Hate crimes have risen 800 percent since Trump’s nomination in July of 2016. Mass shootings have become commonplace in America. No longer do “radical Muslim terrorists” present the greatest danger to the American people. These facts and more, which are harmful or present a ‘clear and present’ danger to our nation’s future, have occurred under Trump’s watch.

In October and November of 2017 and in February of 2018, three of the most frightening and destructive mass shootings in our nation’s history were conducted by domestic terrorists. 58 Americans died in October in Las Vegas. 26 men, women, and children were slaughtered in a small church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. 17 educators and students were shot to death in Parkland Florida at Marjorie Stoneham Douglas High School on Valentine’s Day, 2018. There have been more since the dates of these tragedies.

According to research, this is what terrorist look like in the Trump era.

• Male (over 98% of all perpetrators in the database were men). Many are also highly prone to misogynist ideas and values, often violently so.
• Radicalized online. These actors were introduced to violent extremist ideas through various online interactions—social media, message boards, chat rooms, comment sections on videos—that are followed by an immersion in the world of conspiracy theories as well as white nationalist ideology.
• While eschewing organizational affiliation, is an avid participant in online communities where the violent ideology is shared.
• Directly inspired by preceding acts of terrorism, creating a kind of sequential effect in which the wave of violence keeps building.
• Significantly more likely to have killed and injured people, and their preferred weapon is a semiautomatic rifle using large magazines and high-velocity rounds.
• Is only a “lone wolf” in the sense that he is likely to be knowingly participating in and fulfilling a longtime strategic goal of organized white nationalists; these are not unrelated, “isolated incidents.”

Add to the previous three shootings, in 2019 there were mass murders in Virginia Beach, 12, in El Paso 23, and at least 18 more locations with fewer deaths.

Congress doesn’t want to talk about several realities which have become major issues in our nation, including fascism, racism, hate crimes, domestic violence, gun violence, and domestic terrorism. These issues do not fit their political narrative.

We, the people must take control of our corrupt and incompetent government. We must vote incumbents out of office, and as many Republicans as possible. This is our country; it does not belong to politicians or corporations. Our army is 330 million strong, and eligible voters number approximately 260 million.

Consider this fact: 545 men and women control our daily lives. There is one president, 435 members of the House of Representatives, 100 Senators, and nine Justices on the Supreme Court. If they refuse to serve us, we must remove them. This is a democracy, and they are elected to serve us, not rule over us.

Op-ed by James Turnage

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