The September 11, 2001 attacks affected and united many Americans
If you’ve forgotten how united Americans were on September 11, 2001, you would be forgiven. The U.S. today doesn’t look much like it did on and in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. Our country is more divided than many of us can remember at any other time in our lives. Unfortunately, Donald Trump and many Republicans are purposely trying to tear us apart. How we respond to that effort will largely determine America’s future well-being.
One of the most memorable moments of 9/11 was later that day, when Republican and Democratic (and Independent) members of Congress gathered together on the U.S. Capitol steps, where they hugged, held hands, and sang “God Bless America.” Then-President George W. Bush also made efforts to unify America in the aftermath of 9/11 (although it’s a separate issue that Bush took America’s unity and grief after 9/11 and used it to start a war against Iraq). One thing Bush did was repeatedly to make clear, especially over the following year, that:
the war against terrorism is not a war against Muslims, nor is it a war against Arabs. It is a war against evil people who conduct crimes against innocent people.
When Bush’s two terms were completed, President Barack Obama tried to expand the unity Americans had felt on and after the September 11, 2001 attacks into other policy areas, such as healthcare and economic recovery. Although Obama narrowly succeeded in passing some of his biggest policy proposals such as the Economic Stimulus and the Affordable Care Act, however, Republicans fought him every inch of the way. Indeed, the Republicans even conspired on the very night of President Obama’s inauguration not to cooperate with him on anything, including policies that Republicans customarily support, such as rebuilding America’s crumbling roads and bridges. The Republicans also personally attacked Obama with absurd and phony charges that he was a Muslim (the premise being that, unlike what George W. Bush had said, being a Muslim is somehow bad), and not even a native-born American. One prominent person who joined in these charges was Donald Trump.
Perhaps it should not have been surprising, therefore, that Trump began his 2016 presidential campaign with a blast of ethnic divisiveness, attacking immigrants from Mexico as “rapists” and criminals “bringing drugs.” Three years later under Trump and Republican Party rule, even George W. Bush’s words seem quaint and distant. Trump and his fellow Republicans increasingly and openly attack women, blacks, Latinos, gays, Muslims, immigrants and other minority or less powerful groups. Some members of Trump’s administration, and some Republican politicians and leaders, even have ties to neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups. Trump supporters openly flash “white power” signs at photo ops and televised public events.
It appears that Trump and the Republicans are trying to appeal to a particular intolerant constituency, including bigoted white men, some of whom are Evangelicals. However, recent polls indicate that Trump’s approval ratings are sinking, and that the Republicans are facing possible defeat in the upcoming midterm elections. If morality won’t cause Trump and the Republicans to reverse course on their poisonous division of Americans, perhaps political annihilation will.
Photo by Cliff, used under Creative Commons license. https://is.gd/HgfIhY
