Trump's inauguration promise to end 'American carnage' leads to violent uprisings and racist police violence 3 years later: op-ed
Images for anti-police violence protesters in Atlanta (screengrab)

Writing in the Boston Globe this Tuesday, James Pindell points to President Trump's inauguration speech from over three years ago, where he promised to put an end to "American carnage."


"Three years later, amid a global pandemic, record unemployment, and violent uprisings against racist police violence, 'American carnage' sounds a lot more reality-based. And Trump, often, has only made things worse," Pindell writes.

While Trump didn't create systemic racism or the coronavirus, he has done nothing to help, according to Pindell, who said that Trump has a history of giving white supremacists comfort time and again.

"Last week, he tweeted a warning to protesters: 'when the looting starts, the shooting starts,' prompting Twitter to flag his tweet as violating its rules for glorifying violence," Pindell writes. "Over the weekend, he called for a 'MAGA night' of a counterprotest outside the White House, which could set up clashes with the president’s critics. He also retweeted this incendiary message: 'This isn’t going to stop until the good guys are willing to use overwhelming force against the bad guys.'"

With Trump as president, inequality has only worsened. Pindell suggests that Joe Biden should consider reviving Ronald Reagan’s 1980 campaign slogan: "Are you better off than you were four years ago?"

Read his full op-ed over at The Boston Globe.