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OPINION
East Oregonian
Saturday, June 18, 2016
Founded October 16, 1875
KATHRYN B. BROWN
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Publisher
Managing Editor
JENNINE PERKINSON
TIM TRAINOR
Advertising Director
Opinion Page Editor
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MIKE FORRESTER
STEVE FORRESTER
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Pendleton
Chairman of the Board
Astoria
President
Pendleton
Secretary/Treasurer
CORY BOLLINGER
JEFF ROGERS
Aberdeen, S.D.
Director
Indianapolis, Ind.
Director
OUR VIEW
Trump will
make GOP
unrecognizable
This is the era of disruptive
— three wives and two divorces —
technologies.
which you think may have scared
Uber is one for the taxi industry,
off evangelical voters who make
Airbnb for hoteliers, the internet for
up such a powerful segment of the
newspapers.
GOP. You might
Such
Trump’s
Over the course think
technologies use
inability to name a
innovation to
of his campaign, single Bible verse
create an entirely
would be held
Trump has
new market with
against him by
an entirely new
voters, but it’s not
dismantled
value. The rules of
so.
numerous
the game must be
Just this week
quickly rewritten
he
attacked another
supposed
and long-entrenched
sacred cow within
powers are thrown
the GOP coalition:
cornerstone
scrambling to the
the National Rile
beliefs of the
bottom of the heap.
Association. Trump
Donald Trump
Republican Party. said he would
approach the NRA
is such a disruptive
about a law that
technology for the
would ban people on the terrorist
Republican Party. The GOP will be
watch list from buying guns. It’s a
unrecognizable once he is through
with it, whether that is in November great idea — something more than
90 percent of Americans agree with
or two presidential terms down the
— but because of NRA power and
road.
threats such a bill has not been able
Over the course of his campaign,
to pass the Senate.
Trump has dismantled numerous
Trump’s naiveté and his ego have
supposed cornerstone beliefs of the
allowed him to bust down doors
Republican party, sometimes for
no one thought any GOP candidate
good and sometimes in a way that
could get away with.
will do longterm damage to the
He has leveled blistering attacks
GOP.
on Fox News and popular anchor
Here are a few examples:
Megyn Kelly.
Republicans are known for their
He has been notably ickle on
unwavering support of the American
matters of policy, and his anti-free
military, but Trump’s plethora of
trade platform is at odds with
potshots haven’t spared American
Republican orthodoxy that promotes
soldiers.
industry-led policies.
“He’s not a war hero,” he
And don’t get us started on
famously sneered about John
McCain, a man who suffered gravely immigration. Party leaders like Paul
Ryan have threatened to sue Trump
in the name of the United States
over his immigration bans and
after being captured and tortured in
forced deportations. And no one in
a North Vietnamese prison cell for
either party takes Trump’s idea to
more than ive years.
And last week he accused soldiers build a wall and make Mexico pay
for it seriously.
of graft and corruption: “Iraq,
He has ripped apart Obamacare at
crooked as hell. How about bringing
every turn, but also spoke in support
baskets of money — millions and
millions of dollars — and handing it of making sure the government
didn’t let people “die on the streets.”
out ... I want to know who were the
Trump’s success is inexplicable
soldiers that had that job, because I
on one hand, but quite simple on the
think they’re living very well right
other.
now, whoever they may be.”
He is a reminder that the
He also has plans to privatize
boogeymen that have been
veterans’ care and was caught
propping up the Republican Party
lying about his inancial support
for generations have become
for veterans’ charities, only
outdated. A majority of Americans
cutting the check months after he
are no longer fearful about gays or
promised he would and after being
marijuana or Communist health care.
repeatedly questioned about it by
Trump has created new
The Washington Post. He also said
boogeymen — mostly racially
he would order American service
focused — that have had success in
members to kill the families of
congealing a sizable contingent of
ISIS members, something that
Republicans around him. But he’s
would make them immediate war
certainly polling in the mid 30s, a
criminals. He has also excoriated
George W. Bush and his wars in Iraq disastrous number, and if he fails in
the November election or even fails
and Afghanistan.
Another example: Perhaps one of to make it that far, Republicans will
the thickest planks in the Republican have a dificult task of rebuilding the
Grand Old Party.
platform in recent decades has been
Yet all his wild disruptions have
opposing abortion.
yanked a few rotten planks from
And despite being pro-choice for
much of his life, Trump now says no the Republican platform. There is a
chance it is rebuilt as a more modern
one is as anti-abortion as he is.
party, released from the shackles of
Yet he went out of his way to
a few bad stances. But there is also
support Planned Parenthood when
the risk that it is reborn as a mutant
the organization was under routine
mess of dangerously far-right,
attack during Republican primary
anti-immigration, isolationist insult
debates.
“You can say whatever you want, comics.
Trump will not leave anything as
but they have millions of women
he found it. That may be beneicial
going through Planned Parenthood
in the Republican primary, but it’s
that are helped greatly,” he said.
more than a little nerve-wracking to
It caused millions of heads to
think he could recast what it means
spin, but it didn’t cause his poll
to be president of the most powerful
numbers to dip.
county on Earth.
Neither did his background
Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the East Oregonian editorial board of Publisher
Kathryn Brown, Managing Editor Daniel Wattenburger, and Opinion Page Editor Tim Trainor.
Other columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the opinions of the authors and not
necessarily that of the East Oregonian.
OTHER VIEWS
Religion’s wicked neighbor
B
dominion, and religion’s wicked
arack Obama is clearly wrong
intellectual partner, the spirit of
when he refuses to use the word
dogmatic dominion, the passion for
“Islam” in reference to Islamist
laying down the law.”
terrorism. The people who commit
In other words, there is the spirit of
these acts are inlamed by a version
of an Islamist ideology. They claim
religion and, frequently accompanying
an Islamist identity. They swear fealty
it, its wicked neighbors, the spirit of
to organizations like ISIS that govern
political and intellectual dominion.
themselves according to certain
It seems blindingly obvious to
David
interpretations of the Quran.
Brooks say, but the spirit of religion begins
As Peter Bergen writes in his
with a sense that God exists. God is
Comment
book “The United States of Jihad,”
the primary reality, and out of that
“Assertions that Islamist terrorism has
lows a set of values and experiences:
nothing to do with Islam are as nonsensical
prayer, praise, charity, contrition, grace and
as claims that the Crusades had nothing to do
the desire to grow closer toward holiness.
with Christian beliefs about the sanctity of
Sincere faith begins with humility in relation
Jerusalem.”
to the Almighty and a sense
On the other hand,
of being strengthened by his
Donald Trump is
ininite love.
abhorrently wrong in
In some sense the phrase
implying that these attacks
“Islamic radicalism” is
are central to Islam. His
wrong because terrorism is
attempt to ban Muslim
not a radical extension of
immigration is an act of
this kind of faith. People
bigotry (applying the sins of
don’t start out with this
the few to the whole group),
kind of faith and then turn
which is sure to incite more
into terrorists because they
terrorism. His implication
became more faithful.
that we are in a clash of
The spirit of dominion,
civilizations is an insult to
on the other hand, does not
those Muslims who have
start with an awareness of
risked and lost their lives in
God. It starts with a sense
the ight against ISIS and the Taliban.
of injury and a desire to heal injury through
The problem is that these two wrongs
revenge and domination.
are feeding off each other. Obama is using
For the terrorist, a sense of humiliation is
language to engineer a reaction rather than
the primary reality. Terrorism emerges from
to tell the truth, which is the deinition of
a psychic state, not a spiritual one. This turns
propaganda. Most world leaders talk about
into a grievance, the belief that some external
Islamist terror, but Obama apparently thinks
enemy is the cause of this injury, rather than
that if he uses the phrase “Islamic radicalism”
some internal weakness.
the rest of us will be too dim to be able to
This then leads to what forensic
distinguish between the terrorists and the
psychologist Reid Meloy calls “vicarious
millions of good-hearted Muslims who want
identiication” — the moral outrage that
only to live in fellowship and peace.
comes from the belief that my victimization
Worst of all, his decision to dance
is connected to the larger victimization of my
around an unpleasant reality is part of the
group.
enveloping cloud of political correctness that
It’s only at this point in the pathway
drives people to Donald Trump. Millions of
that religion enters the picture, or rather an
Americans feel they can’t say what they think, absolutist, all-explaining political ideology
or even entertain views outside the boundaries that is the weed that grows up next to religion.
laid down by elites, and so are drawn to the
Bin Ladinism explains all of history and
guy who rails against taboos and says what he gives the injured a course of action that will
believes.
make them feel grandiose and heroic. It is the
The fact is that 15 years after 9/11 we still
human impulse for dominance and revenge
haven’t arrived at a true understanding of our
that borrows righteous garb.
enemy. How much is religion involved in
For the religious person it’s about God. For
jihadism, or psychology, or politics?
the terrorist, it’s about himself. When Omar
And the core of our confusion is that we
Mateen was in the midst of his rampage, he
are unclear about what a religion is, and how it was posting on Facebook and calling a TV
might relate to violence sometimes carried out station. His audience was us, not the Divine.
in its name.
Omar Mateen wanted us to think he was
For clarity on that question, it helps to
martyring himself in the name of holiness. He
start with William James’ classic work, “The
was actually a sad loser obliterating himself
Varieties of Religious Experience.” In that
for the sake of revenge.
book, James distinguishes between various
■
religious experiences and “religion’s wicked
David Brooks became a New York Times
practical partner, the spirit of corporate
Op-Ed columnist in September 2003.
The fact is
that 15 years
after 9/11 we
still haven’t
arrived at a true
understanding
of our enemy.
LETTERS POLICY
The East Oregonian welcomes original letters of 400 words or less on public issues
and public policies for publication in the newspaper and on our website. The newspaper
reserves the right to withhold letters that address concerns about individual services and
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letters to Managing Editor Daniel Wattenburger, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801
or email editor@eastoregonian.com.