Wrath filled protesters brandishing torches, assault rifles, Confederate flags, or signs with swastikas filled the streets of Charlottesville, Virginia. They were there ostensibly to stop the removal of a Robert E. Lee statute, but really to terrorize the town and the nation. They shocked the country by how many white nationalists were there.
But, most disturbingly, after 6 months of demonstrating his own white supremacist tendencies and incompetence, the country was shocked that Donald Trump failed to provide presidential leadership or healing messaging. By this time, however we should know what Trump is. Let’s stop pretending that we have discovered some new insights about Trump in his refusal to condemn Nazis.
But, most disturbingly, after 6 months of demonstrating his own white supremacist tendencies and incompetence, the country was shocked that Donald Trump failed to provide presidential leadership or healing messaging. By this time, however we should know what Trump is. Let’s stop pretending that we have discovered some new insights about Trump in his refusal to condemn Nazis.
Eventually, after first holding “all sides” responsible (without referring to the mobs yelling “Heil Trump,” “Blood and Soil” and “Jew will not replace us”); after three days--with clear prompting from advisers and widespread outrage from pundits, leaders, and the public--he made a muted statement that “checked the box” of condemning “this egregious display of hatred, bigotry, and violence.” He read aloud “racism is evil and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans.” He made no mention of American terrorism.
The horrifying images from the Charlottesville attack in the same week as Trump hurled irrational military threats at North Korea bring to life the perils the country is now facing. We are in crisis and need to ask some important questions – not about whether Trump is a white supremacist—his actions has more than answered that question nor about whether the Republican Party was fertile ground for a takeover by a white supremacist—it clearly was, but how we should react to the anti-Trump Republicans who claim that Trump was not the inevitable evolution of the GOP’s policies? One can turn on any cable news program to hear the soothing claim that Trump’s capture of the GOP emerged apart from the GOP’s receptivity. The truth is that the GOP has steadily drifted toward authoritarianism and nationalism. Trump beat a field of GOP’s finest because he was expressing the party’s true creed: intolerance for minorities and immigrants, white nationalism, and antiestablishment sentiments.
We also ask to what extent are beliefs in white supremacy limited to Trump’s base rather than present in many of our institutions, including the Democratic party? Trump’s reluctance to take express abhorrence at seeing Nazi’s and Klansmen marching with torches in Charlottesville appeared to be related to his core beliefs and certainty that his loyal base was happy to see the signs of white supremacists concretely working to “Make America Great Again.” But, his beliefs are undoubtedly shared by the Republican Party and his base. As the wounded Democratic Party works to redefine itself questions about how it views race are far from settled. While minorities are a large part of the Democratic Party, Donald Trump’s campaign questions about whether the party was as loyal to minorities hit a nerve. Do white Democrats take the Black vote for granted? To what extent do white Democrats fear their Party becoming an African-American party? If race issues were settled in the Democratic Party, then there might be little need for a Black-Lives-Matter movement, although the electoral viability of the Party could be questioned.
We must acknowledge that we learned nothing new about Trump from the Charlottesville Attack. Instead we should we stop pretending that his white supremacy and ignorance is a surprise. Let’s not pretend he is anything other than an ignoramus of limited intellectual capacity. Trump boasts about being an effective negotiator because he is tough enough to walk away from a disadvantageous real estate deal. He would have us believe that this translates into a tactic that can be used to walk away from working with the rest of the global community when he represents the US. He does not recognize that we can’t threaten to leave the planet (though we can threaten to permit the extinction of the planet).
Trump and his Secretaries of State and Defense adopt a “good-cop-bad-cop” portrayal because he believes that this tactic can be used to manipulate nations like North Korea. Here again, he apparently doesn’t understand that he is representing one nation--the US, and thus, need to speak with one voice.
We cannot continue to say, “today he became President” any time he does anything half-way normal. We cannot continue to act stunned that he is white supremacist and got elected because he was comfortable demonstrating those beliefs. If we want “normalcy” in the White House, then we must remove Trump from the Presidency.
The horrifying images from the Charlottesville attack in the same week as Trump hurled irrational military threats at North Korea bring to life the perils the country is now facing. We are in crisis and need to ask some important questions – not about whether Trump is a white supremacist—his actions has more than answered that question nor about whether the Republican Party was fertile ground for a takeover by a white supremacist—it clearly was, but how we should react to the anti-Trump Republicans who claim that Trump was not the inevitable evolution of the GOP’s policies? One can turn on any cable news program to hear the soothing claim that Trump’s capture of the GOP emerged apart from the GOP’s receptivity. The truth is that the GOP has steadily drifted toward authoritarianism and nationalism. Trump beat a field of GOP’s finest because he was expressing the party’s true creed: intolerance for minorities and immigrants, white nationalism, and antiestablishment sentiments.
We also ask to what extent are beliefs in white supremacy limited to Trump’s base rather than present in many of our institutions, including the Democratic party? Trump’s reluctance to take express abhorrence at seeing Nazi’s and Klansmen marching with torches in Charlottesville appeared to be related to his core beliefs and certainty that his loyal base was happy to see the signs of white supremacists concretely working to “Make America Great Again.” But, his beliefs are undoubtedly shared by the Republican Party and his base. As the wounded Democratic Party works to redefine itself questions about how it views race are far from settled. While minorities are a large part of the Democratic Party, Donald Trump’s campaign questions about whether the party was as loyal to minorities hit a nerve. Do white Democrats take the Black vote for granted? To what extent do white Democrats fear their Party becoming an African-American party? If race issues were settled in the Democratic Party, then there might be little need for a Black-Lives-Matter movement, although the electoral viability of the Party could be questioned.
We must acknowledge that we learned nothing new about Trump from the Charlottesville Attack. Instead we should we stop pretending that his white supremacy and ignorance is a surprise. Let’s not pretend he is anything other than an ignoramus of limited intellectual capacity. Trump boasts about being an effective negotiator because he is tough enough to walk away from a disadvantageous real estate deal. He would have us believe that this translates into a tactic that can be used to walk away from working with the rest of the global community when he represents the US. He does not recognize that we can’t threaten to leave the planet (though we can threaten to permit the extinction of the planet).
Trump and his Secretaries of State and Defense adopt a “good-cop-bad-cop” portrayal because he believes that this tactic can be used to manipulate nations like North Korea. Here again, he apparently doesn’t understand that he is representing one nation--the US, and thus, need to speak with one voice.
We cannot continue to say, “today he became President” any time he does anything half-way normal. We cannot continue to act stunned that he is white supremacist and got elected because he was comfortable demonstrating those beliefs. If we want “normalcy” in the White House, then we must remove Trump from the Presidency.