In the aftermath of the Orlando shootings, Donald Trump has been roundly branded a “fear monger,” with the suggestion that he is preying upon Americans’ darkest horrors for his own political advancement.
Whatever you think of Trump, the case can easily be made that a complacent America is not nearly fearful enough.
To which the only reasonable response is clearly, “Thank you, more fear please.”
Because whatever you think of Trump, the case can easily be made that a complacent America is not nearly fearful enough. After 49 people were slaughtered by an Islamist terrorist, why should the nation wait patiently for a massive attack before getting their afraid on? And with Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen admitting this week that the economy may be on a direct path to nowhere, anybody not fearing for their job or their children’s future well-being must be sipping bourbon all day.
“The current politically correct response cripples our ability to talk and to think and act clearly,” Trump said the day after the attack during remarks at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire. “If we don’t get tough, and if we don’t get smart, and fast, we’re not going to have our country anymore. There will be nothing — absolutely nothing — left.”
But of course, such “inflammatory” talk doesn’t sit right with “sane” people — who apparently do not recognize the insanity rising all around us.
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In a piece titled “Trump’s politics of fear,” Politico reporter Eli Stokols wrote that Trump’s “plan” is “to encourage fear by suggesting that Washington is actively promoting policies that endanger its citizens,” which “plays directly to the base that rewarded him with the GOP nomination.”
For much of the Washington insider class, it goes without saying that stoking fear is inherently a bad thing.
The piece, whose sentiments have been echoed widely, continues:
“Painting with his typically broad brush in his speech at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Monday, Trump criticized a ‘dysfunctional’ immigration system, the political correctness that he says prevents politicians like [Hillary] Clinton from telling the truth about ‘radical Islamic terrorism,’ and an ‘incompetent’ White House.”
Sounds more like pointillism than a broad brush — and little did the author know that Clinton really would be unable to utter the words “radical Islamic terror.”
For much of the Washington insider class, it goes without saying that stoking fear is inherently a bad thing. But that presupposes that there is never anything to be afraid of. The political class, rather than Trump, is guilty of harboring mindless assumptions that les bon temps will always continue to rolle. It’s an anti-intellectual stance that is ignorant of history’s ample lessons that great powers routinely get swept aside by internal rot and external threats.
Now, let’s be clear, Trump is no Winston Churchill. But Churchill was accused of fear mongering for nearly a decade before Britons were forced to shelter in basements as the Luftwaffe soared overhead.
Here are a few reasons to not just to be afraid, but to be very afraid.
1.) ISIS, an organization tens of thousand strong — with perhaps millions of adherents and sympathizers worldwide — has already struck the United States through its proxies several times and vows to inflict far more damage, possibly of the crippling sort. Under President Obama, ISIS has been permitted to thrive and spread throughout the Middle East. It has the time and the safe haven from which to plot devastating attacks. Should ISIS get its hands on any of the loose nukes floating about the earth, it could end our civilization. Which is, in fact, it’s goal.
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2.) Under this president, economic growth has slowed to a crawl of about 1 percent. The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that, “After seven years of sub-par U.S. growth, Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen is slowly coming to acknowledge that this could be the new long-run state of the economy.” So interest rates will stay near zero, and with the federal debt at more than $19 trillion, both the fiscal and monetary levers for solving the next economic crisis are limited. That is, rates can’t go any lower, and there is no money for another big “stimulus.” What’s more, tens of trillions of dollars are owed to future Social Security and Medicare recipients, and it is not the least bit clear where the cash will be found. “Contributions” made toward future receipts have already been spent by the federal government.
3.) America is supposed to be a melting pot, but no pot can be heated hot enough to meld into American society immigrants streaming into the country, legally and illegally, at current rates. Platitudes like “America is a country of immigrants” obscure that America is not a country that accepts unlimited numbers of immigrants — some from nations and cultures like those in the Middle East, where anti-democratic thinking is endemic and sympathy for terrorism can be substantial. The number of immigrants in the United States is at record levels and is as high, as a percentage of the population, since they were during the “Great Wave” of the early 1900s. By the 1920s, the United States had acted smartly to curtail immigration so that the new arrivals could assimilate. That, in effect, is what Trump wants to do.
4.) In 10 to 15 years, Iran will be hold nuclear weapons — legally, according to the terms of last year’s deal with the United States. That means that within two decades, two nations led by hostile lunatics, Iran and North Korea, will have nuclear weapons and likely the means to deliver them straight into Chicago.
One can believe that Trump is not the right person to address these perils. But one cannot dismiss his proposition that, “If we don’t get smart, and fast, we’re not going to have our country anymore.”
Keith Koffler is the editor of the website White House Dossier.
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