Talking About Dirty Politics: Why are people mad about the Trump video of him shooting news outlets?

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On Quora, member Autumn Wintrys asks: 

Why are people mad about the Trump video of him shooting news outlets?

First, let’s clarify certain points about this story:

To begin with, the video mentioned in various reports does not show the real Donald Trump shooting at “enemies of the right” (which not only include news media organizations, but also the late Sen. John S. McCain III [R-AZ’]). Rather, it’s a Donald Trump impersonator mimicking the aforementioned shooting spree.

Second, while Donald Trump may not have produced or even green-lit the video in question, It was shown at a Trump resort in Miami before an audience of Trump staffers and supporters.

Per the non-partisan publication The Hill’s Video of fake Trump shooting members of media shown at his Miami resort: report:

A fake video of President Trump shooting, stabbing and brutally assaulting media personalities and political opponents was played at a conference for his supporters at his Miami resort last week, The New York Times reported Sunday.

Donald Trump Jr., former White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) were all scheduled to speak at the three-day conference hosted by American Priority at Trump National Doral Miami.

The White House, of course, emphasizes that Trump was not present at the video showing and that “he strongly condemns the video.”

Per The Hill’s report:

The video obtained by the Times also features the logo for Trump’s reelection campaign.

One portion reportedly shows Trump’s head superimposed on the body of a man opening fire at people who have the faces of his critics or the logos of media organizations superimposed on bodies inside the “Church of Fake News."

Among the people and logos included were the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and CNN, according to the Times.

As to why people are mad….

Well, even taking into account the possibility that Donald J. Trump did not have anything to do with the creation of the video, the fact that such a ghastly public display of animosity toward the press and the opposition party reflects the ugly depths to which “Conservatism” and “Republicanism” have sunk since 2008.

Look. In a political system where there are two different worldviews and various agendas, there is always going to be differences of opinion. Even when Republicans and Democrats treat each other with respect - a rarity in Trump’s America, I know - not everyone is going to agree on how government should be run, how large government should be, and what place does religion play in public life.

Apparently, though, the trend in conservatism as of late has become a bid to grab full control of all three branches of government, i.e. the Presidency, the Congress, and the Supreme Court with the goal of establishing a “permanent majority” that will enable the Party of the Rich to dictate how the country is run.

Of course, as long as there are pesky obstacles such as free elections, a free press, and a viable opposition, the GOP can’t achieve this goal. So Republicans have, since the days of Richard Nixon, aggressively pursued a multi-pronged campaign to weaken their “enemies,” using every tactic at their disposal.

The first successful ploy in the GOP playbook was the Southern Strategy that wooed conservative Democrats in the Old South to switch parties as backlash for the gains of the Civil Rights movement. Taking advantage of the excesses of the anti-war movement during the Vietnam War, Republicans have pounded into conservatives’ minds the notion that liberals hate the U.S. and everything the country stands for. The Southern Strategy was a key element of Nixon’s victories in 1968 and 1972, and it also accounts for the rise of Reaganism in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

The other slab in the foundation of modern conservatism was the marriage between Evangelical Protestantism and the Republican establishment. Prior to the late 1960s, relations between the GOP and the ultra-conservative movement, especially in the South, were strained due to the Eisenhower Administration’s support of school integration and a few other civil rights causes from 1953 to 1961. But after Watergate forced Nixon out of office in 1974, the GOP decided to make itself “impeachment proof” by every means possible. If this meant a cynical alliance between the big city, big money Republican elite and rural white Christians, so be it.

I don’t have time to get into how and why the GOP’s embrace of Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority and like-minded “Christian” organizations led to the “culture wars” and Trumpism. Suffice it to say, however, that in order to turn Americans against their fellow citizens, the unholy marriage between the Republican Party and the extremists in the Evangelical movement have made it necessary for liberals and the free press to be labeled “enemies of the nation.”

This path, I say, leads to madness. And having a President in the White House who aids and abets anti-democratic movements in the U.S. and the world is clearly not a good idea.

That’s why this video of a fake Trump shooting and stabbing his perceived enemies makes people “mad.”