The violence has found its way into Trump's domestic policies, which bear the weight of a form of domestic terrorism -- policies that instill in specific populations fear through intimidation and coercion.
Trump's call to deport 800,000 individuals brought to the United States as illegal immigrants through no intention of their own -- and who know no other country than the U.S. -- reflects more than a savage act of a white nationalism. This cruel and inhumane policy also suggests the underlying state violence inherent in embracing the politics of disappearance and disposability.
There's also Trump's pardon of the vile Joe Arpaio, the disgraced former Arizona sheriff and notorious racist who was renowned by white supremacists and bigots for his hatred of undocumented immigrants and his abuse and mistreatment of prisoners.
This growing culture of cruelty offers support for a society of violence in the United States. Before Trump's election, that society resided on the margins of power. Now it's at the center.
Trump's disregard for human life is evident in a range of policies. They include withdrawing from the Paris Agreement on climate change, slashing jobs at the Environmental Protection Agency, gutting teen pregnancy prevention programs and ending funds to fight white supremacy and other hate groups.
Budget punishes poor childrenAt the same time, Trump has called for a US$52 billion increase in the military budget while arguing for months in favor of doing away with Obamacare and leaving tens of millions of Americans without health coverage.
Many young, old and vulnerable populations will pay with their lives for Trump's embrace of this form of domestic terrorism.
He's added a new dimension of cruelty to the policies that affect children, especially the poor. His proposed 2018 budget features draconian cuts in programs that benefit poor children.
Trump supports cutting food stamp programs (SNAP) to the tune of US$193 billion; slashing US$610 billion over 10 years from Medicaid, which aids 37 million children; chopping US$5.8 billion from the budget of the Children's Health Insurance Program which serves nine million kids; defunding public schools by US$9.2 billion; and eliminating a number of community-assisted programs for the poor and young people.
These cruel cuts merge with the ruthlessness of a punishing state that under Trump and Attorney General Sessions is poised to implement a law-and-order campaign that criminalizes the behavior of the poor, especially Blacks.
It gets worse. At the same time, Trump also supports policies that pollute the planet and increase health risks to the most vulnerable and powerless.
Violence an American hallmarkViolence, sadly, runs through the United States like an electric current as terrible events in Las Vegas have proven once again. And it's become the primary tool both for entertaining people and addressing social problems. It also works to destroy the civic institutions that make a democracy possible.
Needless to say, Trump is not the sole reason for this more visible expression of extreme violence on the domestic and foreign fronts.
On the contrary. He's the endpoint of a series of anti-democratic practices, policies and values that have been gaining ground since the emergence of the political and economic counter-revolution that gained full force with the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, along with the rule of financial capital and the embrace of a culture of precarity.
Trump is the unbridled legitimator-in-chief of gun culture, police brutality, a war machine, violent hypermasculinity and a political and social order that expands the boundaries of social abandonment and the politics of disposability -- especially for those marginalized by race and class.
He's emboldened the idea that violence is the only viable political response to social problems, and in doing so normalizes violence.
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