President’s comments put heat on GOP
WASHINGTON — The president of the United States yesterday finally gave a genuine, heartfelt and angry denunciation of a group he deems an adversary: those who protested against white supremacy in Charlottesville.
Trump also officially gave cover to the increasingly vocal and brazen hate groups who declared victory after the deadly attack there while vowing to take their detestable message to other cities across the nation.
They carry torches, but they no longer need hoods. They have the imprimatur of the presidential seal.
“You’re changing history. You’re changing culture,” Trump said of the removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, a symbol of the ugly fight for white nationalism that blemishes American history.
Instead of defending the principles of liberty and justice for all, Trump instead backed those who showed up in Charlottesville — some wearing paramilitary gear, carrying shields, shouting Nazi chants, and armed to the teeth with long guns — to decry the statue’s removal.
“You had many people in that group other than neo-Nazis and white nationalists. OK? And the press has treated them absolutely unfairly,” the president said. Counter-protesters, he said “came violently attacking the other group.”
“There are two sides to the country,” he proclaimed.
Now — once again — the ball is in Republicans’ court. Do they stand with this man to push for infrastructure reform or tax reform or repealing Obamacare? Or do they tell and show him, in no uncertain terms, that his heartfelt sentiments have no place in the GOP or the nation?
For anyone who believes this is just more unconventional bluster from a political outsider, or that the press is making too much of it, let us review all the ways Trump is putting his mouth where his policies are:
On the campaign trail, he repeatedly — and to the delight of his thousands of supporters who flocked to his rallies — referred to racial, ethnic and religious minorities in derogatory, pejorative terms. Blacks in crime-ridden “inner cities” had nothing to lose. Mexican immigrants are criminal drug-toting “rapists.” He said Muslims must not enter the country at all.
In office, his vow to “build a wall” endures, and he instated as close to a Muslim ban as the courts would allow. He says he’s fixing” the inner cities, which so far consists of boosting federal law enforcement in Chicago.
His White House and Justice Department have pushed policies to decrease legal immigration, restore the 1990s-era war on drugs that led to rampant racial disparities in criminal sentencing, and back state laws restricting voting rights. He retweets alt-right missives and memes regularly.
And yesterday, Trump told us exactly who he is. Will Republicans have the courage to do the same?