WHCD Gunman's Manifesto Exposes Trump’s Violence Upon the American Psyche
Donald Trump has inflicted violence upon the American psyche for ten years, and it’s reaching its breaking point. And suddenly now, he's gone quiet. Why?
Is this why they’re being so quiet?
The alleged WHCD gunman’s manifesto exposes Trump’s violence upon the American Psyche.
Trump has inflicted violence upon the American psyche for ten years, and it’s reaching its breaking point.
Violence is never the answer, and we condemn it. We are grateful no one was seriously injured or killed. But we need to be able to talk about the reality of what Trump is doing to the people of this country, and that requires that people hold two different ideas at the same time.
This column explores what happens when the government doesn’t respond to the people, while inflicting horrific violence and even murder upon US citizens.
Watching a murder or severe violence induces a complex psychological reaction, combining high-arousal empathy, moral outrage, and a survival-driven need to restore order.
Between the ICE killings, the horrors in Gaza, the detention center brutalities, strikes on Venezuelan drug boats and the war of choice based on a lie in Iran, Trump’s violence has pushed people to the point where they feel the urge to act, driven by empathy and a desire to help.
We have watched murders of two people who were trying to uphold democracy, freedom, and human rights. People who were doing good things for their neighbors, shot and killed, and then lied about in an effort to justify the murders.
People can only take so much. Those who are able to hold their mental health and hope for the future are channeling their fear and anger by protesting, doing good deeds to protect their neighbors, volunteering, and organizing for democracy.
But not everyone is so lucky. Not everyone is so stable. And not everyone is satisfied with action that doesn’t immediately relieve their stress. Add that to that the fact that our lawmakers refuse to regulate access to guns in any meaningful way, and what happened at the WHCD should serve as a warning that tensions in this country are a cauldron of seething unrest.
Witnessing violence disrupts an individual's sense of safety, driving a psychological need to regain control. What Trump has done to this country and her people is unthinkably stressful, each and every day.
Coping with that daily load without becoming hateful or violent as the people responsible for it publicly show disdain for their victims and utter contempt for Americans is a test not everyone will pass.
But violence is an ineffective weapon. It doesn’t have the power that peaceful demonstrations do. The revolution must be peaceful.
We should be able to look up to the president and aspire to be like them. But we are dealing with a criminal who operates like the mafia. That impacts the entire country.
If our government was responsive to the people as it is supposed to be, as it is designed to be, and as it would be if this were truly a free country, they would have taken ICE off the streets immediately or at the very least, forced them to be as accountable as police officers are with no masks and with clear identification. They would have stopped egging ICE on to hurt and slaughter people in broad daylight.
When a country is ruled by a violent autocrat, there is responsive violence in the people.
The presidency trickles down. The personality of the president imbues the country with itself. And so people are behaving erratically, angrily, violently, and as if there are no laws.
The Manifesto
Officials told the New York Post that Cole Tomas Allen had sent a manifesto to members of his family shortly before the incident, and a relative handed that document to police. The following quotes are from that alleged document, but caveat emptor as unfortunately we can’t trust this government not to lie to us.
