The other day, my dad (a conservative-leaning independent) and I (a liberal-leaning independent) were discussing freedom of speech in regards to Donald Trump. We both agreed freedom of speech is probably the quintessential American right, and it shouldn’t be censored. That being said, we also both agreed that Trump’s signature pompous and oftentimes discriminatory speech is flat out irresponsible. 
Only a couple days later, Trump himself proved us right in the crudest manner possible—blaming Brussels for being attacked by terrorists shortly after said attacks occurred. 

This morning, in wake of tragic Islamic State-led attacks on the Brussels Airport in Zaventem, Belgium, Trump told an anchor on Fox News that Brussels is “a disaster city,” among other insensitive slights, according to reports from Slate. He blamed the bombings in Brussels on poor border enforcement and said they occurred for the same reason the November 2015 attacks in Paris did—failure to weed out and deny ISIS-affiliated people the right to immigrate (so, in Trump’s eyes, basically any Muslim person). 

Trump continued to snub Brussels, calling it “horrible” and a “horror show” on CBS and again when he told Matt Lauer on Today that America itself needs to be “very vigilant” about who we allow into our country, he took a step over the unspoken line. 

   “I know Brussels well. And Brussels is a total mess. And I’m not talking about the attack today. I’m talking about generally speaking. It is a city that used to be one of the finest, one of the most beautiful and one of the safest cities in the world. And now it’s a catastrophic, very dangerous city where the police have very little control.”

Seriously, Trump? 

It’s a pretty low bow to just decide to label an entire country as generally disastrous hours after said country was bombed. Trump’s comments are not only excessive and heartless—they’re blatantly irresponsible. Trump supporters praise him for generally having #NoFilter and telling it how it is, but just because he can say whatever he wants about Brussels in relation to the attacks, that doesn’t mean he should.

At this point, Trump’s proclamations condemning Brussels are more than politically incorrect—they’re inhumane and unethical. As a leader, he needs to step up and offer his condolences to attack victims and Belgium as a whole, not critique their foreign policy. 

As one who could potentially lead our country in the very near future, Trump needs to more thoroughly contemplate what he says before he says it, and perhaps exercise a smidgeon of empathy toward Brussels’ situation (and any other group of people he has severely offended, for that matter) before opening his mouth. 

This article appears in Mar 17-23, 2016.

13 replies on “#NoFilter: Trump’s Speech Has (Again) Gone Way Too Far”

  1. It appears that you are not listening to his message. They have “do not enter zones” around parts of Brussels. We are allowing the same in parts of Detroit and numerous other American cities attempting to subvert the Constitution and operate under Sharia Law.

    https://shariaunveiled.wordpress.com/2015/11/28/radical-mosques-in-america-is-there-one-near-you/

    And your problem is a little “unsympathetic speech? Please stay out of the way and let the professionals do their jobs.

  3. What’s the matter, Brenna? Did big, bad Trump invade your safe space? Or did you just feel the need to pen a hit piece on Trump on PEP day? Personally, I’d rather see someone elected President that understands the problem (or at least has an interest in solving the problem) then someone who will feed me baby-fied pablum rhetoric so that I don’t get upset about what’s really going on. My thoughts and prayers are with the people of Brussels and the voters here who are casting votes for the direction of our country.

  5. It is obvious you are very bias and negative about Trump. You always have been. You like to criticize and incite hatred to those reading your column, yet you say he does it. What a hypocrite you are. The Range won’t be happy until these attacks happen on our soil by illegals, and Muslims, yes I said Muslim. Listen to the speech by their leader today. He said Europe is allowing all types of people in, and especially illegals and Muslims and they are the ones perpetrating these crimes. He told the USA to be more vigilant and agreed that Donald Trump is correct in his undertaking to weed out the bad people and until that can be done, unfortunately a strict enforcement is necessary. If someone is poisoned with tuna, they take all the cans off the shelf until they can justify what happens. They don’t just pick and choose who is good and bad. He always said TEMPORARY but you and the news media need something to talk about and someone to blast or else you think your column and paper would have nothing to say. Go out and report the rest of the news. You are too obsessed with Donald Trump.

  7. What Trump said about Brussels is absolutely true.

    You – on the other hand – represent everything that is wrong.

    Your claim that his comments are inhumane and unethical are, in fact, ridiculous.

    If more people of your “ilk” ran this country, the USA would have been overrun long ago by terrorism.

  8. Donald is right – again. Gotta love that fat, New York boy!! It was sure good to vote for him yesterday.

  9. Can’t wait for the Donald to fire ISIS! Don’t know why Obama hasn’t thought of that…

  10. Here is the big picture that keeps Hillary awake at night.

    “According to the latest numbers from the AP, on the Republican side 527, 404 turned out to vote, and 406, 326 turned out on the Democratic side.”

    Across the nation Republicans are getting a 30% higher turnout than Democrats. I really think that’s why the left is showing so much contempt and anger for those they disagree with.

  11. Trump is in it for himself, and he incites violence and the majority of his supporters have responded to the scapegoat whistle call (the majority from the south where education is only for the elites), I hope the leadership of the GOP, give the primary away to anyone except Drumf!

  12. Quote: ‘Personally, I’d rather see someone elected President that understands the problem (or at least has an interest in solving the problem).’
    What are his solutions to solving this problem, besides keeping them out until they be vetted better? Is that it?
    Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t agree with the author on his/her point either. But, Donald Trump as a president in my opinion is scary, he doesn’t have a filter on his mouth, and when dealing with other world leaders who are unstable, we need to have someone who can be diplomatic, I haven’t seen that side of Trump in this race yet.

  13. Trump is truly a scary man. Read his interview with the Washington Post Editorial Board. It’s incoherent, vague, evasive. The guy can barely complete a thought, and seems to have next-to-no knowledge about important national and international issues. Not to mention his obsession with letting everybody know his penis is big enough. I’m not kidding, he spends a chunk of the interview on just that. Also on bragging about the apartments he’s building… Honestly, that interview had me wondering if he is developing dementia, is on drugs (speed, maybe to keep up with all the campaigning) or is seriously sleep-deprived and just can’t cope with it. Is this somebody we want for president? Giant ego, incredibly easily offended, quick to advocate violence, simple, unworkable solutions, appeals to misogyny and racism… Voting for Trump because you don’t like status quo politicians is like letting an ape do your brain surgery because you don’t like your current doctor.

Comments are closed.