Terrorism Expert: Trump Could Inspire More Violence Between Now And The 2020 Election

A professor specializing in the study of terrorism has said that President Donald Trump inspired the mass shooting in El Paso, Texas and could lead to more violence as he seeks re-election in November, 2020.

Professor David Schanzer of the Sanford School of Policy at Duke University is the director of the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security. Schanzer wrote in the UK’s Guardian newspaper that the President’s rhetoric inspired the killings in Texas.

“Trump has launched his 2020 re-election campaign this summer by doubling down on the theme of racial and ethnic division and anti-immigrant hysteria,” Schanzer wrote.

“And as sure as the sun rises in the east, a mere month into this racially charged atmosphere, an extremist suspect fearful of Hispanics gaining political power in Texas decided to go kill as many Hispanics as possible at an El Paso Walmart. It is Trump-inspired terrorism yet again.”

Schanzer accused the President of helping to radicalize people by dehumanizing his political opponents.

“Indeed, the central political project of the Trump presidency has been reducing the political power of non-white people in America – a key tenet of white supremacist thinking,” he wrote.

Schanzer worries that even more violent incidents will occur before the next presidential election, especially if Trump continues his harsh rhetoric and attacks on minorities.

“We remain 15 months from the 2020 election. It is staggering to imagine how much more violence this president may motivate if he continues down this deeply disturbing path.”