So how do we get headlines like “The Atlanta Spa Shootings and the Year of Hatred Against Asian Americans” on a news story from U.S. News & World Report? The reason is that we have two things that, separately, are important and true, but that are being dubiously conjoined for reasons of ideological convenience. Also true is that Donald Trump stoked anti-immigrant hatreds that very likely contributed to the 2018 massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh and the 2019 massacre at a Walmart in El Paso. In 2016, Donald Trump said nice things about Russia and WikiLeaks, and Russia, using WikiLeaks, sought to meddle in the U.S. election to help Trump get elected. But the mutuality of interests didn’t add up to collusion, at least not in any way that could be successfully prosecuted in court.

Source: International New York Times March 23, 2021 00:11 UTC