The anti-Semitic massacre at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has raised the crisis of American politics and society to a new level. More and more, the conditions in the United States have the character of a civil war, in which the most backward and reactionary forces are being encouraged and promoted.
Eleven people were killed in the slaughter in Pittsburgh, which occurred during religious services Saturday morning. Among the predominantly elderly victims were two brothers and a husband and wife, aged 84 and 86. Another victim was Rose Mallinger, 97, a survivor of the Holocaust. The shooter, Robert Bowers, has been charged with 11 counts of criminal homicide and 13 counts of ethnic intimidation.
While the United States is no stranger to anti-Semitism, an act of mass violence targeting Jewish people on this scale is unprecedented. As one commenter in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz wrote, the "illusion that 'this can't happen here' has been shattered. American Jews will wake up the next day to a new and far more frightening future, knowing not only that it has happened here, but that the attack could portend similar assaults in the future."
To understand the significance of this act it is necessary to place it not only in its domestic, but also its international and historical context.
The attack is a direct product of the open appeals to fascist violence by the Trump administration. Bowers was evidently motivated by a combination of rabid anti-Semitism and anti-immigrant chauvinism. He posted comments on social media just prior to the attack linking his hatred of Jews to the efforts of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), with which the Tree of Life synagogue is affiliated, to assist refugees fleeing Central America. "HIAS likes to bring invaders in that kill our people," he wrote. "I can't sit by and watch my people get slaughtered."
The language he employed, including the use of "invaders" to refer to migrants fleeing poverty and violence in Central America caused by US imperialism, is that of the Trump administration. In a speech last week, Trump referred to the caravan of migrants heading for the US border as "an assault on our country." He called it an invasion that threatened to destroy "your neighborhoods, your hospitals, your schools." In remarks laden with anti-Semitic and fascistic tropes, Trump denounced those who "want to turn the clock back and restore power to corrupt, power-hungry globalists…"
The attack on in the synagogue follows the string of pipe bombs sent by a Trump supporter to prominent Democrats.
Trump himself is a symptom, however, not an explanation. What brought Trump to power?
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