Racial, ethnic, and religious hatred in this country aren’t new. They predate the founding of the nation.
So Donald Trump didn’t create the sentiments that the white supremacists and racists and anti-Semites spewed out in Charlottesville, Virginia, August 11 and 12. But he embraced those sentiments and the people who marched with torches and shields and guns. He voiced their belief and their anger, and he stood comfortably on their side.
And we can no longer minimize the significance of his actions by assuming that they’re the result of cold calculation, done for political or business self-interest.
Donald Trump stood with the marchers because he believes what they believe.
Think of his birther attacks on Barack Obama – which date as far back as 2011, when he insisted that he had sent investigators to Hawaii and that “they cannot believe what they’re finding.” Think of the Justice Department’s suit against him, his father, and Trump Management for discriminating against African Americans.
Think of his slurs against Mexican immigrants when he announced his candidacy, his repeated focus on excluding Muslim immigrants, his opposition to plans for a Muslim cultural center and mosque near Ground Zero. Think of his attack on US District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, an Indiana native of Mexican heritage.
Think of his rallies during the presidential campaign: his sneers, his rage, his promise to pay legal fees for fans “who knock the crap out of” protesters at the rallies.
He wasn’t acting, any more than he was when he was caught on videotape bragging about groping women.
This is who he is.
And so, on August 11 and 12, hundreds of white men marched with torches at night and shields and guns in the daytime in Charlottesville. They weren’t marching to protest the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee. The statue’s pending removal gave them an excuse. Chants like “You will not replace us,” “Jews will not replace us” had nothing to do with a bronze statue of a Confederate general.
The young and middle-aged toughs knew what they were doing. They knew exactly what they were marching for.
And so did anybody watching their demonstrations or reading about them afterward.
Every member of the Trump administration knew what the marchers were marching for – including the vice president, who has continued to smile approvingly at the president and said he “stands with” him on his Charlottesville statements. Every Republican member of Congress knows what Charlottesville was about, every Republican governor, every member of every state legislature.
So do the billionaires like Sheldon Adelson who financed the Trump campaign.
It is time for Republicans all over the country to speak out on behalf of their party and their nation, against the man who is leading both. And as the Rev. Lewis Stewart noted last week, that includes local Republican officials.
I don’t think that the white nationalists, racists, and anti-Semites who marched in Charlottesville represent a majority of the country. But I don’t believe their kind will ever go away. (Nor do I condone meeting their violence with violence. And there is no place in politics for Missouri State Senator Maria Chappelle-Nadal, a Democrat, who said on Facebook that she wished Trump would be assassinated.)
But what matters is where the country stands. And that will be defined both by the actions of its leaders and the actions of its ordinary citizens, rich and poor, powerful and weak.
“To sin by silence when we should protest, makes cowards out of men,” American poet Ella Wheeler Wilcox wrote.
A few Republican leaders around the country have spoken out. But only a very few. The others have been silent.
They were silent when Donald Trump shouted hatred during his campaign for the presidency. They have been silent as he has attacked immigrants. Can they not find the courage to speak out now? Not even now?
“Every member of the Trump administration knew what the white men were marching for in Charlottesville on August 11 and 12.”
This article appears in Aug 23-29, 2017.
I predicted this a few years ago. As the US descends into Banana Republic status and the economy continues to contract, the Right Wing will take to the streets. It is important to turn them out when they do. As ugly as it is, this is one example of direct democracy in action.
The PTB will always attempt to woo or co-opt these hateful groups, as their goals are at least partly in line with those of the political patron class, especially when they are used against Leftists and (in today’s climate) Centrists. Don’t expect Republicans at the Federal level to speak out on this, or LE to take a proactive approach to infiltrating these groups as they do with left leaning organizations – no matter how benign.
The amount of leniency allowed to folks who showed up with shields and hand weapons marching under bonafide Nazi emblems is amazing – imagine the reaction if any of the Occupy encampments had decided to take up arms.
If someone of the Muslim faith had driven into a crowd of people, they’d have been charged with terrorism and/or disappeared into some interrogation center or shot dead when apprehended. We are “living in interesting times”.
Here’s a clue to Miller: U.S. citizens making up what you refer to as the “Right Wing” are not all Nazis by any stretch, even though you imply such by your inaccurate sweeping generalization. Are all “Left Wing” folks of liberal persuasion members of violent black-clad groups like Antifa (who incidentally, Ms. Towler forgot to mention)? I think not. You need some serious perspective, as does the author of this column, who inaccurately stated that president Trump embraced the sentiments of and stood comfortably by the side of those carrying torches, shields, and guns, thus again proving that one-sided journalism is alive and well.
The words of GW Bush come to mind. You’re either with them or against them. If you’re a fine person, but you carried a torched and marched with the Nazis and KKK, you need to take a long hard look at yourself and your actions. And please don’t say you’re not one of them. You are, at the very least, a sympathizer and that’s a pretty bad thing to be. This is a black and white issue. History has already decided the outcome of the Civil War and slavery and WWII decided the fate of Hitler and the Nazis. Time to pick which side of history you want to live on.
@Cupid
I’m not giving anyone a pass when it comes to radical violence, or infringing on the rights of people to peaceably assemble. I am not in any way a supporter of Anitfa when it comes to unlawful violence – their energy would be better spent picketing and letter writing in Washington DC if they are serious about combating Fascism.
That said, anyone marching under the black sun or other Nazi or fascist symbols should not expect to be given any sort of wide berth or deference to their message in the public sphere. This country buried many sons in foreign soil to stop the original followers of those ideologies, belief systems infused with the will to use violence in their furtherance. Still, absent an actual call to violence these present day adherents have every right to air their views as much as is possible in a shouting match.
As the activist Left is so often tarred by any association with their more radical elements, so to should be the Right, feel free to call Foul. Most recently every Leftist/Centrist gathering of note in the US has been reasonably well self policed to keep these elements largely dormant (Occupy, DAPL required vows of non-violence among participants), whereas on the Right they appear to not only be encouraged but to form the core of those taking to the streets. They also appear to be given much greater latitude by LE (Bundy, Malheur) for actions that would have triggered a full on police riot if perpetrated by the Left.
Until Charlottsville, The DOJ at the urging of GOP leaders had all but eliminated investigations into white nationalist and Right Wing radical organizations while they actively infiltrate and surveil virtually any Leftist organization that comes to their attention.
FWIW I consider myself a Centrist on the order of a Nixon-era Republican, basically what the current Right views as a full blown Commie anarchist. I view the extreme Right as being a larger danger than the extreme Left (or Jihadis with exception of 9/11 for that matter) in this country, and the facts overwhelmingly bear this out.