A Past Article Now Once More Worth Commemorating: In the Wake of El Paso, Dayton Mass Shootings, Trump Blames “Mental Illness”

This article was originally published in the Circle City Clubhouse newsletter while Trump was President, and was poorly received, with a disclaimer objection, probably because so many other Clubhouse members, my fellow mental health consumers, were Trumpists. However, I am convinced they completely missed the point, and that point of Trump's was to exonerate guns and blame mass shootings on an amorphous "mental illness," a direct attack on us mental health consumers, who are far more likely to be victims of violence (including self-inflicted violence) than we are perpetrators of violence toward others. It reinforces the mistaken public impression that we "mentally ill" are dangerous, drooling psychopaths, which is not the case at all. Hence, this timely republication in the wake of the mass killings by gun in Buffalo, New York and Uvalde, Texas.--GF

Here begins what I originally published in the Circle City Clubhouse: 

He specifically exempted—guns! His exact words, uttered publicly, were, “Mental illness and hatred pulls the trigger, not the gun.” However, the last several mass shootings have been perpetrated by people with no record of mental illness. And yes, while consumed by hate, these mass shooters have shared a very specific form of hate—a right-wing, anti-Jewish, anti-black, anti-immigrant and pro-Trump form of hate. From Dylan Roof right up to the El Paso shooter, who confessed to the cops he opened fire at the Walmart in El Paso specifically to kill people of Mexican descent. And not even Trump can deny that! But no. Instead of manning up to his own hateful and divisive rhetoric, Trump prefers, as he usually does, to find a vulnerable scapegoat. In the wake of the El Paso, Dayton massacres, it’s “video games” and that old standby, “mental illness” and the “mentally ill.” Yes, we, the “mentally ill” are the ones responsible, because we are drooling psychopathic monsters! Not the NRA, which opposes any reasonable gun control whatsoever; not the ability to buy legally military-style semiautomatic assault weapons designed for one purpose—to kill significant numbers of people in one burst. Not a paranoid Old West mindset that views guns and their ownership as synonymous with freedom and the American Way of Life, that insists on having the ability to purchase them with even fewer restrictions than are needed to buy a six-pack of beer! And once again, the “mentally ill” become easy prey, readily available scapegoats, for this deeply rooted societal malaise. We’re supposedly responsible, we who’ve sought and seek psychiatric help, we who’ve been psychiatrically hospitalized, we who gather in places such as the Clubhouse to work together on our full mental health recovery. We, we, we, are responsible! We, and, of course, video games. But never, ever, the divisive, hateful, anti-immigrant, anti-black and Latino, anti-refugee, rhetoric spewed out with sickening regularity by the Orange Carrot masquerading as President in the White House! Fellow mental health consumers, this isn’t the first time we, the “mentally ill” have been scapegoated for societal ills, and unfortunately it won’t be the last. We must be aware of the bigotry that awaits us wherever we go, how it will be animated on any pretext whatsoever, and we must educate the public and fight back accordingly. We must enlist the Clubhouse and all other institutions that serve the mentally ill to openly and honestly fight back. And realize, and make others realize, it is not we, those with “mental illness,” who are squeezing the triggers of those weapons utilized by the right-wing hateful to massacre innocents. We are but innocent victims also of El Paso and Dayton; this time, victims of irresponsible, inflammatory rhetoric coming out of the mouth of the Orange Carrot in the White House. And echoed so sadly by others who should know better, but don’t. Fellow mental health consumers, we must be prepared to fight back—lest we also end up as more victims of El Paso and Dayton.