I have been busy these last few days with having family members as houseguests and also doing some traveling with them and that has kept me from blogging. But I have been following the news sporadically and it has been depressing to say the least. What has become very clear in the last couple of days is that Donald Trump is a Nazi sympathizer. It is incredible to think that one could say this of any leader of a country but there is no denying the fact anymore.
Denouncing Nazis should be an easy call for anyone. Their origins and history are bad enough to make any decent person avoid any association with the label. The current membership in the US of the neo-Nazi movement in the US espouses many of the beliefs and use the same rhetoric of their predecessors, the only difference being that as the US has become more diverse, they have expanded to range of the people they feel are polluting the precious bodily fluids of the white race.
Trump’s extraordinary press conference yesterday should have put to rest any doubts about this. He went to incredible lengths to try and defend the neo-Nazis and white supremacists at the Charlottesville rally by trying to argue that there were good and bad people on both sides and both sides were equally responsible for the violence. Just to read the highlights of his remarks is to be astounded by his effort to shift blame away from the neo-Nazis and white supremacists. The most telling sign was his anger that his single mealy-mouthed statement on Monday that condemned white supremacists was not seen as sufficient to appease his critics. This showed that he had only made the statement as a tactical move to deflect the storm of criticism aimed at him..
The neo-Nazis and the KKK clearly think that Trump is one of them, with David Duke, a former KKK Grand Duke Wizard, saying that they are going to fulfill Trump’s promises. As Robert Mackey reports as part of his piece on how the city of Baltimore last night quickly removed all the statues honoring confederate statues, the neo-Nazis and white supremacists have praised and thanked Trump for defending them.
Just when you thought that Trump could not sink any lower, he does. Also, can reporters please stop telling us that Trump’s aides are ‘shocked’ by the things he says? That fiction is impossible to sustain.
There is no bottom for 45.
“Just when you thought that Trump could not sink any lower”
I have faith in Trump to be able to sink forever.
How much longer will the Republican party tolerate this?
I figure there are three kinds of Republicans:
1. ones who, despite generally right-wing views, are nevertheless sincerely appalled by this.
2. ones who have a sneaking agreement with the KKK et al but who recognise they are PR poison and therefore really don’t want to be openly associated with them even if they agree with them.
3. Nazis. Actual, unapologetic, don’t-give-a-shit-what-anyone-thinks Nazis.
At this point, surely only those in category (3) are still behind Trump? And realistically how many of those guys are there? Yes, one is too many, but seriously -- Trump is now aiming his rhetoric at a constituency that at most numbers in the tens of thousands nationally, and MASSIVELY ALIENATING literally everybody else, including most of what is nominally his own side, the 1% establishment GOP top brass. At what point do they grow a pair and unseat him? I hope for everyone’s sake it’s before he nukes NK.
They are only shocked that he is now saying them in public. This is probably why there have not been any staff resignations.
“Trump’s aides are ‘shocked’ by the things he says?”
Those who are shocked quit. A couple of them have quit. Those who stay after yesterday support trumpism (the latest offspring of the fascism/nazism family).
@3 Son: the ones in category 2 will find reasons to stay with Trump. “It’s not simple, you must look at the nuances”, “we must not destroy the bridges to those worried civilians, but we must listen to them”. I’ve heard it all in The Netherlands last 15 years.
@3, and sort of aligned with #6:
You forgot the category of ‘doesn’t really care about the KKK but will stay on board because maintaining the Republican hegemony is far more important than any pesky issues of decency, economy, or reality’.
Mano Singham: The current membership in the US of the neo-Nazi movement in the US espouses many of the beliefs and use the same rhetoric of their predecessors, the only difference being that as the US has become more diverse, they have expanded to range of the people they feel are polluting the precious bodily fluids of the white race.
Another difference is their love of Putin and the belief that he’s the new Great White Hope.
Back in the day, white supremists didn’t usually Slavic people to be white.
A bit of good news:
“Durham’s Confederate Statue Comes Down”:
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/08/durhams-civil-war-monument-and-the-backlash-to-the-backlash/536889/
Fun to watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-uAZa4H1vk
“Baltimore Confederate monuments taken down overnight”:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-ci-monuments-removed-20170816-story.html
You can see a lot of those people active on twitter these days. They’re very busy saying how much they don’t approve of Nazis, but utterly failing to call out Trump or to, you know, actually do anything.
“The neo-Nazis and the KKK clearly think that Trump is one of them,”
Trump’s dad was one of them.
http://boingboing.net/2015/09/23/donald-trump-confirms-then-de.html
# 7 Jenora Feuer
maintaining the Republican hegemony is far more important than any pesky issues of decency, economy, or reality
Mirror’s my thoughts almost exactly. One probably should pesky ethics or morals as well.