Picture the following scenario, if you will. It’s 1940, and Hitler’s Nazi troops have just overrun France. There’s been a formal declaration of surrender by the French government. The Nazi’s begin rounding up Jews and other perceived opponents of the regime and shipping them off to concentration camps. In response, young Frenchmen, at great risk to their lives, form an underground of partisans designed to attack and kill as many Germans as the opportunity presents itself. Suddenly, President Roosevelt goes on the airwaves and states that he deplores the ongoing violence in France that’s being perpetrated by “many sides.” He calls for the killing and general mayhem to cease, and for all parties to come together and unite in peace and brotherly love. “Ludicrous,” might be your response. Well, it’s not all that different than the initial reaction of our current president regarding the violence and deaths occurring in Charlottesville, VA this past Friday.
Friday in Charlottesville saw a planned demonstration called “Unite the Right”by the far right-wing lunatic-fringe of assorted Neo-Nazis, skinheads, the KKK, and other white supremacist looney-tuners become violent when counter-demonstraters got into the act. Fights broke out between the two factions, and as the violence increased, one demonstrator took matters into his own hands. He got in his car and deliberately ran down the crowd of opposition protestors, killing one woman and injuring about 20 others. The police fortunately apprehended the killer and have him in custody. But what was the initial reaction of our current president who’s vacationing at his golf club while they renovate the White House? Nothing but pure moral equivalency. He deplored the violence emanating from “many sides” and said we must all come together and love one-another, with perhaps everyone singing Kum-Ba-Yah. Okay, that last part I threw in gratuitously. But that was the general tenor of his remarks.
There was an immediate outcry, even from several Republican senators, that Trump hadn’t specifically identified and condemned the assorted fascists, racists and overall bigots as being the primary instigators of the violence that ensued from the events in Charlottesville. When far right-wing Senator Ted Cruz criticizes you for a lack of moral clarity, you know you’re in hot water. So, with criticism coming from all directions, Trump was essentially forced to go on the air today and specifically denounce the KKK, and all the other fascist groups that that took part in the Charlottesville mayhem, but, who, nonetheless, still form the basic core of his support. It must have been a bitter pill to swallow for Trump’s “Chief Strategist” Steve Bannon, former head of the Alt-Right news outlet known as Brietbart News, to watch Trump trash the base core of his true believers. It was as if the few adults inside the Trump Administration had finally prevailed in the common sense department.
But I’m sure that Trump’s solid base of white supremacists will give Trump a pass on today’s pronouncements. One should remember that during the presidential campaign last year, David Duke, former “Grand Dragon” of the KKK formally endorsed Trump for president, saying that The Donald was his kind of guy. That the KKK would finally have someone in sync with their beliefs sitting in the White House. Duke, by the way, ran for the Senate in in the state of Louisiana on the Republican ticket about a decade ago, and lost by only an eyelash. The “Bikers of America,” another white supremacist organization, also formally endorsed Trump for president and sent its members to Cleveland during the Republican Convention, to assure that Trump was not, in any sense, put in harm’s way by political opponents. In other words, they were spoiling for a fight with anyone protesting Trump’s ascendency to the throne.
During the campaign, Trump said many times that he was sick and tired of “political correctness.” That line usually drew a standing ovation from the mob-filled arenas where he gave his speeches. Trouble is, that phrase was code for being able to use the N-word out in public without being vilified. Another reason why a Neo-Nazi, Alt-Right individual like Richard Spencer, who publishes a daily paper in Montana that viciously attacks Jews, blacks, Hispanics and other minorities, still claims to be among Trump’s strongest supporters.
Trump won the election because his strategy of appealing to white supremacists narrowly paid off. He lost big among minorities and college-educated women. But not enough of them turned out to vote. If they had had turned out in the same numbers they did twice for Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton would have been the one sitting in the Oval Office today. But it was basically the vote of the blue-collar, non-college educated white male that put Trump over the top. These voters believed they had been marginalized during the eight Obama years. That too much emphasis had been placed on minority benefits and assistance, to white people’s detriment. They believed that Trump was the guy that would rectify this situation and restore white people back to the front of the line-where they should be. A classic belief in white supremacy.
Meanwhile, the neo-fascists in our society are becoming more bold as they come out into the open. They feel that with Trump in the White House, they can emerge from the shadows out into the glaring sun light. Look for more openly fascist events and riots like the one in Charlottesville to take place in the ensuing months.
realityincorporated 