If Donald Trump fails in his quest to become the 45th President of the United States, he’ll always have a career in terrorist propaganda.
For months now, security experts have been warning us that Trump’s call for a ban on all Muslims entering the United States was going to become a recruitment goldmine for terrorist groups.
Well, those security experts were right.
See more news and opinion from Thom Hartmann at Truthout here.
Al-Shabab, a Somali terrorist group linked to al-Qaeda, has just come out with a new recruiting video, and Donald Trump plays a starring role, comb over and all.
While appearing in a terrorist recruitment video probably won’t do much to hurt Trump’s campaign, it does clear up one thing: contrary to conventional beltway thinking, Donald Trump is, in fact, a real Republican.
Let me explain.
Some people, and by “some people” I mean establishment Republicans who are terrified that he’ll actually win the nomination, don’t think Donald Trump is a real Republican.
They point to his past support for universal health-care, the Clintons and Democrats as proof that he’s a donkey in an elephant’s clothing.
But these establishment Republicans are wrong.
Donald Trump is just like them.
He’s a “real” Republican.
And that’s not just because he’s spewing hate speech, degrading women or flirting with fascism.
It’s because, like all true Republicans, Donald Trump is doing his part to fuel terrorism, at home and abroad.
I know, I know.
I know what you’re thinking: “Republicans hate terrorism! They want to carpet bomb ISIS! They want to torture all the bad guys! They want to go all Terminator on Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi! And you want me to think they support terrorism? Yeah right, buddy!”
Well, here’s the dirty little secret Republicans don’t want you to know: They’re just as bad as terrorists when it comes to making people want to kill Americans.
Everything they’ve done to “fight” terrorism over the past decade-and-a-half has actually done the exact opposite.
The Iraq War, Guantanamo Bay, the CIA’s torture program – they were all free propaganda for groups like al-Qaeda and made terrorism a bigger problem than it already was.
There wasn’t even a suicide bombing in the 7,000-year-long history of Iraq before Bush and his neocons blew that country apart!
And here’s the thing: It’s not some big secret that Republican policies play a big role in creating terrorism.
Terrorists themselves have told us that they killed Americans not because they hated our values or thought we were “weak,” but they were mad about Republican policies in the “war on terror.”
For example, Dzokhar Tsarnaev, one of the two Boston Marathon bombers, left a note for police claiming that his attack on one of the biggest sporting events in the country was revenge for Bush’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Other terrorists like Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad, Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hassan and “underwear bomber” Umar Abdulmutallab have all said similar things about why they did what they did.
They all said that they were retaliating against the mostly Republican-supported policies of our government, which have caused the deaths and displacement of millions of Muslims all over the world.
If we’re going to believe terrorists when they say they’re going to attack us, we should also believe them when they say why they’re going to attack us.
Which brings us back to Donald Trump.
At this point, it’s no longer just a debating point to say that he’s a walking, talking terrorist recruitment campaign.
Not when he appears in a terrorist recruitment video.
Not when people who want to kill Americans are using his words to get other people to kill Americans.
Not when he’s literally doing the terrorist’s job for them.
Of course, that doesn’t make him any different than any other Republican.
The Grand Old Party has been supporting terrorism for decades now, through its policies and its rhetoric and, as Osama Bin Laden pointed out in 1998, that’s been a real boon for Halliburton and other members of the Republican’s military-industrial complex donors.
Donald Trump is just the logical conclusion of that dark, dark trend.
Help us Prepare for Trump’s Day One
Trump is busy getting ready for Day One of his presidency – but so is Truthout.
Trump has made it no secret that he is planning a demolition-style attack on both specific communities and democracy as a whole, beginning on his first day in office. With over 25 executive orders and directives queued up for January 20, he’s promised to “launch the largest deportation program in American history,” roll back anti-discrimination protections for transgender students, and implement a “drill, drill, drill” approach to ramp up oil and gas extraction.
Organizations like Truthout are also being threatened by legislation like HR 9495, the “nonprofit killer bill” that would allow the Treasury Secretary to declare any nonprofit a “terrorist-supporting organization” and strip its tax-exempt status without due process. Progressive media like Truthout that has courageously focused on reporting on Israel’s genocide in Gaza are in the bill’s crosshairs.
As journalists, we have a responsibility to look at hard realities and communicate them to you. We hope that you, like us, can use this information to prepare for what’s to come.
And if you feel uncertain about what to do in the face of a second Trump administration, we invite you to be an indispensable part of Truthout’s preparations.
In addition to covering the widespread onslaught of draconian policy, we’re shoring up our resources for what might come next for progressive media: bad-faith lawsuits from far-right ghouls, legislation that seeks to strip us of our ability to receive tax-deductible donations, and further throttling of our reach on social media platforms owned by Trump’s sycophants.
We’re preparing right now for Trump’s Day One: building a brave coalition of movement media; reaching out to the activists, academics, and thinkers we trust to shine a light on the inner workings of authoritarianism; and planning to use journalism as a tool to equip movements to protect the people, lands, and principles most vulnerable to Trump’s destruction.
We’re asking all of our readers to start a monthly donation or make a one-time donation – as a commitment to stand with us on day one of Trump’s presidency, and every day after that, as we produce journalism that combats authoritarianism, censorship, injustice, and misinformation. You’re an essential part of our future – please join the movement by making a tax-deductible donation today.
If you have the means to make a substantial gift, please dig deep during this critical time!
With gratitude and resolve,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy