Opinion | Dinner Shooting To 'Hellhole' Row To Immigration, US Has Never Been More Divided Than Now

The spewing of racial abuse from the President of the United States and his ministers continues, even as he came under threat from a would-be assassin from his own country, who himself seemed to be a victim of the polarisation unleashed by the present administration. What links the two otherwise disparate incidents together is hate. When domestic policy is framed by hate against the 'other' and foreign policy operates on another level of discrimination and violence, it's all likely to come together at a point. That time could be now. And not just in the firing of a few bullets by seemingly educated men.

The tendency of the President to use social media for anything and everything, including military diplomacy, is now well known. He chose to endorse a post by an appropriately named podcaster, Michael Savage, who then repeated his statements after the reaction of the Indian government, stressing that Indians were not loyal to the US , had taken away jobs from Americans, and, more in that vein. All of which shows his absolute ignorance of India - which might be forgiven - but also his total lack of knowledge of his own country. Indian Americans have created immense wealth in the country, with taxes alone to the tune of $300 billion and indirectly creating 11-12 million jobs. More comes from students, and it would be fair to say that most prominent universities survive on tuition fees by foreign students. Such talk from right-wingers is not unusual, but the point is that it is being endorsed by a US President who came to power promising the 'largest deportations in American history'. That is an unfortunate political choice for a country that once stood for freedom and liberty.

A Country Divided

What is even more unprecedented was the execution of this stated aim, with at least two US citizens killed in in less two weeks, for protesting against this, even while immigrants were being picked up at random with no connection to criminal activities, to fulfil the administration's unethical focus on meeting 'quotas' for total immigrant apprehensions. The irony.

That's just part of the story, with the reports of abuse and violations bringing disgrace to America's reputation for fair trial and judgement. Even more divisive has been the President's tendency to bypass Congress, with some 140-plus executive orders, his absolute disregard for international law in Venezuela and now in Iran, and now a rapid rise in inflation apparent in dropping opinion polls with households expenses on grocery rising; all this amid perceptions of Trump's cabinet of billionaires and their buddies benefiting hugely from tariff wars and protectionism. Add to all this the suspicions about the Epstein Files, with images of Trump and Epstein projected onto the Hilton Hotel just before the Washington correspondents dinner. Never has a country been more divided.

And TheAattack

The available data on the attack indicates that Cole Tomas Allen had no previous criminal record, or belonged to any hostile interest group. In fact, a letter from him tragically speaks of total disenchantment, referring not only to the Epstein files but also to abuse in immigrant detention camps, the recent lethal attacks on boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean and the bombing of an elementary school in Iran, among other things. "Turning the other cheek when someone else is oppressed is not Christian behavior," the writing reads. "It is complicity in the oppressor's crimes." 

A Break In Security

The second aspect is that what seems like a breach in security. While the Secret Service reacted with immense promptness, the fact that Allen had booked into the hotel a day or so earlier, with two guns and several knives, is astonishing. Even a cursory examination of luggage may have overlooked the guns - given Americans' passionate love of weapons - but knives were something else. Reports now indicate that he was a known hater of the Trump administration on social media, which would have rung alarm bells, if the level of divisiveness had not been so high across the country.

While it is always easy to blame security agencies, some explanation will be demanded. That leads directly to the DHS (Department of Homeland Security) which has faced the largest shutdown in history as the Congress has been against funding ICE and Border Patrol without more oversight. The shutdown had lead to major furloughs, and the Department being left without basic logistics, from software licenses to toilet paper. The shooting has predictably led to core Trump supporters 'imploring' Congress to fully fund the DHS. That, and a $400 million ballroom in the White House, which Trump has also backed to ensure 'security', may be the immediate beneficiaries.

The Fires Being Lit Abroad

But again, all of the above are domestic issues. What is worrisome for the rest of the world is the spewing of hate from America. Former allies like France, whose President was the target of Trump's mockery for being 'slapped' by his wife, to Italy and almost all of Europe, have been insulted by not just the President by also by his officials.

Then is the flip side of all this. Apart from the diatribe against Europe for not helping the US in Iran,the more concerning issue is the consistent lecturing from people like Vice-President JD Vance, who controversially spent much of his time accusing European governments of retreating from their values, and ignoring voter concerns on migration and free speech, basically giving a boost to extremist right-wing groups. That included a lecture against Europe's liberal abortion policies. Then came Secretary Rubio who invited Europeans to join American efforts to restore a glorious world of Western dominance. Mathias Risse from Harvard University, correctly called it out as "'civilizational panic".

Take all that, and the recent patronising speech in New Delhi where a US official said his country would not make the mistake of helping India as it had done with China, to become another rival, is almost not surprising anymore.

In sum, the shooting, the insults and the international positioning are all part of the same story of hate and divisiveness that is being spewed from the most powerful country on the globe. In fall fairness, it is not the only one in a global milieu of hate that is running on identification of the 'other' on the basis of religion. But the US is fighting a war based on that notion of a superior western civilisation and Christian values. That's dangerous stuff, especially when it becomes the basis also of foreign policy, being paid out to a world already riven with divisions and ripe for more war. India has to factor this into its foreign policy, even while it stands firm on the principles of 'the world is one family'.

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author