By Julia Schwed ‘21, Commentary Editor

President Trump has made inflammatory language his trademark since the debut of his presidential campaign in June 2015. He has repeatedly attacked immigrants, minorities, and media outlets. He also has encouraged violence against those who do not agree with him. Many Trump supporters have attempted to diminish the importance of his language by saying that it is just the way he speaks and that his words are only words. This argument ignores the fact that words inherently carry meaning and people use words to communicate ideas and influence others. Words that encourage hatred and violence have an impact, especially when they are spoken by the President of the United States. 

President Trump has repeatedly encouraged violence. At a campaign rally in 2016 he told his supporters to “knock the crap out of” protestors, assuring them that he would “pay for the legal fees.” At another rally, he said “I’d like to punch him [a protestor] in the face.” More recently, President Trump praised Greg Gianforte, a Congressman from Montana, for attacking a reporter, saying that a person who can body slam is “my guy.”  In October, at a pro-Trump event held at Trump’s Miami resort, supporters displayed a video that had been altered to show a meme of Trump inside a “Church of Fake News,” shooting and stabbing his critics. Although the White House condemned the video, President Trump himself has never commented on the video, despite posting numerous tweets on the day the video was disclosed. 

President Trump has also repeatedly denigrated and attacked minorities and immigrants. During his campaign he referred to Mexican immigrants as rapists and murders. He recently referred to late representative Elijah Cummings’ predominantly black district as a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess.” He also referred to a caravan of immigrants from Latin America as “an invasion of our country.” In addition, he has suggested that violence is appropriate against illegal immigrants, saying “our military is waiting for you” and that “other countries stand [at the border] with machine guns, ready to fire.” In May, at a rally in Florida, he asked, “how do you stop these people [immigrants]?” and then laughed when an audience member yelled, “shoot them.” President Trump’s comments have not only been outrageous and inflammatory, but they have also been frequent. A recent New York Times study of all his tweets since he has been in office found that he has sent 5,889 tweets that attack someone or something, with 851 attacking minority groups and 570 attacking immigrants. 

Not surprisingly, President Trump and his defenders deny that these tweets are problematic. In fact, President Trump thinks they are helpful: “I think my rhetoric brings people together.” But the opposite is true. FBI data shows that there was a 17% increase in hate crimes in President Trump’s first year in office. This was the largest increase in the 25 years the FBI has been tracking hate crimes, except immediately after 9/11. One study published in the Washington Post found that in counties where Trump held rallies there was a 226% increase in hate crimes compared to comparable counties that did not host rallies. This cannot be a coincidence. In fact, tweets that tag @realdonaldtrump, the President’s twitter handle, have included hashtags such as, “#HitlerDidNothingWrong”, “#IslamIsSatanism” and “#WhiteGenocide.” A mass shooter who opened fire in a California synagogue posted “If I won’t defend my race, how can I expect others to do the same?” 

Violence and hatred did not start when President Trump took office. However, there can be no doubt that hate crimes and white supremacy movements have been on the rise during his presidency. At the end of October, CNN released a video interview with a woman who had been a member of a white supremacy group. The group held Nazi parties, and she gave one example of a party where they burned books about Jewish people. When she first attempted to leave the group, male members said they would break her legs so that she could not run away and they would force her to have Nazi babies. This sounds like a description of something that happened in Nazi Germany or maybe the Deep South, but the party actually happened not long ago in a New York suburban home. 

We cannot stop Trump’s words or his tweets. This country has long valued free political speech, but this does not mean that we should ignore the consequences of speech or downplay his words and his tweets as normal behavior. The normalization of Trump’s outrageous tweets have led to an increase in hate crimes and the acceptance of a President who promotes violence against those who pose a threat to his presidency. Republican officials rarely speak out against his words or even his actions. Everyone, including Republican Congressmen and Senators, must stop accepting his words as typical Trump behavior. As Elijah Cummings said, “When we are dancing with angels, the question will be asked, in 2019 what did we do to make sure we kept our democracy intact? Did we stand on the sidelines and say nothing?” Hopefully, the answer will be “no.”