August 16, 2017
Thank God for the blessing of clarity. Although there has never been any doubt where Trump stood and whom he supported, yesterday’s defiant, impromptu press conference shredded any pretext that Trump stands for anything less than unvarnished white supremacy. No longer can anyone claim that Trump’s supporters are beset with economic anxiety or lured by his faux populism. Yesterday, Trump stood behind a podium with the seal of the President of The United States of America and truculently defended the “very fine people,” who marched in Charlottesville. Trump averred that not all of them were white supremacists and expressed sympathy with the marchers’ purported concern that their “history and culture” be preserved. Trump equated Robert E. Lee with George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. The nuance that two were slaveholding nation founders and one was a traitor fighting expressly to preserve slavery was seemingly lost on Trump.
In the wake of the press conference, a parade of pundits seemed aghast at the naked racism and anti-Semitism on display. They should spare us. Frankly, at this juncture, pearl clutching shock that the President of the United States is an unabashed racist who gives comfort to Nazis and Klansmen is a luxury we can’t afford. Trump is no mere doddering bigot muttering at the television from the comfort of his Naugahyde La-Z-Boy. He is the President of the United States with the full, fearsome power of the executive branch of the federal government at his disposal.
For those who have been in a coma for the last four days, let’s review what those “very fine people” on the “Unite the Right” side did this past weekend. On Friday night, hundreds of torch carrying white supremacists marched on the lawn of the University of Virginia chanting blatantly anti-Semitic, Nazi slogans like, “Jews will not replace us,” and “Blood and soil.” They then violently attacked a much smaller group of counter-protesters, punching them and spraying them with mace. The white supremacists surrounded a church where a mix of clergy, Black Lives Matter and local activists had gathered, making it unsafe for them to leave the building.
On Saturday, the white supremacists marched to Emancipation Park, outfitted with riot shields, brass knuckles, clubs and guns. While some of the anti-fascist counter protesters also had shields and clubs, there is no question that the vastly larger crowd of “Unite the Right” protesters was armed to the teeth and itching for battle. In addition to attacking counter demonstrators, white supremacists threw bottles of urine on journalists covering the rally. After the rally had been declared an “unlawful assembly,” one of the Nazis plowed his car into a crowd of peaceful counter-protestors, killing Heather Heyer and injuring nineteen others.
These are the “very fine people” that Trump defended. Don’t be confused. These people were not in Charlottesville to express their “views.” They were not simply trying to preserve “history and culture.” No one at a Black Lives Matter march wears brass knuckles. No one at the Women’s March brought clubs and guns. The Nazis and white supremacists that rioted in Charlottesville this weekend were proudly heralding the return of state sponsored racial terror and Trump is their standard bearer.
We have been here before. We have seen thousands of Black people lynched and terrorized for the crime of asserting our inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We have seen six million Jewish people murdered by a genocidal regime that Americans fought a war to vanquish. So spare us tut-tutting “concern”, tweeted denunciations or sound bite expressions of revulsion. If you are not doing EVERYTHING you can to root out these forces of evil, root and branch, starting at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, you are wasting my time and risking my life, so spare me.