Photo by Fibonacci Blue

I’ve studied President Donald Trump long enough to realize he always has the capacity to be even worse. Of course, many biographers have written that Trump never apologizes for anything. Trump mentor Roy Cohn taught him to always declare victory, even if you lost. Being president has only further illustrated his sociopathic tendencies.

This was evident in the 24 hours after the New Zealand terrorist attack. Even though Brenton Tarrant, who allegedly slaughtered 49 Muslims, cited Trump and also named checked other white nationalist terrorists, such as Anders Breivik and Dylan Roof, the president refused to admit there was a problem.

During an Oval Office meeting, he downplayed the growing threat of white nationalist terrorism and the role he’s played in it.

“It’s a small group of people that have very, very serious problems. I guess, if you look at what happened in New Zealand, perhaps that’s a case. I don’t know enough about it yet, they’re just learning about the person and the people involved,” said Trump.

Of course, denying this is gaslighting. Gaslighting is a term that was created to refer to domestic abusers who try to convince victims their injuries never happened. Trump operates just like them. He’s inflicting trauma on the American people, and the world, and trying to claim it never happened.

A few minutes later, he went on to prove the shooter’s point by warning of an invasion coming from the southern border.

However, there is plenty of evidence that proves growing white nationalist rhetoric and policies are a problem. Trump won election by stoking the rage of angry white people who blamed Mexicans, not outsourcing or automation, for stealing their jobs. These people were still angry at the fact Barack Obama served two successful terms in the White House. Banning Muslims was also a central part of Trump’s 2016 campaign and he’s referred to African nations as “sh*thole countries.”

There have also been several high-profile white nationalist terrorist attacks across the globe such as Anders Breivik in Norway, and Roof, Cesar Sayoc, Lt. Christopher Hasson and James Alex Fields Jr. (the Charlottesville attacker) in the United States. According to the Anti-Defamation League, 71 percent of domestic terrorist attacks from 2017 to 2018 came from right-wing extremists.

Of course, denying this is gaslighting. Gaslighting is a term that was created to refer to domestic abusers who try to convince victims their injuries never happened. Trump operates just like them. He’s inflicting trauma on the American people, and the world, and trying to claim it never happened.

Trump’s behavior is immoral, but he’s a sociopath who doesn’t have any compassion for other people. It’s all about him and his image. And right now, he can’t criticize white nationalists because he knows those are his people. He wants their support and adulation.

Col. (rtd.) Lawrence Wilkerson, a retired diplomat, also agrees with this point.

“Trump needs those on the extreme right, so he cannot openly condemn them. In fact, increasingly he has firmly only them. They constitute the very core of his base,” said Wilkerson in a Medium interview.

However, it’s not just Trump, several other Republicans have joined his gaslighting efforts. Yesterday, I was shocked to watch how some Republicans were bending over backward to avoid linking Trump to the New Zealand attack.

Conservative propagandist Rush Limbaugh delved into Alex Jones territory when he claimed, with no proof, the attack was a “false flag.”

FOX News troll Jesse Watters said it was irresponsible for the media to link the attack to Trump.

“I don’t understand how the media can lie about this guy’s manifesto. I read it. The manifesto, if you read it, does not attribute this guy’s philosophy to Donald Trump,” said Watters.

He also claimed Tarrant was actually “an eco-terrorist.” However, Tarrant wrote Trump was “a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose.” He also bragged about his European heritage and expressed his hatred of non-white, non-Christian immigrants flooding into Australia and New Zealand.

Trump and his Republican supporters are trying to create an alternate reality. They think that if they flood the right-wing media with enough propaganda, their supporters will believe it over real facts. However back in the real world, mainstream reporters and commentators are not accepting this.

“If you look at what’s happened here in the U.S. in the last few years, whether it’s the neo-Nazi violence on the streets of Charlottesville, the Tree of Life synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh last year, Anderson, even the attempted pipe bomb attack on CNN and other Democratic targets — Anderson, that is right-wing extremism violence, and the kind that is on the rise here in the U.S. and around the world,” said CNN’s Jim Acosta in a conversation with Anderson Cooper.

New York Times columnist Wajahat Ali called Trump a “racist” and an “enabler” of white supremacists.

“How do we know that? Their own words. Daily Stormer, the number one white supremacist website, said he’s our guy. Richard Spencer, alt-right, says he’s our guy. David Duke says he’s our guy,” said Ali, during a CNN interview.

At this stage, it’s clear what Trump and his core supporters are. And from his past behavior, we can’t expect he’ll do the right thing. Trump will just keep inspiring white nationalist violence at home and around the globe.

It’s up to American voters to take the appropriate action.