Trump Mute on Domestic Terrorism by White Supremacists in Charlottesville
photo: Edu Bayer for The New York Times
“The hate and division must stop. And must stop right now. We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides. On many sides. It’s been going on for a long time in our country.” – President Donald Trump
THE MORAL BANKRUPTCY of President Donald Trump was on display over the weekend after white supremacists, neo-Nazis and their followers descended on the beautifully tranquil town of Charlottesville, Virginia.
“No condemnation at all,” the Daily Stormer wrote. “When asked to condemn, [Trump] just walked out of the room. Really, really good. God bless him.” [Washington Post]
The president of the United States could not find enough outrage in his puny humanity to condemn the racists, bigots, and anti-Semites that left one woman and two Virginia state troopers dead and over a dozen wounded.
No one is surprised.
Republicans are getting nervous.
It wasn’t hard to do, but Attorney General Jeff Sessions came out with a stronger statement than Trump, and opened a federal probe into Charlottesville.
It was a tragedy.
Considering the history of our country, and the campaign of our President, it should have been foreseen.
Sensing there might be trouble, the city tried to deny Mr. Kessler’s group a permit for Emancipation Park; officials wanted the gathering in a larger park, where they felt they could better control the crowd. But on Friday evening, a judge sided with Mr. Kessler. Mayor Signer would later lament on Twitter that it was a fateful turn of events. “This is EXACTLY why City tried to change venue to McIntire,” he wrote. [New York Times]
The only thing we can hope is that Steve Bannon — the aider and abettor of the alt-right — will become more isolated inside the Administration, and that national security adviser H.R. McMaster will prevail. McMaster did a good job of ostracizing Bannon on “Meet the Press,” but the smear campaign against him from Bannon’s alt-right crowd is getting worse.
UPDATED: After the first irredeemable statement on Charlottesville, a botched and unsigned clean-up statement was uttered late Sunday. Now, after a weekend of tripping over themselves, Trump aides coerced their boss, POTUS, into uttering words that shouldn’t have to be put in a teleprompter. What Trump said was too little, too late, coming from a man who has debased himself for the love of skinheads, bigots, and alt-right extremists. I won’t insult you by offering Trump’s statement. It means nothing in the face of his wink and nod to the worst elements in our country.
TRump has no humanity; doesn’t know what the word means. His only interest is making money; he was never taught about humanity. This is what we’re stuck with now – a mean-spirited man sits in the WH. The news is so depressing to me that I’ve decided to forego all news unless I get it from TM. I’m learning Korean instead. At least that takes me away from the chaos that is reigning in this country.
I’m humbled. …and good for you!
Trump screwed himself on this one.
Character is destiny…
What a terrible shame that any of this had to happen at all in this country. All weekend the news channels and talking heads were aghast and beside themselves that our president could not condemn these acts by a group whose sole purpose is to hate others. When are we just going to realize that our president does not represent us as a United States? He is not the president of all of us. He is only the president for a small minority of us- and that IS NOT GOING TO CHANGE. He has NO interest in representing all of… Read more »
Yes, right now we are under authoritarian minority government. The GOP is their desperation to cling to power has gerrymandered themselves into destruction. Many of their districts are drawn so as their main concern is a primary from the right therefore keeping them beholden to only the far right in their district. Once some of these far righties start losing in a general election several times the message is going to be sent.
I’m not confident that this will cause a wave that Democrats can exploit on the local level. “A Better Deal” still isn’t convincing enough. And these rallies have been going on for a long time (a number during Obama’s presidency). C-Ville had a higher level of fist fights, shoving, emotion, and a murder using a car as a weapon. But in the end, it was the same type of long-standing rally. And reading about how local law enforcement handled things (“watching more than acting”), it’s enough for folks to say, “It was a setup”. And it’s being said. The more… Read more »
I’ve also heard that the alt-right had more serious weaponry. They were stationed in places that hampered police.
Well, personally I think rallies are less than worthless. Better to spend time registering voters and doing things that are going to show real results. As far as people believing conspiracy theories about set ups well, there’s nothing that you can immediately do about that. It’s going to take the GOP to start telling their voters the truth which so far they have been loathe to do. These people who think it was a “set up” should just be left to the GOP to deal with and we need to work on other areas like doing the hard work on… Read more »
There’s absolutely no doubt that Dems need to register people to vote AND GET THEM OUT, which they failed at doing in 2016.
But saying rallies are “worthless” is flat out wrong.
Donald Trump’s rallies helped elect him. Media love rallies & lots of people.
Remember Barack Obama? Talk about rallies! I was reporting when he was running and what I saw at his rallies in several states was foreshadowing.
Rallies alone won’t get it done, however. On that we agree.
The truth is Trump’s rallies should have made him lose considering what happened at them.
Caroline – The system, so far is working. We are NOT under authoritarian rule.
Dems HANDED Republicans their advantage via gerrymandering. People on left don’t vote in midterms like the right.
Big day in Alabama today: Sessions’ seat.
Oh, yeah, I completely agree that the people who couldn’t be bothered allowed a lot of this to happen.
As far as Alabama goes I guess we’ll see which flavor of nut Alabama is going to pick.
Well said, RD.
Some conservative on Twitter wrote the 140 character version.
Today at the barber shop, the was some interesting discussion going on. Kicked off by 70 year old black man. He said “I guess we black folks should have thrown our lot in with Trump on Election Day since he got white folks ready to go to war with white supremacists!” He then added: “Companies dropping white supremacists. White folks saying they need to fix the white community. This a brand new day, brothers!” That kicked off a wide ranging discussion about Trump (elderly man said Trump should have a statue for mobilizing regular white folks this hard against white… Read more »
Fascinating. You’re correct about Dems. The latest idea is a new center-left group taking on Sanders, started by Vilsack. Dems need a wider coalition but progressives aren’t in the mood to compromise as far as I’ve seen. They don’t seem to get that it’s about authenticism. It’s about not being afraid of your own shadow w the media. A candidate who knows why he/she is running, & wants the presidency more than privacy. Dems think religion will save them in rural areas! Back in the mid-90s, I pitched a radio show in LA. Talked to Dems about what right wing… Read more »
Rural areas are beyond our reach right now but the suburbs are not. The best we can do in rural areas right now is reduce the GOP margins. It is going to take a long time to move the rural areas.
Well, the GOP has been riding this tiger for quite a few decades. Sooner or later they were going to be eaten by it and it looks like they may have been. The way to healing is truth telling. The GOP has to start telling the truth about what they’ve done and take responsiblity. Aren’t they always lecturing everybody else about “personal responsiblity”?
That being said the response from many GOP quarters has been downright depressing. I was glad there were a few Republicans that said it clearly and concisely this is wrong. This is not America.
The GOP will stop riding this particular tiger when it ends in the Tiger’s tummy. It will stop the politics of race and resentment when it can no longer win elections with the formula.
Correct. It is going to take a couple of election cycles of them losing for them to change.
Well said, Caroline.
Taylor
Thanks for your commentary. I agree, Trump is morally bankrupt. Trump on Sat refusing to condemn the KKK and White Supremacists had my head spinning and i was angry. I have called Rubio and other Congress people here in Florida to express my anger. OMG, just last week i was calling about NK.. It never ends with this guy, constant turmoil.. Yet , none of us should be surprised as HRC foretold most of this, still its jarring..
Good for you for calling your CongressCritters, tony!
Yep, it never ends..
Since Friday I have watched the president of the United States show his true self, especially this afternoon. Watching it I realized this man doesn’t have a moral bone in his body. I read somewhere that people were calling for the GOP in the House to start impeachment proceedings. I don’t think they have the balls to do it. I loved what Ana Navarro tweeted. Dear Robert Mueller, Sir, please hurry the hell up! Signed, An American I also read tonight that the Trump admin has requested a list of all members of an anti-Trump blog. Here’s the link. https://goo.gl/eRgWZz… Read more »
Racism in America has “dwindled.”
Look at the people standing up against hate.
There are millions more who are tolerant.
Don’t let Trump’s negative ignorance and malice distract you from what you know in your heart.