Not senseless

As always, the American media are reporting on the murder of 11 people in a Pittsburgh synagogue as a “senseless” killing. That isn’t right. There is a great deal of sense in this and most other mass murders, even if it can be difficult to figure out the logic of the perpetrator. No one seems to have done that yet for the Los Vegas shooting that killed 50 people not much more than a year ago.

In this case, we already know what sense the murder made to the perpetrator. He posted just before the event that he was attacking Jews because the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) helps refugees settle in the US. The perpetrator was not a Trump supporter, as he felt Trump was not sufficiently nationalist and was surrounded by Jews. He regarded immigration as genocide against his own people. The Pittsburgh shooting was, as Dan Byman suggests, politically motivated and therefore terrorism.

Feeling victimized is often a prelude to violence. That is why President Trump’s tirades about the migrant caravan headed for the US through Mexico are so dangerous. He has made his supporters feel they are under attack. Those at the fringe of right-wing politics and emotional imbalance will lash out violently, not only against Jews but also against Muslims, Hispanics, blacks, and other minorities. Anti-Muslim incidents are up sharply since 2014, while anti-Jewish incidents are up sharply this year.

We can rely on President Trump to continue his tirades about immigration, since that is the best card he has in the run-up to the November 6 Congressional election. His racist sentiments are finding a strong echo in rural, less educated, male, white America. His denunciations of the synagogue attack sound scripted and insincere. He initially blamed the synagogue for the incident, noting that it lacked an armed guard inside.

Trump’s National Rifle Association supporters will appreciate that plug for their “guns everywhere” solution to gun violence.

The response of the rest of us has to be determination to change the balance of power in the country, tilting it back towards people who advocate tolerance, oppose gun and gender violence, and recognize the important contributions immigrants make to American society. The odds of that in the House are looking good, 6 in 7. But they are almost as strong (5 in 6) in favor of Republicans keeping control of the Senate, which is far more important because of the Senate’s role in approving judicial and other presidential appointees.

Democratic control of the House, should it happen, will however provide opportunities for oversight, including through subpoenas for miscreants, and debate that have been almost entirely lacking for the past two years. A Democratic House needs to shed light on the intolerance, violence, and prejudice against immigrants that makes sense to Trump’s supporters and begin to offer an attractive alternative that will appeal to independents who occupy the crucial middle ground in American politics.