MS-13 is Republicans' new Willie Horton

[babylonsister]

http://theweek.com/articles/776008/ms13-republicans-new-willie-horton

MS-13 is Republicans' new Willie Horton
Paul Waldman
May 31, 2018


This week at a rally in Nashville, President Trump did a little call-and-response with the crowd. "They're not human beings," he said. "And this is why we call the bloodthirsty MS-13 gang members exactly the name that I used last week. What was the name?" "ANIMALS!" the crowd shouted lustily in response. Everyone was having a great time, which is not exactly the mood you're usually in when expressing your genuine dismay at terrible crimes that have been committed.

But "animals" has become the latest conservative shibboleth, a marker of identity for which there is extra enthusiasm since it can be used to Trigger the Libs. It all started when in a White House meeting the president rambled on about undocumented immigrants being animals, and depending on whom you believe he might or might not have been talking specifically about MS-13. Liberals pointed out that dehumanizing language like that has many times through history been deployed as a prelude to campaigns of mass murder, and furthermore Trump is doing what he has done many times: used an individual crime to stir up fear and hatred of an entire class of people.

The response to that was predictable. At that rally, Trump called Nancy Pelosi an "MS-13 lover," saying, "She loves MS-13. Can you imagine?" You'll have to imagine, because it's a lie as repugnant as any Trump has told. It's also perfectly in line with a long GOP tradition, whether it was Richard Nixon campaigning on "law and order" or Ronald Reagan telling of how frustrating it was to be behind a "strapping young buck" buying steaks at the grocery store with food stamps. But the strategy reached its apogee in 1988.

If you're a young person today, what you know about George H.W. Bush is probably that he's a kindly old man who gets lots of respect from both Republicans and Democrats, his presidency a brief period of reasonableness and relative calm. You may be less aware of the fact that he reached the Oval Office with a scorched-earth campaign against his opponent Michael Dukakis, one that continues to echo today.

The symbolic centerpiece of that campaign was the story of Willie Horton — though his name was William, which is how he was referred to in news reports prior to the 1992 campaign; where "Willie" came from is unclear, though you may have your suspicions. Horton, an inmate in Massachusetts, escaped while on a prison furlough, then went on to rape a woman and assault her fiance. The furlough program was founded under Dukakis' predecessor, but the facts of the case didn't matter a bit.

What mattered was the story's ability to tap into centuries' worth of racist hate and fear: a criminal black man, terrorizing a white woman while her man lay helpless to save her. Should Dukakis be elected, Republicans said, this would be our horrifying future, the prison doors flung open so a horde of merciless brutes could rampage across the land defiling our women and leaving our manhood shredded. "By the time we're finished," said Bush campaign manager Lee Atwater, "they're going to wonder whether Willie Horton is Dukakis' running mate."

snip//

Is MS-13 a problem in some places? Sure. But there are many more serious problems that don't get a fraction of the attention from Republicans that MS-13 does. And you can bet that President Trump, who likes nothing more than telling lurid stories of violence to drum up hatred against those who are not white and native-born, will keep on talking about them.

[Initech]

1. If Trump and Fox News told their supporters to go jump off a cliff, they would.

[crazycatlady]

5. Oh how I wish he would do that

[Gothmog]

2. Water is also wet

It is really clear what the GOP and trump are doing

[juxtaposed]

3. black ppl on fox internet site. All day long, mostly at night from 1am to 4am. with big pictures

of obscure black criminals to frighten there viewers. Happens every night 12/7 back before Obama.

[Cicada]

4. Ms13 needs to learn from Semion megilevich

The fbi calls Semion Megilevich, the boss of bosses of the Russian mob, the most dangerous mobster in the world. He’s the richest. His known holdings are worth many times as much as trump. He was accused of laundering ten billion in illegal profits thru bank of New York 20 years ago. Back then that was real money. He’s probably the smartest, everyone agrees he is an absolutely brilliant economist, tremendous academic background. And he has paid trump tens of millions so trump will never mention him. One of Semion mistresses owned the apartment directly beneath trumps penthouse in Trump Tower. Several other megilevitch associates have owned apartments in Trump Tower. A megilevitch gambling operation was busted for using a Trump Tower apartment as their headquarters. Some think Trump Tower is the American Headquarters for the Russian mob. So ms13 needs to consider investing in a prime property in Trump Tower. It works for Semion, it would work for them.