CESAR SAYOC JR. is the name of the person who sent bombs by mail to former President Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former VP Joe Biden, former Attorney General Eric Holder, Representative Maxine Waters, actor Robert de Niro, CNN, and George Soros, the billionaire investor who has been supporting progressive and liberal causes.
These people and media institution are all critics of President Donald Trump. All of them have been the usual target of Trump’s hate speeches when he goes out to campaign rallies to fire up his base. All of them had been demonized by Trump, including CNN, as the “enemy of the people” in the Trump alternative universe.
Yet the 45th President of the United States delivered a statement in response to the news, pontificating: “In these times, we have to unify, we have to come together, and send one very clear, strong, unmistakable message that acts or threats of political violence of any kind have no place in the United States.”
And less than 12 hours later, Trump was at his game again, blaming the news media for the toxic political climate, and playing the victim role. He refuses to admit that he is culpable for the hate he has been spewing.
Sayoc is a Filipino — a fanatic Trump supporter who blindly believes and literally follows the words coming out of Trump’s mouth. He acted on the seed of hate Trump has planted in his consciousness.
Following the arrest of Sayoc, Trump said, “We must never allow political violence to take root in America. We cannot let it happen. And I am committed to doing everything in my power as president to stop it — and to stop it now.”
Here are a few examples of Trump’s rhetoric and action that have incited or encouraged violence:
Politifact reported that in February 2016, during his campaign for president, Trump told a crowd in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, “So I got a little notice. We have wonderful security guys. It said, ‘Mr. Trump, there may be somebody with tomatoes in the audience.’ So if you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously. Just knock the hell…I promise you, I will pay for the legal fees. I promise. I promise.”
On July 2, 2017, Trump shared the doctored video, from a 2007 WWE skit in which he is seen taking down WWE owner Vince McMahon. In the version Trump shared, McMahon’s face is blocked by the CNN logo.
• August 2015: At a press conference in Michigan, Trump contrasted his interactions with the public with those of Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders, who had recently faced opposition from Black Lives Matter protesters.
“That will never happen with me,” said Trump, according to a dispatch by the Washington Post’s David Weigel. “I don’t know if I’ll do the fighting myself, or if other people will. It was a disgrace. I felt badly for him, but it showed that he was weak. You know what? He’s getting the biggest crowds, and we’re getting the biggest crowds. We’re the ones getting the crowds. But that’s never going to happen to Trump.”
• November 2015: At a rally in Alabama, Trump said about a protester, “Get him the hell out of here, will you, please? Get him out of here. Throw him out!”
The following day, calling into Fox News, Trump responded to a question about allegations that the protester had been “roughed up.” The protester, Trump said, had been “so obnoxious and so loud…maybe he should have been roughed up. Maybe he should have been roughed up. Because it was totally disgusting what he was doing.”
• February 2016: At a rally in Las Vegas, Trump again responded to a protester: “See, he’s smiling. See, he’s having a good time. Oh, I love the old days, you know? You know what I hate? There’s a guy, totally disruptive, throwing punches. We’re not allowed to punch back anymore. I love the old days, you know what they used to do to guys like that when they were in a place like this? They’d be carried out in a stretcher, folks. Oh, it’s true…The guards are very gentle with him. He’s walking out with big high-fives, smiling, laughing. I’d like to punch him in the face, I’ll tell you.”
• March 2016: At one point at a rally in Michigan, Trump reiterated his pledge to pay legal fees for people who remove protesters. “Get him out,” Trump said. “Try not to hurt him. If you do, I’ll defend you in court, don’t worry about it.” (Trump later said he had never made the pledge to pay legal fees.)
• March 2016: At an event in Palm Beach, Fla., Trump referred to a past incident with protesters. “We have had a couple that were really violent, and the particular one when I said I’d like to bang him, that was a very — he was a guy who was swinging, very loud and then started swinging at the audience and the audience swung back, and I thought it was very, very appropriate. He was swinging, he was hitting people, and the audience hit back, and that’s what we need a little bit more of.”
• March 2016: At a rally in North Carolina, Trump said, “In the good old days this doesn’t happen because they used to treat them very, very rough. And when they protested once, they would not do it again so easily. But today they walk in and they put their hand up and they put the wrong finger in the air at everybody. And they get away with murder, because we’ve become weak.”
• March 2016: At a rally in St. Louis, Trump once again addressed protesters who were being removed from the facility.
“Part of the problem and part of the reason it takes so long (to remove the protesters) is nobody wants to hurt each other anymore, right? And they’re being politically correct the way they take them out. So it takes a little bit longer. And honestly, protesters they realize it — they realize there are no consequences to protesting anymore. There used to be consequences. There are none anymore.”
• March 2016: At a rally in Kansas City, talking about someone who had rushed the stage, Trump said, “I don’t know if I would have done well, but I would have been out there fighting, folks. I don’t know if I’d have done well, but I would’ve been — boom, boom, boom. I’ll beat the crap out of you.”
UK’s Mirror reported how Trump told crowds at a rally in Wilmington, North Carolina: “Hillary wants to abolish, essentially, the Second Amendment.“By the way, and if she gets the pick – if she gets the pick of her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know.”
Trump should look in the mirror and find the man responsible for pulling America into the quagmire we are in right now. He is the president of the United States. His words matter. His words have consequences. His words incite violence. He should lead by example. This has to stop now.
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Gel Santos Relos is the anchor of TFC’s “Balitang America.” Views and opinions expressed by the author in this column are solely those of the author and not of Asian Journal and ABS-CBN-TFC. For comments, go to www.TheFil-AmPerspective.com, https://www.facebook.com/Gel.Santos.Relos
