The worst part of the attacks in Brussels is the horrible killing and injuring of innocent people. No question — there is nothing more heart-wrenching than the suffering of those people and their families and friends.
The second worst part is how politicians will twist the attacks to their advantage. You don't have to be a terrorist to benefit from terrorism.
Donald Trump, of course, appealed to our ugliest side: blame, hatred, threats. He's said so many ugly things in the last few hours that it's hard to keep track of them all. Hillary spoke out against torture; Bernie spoke for international unity. Ted Cruz had a few racist ideas. Everyone believes they know whose fault this was, who to blame, and why they're the only one who knows how to fix the problem, so that's why you should vote for them. Just tick a little box next to a politician's name and you won't feel so sad or scared or alone.
"This is just the beginning," said Trump, sounding as threatening and ominous as a terrorist himself. He called Brussels "a disaster city... we have to be very careful in the United States, we have to be very careful and very vigilant as to who we allow in this country."
He added that he's "fine" with waterboarding one of the ringleaders of the Paris attacks. "The waterboarding would be fine, and if they could expand the laws, I would do a lot more than waterboarding," he said. I wonder if he means like setting up camps.
About Syrian refugees: "We can't allow these people, at this point we cannot allow these people to come into our country."
Hillary pounced on all of that nonsense. We're not shutting our borders, she said. And "our best and bravest intel and military leaders will tell you that torture is not effective."
Ted Cruz's response was ... I don't know, I guess he meant it to sound "strong" but it had the effect of making me sadder than any of the other candidates' comments did. "We need to empower law enforcement to patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods before they become radicalized."
Okay Ted Cruz. What is a "Muslim neighborhood"?
I mean, I know Muslims. I know Muslims who have Muslim neighbors. Is that enough to be a neighborhood? What's the cutoff, five families? Ten? One mosque per 10-block area? Where are you sending your patrols? And when do we get to the point where we're clearing out attics so that non-white family and friends have someplace to hide from your patrols?
"Today’s attack is a brutal reminder that the international community must come together to destroy ISIS," said Bernie. He didn't call for anyone to be tortured, or for armed guards to follow brown people home from work. He just wants to roll up his sleeves and get to work with as many allies as possible.
That feels nice. It feels like the right thing to do, the right way to respond. It's an appeal to feelings that I like, as much as the responses of the other candidates appeal to the feelings that their supporters like. And it's feelings, not facts, that'll pick the next president.
