https://www.newscorpse.com/ncWP/?p=30188

Just yesterday Trump told Yahoo News that he would support the development of databases and other systems to track and monitor people in the US on the basis of their religion. He didn’t rule out forcing Muslims to have identifying papers or badges. Perhaps he would make them wear a star and crescent in the manner that Hitler’s Nazis made Jews wear the Star of David.

Yahoo News asked Trump whether this level of tracking might require registering Muslims in a database or giving them a form of special identification that noted their religion. He wouldn’t rule it out. “We’re going to have to ‘re going to have to look at a lot of things very closely,” Trump said when presented with the idea. “We’re going to have to look at the mosques. We’re going to have to look very, very carefully.”

This grotesque policy position fits nicely with his prior statement that he believes it may be necessary to close mosques in America. He said that “there’s absolutely no choice” because “some really bad things are happening.” Apparently one of the “really bad things” isn’t the assault on our Constitution’s First Amendment guaranteeing freedom of religion.

But that’s not all, Trump also told Yahoo News that “We’re going to have to do things that we never did before. And some people are going to be upset about it, but I think that now everybody is feeling that security is going to rule,” Trump said. “And certain things will be done that we never thought would happen in this country in terms of information and learning about the enemy. And so we’re going to have to do certain things that were frankly unthinkable a year ago.”

So “security is going to rule.” And I’ll bet the trains will run on time. And speaking of trains, this is the same man who wants to round up 11,000,000 Latinos for mass deportation. How he proposes to do that is a mystery, but it wouldn’t be surprising if it involved boxcars and concentration camps. He approvingly cited the 1950’s “Operation Wetback” as a model for his plan. That operation resulted in dozens of deaths and was abandoned as a failure that violated humane standards.

In Trump’s campaign he has gotten away with saying repulsive things and demonstrating overtly bigoted behavior. Even when he disparaged solidly conservative principles like the military sacrifices of John McCain, or making a mockery of the practice of Christianity, his supporters remained faithful. And despite all that, he’s still at the top of the polls in the Republican presidential primary. There has been an astonishing and troubling loyalty by Republicans who seem unfazed no matter how disgusting or ignorant he gets. And it isn’t just his supporters. Other GOP voters, pundits, and candidates, are reluctant to take him on. If that continues it will be impossible for the GOP to separate themselves from his repugnant views. And the same goes for Fox News.

According to David Gershon Harris on Daily Kos, during a Trump rally in Nov. in Birmingham, AL, a black activist was violently assaulted by white attendees. While Trump was speaking, a protester revealed a shirt bearing the phrase Black Lives Matter and attempted to chant it as attendees began booing. Trump responded by yelling, Get him the hell out of hereĆ® as white attendees tackled and began pummeling him:
At least a half-dozen attendees shoved and tackled the Black male protester to the ground as he refused to leave the event. At least one man punched him, and a woman kicked him while he was on the ground. Trump himself in interviews subsequently defended the response to the protester.

Fortunately, the protester did not need medical attention after security removed him from the event. However, the thrust of Trump’s speech was on the need to monitor Muslims, put surveillance in place for mosques, and create databases of Syrians and those like them who try to cross our border. In short, his overriding campaign strategy, creating hatred and fear of those with dark skin, was in full force when the assault occurred.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the RSS feed to have future articles delivered to your feed reader.