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President’s words affect the public, according to Brian Levin, director of CSUSB’s Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism

Washington Post

Nov. 3, 2017

Brian Levin, director of CSUSB’s Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, weighs in on the effects of President Trump’s response to terrorism:

Words matter. And when it comes to the president, words can calm or inflame an already anxious public. Anti-Muslim hate crimes surged in the days following 9/11, but the rate dropped after President George W. Bush went to the Islamic Center of Washington and called for tolerance, according to Brian Levin of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University in San Bernardino, Calif.

Conversely, in 2015 — the year of Islamic State-inspired attacks in Chattanooga, Tenn., and San Bernardino and Trump’s call for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States” — anti-Muslim hate crimes surged. After Trump called for the ban, anti-Muslim hate crimes spiked nearly 90 percent, according to Levin’s research.

The complete article can be read at 'President Trump is responding to terrorism the way demagogues and dictators do.'