President-elect Donald Trump, left, gestures as he talks to the media as New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie looks on at the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster clubhouse, Sunday, Nov. 20, 2016, in Bedminster, N.J. CREDIT: AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster.
I remember talking with Rick about all the white nationalists and supremacists embracing Trump, and he said “but he disavowed them”, and I said “no, he didn’t”. People might think Trump did disavow all the racists and nazis worshiping at his feet, but he really didn’t, anymore than he disavowed and condemned all the acts of hate which started during the election process, and continue. A weak and muttered “Sad. Stop. Don’t do that.” doesn’t mean a thing, and all the white supremacists and every other brand of racist and bigot well know that. They also know his supposed disavowal doesn’t mean a thing. If you’re someone who did vote for Trump, and has been trying to salve your increasingly uneasy conscience, at least be as smart as all those racists you “didn’t vote for”, and understand that it’s not what Trump sort of says that matters, it’s what he does, and what he’s doing is appointing white supremacists and zealous racists. Think Progress has a very good article about that so-called disavowal.
Much was made of Trump’s “disavowal” in the media: “Trump again disavows alt-right, white supremacists,” ran the AP headline. “Trump disavows alt-right group: ‘I condemn them,” read ABC.
And Trump did, later in the interview, “condemn” the group: “Would you like me to do it here? I’ll do it here. Of course I condemn. I disavow and condemn,” he said to another question about his white nationalist fans from a reporter.
But that was it. Stories claiming that Trump “disavowed” and “condemned” the white nationalist group are technically true — but the disavowal is so brief that it almost entirely fits in the headline. Trump’s language is boilerplate and perfunctory: He explains nothing about why he disavows the group or what they do.
And because Trump says nothing beyond the bare minimum to distance himself from open white supremacists, his disavowals are unlikely to have any real effect on their support.
Even after “disavowing” the group, Trump claimed ignorance: “They, again, I don’t know if it’s reporting or whatever. I don’t know where they were four years ago, and where they were for Romney and McCain and all of the other people that ran, so I just don’t know, I had nothing to compare it to.”
We’ve seen this all before.
The full story is here, and recommended. Stay informed, know what’s really going on. In another good move for truth and integrity, Think Progress is refusing to use the term “alt-right” in the way they wish it used, to deflect from racism:
With that in mind, ThinkProgress will no longer treat “alt-right” as an accurate descriptor of either a movement or its members. We will only use the name when quoting others. When appending our own description to men like Spencer and groups like NPI, we will use terms we consider more accurate, such as “white nationalist” or “white supremacist.”
“White nationalist” refers to a specific ideology held by many of those who adopt the “alt-right” label. A white nationalist is someone who believes the United States should be governed by and for white people, and that national policy should radically advance white interests. White supremacists are a broader and more inchoate group, comprised of those who believe in the innate superiority of white people.
[…]
The point here is not to call people names, but simply to describe them as they are. We won’t do racists’ public relations work for them. Nor should other news outlets.
That story is here.
I find somewhat sadly comical this:
“If Hillary takes power she will be to America what Merkel is to Germany,” a member of Stormfront wrote in March. “Hillary Clinton is America’s Angela Merkel,”
It is interesting how white supremacists use as an insult something that is in fact a compliment.
Merkel is not widely disliked in Germany, quite the contrary. Not even in Bayern, which was hit with refugees the hardest. The problems with refugees damaged her reputation slightly, but most Germans still recognize that despite her flaws (and who does not have them?) she is very competent and is actually leading their country very well. And most do recognize that the refugee crisis is not her personal failing, since it started long before she has said anything about it. The lowest support for her -- and biggest anti-refugee stentiments -- are in fact in states that do NOT have many refugees (former DDR).
But yean, Merkel was the only european politician who had the backbone to clearly state conditions under which Germany is willing to collaborate with Trump, and not to grovel. So I get why white supremacist dislike her.
Cue great wailing by the right-wing scumbags how they’re being discriminated against, persecuted and denigrated by horrible unamerican liberal traitors. Wait, they’ve been doing that all along? Never mind then, and bring on more insults! In for penny, in for a pound.
What I find most telling about the GreatDisavowal is that it was so short it didn’t allow for the identification of whom, precisely, Trump disavowed. His phrasing, “I condemn. I disavow,” uses transitive verbs intransitively. They don’t make sense without an object -- You condemn what? You disavow whom? -- and yet, it is the lack of meaning that Trump is pursuing here. For now he can always reply, “I condemned. I disavowed,” to future challenges, yet there is no tactic or tenet his supporters must relinquish, no privilege or person they must shun. Even David Duke can honestly say, “He didn’t disavow or condemn me!”
When there is no racist ideology or institution or individual that we can identify Trump as having condemned or disavowed, his ungrammatical sentence fragments do not save him from the inevitable conclusion that he has refused to condemn or disavow racism and racists at all.
The GreatDisavowal is nothing more than another of the GreatLies bearing the load of the structure of the GreatCon.
CD:
Yes, and all the while, continuing to shovel more power to the white supremacists he has already appointed. It’s quite a game.