Historian Rick Perlstein on the RNC & Trump’s Dangerous Propaganda Driving People to Violence

President Donald Trump formally accepted the Republican Party’s nomination on Thursday before a crowd of about 1,500 on the South Lawn of the White House. In defiance of social distancing guidelines, attendees sat shoulder-to-shoulder with few people wearing masks. Trump spoke as the U.S. death toll from the coronavirus neared 180,000 — by far the highest total in the world — and repeatedly defended his administration’s handling of the pandemic. Trump warned of chaos and violence if Joe Biden becomes president, but made no reference to the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, or the killing of two protesters in Kenosha by a 17-year-old Trump supporter. Democracy Now! speaks with historian Rick Perlstein, who says Trump paints a “picture of the world that bears no resemblance to reality” and that he has driven people to act violently.

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