“But, over time, I learned to hate as blindly and viciously as any of them.”
No, the above was not said by American viewers or listeners of political pundits in the last forty years. But it might as well have been.
At every opportunity, pundits bash their political enemies. Then they complain, “The nation is more divided than ever.”
It is the pundits who have made spewing hatred socially acceptable and perceived as even a good thing!
That is why hatred is still a “thing” in this country. Politicians too, pile on.
In addition, scapegoating is also all the childish rage these days. Pursuant to what they’ve heard, American viewers and listeners can feel free to blame any or all of the following for all of their troubles (in no particular order):
illegal immigrants, the Iranians, Robert Mueller, Hillary, James Comey, Obama, Lisa Page, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, red state governors, Democrats, police officers, Republicans, Donald J. Trump, Adam Schiff, Hunter Biden, the Chinese, conservatives, Mitch McConnell, Nancy Pelosi, Peter Strzok, the North Koreans, blue state governors, the Squad, liberals, the ladies on “The View,” Joe Biden, teachers, Antifa, Jerrold Nadler, the NRA, and numerous lesser attention whores.
Renewing threats is apparently in vogue, too. A Google search reveals who, of the most recent three presidents, has renewed the most threats.
The following is all Google search results (duplicates of headlines were deleted for the same date) of actual headlines of news or information outlets with the exact phrase, “Trump renews threat to” (Warning: this might get a little tedious):
Dec 9, 2015 Trump renews threat to run as an Independent GOP presidential…
Mar 3, 2016 Trump Renews Indie Threat
Aug 8, 2016 Trump renews threat to leave NAFTA in speech on economy
Nov 28, 2016 Trump renews threat to prosecute Clinton for joining recount
Aug 2, 2017 Trump renews threat to scrap NAFTA
Aug 27, 2017 Donald Trump Renews Threat To Scrap NAFTA Amid Negotiations …
Aug 28, 2017 Trump renews threat to scrap NAFTA going into next round of talks …
May 23, 2018 Trump Renews Threat to Scrap North Korea Summit
May 29, 2018 Trump Renews Threat To Impose Tariffs On High-Tech Chinese Goods
Apr 23, 2018 Trump renews threat to tie border crossings to new NAFTA deal
Jul 29, 2018 Trump renews threat to shut down government over border wall
Jul 30, 2018 Trump renews threat to shut down government over border wall
Aug 2, 2018 President Trump renews threat to shut down the …
Nov 22, 2018 Trump renews threat to close Mexico border over migrants
Nov 23, 2018 Trump renews threat to close US border with Mexico
Nov 29, 2018 Trump Renews Threat To Impose Tariffs On Imported Cars
Dec 28, 2018 Trump renews threat to close southern border
Dec 29, 2018 Trump renews threat to close US-Mexico border
Jan 6, 2019 Trump Renews Threat to Declare National Emergency in Border Wall
Jan 7, 2019 Trump Renews Threat to Declare Emergency Over Border …
Jan 10, 2019 President Trump Renews Threat To Declare Emergency To Get Funds …
Jan 25, 2019 Trump renews threat to declare national emergency over border …
Mar 28, 2019 Trump renews threat to close the southern border, blasts Mexico on …
Mar 29, 2019 Trump renews threat to shut down US-Mexico border
Mar 31, 2019 Trump Renews Threat to Close Border, Cuts Aid to Central America
Apr 1, 2019 Trump renews threat to close southern border, calls on Congress to fix …
Apr 2, 2019 Trump renews threat to close border, possibly affecting commerce …
Apr 24, 2019 Trump renews threat to close Mexican border, send more troops …
Apr 25, 2019 Trump renews threat to close Mexico border
Apr 26, 2019 President Trump Renews Threat to Close U S Border with Mexico …
Jun 10, 2019 Trump renews threat to against French wine (sic)
Jun 11, 2019 US President Donald Trump renews threat to impose tariffs on Mexico
Jul 14, 2019 Trump renews threat to close Mexico border.
August 14, 2019 Trump renews threat to pull US out of WTO
Aug 21, 2019 Trump renews threat to end ‘ridiculous’ birthright citizenship
Sep 20, 2019 Trump Renews Threat to Dump IS Fighters at Europe’s Border
Nov 3, 2019 Trump renews threat to cut wildfire aid to California
Jan 5, 2020 Trump renews threat to Iran after rockets land in Baghdad’s Green Zone
Jun 18, 2020 Trump renews threat to cut ties with Beijing, a day after high-level U.S.-China talks
Jun 18, 2020 Trump renews threat to cut ties with China.
Jun 23, 2020 Trump renews threat to cut ties with Beijing
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The following is all Google search results (duplicates of headlines were deleted for the same date) of actual headlines of news or information outlets with the exact phrase, “Obama renews threat to”:
Jul 15, 2009 Obama Renews Threat to Veto Military Spending Bill Over F-22s
Jul 26, 2011 Obama Renews Threat to Veto Boehner Debt Plan
Jul 27, 2011 Obama Renews Threat to Veto Boehner Debt Plan
Jan 13, 2016 Obama Renews Threat to Suspend AGOA Benefits for South Africa
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The following is all Google search results (duplicates of headlines were deleted for the same date) of actual headlines of news or information outlets with the exact phrase, “Bush renews threat to”:
Aug 24, 2001 Bush renews threat to boycott racism conference over Zionism
Dec 5, 2001 Bush renews threat to Iraq
Dec 6, 2001 Bush renews threat to veto defense bill
May 25, 2005 Bush renews threat to veto stem cell …
Mar 28, 2007 President Bush Renews Threat to Veto Bill on Iraq Troop Withdrawal
Apr 25, 2007 Bush renews threat to veto war funding bill from Congress
May 2, 2007 Bush vetoes war spending bill with Iraq …
Jul 19, 2007 Bush renews threat to veto health bill
Aug 24, 2001 Bush renews threat to boycott racism conference over Zionism
Sep 21, 2007 Bush renews threat to veto children’s health legislation
Sep 25, 2007 Bush renews threat to veto spending bills
Oct 3, 2007 Bush renews threat to veto children’s health legislation
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It remains to be seen whether overpaid bashing, hating, scapegoating, threatening noisemakers and/or patronage pigs will triumph over:
- the refinement of national healthcare (even the second draft of ANY extremely, extremely, extremely complex system such as this, is going to have numerous problems)
- human teachers
- the cleaning up of and future prevention of pollution in various places in the United States
- freedoms of religion, speech, assembly, etc., and
- reducing even a little– the usual corruption, incompetence and waste that is always present to some degree in even a democratic nation.
By the way, the Bonus Book of the Week is “Makes Me Wanna Holler, A Young Black Man in America” by Nathan McCall, published in 1994.
The line preceding the first line of this post is, “I wondered, ‘Where did those white people learn to hate so deeply at such a young age?‘ “
Born in 1955 in Portsmouth, Virginia, the author detailed how his life mirrored his ethnic group’s mentality (African American) in his generation. When he was an adolescent, the forces governing his behavior included: the need for a feeling of tribal unity, peer pressure, hating all white people, and vendetta against rival gangs. If those gangs had acquired the kinds of writing, speaking and debating skills valued by the ethnic group (Caucasian) politically dominant at the time, those gangs could have become pundits or politicians.
Instead, they wasted their time and talents on physical fighting against each other, sexual conquests, and committing street crime. Such activities were destructive to their own ethnic group. Read the book to learn how that worked out for the author.