacher preached a sermon one time entitled, "Every Battle is Not Armageddon." Mr. Trump does not understand this. The sky is not falling. The best days for this country were not back there of segregation, closeted gays and back-street abortions. Lately I have even heard a couple of right wing pundits talking about how slavery was not all that bad and provided a fine place for many black folk. The Kool aid has been loaded with hatred in these dog days of summer--and too many people are lapping it up.

Bottom line: Words do matter. Always.

--Roger Lovette / rogerlovette.blogspot.com