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.
“He said he loves us all.”
“He likes us; he really, really likes us!!”
Sad!!
@Alan
That listcould cause some very bad things to happen to the people named. It could literally wreck their lives. How can I fund this, please?
Sorry about missing you, Dali–and Alan as well!
I condensed your (and Eddie’s) advice:
This sound good?
(Also, would it ding me to have my own pepper gel? I carry it every day on-campus, but would it be appropriate here?)
Regarding both-sidesism, I need to take some time right now to breathe and calm down, as not one but two of my friends have posted B.S. about how antifa are just as bad as literal fucking nazis. I’m about to unfriend them both. One I’ve been kind of cautious of already, as he’s very pro-gun and pro-hate-speech-as-free-speech. Otherwise he’s a pretty good guy, but really we’ve never been close, so unfriending him wouldn’t be a huge deal.
The other hurts a lot. He’s the type of person I generally look up to and aspire to be like. Not in all respects, but many. Now his stance is a little different; he feels that a handful of assholes have poisoned the antifa movement, but he still feels like Nazis are worse beyond comparison, and that people who say “but antifa…” are supporting Nazis. But he compared current day antifa to the wonton destruction that took place during the WTO protests in 99. He later clarified that he feels the term antifa has been coopted, but I feel like he’s blowing things way out of proportions.
Re: Cruz
I’ll still let him know when he does what I think are the right things, but no way will I ever vote for him without a serious rework of his political ideology.
@Gipsz Jakab
The alt-right, nearly all of them, are literally Nazis. They elected their fascist President, they’ve got their armies of asshole post-fact “afraid of the radical left” thugs, they love that the President doesn’t actually say “Naziism is bad”.
There may be a few, on the fringes, that aren’t actually in favor of white supremacy, but almost all of them are.
I haven’t seen any redeeming qualities from any of the alt-Reich for 12 months now. None of them condemn any violence, unless it’s the “evil antifa”, those they’ll condemn.
@Troubelle
Carrying pepper spray on your person can add a weapon charge if you’re arrested for anything else at the protest. It may or may not be legal to carry pepper spray, depending on where you are, and what you are perceived to be planning to do with it.
It’s like how carrying a multitool with you is normally just fine, but if you’re caught attempting to get into a house with it, that’s “carrying burglary tools”.
It’s best to keep escape routes in mind at all times.
@ Alan
Re quote about what fascists look like
Were you thinking of this?
http://michaelrosenblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/fascism-i-sometimes-fear.html?m=1
I sometimes fear that
people think that fascism arrives in fancy dress
worn by grotesques and monsters
as played out in endless re-runs of the Nazis.
Fascism arrives as your friend.
It will restore your honour,
make you feel proud,
protect your house,
give you a job,
clean up the neighbourhood,
remind you of how great you once were,
clear out the venal and the corrupt,
remove anything you feel is unlike you…
It doesn’t walk in saying,
“Our programme means militias, mass imprisonments, transportations, war and persecution.”
@ weatherwax
Ooh no, but that’s so apposite to the point I wanted to illustrate I think it bears quoting anyway. Good old Michael Rosen.
ETA: ha, sort of ninja’d by the edit monster, still, worth saying twice.
@Alan
Well now I REALLY want to see the thing you were thinking of.
@ weatherwax
It’s the same sort of idea. Like how fascism doesn’t always announce itself with stormtroopers marching down the streets. How sometimes fascists can appear innocuous or even ridiculous. And there’s a line about ‘may even have a silly haircut and a comic moustache’. I keep thinking Orwell but it doesn’t appear to be one of his. Same sort of era though. Maybe Russell or someone like that.
It’s probably irrelevant now anyway. I just wanted to respond to David editing that original post (whilst of course understanding why he did so). It’s the point (which I’m sure everyone here understands anyway) that just because a lot of the alt-right look like pathetic dweebs running around with barbecue accessories from Homebase or whatever, doesn’t mean they’re not just as dangerous as the more obvious candidates (and how really they’re the same thing).
Just look at the car killer’s Facebook. Stupid memes and cartoon frogs.
Michael Rosen is brilliant, as in this poem. (And he was very, very funny when he did a spot for a Corbyn rally) and he’s good arguing on TV and as an educator working with students (which is how come I met him once (for about 2 minutes) and he seemed really nice in person too).
http://imgur.com/a/Tu6SJ
The Nazis are thrilled.
So my local Resistance group posts a message on FB saying, if you’re meeting up today in solidarity with Charlottesville, remember that we are standing up mainly for People of Color who have been the targets of this kind of hate for centuries.
Most of the comments on this post? “Waaah, what about us white people?”
Sigh. A post LITERALLY tells us (its a mostly white group) to remember that it isn’t all about US, and immediately my white liberal women counterparts begin to whine that they aren’t getting their cookies and are being persecuted.
This shit goes so fucking deep.
So… I’m just gonna drop this here. [CW for pretty much everything, it’s the Daily Stormer.]
It’s about the Charlottesville victim, and why she totally deserved it.
Also if anyone asks I’ll be in the woods punching trees.
@ opposablethumbs
Anecdote warning. When I was at law school I still did a bit of roadie-ing. One nice regular gig was taking care of the music side of things for ‘The Late Show’. It was really easy cos it often just involved putting up a clarinet stand or something. But the people on the show, including Michael Ronson, were all really nice.
The show was unfortunately cancelled because of viewing figures. On the last episode asked if I could have that wolf picture they used. The director asked why and I told him I really liked the show.
“I wish you’d stayed at home to watch, then we might have had an audience.”
They let me have the picture though.
All these Nazis got me depressed. Why do they find it hard to not hurt people? Are they just evil? I don’t believe in evil, just misguided people, but I know that doesn’t explain someone driving through other people. Do they see it as self-defense or something? Or do they really think that someone having punched Richard Spencer is the same as murder, and this is their revenge? I’m just having a hard time understanding it.
I posted a comment to my FB page, saying that this was the first time in a long time that I’ve been glad to be white.
Because I can go on a thread where some yowling hammerhead is going on about his* warped, evil worldview, and I can reply, “Hey, I’m a white American man and I think your worldview is warped and evil.” People like that like to believe that people like me secretly agree with them; it’s not much, but I can destroy that fantasy of theirs. Bonus: it usually enrages them.
*Nineteen times out of twenty.
Follow up: my neighborhood street fair here in Oakland California was yesterday. Beautiful day, big friendly crowd of most races, ages and genders, completely peaceful. Proud of my town.
@Sinkable John
Nope. Nope nope nope nope nope nope nope.
I read the URL. That’s more than enough.
http://i.imgur.com/C5z2O34.gif
@JS
It’s legal to have, though not in excess quantities. I have a small canister that hangs around my neck, as I am a young, visibly AFAB person on a uni campus. I wear it everywhere outside of my dorm.
Still, I can see the concern.
@FrickleFrackle : Thoses nazis is what happen when you demonize and alienize the other side. If they aren’t human, but just obstacles and trials, then they don’t really have right, amirite ? The huy who drove in the crowd likely see them not as humans with aspirations and goals, but just as evil orcs of mordor.
Which is, by the way, one of the reason for which it’s dangerous to hate or stop see them as human. Because regardless of how noble your intention are, nothing good come from not seeing people as humans.
@dr. ej
Yeah I noped out of it pretty quickly, never finished reading. There might be something to mock at the bottom but I stopped caring about that before I could reach it.
On a brighter note.
For your viewing pleasure.
Jason Kessler, the organizer of UniteTheRight and all around big bad Nazi.
Tackled to the ground by one of those “inferior feeemaales”.
http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.3408354.1502651503!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_1200/virginia-protests.jpg
In other news, I joined a D&D thing today! I just walked up to a table where people were making character sheets and asked to join.
Wound up with a gnomish bard with an affinity for berries. Her/Their name is Andyll “Tambly” Challhar. (The book said they chose ’em based on how fun they are to say.)
We play tomorrow.
Troubelle: another couple of things to look at:
– are there middle-aged people and kids around? Indicates low likelihood of trouble.
– is the march over? Indicates fast-rising risk of trouble.
– is it daytime out? Indicates low likelihood of trouble. Did night just fall? Danger!
These aren’t ironclad rules of course — just likelihoods. Shit can happen anytime.
@Alan
And now I’m thinking you’ve gone to the (almost) source and are thinking of The Great Dictator, starring the visionary Chaplin.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=J7GY1Xg6X20
The alt-reich rally made Amy Siskind’s list for this week, but not the vehicular homicide:
https://medium.com/@Amy_Siskind/week-39-experts-in-authoritarianism-advise-to-keep-a-list-of-things-subtly-changing-around-you-so-1b911b954f30
The rate at which things are deteriorating is alarming. Every datum points to Civil War II starting sometime between now and the early 2020s, if not World War III.
I’m located close enough to a significant military base that there’s a non-negligible chance I’ll be vaporized if the latter happens, even if it’s a “limited exchange” without large population centers being targeted.
I trained myself from an early age to be able to take control of, or force myself awake from, nightmares, oddly since November it doesn’t seem to work anymore. And I never had one drag out for months before…