Cheney Can’t Condemn Donald Trump’s Anti-Muslim Rhetoric

The political world is going crazy over more crazy things the craziest presidential candidate said this week, but this time it’s been kicked up to another notch of crazy. Donald Trump, who has made a new outrageous statement every week since he announced he was running for president (starting with his announcement speech) has now turned all his enemies against him and added a few new ones as well. His recent statements about banning Muslims from traveling to the U.S. -- in addition to his previous comments about having surveillance on mosques and establishing a database for Muslims in the country -- are now the straw that’s breaking the orange-haired camel’s back. Don’t get me wrong, Trump’s policy suggestions are obviously terrible ideas if they were ever comprehensively practiced, but some of his critics have no place to judge, especially when many of them supported anti-Muslim policies that were guised as anti-terrorism policies.

For example, when former vice-president and noted war criminal Dick Cheney condemned Trump’s comments, saying that they went “against everything we stand for and believe in,” everyone seemed to lose their goddamn minds. People decided, “Oh, well if Dick Cheney says he’s bad, he’s bad.” And believe me, that’s true. But also remember that Trump’s comments are just halfass proposals and mumblings from a delusional billionaire/celebrity that are meant to rile up a base. Dick Cheney actually had a kill list with Muslims on it and directly engineered the policies that destabilized the Middle East, killed thousands of innocent Muslims and eventually led to the rise of ISIS, which is why a doofus like Trump needs to comment on it now. Don’t give Cheney credit like he’s suddenly seeing the light, especially when he most likely already hates Trump anyway for constantly denouncing the Iraq War as a failure. Cheney is and has been far worse for Muslims than the blabs that come out of Trump’s blabberdoo, so stop freaking out.

This same sentiment goes to the Obama administration for weighing in on Trump’s comments, as a spokesman for the White House said Trump should be disqualified from being president. This coming from the same people who authorized drone strikes that killed innocent Muslims, aided in the destabilization of Libya and Syria, and just helped Congress actually restrict the travel of immigrants from Iraq, Iran, Syria and Sudan to the U.S. -- travelers who are more than likely, mostly Muslim. Similarly, Republican leaders in Congress like Rep. Paul Ryan -- who most certainly helped pass that bill -- are joining the anti-Trump chorus, too, saying Trump’s comments aren’t “who we are as a party.” So the federal government is technically enacting an aspect of Trump’s “outrageous” proposal while simultaneously condemning it in theory -- and that does qualify you to be president? Heck, let’s not forget that Hillary Clinton was also part of that destabilization, voting for the Iraq War and authorizing force in Libya, but is now saying that Trump’s comments are “shameful,” “dangerous” and “supplying [terrorists] with new propaganda.” Let’s also remember the cheerleaders who helped popularize the idea of marching into the Middle East for oil (but in the name of democracy) in the first place. Yes, the lovely corporate media are jumping all over Trump for his comments, too, all the while ignoring the current anti-terrorism/Muslim policies of our military and government. Of course, they were also silent when the U.S. invaded Iraq and Libya. Lastly, there’s the knee-jerk reaction of all the people on the Internet calling Trump “Hitler.” Trump is not Hitler, you guys. Hitler was actually way worse, and Trump could just maybe probably be as bad in theory. So please knock it off.

Again, I’m not defending Trump’s rhetoric at all -- it’s horrible and incorrect. But the thing is that it’s just that: rhetoric. Angry voters in the streets and on the Internet could be just as mad at Dick Cheney and Hillary Clinton and the Obama administration and Republican leaders and the corporate media for enacting or supporting or hailing actual policies that directly killed or hurt thousands of Muslims if not more, and have just led to a whole new generation of terrorists radicalized by Islam. But nope, it’s easier for people to just be mad about a dumb ol’ loudmouth running for president -- a guy who probably won’t even be president. Look folks, it’s okay to be angry. But please apply it evenly across the fold to those who actually deserve it.

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