Today, Donald Trump finally, grudgingly read off a teleprompter to give a qualified condemnation of white supremacist groups…as a secondary statement after trying to brag about the economy and his trade and tax cut plans...you know, the most urgent things that needed to be addressed first.
Trump’s core statement about the horrifying events in Charlottesville, delivered stiffly like a disinterested 5th grader reading out loud to his class, with none of the emotion and vehemence of his attacks on the press, Nordstrom and Kathy Griffin, were:
“Racism is evil — and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and other hate groups are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans,”
Can you see the game he’s playing here? He is only condemning those who “cause violence” in the name of racism. He’s not unequivocally condemning the KKK, Neo-Nazis and all white supremacists…he seems fine with those people and their beliefs (and their votes) unless they’re violent. These organizations weren’t condemned by Trump for being racist.
Trump has a personal history of racism and he ran on whipping up racism and harnessing it to win elections. Many people including some here at The Planet saw it as inevitable that violent racial conflicts lay ahead thanks to Trump…and anyone who saw him at his rallies exhorting violence against the often black protesters there knew it was only a matter of time.
Trump apologists who viciously attacked President Obama because he didn’t say the words “Radical Islamic Terrorism” (though he did identify the evil groups committing attacks whether ISIS, Al Qaeda, etc.) now of course say that when Trump only blamed “many sides” for the Charlottesville violence without naming any white supremacist groups, he said all he needed to say.
What no non-racist person can argue with though is that it should not require two days and a teleprompter to condemn Nazis. Never in the history of America has a president avoided immediately condemning groups who commit terrorism and kill innocent Americans.
Until now.
A Gallup poll came out today showing an all time low of 34% of Americans approving of Trump and a record 61% disapproving of Trump. The most despised president since polling began is only becoming more despised by the non-tiki-torch carrying majority of Americans. And in the process, he has torched any bridges that could conceivably be used to bring him back even to his previous highs (though even then, a majority of Americans disapproved of him).
Trump made a statement this weekend and today. He does not want to turn off white supremacists from supporting him. He appealed to their racism to get elected and they are a strong part of his shrinking base. Trump told America this weekend, “As long as racists vote for me, don’t expect me to condemn them unless I’m really forced into it”.
It’s well known that Trump is a raging narcissist so no one should really be shocked by his sociopathic behavior. Racism doesn’t hurt him, it helps him so why shouldn’t he avoid condemning it? Principles and morality are not sensibilities that float around in the heads of sociopaths. Only self-gratification and the ends always justify the means. Exploiting racism put Trump in the White House, so from his POV, racism is a good and useful thing.
Just as this first deadly, racist rally under Trump was inevitable, so is the next one. Trump has unsurprisingly lost any moral authority over a majority of Americans through his rampant dishonesty and immorality over the past seven months so when that does happen, even if he thought it was most advantageous to him to step up and condemn the perpetrators by name, no one will respect what he says or see it as authentic.
We have a much longer road to go down with Trump’s destruction of our society and democracy, it can and will be repaired. Trump’s protection of the cancer in this nation that is racism, will ultimately destroy him and his legacy as badly as prosecutions against him and his cronies in the Russia investigation.
Trump betrayed this country by endeavoring to collude with Russia in tampering with our elections (Don Jr. has confessed to this). He has betrayed it once again by trying to protect white supremacists who attack and murder innocent Americans from condemnation because they support him (as Russia does).
Morality does not have “many sides”. There is one side and along with the white supremacists with whom he has gotten into bed, Trump is on the wrong and ultimately losing side.
I was in Charlottesville. Trump was wrong about violence on the left
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/aug/16/charlottesville-violence-right-left-trump
Of course Trump lied about Charlottesville, how else could anyone make a case for sympathizing with Nazis?
As the NYT says today,
“Trump Opens Breach With Party, Military and Industry”
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/16/us/politics/trump-charlottesville-military-jews-ceos.html
This is something never seen before, The Joint Chiefs of our military have all come out against Trump, many of the country’s top CEOs have walked away from him and doing the best that their cowardice allows for, Republicans have at least spoken out against Trump’s giving aid and comfort to Nazis and Klansmen.
Trump is a danger to the country and the world and none but his cult followers are fooled by his camouflaging that.
For the first time, I think it is most probable that he will be removed or chased out of office. This isn’t sustainable.
I read about the top military brass speaking out and thought this was unprecedented. The “nightmare-in-chief has not only lost the respect of the people, he’s lost the respect of the military and is a danger to the nation and the rest of us too.
Just read this. Don’t know how well Corker is respected in the Republican Party, but if he puts his money where his mouth is, he should start the ball rolling on trump’s removal from office.
Let’s see where their balls are when they return to Washington.
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Sen. Corker isn’t the only Republican who’s increasingly questioning Trump’s stability
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2017/08/17/sen-corker-isnt-the-only-republican-whos-increasingly-questioning-trumps-stability/
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Donald Trump, there’s no such thing as the ‘alt-left’ – and even white supremacists know it
The opposite of a neo-Nazi is not a neo-Nazi. The opposite of a fascist is not a fascist. The opposite of a racist is not a racist. We really don’t need to develop any new terminology for this. The old ones work just finep
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/charlottesville-alt-right-racism-violence-terrorism-no-such-thing-as-alt-left-a7896671.html
Better wake the fuck up, Republicans. The longer you go without beginning impeachment hearings, the guiltier you will be in the eyes of decent Americans everywhere, and, the rest of the free world.
FD, I tried to write to Speaker Ryan and tell him to do his job and proceed with impeachment. Sadly, unless you live in his district you can’t get to him. I then sent a message to Rep. Peter Welch, asking him to pass my message on to Ryan. A couple weeks later I got a hand written note from Peter saying he passed the message on to Ryan. I had said “Speaker Ryan, you are the third most powerful man in our government and you don’t allow Americans that do not live in your district to write to you. Do your job! Start the impeachment proceedings, NOW!”
Ryan and the republican leaders are dragging their feet. Delaying the inevitable. Either impeach Trump or get the medical people to declare him incompetent !
Hate is not an American value.
Hey Nirek. They don’t care. As long as they can get their reverse Robin Hood agenda through the white house, they wouldn’t care if Beelzebub himself were president. They are very well insulated in their black towers of madness and greed.
Couldn’t be more poignant, FD.
Hate to admit it but Repubs don’t care about anything other than re-election. They worry about being primaried if they attack Trump so they won’t. They need the campaign contributions of the wealthy and the loyalty of their gerrymandered, RW voters so they would stay with Trump even if he started ending minorities to concentration camps. They are the enemy too and shouldn’t be looked to for standing up for morality, conscience or America.
The Republican party is now The Nazi Party, they are continuing to support an avowed white nationalist president. They are the enemy too and must be treated like such and defeated.
It’s really a chilling scene. When I saw this in the theaters, I never even imagined that one day it would happen in America.
Of course you’re correct about the republicans, but I will shame them every chance I get. There has to be some of them that have a moral center, even if it is withered and shrunken.
No decent person in this country should let them get away with what they’re doing without publicly shaming them at every turn.
Next day, August 15th, Trump lays blame on those having no permit, ie, the true Americans protesting hate groups. Literally praising the Alt Right. David duke thanks Trump for laying blame on those true Americans! Now if you’re receiving congratulations from the KKK you just gotta be on the wrong side!
Now let’s examine the response by the anti racist protesters. When I watched on Saturday morning I to was angry and viscerally approved. Later after calming down I realized that was playing right into what the nazis, KKK, WHITE nationals wanted, they thrive on violence, violence feeds their beliefs. Then I watched on Wednesday morning on cspan a young guy who was in the White hate world for years and he explained their thinking a bit. They want and work hard to incite violence at every event, he explained it was a recruiting tool for the young whites who feel disenfranchised and that we, the anti crowd, must not fall into the obvious trap. Gandy and MLK are the winning examples of defeating these hate groups. Imagine a racist rally with streets lined by people with backs turned, ignoring the rants of fools! Do this enough and their tactics fail. Take a look: “life after hate.org” is the web site.
gyp46, of course you’re right, people who “rally” wearing helmets, kevlar, carrying shields and massive amounts of weapons as well s planting secret caches of weapons around the city, chanting racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic hatred…obviously didn’t come to Charlottesville to peacefully protest. They plainly wanted violence.
As Gandhi and MLK proved, the peaceful majority will always defeat the violent minority…as long as they confront them and refuse to back down.
White Supremacists Brutalize Black Man In Charlottesville
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IdlwflV8_m0
The haters were told they should not carry on with the rally the night before when they marched with torches to intimidate the town by local government when scuffles broke out. They should have gone home when told they were not welcome.
Charlottesville: Race and Terror – VICE News Tonight on HBO
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=P54sP0Nlngg
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Aides blame trump? So does the rest of the world.
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‘Clean-Up on Aisle Trump’: President Reverses Course on Neo-Nazis, Slams the ‘Alt-Left’
http://www.thedailybeast.com/clean-up-on-aisle-trump-president-reverses-course-on-neo-nazis-slams-the-alt-left
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Neo-Nazi website asks readers to target funeral of Heather Heyer who died in Charlottesville violence
The 32-year-old paralegal was killed when a car rammed into a crowd protesting a neo-Nazi rally
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/america-top-neo-nazi-website-daily-stormer-orders-followers-harass-funeral-heather-heyer-victim-a7895496.html
Kalima, that Vice episode/doc is must-watch for all Americans, people need to see who these people really are and what really happened.
Good people don’t march among Nazis and Klansmen and chant “Jews will not replace us!”. But only the Nazi-apologist Trump seems not to know that.
Yes, I thought the VICE video really explained everything so perfectly. The woman interviewer was actually very brave because they used misogyny to verbally abused her and branded her as “fake news” in German during the interview. Such a bunch of “good people” as trump referred to them.
No, good people don’t march with a group of Nazi’s chanting Nazi slogans from a time that almost devastated Europe, cost the lives of millions of Jews and undesirables, and made us unite with the power to say, “Never again!”
Never again means never again.
These cockroaches need to be squashed not elevated by the hapless leader of the nation.
Down with trump! Down with extremists everywhere!
This is not 1924 in KKK’s America. This is not the 30’s of Europe. It’s 2017 and it is unacceptable.
Just woke up to this and feel a strong urge to go back to sleep on this “Groundhog Day”.
So the “alt-Left” (ridiculous) are the people who counterprotested against hatred, bigotry and racism, and when those white supremacists threw punches they should have just stood there? The young woman mowed down and murdered was “alt-Left” and caused her own death? The elderly woman punched and thrown to the pavement bleeding was “alt-Left” and deserved it?
His forced TelePrompTer statement means shit now. Hours later he retweets a cartoon of a train with the trump logo killing a CNN reporter. When will he be removed for being unfit to serve? You don’t have to be a shrink to know he’s completely off his rocker. A disgrace to the office of the president and history will bury him. Sick! Sick! Sick!!
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Trump again blames both sides in Charlottesville, says some counterprotesters were ‘very, very violent’
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/08/15/trump-again-blames-both-sides-in-charlottesville-says-some-counterprotesters-were-very-very-violent/
Could this be the beginning of his demise? Will the Republicans in congress finally begin impeachment proceedings? Is there any sane person who agrees with him?
Trump loves Putin and the alt-right, KKK, Nazis, and white supremacists.
I am praying hard for someone to start his removal process, Nirek. I really don’t know how much more we can stomach from this morally corrupt imbecile. My head is spinning and I live many thousands of miles away worrying about when and if we’ll be trapped in a war caused by his ignorance and blundering. This has to be the straw that breaks the camel’s back, surely?
I have never seen anyone more unfit to serve in my lifetime. America, please make this dangerous idiot disappear. Like you, we’ve had enough.
The republicans cannot support him in this latest statement. They are already treading on thin ice with support for everything else he has said.
After his forced and unbelievable statement where he looked as if he was biting his tongue not to add the words “on both sides”, he has no plans to visit Charlottesville because he’s a f**king coward. There is nothing there. He an empty shell.
This statement means nothing but his cult in the WH and Congress will jump on it saying he condemned the scum who invaded Charlottesville. What more can we expect from politicians who survive year after year without a moral compass, and the misguided people who vote for them.
He is a vile person, and will not recover from this.
The next white supremacist rally is scheduled for the weekend in Boston to protest free speech. 1,000 haters. Since when is killing a young woman and beating up an elderly woman opposing protesters, leaving her bleeding on the pavement she was slammed into, free speech? Let’s see what will be done to stop it, if anything. The mayor has already stated that they are not welcome there.
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Trump Not Planning on Charlottesville Trip; ‘Why The Hell Would We Do That?’ Aides Say
http://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-not-planning-on-charlottesville-trip-why-the-hell-would-we-do-that-aides-say
Kalima, on top of all this, Trump discussed this weekend, pardoning racist AZ ex-Sheriff Joe Arpaio who’s been found guilty of racist actions and ignoring the courts.
Trump could find human chains keeping him out of returning to the WH!
Boston? Really? And what happened there tonight?
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They can’t allow the rally and these groups should be tagged as terrorists, just connect their violence in VA with their groups and outlaw them (to protect 1st Amendment, only the groups that can be proven to have assaulted people should be so tagged). Then use RICO laws to sweep up this human garbage wherever it is.
Trump is a sociopath, he has proven beyond a doubt this weekend, he has no conscience. Whatever is advantageous to him is good. End of story. And Neo-Nazis and Klansman voted for Trump so they are good.
That’s all there is to that hamster-on-a-wheel driven brain in Trump’s head.
Well it looks as if some of them arrived early to cause damage or live there. That’s unacceptable. They should be jailed.
Here is the link about the planned rally. I’m with you about that they are terror groups, and the police should be waiting to disperse them. Over the decades they have committed many punishable crimes and many murders that should have been filed under domestic terrorism, and yet once again in his prepared and meaningless statement, he refused to use those words.
Trump is the reason for the reemergence of white trash crawling out from under their rocks again, and the law should throw them back under there.
Europe has seen what the Nazi did up close, and these creeps would be stopped in their tracks after Saturday. The EDL was banned from marching in the U.K. In Germany Nazi salutes and publicly denying the Holocaust, lands you in jail. These punk have no idea of history or what Europe went through or the meaning of slavery in the U.S. to AA to this day. They need to be stopped. Hate, bigotry and racism are not and never will be free speech.
Yes I had read about the pardon of Az “Racist Joe”. Even the hint of pardoning this racist crook is deplorable. If anyone needed more proof of what trump is and whom he represents, suck on this as you come up with a reasonable excuse to explain it.
The Muslim ban. The alt/right nutters in his cabinet. The silence about attacks on Muslims at their places of worship. The reluctance to condemn the culprits of Saturday’s hate fest. His whole campaign built on hate of “the other” and pardoning a monster who profited from terrorising immigrants by throwing them in jail. Who is trump? Trump is the leader of the white terrorist movement, That’s why they voted for him.
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Civil rights groups call for Walsh to postpone Boston ‘Free Speech Rally’
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/local_coverage/2017/08/civil_rights_groups_call_for_walsh_to_postpone_boston_free_speech_rally
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By the way.
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President Trump’s claim that foreigners are responsible for ‘the vast majority’ of terrorism convictions since 9/11
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2017/08/15/president-trumps-claim-that-foreigners-comprise-the-vast-majority-of-terrorism-convictions-since-911/
Kalima, I think Trump has now jumped off the Nazi cliff, he has committed himself 100% to openly taking the side of white supremacists and isn’t going to look back. In his tiny reptile mind, he sees them as his personal army and cult who will rise up to protect him when Mueller comes for him and when he is impeached.
What he is too ignorant to know is that these pieces of white trash only represent a small minority of Americans and voters and they aren’t numerous enough to save him from his destiny.
He’s made his final choice, Trump has thrown in completely with the neo-Nazis and KKK, he is an enemy of America and he will be defeated like the Nazis and Klan have been defeated before.
This comment is not original with me, AdLib, but I loved it: “Today’s statement looked and sounded like something someone would read in a hostage video.”
Except — Trump might have displayed a little less sincerity.
The dear old Warlord Dad — at 95 years and battling memory loss — still has the wits to ask me, every day: “Is Trump still president?” When I answer in the affirmative, he says: “How long…?”
Wish I knew, Dad. Wish I knew.
Kes, I think you’re onto something there! Maybe his staff was holding back the flattery propaganda folders from him until he delivered a condemnation?
I have exactly the same exchange with my mother as you do with The Warlord, she can’t believe it’s only been 7 months!