So apparently while a lot of people (myself included) were having a fairly pleasant, otherwise engaging and distracting day … a large gang of racists, white supremacists, white nationalists, Neo-Nazis, “alt-Rightists,” Neo-Confederates, KKKers, open-carrying militia types, and other deplorables held a march in Charlottesville, Virginia. Their immediate cause was the plans to take down a statue of Robert E. Lee — not one erected during the Civil War, mind you, but one put up in 1924, at the height of Klan influence in the region.
Their broader cause was to “Unite the Right.”
There were counter-protests. There were clashes. There were brawls. There was some white supremacist plowing his car into a group of counter-protesters, killing one and injuring dozens more.
We’re not talking here about a group of folk with calm, cool, rational arguments. We’re not talking about people with different views who love America but simply have varying ideas as to how best we, as a nation, can prosper together. The “Right” the protesters sought to unite were not your garden variety conservatives, Rotary Republicans,
We’re talking about folk in hoods and robes. We’re talking about people in white supremacy regalia, badges, patches, shields, quasi-uniforms. We’re talking about people brandishing torches and firearms.
We’re talking about people waving Confederate Flags.
We’re talking about the waving of flags with swastikas on them.
We’re talking about Nazi salutes.
We’re talking chants of “Blood and soil!” and “You will not replace us!” and “Jews will not replace us!”
Swastikas and Nazis. That’s who were protesting the taking down of a statue, erected in the Klan era to celebrate a rebellion in the name of chattel slavery.
And in the midst of this, there was our President, exercising his moral leadership and bully pulpit by … refusing to name the problem, and attributing a false equivalence between the protesters and counter-protesters.
At his Bedminster golf club hangout, Trump spoke out during a press conference ostensibly about his VA reforms: “We’re closely following the terrible events unfolding in Charlottesville, Virginia. We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry, and violence. On many sides.”
“On many sides.” He repeated that again.
And he tweeted (after a night and a morning of protest and conflict had already passed by in silence):
We ALL must be united & condemn all that hate stands for. There is no place for this kind of violence in America. Lets come together as one!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 12, 2017
That was just the sort of message the Daily Stormer, an American neo-Nazi daily, wanted to hear, as the screen cap to the right shows.
From the KKK side of the shop, David Duke made it clear where he was getting his inspiration from.
Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke had appeared at the “Unite the Right” rally on Saturday prior to the violence erupting. The purpose of the rally, he said, was to fulfill the promise of Donald Trump.
“This represents a turning point for the people of this country,” Duke said. “We are determined to take our country back, we’re going to fulfill the promises of Donald Trump, and that’s what we believed in, that’s why we voted for Donald Trump, because he said he’s going to take our country back and that’s what we gotta do.”
And there was Trump, refusing to call out the bigots who came with Duke and others to “take our country back” (from the Jews, from the blacks, from the liberals, from the Mexicans, from the Muslims, from the race-mixers, from the people who would take down a Klan Era statue to the military leader of a rebellion 150 years ago to protect slavery as an institution). The problem, as Trump described it, that many sides weren’t being united, that many sides were being hateful.
Again, that’s why the folk posting at the white supremacist Stormfront site were so encouraged.
Of course, even those vague words weren’t enough for David Duke, who replied to Trump’s tweet:
I would recommend you take a good look in the mirror & remember it was White Americans who put you in the presidency, not radical leftists. https://t.co/Rkfs7O2Ykr
— David Duke (@DrDavidDuke) August 12, 2017
Trump’s refusal to specifically condemn Nazis — Nazis — and Klan members who were claiming his blessing and inspiration for being there, is part and parcel of his blind eye to the excesses of the far right nationalist conservatives on the fringes of his ostensible party and his base. It goes right along with his continued silence over the mosque bombing in Minnesota a last week, even as he called out Islamist terrorism overseas the same day.
And there’s Trump sadly tsk-tsking the violence and noting that he’s not responsible, nosirree, and that, heck, even his predecessor — the man he claimed for years wasn’t an American, the man he called the most divisive President ever, wasn’t responsible (today). In talking about the violence in Charlottesville, without calling out any parties in particular, he noted, “It’s been going on for a long time in our country. Not Donald Trump. Not Barack Obama. This has been going on for a long, long time.”
Whaddaya gonna do? Long time, y’know? Haters gotta hate. Sad.
Indeed, Trump found a way to still pivot to making a campaign speech.
I just got off the phone with the governor of Virginia, Terry McAuliffe, and we agree that the hate and the division must stop, and must stop right now. We have to come together as Americans with love for our nation and true affection– really, I say this so strongly, true affection for each other. Our country is doing very well in so many ways. We have record — just absolute record employment. We have unemployment the lowest it’s been in almost 17 years. We have companies pouring into our country, Foxconn and car companies and so many others. They’re coming back to our country. We’re renegotiating trade deals to make them great for our country and great for the American worker.
Nazis and Klanners and anti-Semitic chants, and Trump would rather we be thinking about employment levels. Bald and seething hatred, racism, and harkening back to rebellion … and what Trump really wants to talk about are the great trade deals he’s been cutting.
Heck, even when someone was killed by one of the white supremacists who traveled from Ohio for the protest — and who drove his car into a crowd of counter-protesters — Trump couldn’t bring himself to name the crime.
Condolences to the family of the young woman killed today, and best regards to all of those injured, in Charlottesville, Virginia. So sad!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 12, 2017
“Best regards” to “all those injured.” Yes, that’s damned “sad.”
Meantime, what’s to be done? Quoth Trump at the press conference, “We want to get the situation straightened out in Charlottesville, and we want to study it. And we want to see what we’re doing wrong as a country where things like this can happen.”
I suppose encouraging white nationalist zanies to think that they have a friend in this Administration, that all that talk about “taking back our country,” that all that pointing at those dangerous furriners and divisive blacks and threats to law enforcement, along with the casual laughing off of political violence a rallies — I suppose that might be part of “what ‘we’re’ doing wrong as a country.”
Is Trump an alt-Rightist white nationalist? Meh. I think Trump is Trump, and his only interests are the Trump name and personal accolades. But he sure likes surrounding himself with folk who portray themselves as being members of the alt-Right (like Bannon), or who use white nationalist arguments (like Miller), or who think that people are just way too harsh on white supremacists (like Gorka). He seems perfectly happy throwing out accusations about foreigners and refugees as security risks, with characterizing Latin American border crossers as drug-runners and rapists, with lionizing (and welcoming comparisons to) Andy Jackson.
Other prominent politicians seemed to have no problem calling this out by name.
Nothing patriotic about #Nazis,the #KKK or #WhiteSupremacists It's the direct opposite of what #America seeks to be. #Charlotesville
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) August 12, 2017
The views fueling the spectacle in Charlottesville are repugnant. Let it only serve to unite Americans against this kind of vile bigotry.
— Paul Ryan (@SpeakerRyan) August 12, 2017
The hate and bigotry witnessed in #Charlottesville does not reflect American values. I wholeheartedly oppose their actions.
— Leader McConnell (@senatemajldr) August 12, 2017
What " WhiteNatjonalist" are doing in Charlottesville is homegrown terrorism that can't be tolerated anymore that what Any extremist does
— ChuckGrassley (@ChuckGrassley) August 12, 2017
We should call evil by its name. My brother didn't give his life fighting Hitler for Nazi ideas to go unchallenged here at home. -OGH
— Senator Hatch Office (@senorrinhatch) August 12, 2017
"White supremacy" crap is worst kind of racism-it's EVIL and perversion of God's truth to ever think our Creator values some above others.
— Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) August 12, 2017
Heck, even the President’s daughter was willing to call out the white supremacists.
1:2 There should be no place in society for racism, white supremacy and neo-nazis.
— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) August 13, 2017
Give them credit, some of Trump’s supposed allies in the GOP weren’t happy about his (you should pardon the expression) whitewashing of the source of the problems at the Charlottesville protest.
Mr. President – we must call evil by its name. These were white supremacists and this was domestic terrorism. https://t.co/PaPNiPPAoW
— Cory Gardner (@SenCoryGardner) August 12, 2017
Very important for the nation to hear @potus describe events in #Charlottesville for what they are, a terror attack by #whitesupremacists
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) August 12, 2017
Trump’s priority in all of this seems more to keep it from distracting from the rest of his message (thus the laundry list of “achievements” in the middle of a serious discussion), and trying to avoid any blow-back from either his political enemies or his less savory political supporters. In what could have been an inspirational moment, the man who spends most of his time on Twitter attacking people who get in his way and demonizing group that just coincidentally happen to be the targets of these white supremacists … pretended his was the way of brotherly love:
My administration is restoring the sacred bonds of loyalty between this nation and its citizens, but our citizens must also restore the bonds of trust and loyalty between one another. We must love each other, respect each other and cherish our history and our future together. So important. We have to respect each other. Ideally, we have to love each other.
Respect for others, loving others — none of those seem to be Trumpian traits, at least not in his public persona. And, that, too, is a message from Trump that the racists and white nationalists marching on Charlottesville clearly heard before they arrived … and failed to hear anything different after.
As an additional note: I’m not necessarily a fan of the “Punch a Nazi” school of counter-protest. I understand the impulse, and even applaud the intent, but in most cases it seems counter-productive and muddying of the waters as to where the real threat to order and unity is. I would rather see these yahoos be allowed to march down the street as people on the sidewalks point and laugh at their stupid costumes and ridiculous macho-man symbolism.
On the other hand, I’m not one of their clear and present targets for suppression, deportation, or extinction, so that’s easy for me to say. And when you do have actual regalia-touting Nazis and KKKers and other white supremacist, white nationalist, and fascist groups banding together for a protest for an execrable cause, I can also see where clashes with anti-racism, anti-fascism counter-protesters might get heated to the point of blows. In which case I know where my sympathies lie.
That it’s impossible to tell where Trump’s sympathies lie is, to my mind, the core of his moral failing in this incident, and as president.
More commentary (with more examples) on the same theme: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/8/13/16140504/trump-charlottesville-white-supremacists
The White House (but not Trump) formally notes that the “many sides” does include Neo-Nazis and Klanners and white supremacists “and all extremist groups.”
I would be interested the their DNA test results. Purity is rare to say the least.
It’s pretty sad when Ted Cruz sounds more presidential than the President.
@Solonor – Indeed.
I don’t think its terribly difficult to determine where his sympathies lie. He actually referred to the counter-protestors as “the other side” in his later rant at the CNN reporter. A signal moment if there ever was one.
@Kurt — Yup.