By David Futrelle
Donald Trump will blithely threaten nuclear war in hair-raising off-the-cuff remarks. But his milquetoast statement on Charlottesville today — referring vaguely to violence “on many sides” — was clearly carefully scripted, seemingly to avoid offending the white supremacists who have been some of his most fervent supporters.
Whatever his intent, White supremacists are cheering his evasive non-response as a sign that “he loves us all.”
it worked pic.twitter.com/ekSZnw6FCK
— Ashley Feinberg (ashleyfeinberg.bsky.social) (@ashleyfeinberg) August 12, 2017
Trump's remarks today were deliberately vague to send a wink and nod to white supremacists, and the alt-right is aware and clearly thrilled. pic.twitter.com/TbQGpdxVed
— The Darkest Timeline Numbersmuncher (@NumbersMuncher) August 12, 2017
White supremacists cheer Trump’s response to Charlottesville violence https://t.co/0G4Wnqw2Rx pic.twitter.com/umc1fJQyzD
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) August 12, 2017
by condemning hatred "on many sides," the president of the United States just handed an immensely valuable gift to David Duke
— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) August 12, 2017
And to Richard Spencer, and “Baked Alaska,” and all the other Nazis and quasi-Nazis and “oh-no-I’m-not-a-Nazi”s who marched in Charlottesville.
The closest Trump came to condemning the terrorism was this bizarre tweet, posted late in the day.
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 FUCKING REGARDS!?
Not that any of this should be a shock at this point, given that during his campaign Trump deliberately and repeatedly incited his supporters to attack those protesting him.
On the campaign trail Trump reminisced about "the old days" where protestors would be "carried out on a stretcher."
— Jared Yates Sexton (@JYSexton) August 12, 2017
Trump is the one who made it okay to "Beat the crap out of 'em."
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) August 12, 2017
And he’s not the only one to encourage violence. One commenter reminded us that right-wing columnist and University of Tennessee law professor Glenn Reynolds literally urged drivers to plow into Black Lives Matter protesters in a tweet last year
https://twitter.com/bax_books/status/896443189669666816
None of this bodes well for the future.
Make no mistake. When Donald Trump loses election or is impeached he will incite these most fanatic supporters to violence. https://t.co/dr0fjzkgj9
— Richard Schiff (@Richard_Schiff) August 12, 2017
Sadly, I think this is almost certainly true.
PoM ???? i am sorry you have that situation. I understand with people like him, nothing you will say can change his mind. Hating Nazis is radical now? Maybe remind him all about brave American heros who fight hilter – because they are also anti-fascist….
@JS
Can’t say I’m faring any better getting to Ed Royce. His phone line will stay silent for 15 minutes straight before just turning off.
@Valentine
In my dad’s eyes, nothing is worse than being “left” and his opinion of “left” now includes anyone who is opposed to literal fascists. This has been a problem a long time coming, though. He thinks of me as being the reddest of red communists because I don’t think capitalism was handed down personally by Jesus. He lives in a post-fact world. My mom is worse.
We’ve had screaming matches in the past and I’ve gotten them to stop talking the worst of their shit directly in front of me, and that’s really all I have the power to do.
This is terrible. It’s unfortunate that you Americans have to put up with that. I don’t know what I’d do if that happened here. Trump just needs to stop.
PoM,
This made me smile ? but really it is not funny at all when your parents behave this way. It is good they don’t talk in front of you – but probably just not for argue. My dad also making some not good comments – when i tell him he also does this, not talking but still thinking.
So the alt-right has hosted one protest where a few hundred people attended. During Trump’s inauguration, on the other hand, there were 673 protests where 5 million people attended. And this is proof that the majority of people support the alt-right, and that the alt-right is on the verge of winning, and that the alt-right would win in a fight between these two sides, because…?
Yeah, you can’t change someone’s mind unless they are at least slightly open to change, and some residual of folks just aren’t. They are lost causes. But it used to be the case that my dad would prod me purposefully by directly asking me what I thought of his latest conspiracy theory. I don’t know what he thought his game was, because I take no shit and he knows it, and I have the power today to completely cut contact with them if they anger me too much. He’s figured it out, I guess, because he doesn’t do that anymore.
I’m sorry you also have a questionable dad. Solidarity!
@abars
Because they hold all three branches of government, the police force, the military, the mainstream media and every major social media site.
Hugs, Ooglyboggles and Policy of Madness. My mother (and much of her family) are like that, too. I choose not to talk to them any more.
My (paternal) grandfather was a boundless believer in America. No matter how bad things got in South Africa, he would always draw hope from the example that America set for us. If a free, thriving, multiethnic society could be built there then we could build one too.
In a way, I’m glad he died before he could see this happen.
I wonder which country young South Africans will look to now?
@JS:
I like David’s term, “Nazoid”. It points out the fascist tendencies and Nazi sympathies while encompassing more than just the literal, full-fledged neo-Nazis.
✊ solidarity! Yes my dad doesn’t do like yours though – he thinks he is telling something funny but then i need to explain him. Your dad’s game is what my oldest brother does with me – fucking annoying ?
There’s a reason I got my carry permit after the election.
When Trump gets impeached these fucus will riot,and begin insurgent terrorism.
One bright spot for me is seeing a lot of “old-fashioned”, dyed-in-the-wool, lifetime, conservative not radical, Republicans come out swinging on this stuff. Just watch Richard Painter in this AM Joy panel go all out (and this was before anyone was killed).
http://www.msnbc.com/am-joy If the link has changed from Richard Painter: ‘This is the face of Fascism in the U.S.’ just put that in your search engine – and watch!
Ray of Rays, thank you for the music. I needed it tonight.
It probably says something about what politics is like today. “Ted Cruz came out and said that violent Nazis are bad! I had to reassess my whole view of his courage!”
…And yet, I had to reassess my whole view of his courage.
This guy makes an interesting point about how the media should handle the alt-right. TL:DR Stop treating both sides as having a valid point.
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/08/thats-just-not-reality-sociologist-says-liberals-and-conservatives-are-far-from-equally-violent/
I also found these.
https://www.redbubble.com/shop/punch+nazis+t-shirts
I, too have a dad who´s drifting to the right – especially since reaching the point where he´s getting viewed as an old man and doesn´t get taken as seriously as he once was. He seems to feel like all those people who aren´t just like him are taking the world away from him, instead of wondering why he thought the world was his in the first place. And it makes me so horribly sad because we only see each other a couple of times a year and I don´t want to spend that time arguing. But I definitely even more don´t want to give him a chance to pretend his ideas are normal and above reproach by not calling him out. Because then I´d end up losing my childhood hero.
Not coming out and denouncing these Nazoids is probably a high-water mark for Trump, one which a lot of establishment conservatives aren’t willing to tolerate any more.
Ted Cruz denounced Trump for this because this was the one thing that he couldn’t let slide, like everything else Trump did from emoluments to the Muslim ban on down.
PoM and Oogly, my sympathies. And to all of us who have close relatives who endorse Trump and the scum who cling to him (for me it’s a sibling, but at least they live a long way away and we’re not in touch much).
Gotta give kudos to those GOP senators urging Trump to call this evil for what it is It won’t be enough to get me to vote for them but it’s good to know that they’re not all bad. It’s one thing to have conservatiuve views on some issues but I draw the line at nazism and white supremacy. Adolf Hitler was evil personfied and anyone who things he did anything good for this world is irredeemable in my eyes.
Looks like a lot of the alt – right turned up bearing clubs and shields. That does not imply peaceful intent in a civilian context. No wonder the police were less than impressed. My sympathies go out to the injured and the families of those who died, including the crew of the police helicopter that crashed. The only positive I can see in this whole sorry mess is the way American conservatives seem to be waking up to the risk of the dangerous cult Donald Trump is enabling.
This is what trump was elected for. Please don’t think I’m being dramatic or trivializing the situation when I say this, because I’m not. This is how the revolution begins.
The ongoing temper tantrum that whites have been throwing since the civil war is/has come to a head. The militant white population has been stumping for a fight for years, ever since the civil rights, women’s rights, gay rights movements of the 50’sand 60’s. The bigots believe they and their wants should be centered over everyone else’s. trump’s tacit approval of white fascism has given them reason to believe they are publicly acceptable, and they’re going to exploit that approval. I do not expect any help from the federal DoJ, nor from most of the states or localities.
Oh, fuck, oh, fuck, oh, fuck
All those Republicans who are speaking out now, spoke out during primary season and still decided to eventually support Trump even though they knew damn well what he is. Given the high likelihood that once this blows over, they’ll be back to deferring to Trump, I’m holding off on giving them cookies of any kind.
@Policy of Madness and Ooglyboggles
I’m sorry for the difficulties you face with your family members.
I’ve not had to deal, fortunately, with family members quite in that extreme a situation, but some a few years ago had to deal with some who are conservative and in conversation at family gatherings would like talk about politics and in the course start telling me all about American history, “intent of the Founding Fathers”, etc. etc. — getting their information Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck. I would correct them, citing various primary sources — noting that I had taught an upper-level undergraduate American Revolution class several times, and of course lots of eighteenth-century military history. The best reaction I would get was a kind of sullen stare.
It’s worse when I get the “well, I can tell ya what causes ALL wars. It’s simple. See…”
@PoM
“He thinks of me as being the reddest of red communists because I don’t think capitalism was handed down personally by Jesus.”
Ugh. Aghhh!!! I *hate* having to deal with the conservative anachronistic “holy capitalism” canard. Worse was in teaching a graduate military history class that had a bad tendency to draw in conservative “culture warrior” types, who had thought that by seeking out military history they could find a corner of academia that had not been “taken over by the librul agenduh.” So much of the course was defending the low grade I would give them for writing ill-founded arguments that flew in the face of the basis of historical evidence (and the reading assignments, which they just ignored.)
One guy was stuck on this notion that capitalism and Western powers’ military success were supposedly always linked.
He tried to apply that to sixteenth-century Spain.
Grade was not good.