The shocking violence in Alexandria, Virginia, by a crazed gunman, who shot five people, including House Majority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana is a sign of escalating violence in this nation, incited by bad blood on both sides of the political spectrum, but also by Donald Trump, who in the past two years has called for violence against his opponent Hillary Clinton, and encouraged violence by his supporters at his campaign rallies against any critics, and that he would pay their legal costs, or so he said.
The political invective is higher now than it has been since the Civil War Era, and Trump cannot be said to be innocent in any fashion, and he likes to act like a bully, and intimidate his critics and opponents. But also, the two parties, Democrats and Republicans, have reached a stage where they cannot “cross the aisle”, as they often did in past decades, to accomplish major goals in legislation.
And conservative talk radio and Fox News Channel has also incited people with their poisonous atmosphere–including Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Michael Savage, Laura Ingraham, Ann Coulter, Tucker Carlson, and so many others, all of whom spew hatred.
Some conservatives try to claim that Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O’Donnell, Chris Hayes, Jake Tapper, Anderson Cooper, and others considered to be progressives, are doing the same thing on their programs, but that is pure BS!
The political atmosphere has been deteriorating for the past 25 years since Bill Clinton came to the Presidency, and many of the talk show hosts on the Right have become multimillionaires in the process, and Republican leadership has gone along with this to gain their own agenda.
The fact that the shooter of Steve Scalise and others was a Bernie Sanders supporter in 2016, will, assuredly make the right wing talk show hosts further inflame the situation, so those on the left cannot remain silent, as some are advocating.
We deplore the shooting, and do not advocate violence, but that does not mean we shall remain silent in the midst of government abuses and illegalities.
The American people expect their government to be accountable to its citizenry!