The Boston Globe - 06.08.2019

abcde

Tuesday, August 6, 2019

Tuesday:Partly sunny, warmer.

High 81-86, low 68-73.

Wednesday:Cloudy, late rain.

high 82-87, low 70-75.

Comics and weather,C8-9.

Dimmingof theday

VOL. 296, NO. 37

*

Suggested retail price

$3.

By Zoe Greenberg

and Christina Prignano

GLOBESTAFF

President Trumphas signifi-

cantly ramped up his use of the

word“invasion” to describe the

flow of immigrants to the south-

ern border in recent months,

frequently using a divisive call

that was apparently echoed by

the massshooterin El Paso,

Texas, shortly before this week-

end’s killing spree.

The shooter is believed to be

behind an online posting that

described a “Hispanic invasion

of Texas” as the reasonbehind

his attack,which left 22 dead

and many morewounded. His

choiceof language parroted

Trump’s recentspeeches and

tweets.

“With another President,

millionswouldbe pouring in. I

am stopping an invasion as the

Wall gets built,” Trumpwrote

on Twitter in March. In June,

RHETORIC,Page A

When rhetoric slips into violence

Screed tied to El Paso suspect

echoes Trump’s use of ‘invasion’

Trump urges action, skips details

He condemnsracism, after monthsof incendiary remarks; Democrats demand gun laws

By Beth Teitell

GLOBESTAFF

It was midday in Waltham,and hot.

The self-storage place felt desolate, no one

aroundbut an employee,sitting alone,

guarding... what? People’s memories?

Their treasures? Their junk?

Then, out of the pre-fab building, Sha-

ron Scopaemerged, a 52-year-oldwoman

whohad just visited her late mother’s

Princess Diana dolls, a collection she re-

cently brought over from her other storage

unit, in Brockton.

“I wanted to be closerto them,” Scopa

said.

Between the two units Scopais paying

$270a month, all to keep family memora-

biliathat might never leave storage. “I’m

too sentimental,” she said.

Welcome to America’s other clutter epi-

demic, the one taking place off-site, and so

monstrousit’s fueling an industry with

SELF-STORAGE, Page A

Self-delusion via

self-storage: The

other clutter war

Hispastrhetoric

“Humanitarian Crisis at ourSouthern

Border. I just got back and it is a far

worse situation than almost anyone

would understand,an invasion! ’’

(Jan. 11 tweet)

“How doyou stop these people?

You can’t,” Trump lamented. Someone

in the crowd yelled back one idea:

“Shoot them.” Trump smiled, then

quipped, “Only in the Panhandle can

youget away with that statement.”

(May 2019rally in Florida)

“W hy don’t they go backand help

fix the totallybroken and crime infest-

ed places from which they came.’’

(July14 tweet,on congresswomenof color)

After the 2017 white supremacist pro-

tests in Charlottesville, Va., that turned

deadly, Trump said “many sides” were

to blame for the violence and that

there were “so me very fine people”

amongnationalist protesters.

(Aug.12, 2017)

The news on Monday morning was

especially unsettling: Tensions rising in

the Persian Gulf over oil shipments,

Hong Kong partially paralyzed by anti-

government protests, mass shootings in

Texas and Ohio “shaking a bewildered

nation to its core,” as The New York

Times headline blared.

But the development that really rat-

tled investors — at one point sending

the Dow Jones average tumbling nearly

1,000 points — was a decline by China’s

currency against the US dollar. The

Dow ended the day with a loss of 767

points, or 2.90 percent, the biggest per-

centage decline of the year.

The ups and downs of the renminbi

usually go little noticed outside the for-

eign exchange market. But thesedays,

investors’ primal fear is that the escalat-

ing trade war with China will trip the

US economy into a recession.

Can you blame them?

Last week, President Trump said he

would impose new tariffs on a huge bas-

ket of Chinese goods starting Sept. 1,

and US stocks had their worst weekof

the year.

On Monday, after China let its tight-

ly managed currency hit the lowest level

against the dollar since 2008, it sure

seemed like retaliation for Trump’s new

tariff threat.

A cheaper renminbi serves a dual

purpose for Beijing: It makes Chinese

exports less expensive for international

buyers, easing the impact of American

tariffs, and complicates life for US com-

panies as they compete against Chinese

rivals.

For good measure, China also

EDELMAN,Page C

New front in trade war

thumps US markets

SAUL LOEB/AFP/GETTYIMAGES

PresidentTrump,in a solemn10-minuteaddress,citedmentalillness,violentmedia,and videogamesas culpritsfor massshootings.

Larry Edelman

COMMENTARY

By Michael Crowley

and Maggie Haberman

NEWYORK TIMES

WASHINGTON — President

Trumpforcefullydenounced

white supremacy following twin

massshootingsoverthe week-

end, citing the threat of “racist

hate” withno acknowledgment

that his ownanti-immigrant

rhetoric has becomepart of a na-

tional debate.

“In one voice our nation must

condemnracism,bigotry, and

white supremacy,” Trumpsaid at

the WhiteHouse. “These sinister

ideologies must be defeated.”

But he stopped well short of

endorsing the kindof broadgun

controlmeasuresthat activists

and Democrats have soughtfor

years, instead falling back on old

Republican remedies, such as

stronger action to addressmen-

tal illness, violencein the media,

and violent video games.

He warned of “theperils of

the Internet and socialmedia,”

but offered no recognitionof his

own use of those platforms to

promote his brand of divisive

politics.

It seemedunlikely that

Trump’s 10-minuteremarks,

comingafter one of the most vio-

lent weekends in recent Ameri-

can history, wouldreposition

himas a unifierwhen many

Americans hold him responsible

for inflaming racial division. He

took no responsibility for the at-

mosphere of division,nor did he

recognize his own reluctanceto

warnof the rise of white nation-

alism until now.

Speaking at a lectern beneath

a portrait of George Washington

in the WhiteHouse’s Diplomatic

ReceptionRoom, Trumpread

from a prepared scripton a tele-

prompter as he denounced the

bilious anti-Hispaniconline

manifestoofashooterinElPaso,

who killed22 people Saturday as

part of an “evil contagion”

spreading online.

“These barbaric slaughters

are an assault uponour commu-

nities, an attack uponour nation

and a crime against all of human-

ity,” Trumpsaid of the massacre

in El Paso and another in Dayton,

Ohio, on Sunday — at one point

incorrectly referring to Toledo as

the site of thosekillings. The

Daytonshooter is not knownto

have had a political motive.

TRUMP,Page A

‘In one voice our

nation must

condemn racism,

bigotry, and white

supremacy.’

PRESIDENT TRUMPin speechMonday

DAVID L. RYAN/GLOBE STAFF

The Kennedyfamily said good-

bye to Saoirse Roisin Kennedy

Hill at herfuneralin Center-

ville, with her father, Paul Hill,

placing his hand on the hearse

carrying her body.B1.

Puerto Rico’spolitical turmoil

continuedas the island’s Su-

preme Court agreed to rule on

a lawsuit its Senate filed in a

bid to oust a politician recently

sworn in as governor.A2.

The mergerofGannett and

GateHousenewspaperchains

could have a significant effect

on New England papers.C1.

Congress response

While both parties called for ac-

tion,the retreat to familiar po-

litical cornerswas swift.A6.

Masskillers

What propelsa person into

planning and executing a mas-

sive attack?A7.

El Paso reels

Two morevictims succumbed to

theirinjuries as the city pre-

pared for a possible visit from

the president.A7.

MARK RALSTON/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Mourners prayed on Monday beside a makeshift memorial withnames of El Paso victims.