Trump taking US on dangerous path with hateful rhetoric: Analyst

US President Donald Trump’s political rhetoric has put the United States on a dangerous path, says and American analyst.

Myles Hoenig, a former US congressional candidate, said Trump used hateful language to “dehumanize” his opponents without paying much attention to the possible consequences of his words.

“For all of us, it’s nothing unusual coming from him but we really need to be especially concerned today,” he told Press TV on Wednesday, after Trump officially launched his re-election bid.

Upon announcing his 2020 bid on Tuesday, Trump told his supporters that he would run as an outsider like he did in 2016.

Over the course of a speech that lasted 80 minutes, the Republican president decried illegal immigration, the news media and his 2016 Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.

Trump also declared himself a victim of a Democratic conspiracy and aired his grievances.

During his campaign rally on Tuesday, Trump accused Democrats of trying to take away free speech and strip Americans from their constitutional rights.

“To say that the opposition party is trying to destroy America is routine for Trump but during an election the most enthusiastic partisans (on all sides) would likely take such rhetoric to a place we don’t want to go,” Hoenig said.

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“For the longest time the press was the ‘enemy of the people’,” he added, alluring to Trump’s nickname for media outlets that publish negative stories about him.

“Easy arguments could be made, not that they are the enemy, but they do not serve the interests of most people, and only serve the interests of the large corporations and the war industries. We have seen how journalists have been personally attacked as a result of his rhetoric but for most Americans, the media is an elite with little connections to everyday people,” The analyst added.

Hoenig said Trump’s language was going to trigger a flurry of hostile reactions from people who identified themselves as Democrats or Republicans.

“That is just a step above the racist, hateful language used against our perceived enemies when we are at war. Whether they were the Japanese or Iraqis, dehumanizing opponents is a powerful tool to exploit,” he said.

“Many fear that Trump will not go silently into that good night if he is defeated. There is talk that he wants a 3rd term, whether he’ll even finish out a first one. Using such hateful language towards an opposing party and its members is a very dangerous and frightening path that he is taking us all on,” Hoenig concluded.

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