It all starts with hate. No one is born with that trait as part of their genetic makeup. We learn it ( probably from our parents and/or friends), we then go on to either nurture the hate or it diminishes on its own as we get older and more knowledgeable. But, of course, in some people it lives on and becomes more powerful. In the rare few, that hatred is the result of an event that happens later on in their life. In some cases, history reveals, the hate becomes psychotic and dangerous.

Whatever the cause, it is rare that hatred—individually or collectively—assumes the dimension(s) of a “crime against humanity,” an action or set of actions first applied at the Nuremberg Trials against German defendants following World War II. In its most basic definition, Wikipedia states: “Crimes against humanity are certain acts that are deliberately committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian or an identifiable part of a civilian population.”

By definition then, Donald Trump and members of is administration (Enablers were included at Nuremberg and should be included now), have committed and are continuing to commit crimes against humanity. Specifically, these are actions targeted upon Muslims, Hispanics, and other people of color. To incite hatred against such individuals based upon ethnic and and racial criteria, is to do as Nazi officials did against Jews and others. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, his Congressional allies, and administration cohorts don’t order people to their deaths. Rather, their actions provoke others to do harm and allow people to be mistreated and threatened. The historical analogies are there; to remain quiet in the face of evil is to perpetrate evil.

Beyond the attacks against racial and religious minorities, Trump and company are responsible for pursuing an ongoing and existential crime against humanity—-the purposeful ignoring of climate change. Global warming leading to massive floods, species extinction, horrendous wildfires, etc., are upon us and will only get worse unless something is done. Our children and grandchildren will be most severely affected. Trump, on this issue alone, must be stopped. Factious Democratic Party leaders—beware. Stop the in-fighting and playing to Trump’s winning strategy of divide-and-conquer. The horror needs to cease with a massive Republican defeat across the board in 2020, at all levels of government. That is what is most important. Otherwise, there won’t be much of a country (or planet) left to rebuild four years from now.