General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsVox: Trump' s terrifying plan to win the 2018 midterms
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/1/17/16893408/donald-trumps-2018-plangiven Trumps willingness to put his own interests before democratic norms from keeping his business interests to firing his FBI director to protect a friend the absurd idea feels almost plausible.
If Trump thinks a terrorist attack would serve his political interests either through a blind rally-round-the-flag effect or by specifically validating anti-immigrant demagoguery or what have you how hard is he really working to keep the country safe?
D_Master81
(1,822 posts)I remember coming to DU back in 2003 after the iraq war started and the discussion here was "9/11 - LIHOP or MIHOP?". we may be having that discussion again.
D_Master81
(1,822 posts)where I thing Trump is wrong in his assessment is that 9/11 was an attack on America in a time where terrorism on American soil was thought to be almost unthinkable. Yes, there was the OKC bombing and the 1st WTC attack, but 2 attacks in a decade that had been largely forgotten. 9/11 was on another scale, a scale that changed the way people thought and saw the world. I was in college at the time and i remember talking about this in a class and a RW nutjob said if they did this again we should "nuke em". People literally lost their minds out of fear and anger. I contend that whoever was in power then would've benefited from the public rallying around the WH. The GOP was just "lucky" they were in power cause then they had the bully pulpit of being able to argue that the way they were responding was the best way.
All of that to say this, its been 17 years since. Kids are graduating high school that were barely alive when 9/11 happened. I feel like Americans have become numbed by all the terrorism and wars of the past 2 decades that if something did happen, I dont see a similar rallying around the President that Bush got. We've seen that story before. We're polarized enough that I think it might help some, its hard to say. But I just dont see the dramatic shift in thinking towards trump happening like it did w/ Bush. Also, I dont see any terror networks being able to pull off another 9/11. Lone wolf attacks are now the terrorist playbook, and those dont move the needle at all in public sentiment.
Raster
(20,998 posts)..."
TheBlackAdder
(28,183 posts)Gothmog
(145,129 posts)DemocratSinceBirth
(99,710 posts)Americans rallied around Bush in the immediate aftermath of 9-11 because he appealed to our best instincts and not our worst ones.