WORD
Richard Cohen
President
President
Dear Guillermo,
President Trump just can’t bring himself to unequivocally condemn and repudiate white supremacy and its modern-day equivalent, the “alt-right.”
He can’t bring himself to acknowledge that terrorism committed by white supremacists is, indeed, terrorism.
The president’s tepid response yesterday to the deadly violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, was telling. He denounced the hate and violence but spread the blame to “many sides.”
No, Mr. President, there are not “many sides” to what happened in Virginia.
Not when we see hundreds of white supremacists marching with torches at night in an American city.
Not when we see people killed and injured by a white supremacist using his car as a weapon.
Trump’s initial, milquetoast response left racists feeling just fine. Amid its blog posts celebrating the day’s events, the neo-Nazi website Daily Stormer wrote that Trump’s comments were “really good,” adding that the president “didn’t attack us … no condemnation at all.”
Reacting to the national outrage, the White House issued another statement today – not even attributed to Trump – that said “of course” his condemnation “includes white supremacists, K.K.K. neo-Nazi and all extremist groups.”
But Trump himself was silent.
I’m sure white supremacists remain reassured that they have a friend in the White House. A president who spews vitriol and heaps scorn on his enemies virtually every day – and who has no trouble calling Mexicans killers and “rapists” – still can’t break off the unholy alliance with bigots that he’s been cultivating since he first claimed President Obama’s birth certificate was bogus.
And I suspect the alt-righters believe they can count on Trump to continue pursuing the same white nationalist political agenda that’s been so plainly evident throughout the first six months of his administration. And why wouldn’t they think so – with alt-right champion Stephen Bannon whispering in Trump’s ear?
No, Mr. Trump, there are not “many sides” to this. There is white supremacy, and there is America. There is good, and there is evil.
It’s not a hard choice.
Sincerely,
Richard Cohen Signature
Richard Cohen
President, Southern Poverty Law Center
President, Southern Poverty Law Center
The Obese Bully refuses to denounce his BASE!
2 others shared a link.
See more from Sean Colarossi.
Washington Post shared a link.
This morning on CNN, Tom Bossert, Trump’s homeland security adviser, repeatedly praised Trump for not taking sides in the Charlottesville violence. Bossert claimed that people “on both sides” showed up in Charlottesville “looking for trouble” and that he won't assign blame for the death of a counterprotester on either group.
On what planet has Bossert been living?
Bossert quickly shifted to talking about the “global jihadi terrorist problem.” This is a common tactic used by the Trump administration -- wanting Americans to believe we have more to fear from Muslim terrorists than from right-wing extremists here at home.
But it’s rubbish. A recent study found that between 2008 and 2016, the number of designated terrorist attacks on U.S. soil carried out by right-wing extremist groups, including white supremacists, outnumbered those carried out by Islamists by 2 to 1.
What do you think?
AMERICAN DISGRACE!
What has unfolded in Charlottesville, Virginia today is a national tragedy fueled by bigotry, white nationalism, and home grown terrorism.
Freedom of speech is not a license for the incitement of violence. And the neo-Nazis and KKK members who gathered are anathema to everything this country should stand for.
For too long President Trump was silent. But when he did speak his refusal to call out the hatred for what it is, and his general message of false equivalence was disgusting and counterproductive. "This egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides.” That's a dangerous misrepresentation of history from a politician who has bigotry as a large part of his base.
All decent Americans of all political persuasions cannot allow these actions to remain unchallenged - both the hatred on display in Charlottesille and the rhetoric of the President.
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