As the body count and horrific details of the Orlando slaughter became clear, a prominent businessman said to me with a tone of resignation, “Well, I guess Donald Trump just won the election.”
Not yet, but events definitely have a vote, and Orlando was an earthquake-sized event that is rocking the presidential race. Already, it has forced Hillary Clinton to blink.
Hours after she initially hid behind politically correct codes of denouncing undifferentiated “hate” and demanding more gun control, Clinton felt the earth shift and did a fast about-face.
OK, she grudgingly admitted on CNN Monday, “whether you call it radical jihadism or radical Islamism, I’m happy to say either.” She later warned about the threat of “radical jihadists” while insisting, “Today is not a day for politics.”
Right, it takes the murder of 49 innocent Americans for the Democratic Party’s presidential standard-bearer to confess the obvious, and she claims it has nothing to do with “politics.” She lies even when it’s not necessary.
Most important, Clinton is still stuck with the failed policies of Barack Obama. The president’s refusal to say the words “Islamic terrorism” is outrageous, but it’s not a mere verbal tic.
Obama’s denial of reality informs his toothless anti-terrorism policies, both at home and abroad, and Clinton has yet to break with him. Indeed, a long speech she gave Monday was an attempt to appear tough while still embracing Obama.
The coat of fresh paint won’t work, because the old approach is fundamentally flawed.
It is reflected in the repeated mistakes of the FBI, which had Omar Mateen on its radar twice, yet gave him a pass because it could not verify the accuracy of charges that he had jihadist connections and tendencies.
Similar botched investigations and decisions preceded the Fort Hood slaughter and the Boston Marathon attack.
Although there are differences in each case, they share a troubling fact: Federal agents had tips or information on potential terrorists, and dropped their guard, only to see the initial accusations proven true — in the blood of innocent Americans.
That pattern suggests there could be something like the “Ferguson effect” undermining terrorism investigations. Just as rank-and-file police officers in many cities are pulling back on basic law enforcement because of political criticism, it appears that anti-terror forces are similarly reluctant to be aggressive.
One results in a rise in street crime, another might be leading to terror attacks that could have been prevented. In both cases, it is almost exclusively Democrats who are handcuffing law enforcement.
If America is to win World War Three, it must correctly name the enemy and crush it. But only one political party is willing to speak the truth about the link to Islam and pursue policies that reflect that truth.
Among Republicans, Trump goes too far when he urges a temporary ban on all Muslim immigration, but he is on target when he says the current policies are a formula for catastrophe. Moreover, he and virtually every GOP presidential candidate consistently urged more scrutiny for refugees, more surveillance power and more forceful military actions against the Islamic State’s stronghold in Iraq and Syria.
Each of those positions is a major contrast with Obama and Clinton, and with Democratic orthodoxy at every level of government. Dems are content to follow Obama’s policy of denying Islam’s link to terrorism and of doing the minimum against the Islamic State while pretending we have the luxury of time. They also consistently denounce all those who disagree with Obama as bigots and warmongers.
Orlando proves the deadly error of their ways. The Islamic State’s tentacles led to the San Bernardino shooting, and now its reach has produced the largest mass shooting in American history. And with America a nation of soft targets, what’s next?
Moreover, to blame the Orlando slaughter on undifferentiated “hate” is to suggest that all those who object to gay marriage or Obama’s transgender bathroom policies are equally guilty of murder.
In fact, many Americans, based on religious teachings, oppose various aspects of homosexual life, and some may even hate that life. But there is no record of Roman Catholics, Orthodox Jews or Quakers raising a hand in violence against gay Americans.
There is only one religion whose adherents are consistently involved in murder for political purposes.
Under Shariah law, a number of Islamic governments execute citizens engaged in forbidden sex, Iran and Saudi Arabia among them. It is not surprising that some Muslims in America would justify murder by citing the same Islamic teachings.
Obama, of course, sees only what he wants to see, and his government won’t change now. Consider FBI Director James Comey’s assurance that Mateen was a self-radicalized lone wolf with no apparent help from overseas forces.
The claim is supposed to comfort, but it is meaningless. Similar assurances were given after previous attacks, as though the lack of direct involvement by foreign forces makes a fundamental difference. It doesn’t, and it certainly didn’t prevent later attacks.
The dead are dead through violence carried out by radical Islamists. That is the central truth, and until America’s leaders admit it and act on it, the slaughters will continue.