{"id":134205,"date":"2017-08-13T15:18:48","date_gmt":"2017-08-13T21:18:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=134205"},"modified":"2017-08-13T15:21:25","modified_gmt":"2017-08-13T21:21:25","slug":"charlottesville-trumps-grotesque-failure-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/08\/13\/charlottesville-trumps-grotesque-failure-leadership.html","title":{"rendered":"Charlottesville and Trump’s Grotesque Failure of Leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Protesters at Charlottesville, VA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Their broader cause was to “Unite the Right.”<\/p>\n

There were counter-protests. There were clashes. There were brawls. There was some white supremacist plowing his car<\/a> into a group of counter-protesters, killing one and injuring dozens more.<\/p>\n

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Torchbearing, Nazi-saluting protesters protecting the Lee statue<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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,<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

We’re talking about people\u00a0waving Confederate Flags.<\/p>\n

We’re talking about the waving of flags with swastikas on them.<\/p>\n

We’re talking about Nazi salutes.<\/p>\n

We’re talking chants of “Blood and soil!” and “You will not replace us!” and “Jews<\/em>\u00a0will not replace us!”<\/p>\n

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Fascist protesters. The 2nd from the left, James Alex Fields Jr., is accused of driving his car into counter-protesters later.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

At his Bedminster golf club hangout, Trump spoke out during a press conference<\/a> ostensibly about his VA reforms: “We\u2019re 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.”<\/p>\n

“On many sides.” He repeated that again.<\/p>\n

And he tweeted (after a night and a morning of protest and conflict had already passed by in silence<\/a>):<\/p>\n

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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!<\/p>\n

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 12, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n