Trump’s Ugly Rants About Haitians Suddenly Take On a More Sinister Hue

For instance, in 2018, a California man named Robert Chain was arrested for threatening to murder Boston Globe journalists, while snarling into one employee’s voicemail: “You’re the enemy of the people.” Chain echoed Trump’s own language about the media. After that, Trump kept on using that same language.

Want more? Robert Bowers, who murdered 11 people in a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018, appeared motivated by hateful white nationalist tropes, which he trafficked in himself, about Jewish organizations bringing in “invaders”—that is, refugees—who “kill our people.” Also in 2018, a man who owned a van festooned with Trump stickers attempted to mail improvised bombs to prominent Democrats, media organizations, and George Soros. After all that, Trump again fed the Soros-obsessed conspiracy theorizing. The “invasion” ugliness has been flowing nonstop since.

The point is not that Trump or his rhetoric are to blame for these heinous acts. Rather, it’s that in situations like these, it would be minimally responsible in a leader to refrain from using this sort of language, if only to err on the side of caution. It will blow your mind to hear this, but Trump is not that leader.