The presidential bundle of insanity occupying the White House since January 20, 2017, has once again committed what some would call a monumental blunder, but is, in reality, a mere extension of the man’s extreme xenophobia and fundamentally racist core.
US President Donald Trump took to defending his earlier comments on the heinous white nationalist violence that gripped Charlottesville, Virginia, and blamed “both sides”, in a terrifying equivocation evoking “alt-left” and “alt-right”, and essentially saying that they are one and the same.
BREAKING: Trump says the 'alt-left' bears some responsibility for violence in Charlottesville, 'nobody wants to say that.'
— The Associated Press (@AP) August 15, 2017
Trump’s defence of far-right protesters on August 15 night, at a press conference that went awry has been widely condemned, in fact shattering the iota of “good will” that the president had garnered when he called the Charlottesville incident’s James Alex Fields Jr a “murderer”.
On Saturday, August 12, Trump had called Fields “a disgrace to himself, his family and this country”, since Fields had driven a car into the counter-protest in Charlottesville organised by leftist students, that had resulted in the death of a woman called Heather Heyer.
Donald Trump says both sides to blame for Charlottesville violence and the 'alt-left' bears some responsibility pic.twitter.com/2d0BHP8fxS
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) August 15, 2017
Though Trump was compelled to term the incident one of “racism”, and “bigotry”, which had “no place in America”, he was also panned for failing to call white nationalism by its name.
Made additional remarks on Charlottesville and realize once again that the #Fake News Media will never be satisfied...truly bad people!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 14, 2017
In Charlottesville, the Alt-Left HAD NO PERMIT!! So wrong! The Alt-Right racists, KKK & Neo-Nazis HAD a permit to protest & commit violence. pic.twitter.com/hfsitprvqf
— Donald J. Trump (@RealDonaldTrFan) August 15, 2017
Trump’s mincing of words got the thumbs down from many in the news media, but on August 15 night, the POTUS broke all bounds by saying that the white supremacists and the neo-Nazis were the same as those wanting liberty, equality and fraternity, universal healthcare, anti-racist affirmative action and secularism in a country splintered along colour and ethnicity lines.
Trump on Tuesday said: “Not all of those people were neo-Nazis, not all of those people were white supremacists”. The latest statement – which was clearly impromptu and even caught the president’s aides off-guard – flies in the face of POTUS denouncing racism on August 12.
In fact, Trump said that many at the Charlottesville protest were simple “there to protest the taking down of the statue of Robert E Lee” – a Confederacy leader, who rebelled against the federal government of the United States in the mid 19th century because the latter wanted to abolish slave trade that deployed blacks as bonded and bought labours owned by white plantation owners.
Trump essentially ended up equating the American greats such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson with the Confederacy icons, Lee and Stonewall Jackson, in a highly dubious comparison that is blind to history. That the POTUS got thumbs down from even his Republican cohorts is an indication of the mammoth blunder that the former has ended up committing, though something that is hardly out of place with his initial “Mexicans are rapists” campaign.
Trump’s comments were denounced by none other than Paul Ryan, Marco Rubio and a number of others in the Republican party.
We must be clear. White supremacy is repulsive. This bigotry is counter to all this country stands for. There can be no moral ambiguity.
— Paul Ryan (@SpeakerRyan) August 15, 2017
Mr. President,you can't allow #WhiteSupremacists to share only part of blame.They support idea which cost nation & world so much pain 5/6
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) August 15, 2017
The organizers of events which inspired & led to #charlottesvilleterroristattack are 100% to blame for a number of reasons. 1/6
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) August 15, 2017
They are adherents of an evil ideology which argues certain people are inferior because of race, ethnicity or nation of origin. 2/6
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) August 15, 2017
These groups today use SAME symbols & same arguments of #Nazi & #KKK, groups responsible for some of worst crimes against humanity ever 4/6
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) August 15, 2017
This is the typical moral and political equivocation that provides fodder to the neo-Nazi groups, which cash in on the POTUS’ half-baked, inadequate condemnation, which really works like cheerleading from the White House itself.
For example, Trump saying that he’s “putting nobody on a moral plane” essentially fails to distinguish between those who act in the name of racism and those who act against the bigotry and despicable ideology. Trump saying “you had people that were very fine people on both sides” takes the sting out of the white nationalist paranoia and rising hate crimes in the United States, thereby emboldening these groups further.
In fact, British writer and activist JK Rowling has called out the far-right groups’ hunger for exposure and notoriety multiple times, saying that fascists who dwell on the negative energy must be condemned and not allowed to gain a toehold in the political strata.
Because if there's one surefire way to defeat fascism, it's for people not directly in the firing line to pretend it isn't happening. pic.twitter.com/Z8YTYjUEAj
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) August 16, 2017
In addition, Al Jazeera has done an expose’ with an FBI officer infiltrating white nationalist groups and he has only horror stories to share. But the moot point of the officer was Trump’s own heavy investment into and implication in the neo-Nazi groups and their fascist ideology of racial superiority, white victimhood, which he exploited to the hilt.
A former FBI agent who infiltrated white supremacist groups speaks out on why they're a growing danger: pic.twitter.com/pHZe2vaYy3
— AJ+ (@ajplus) August 14, 2017
Trump denouncing “alt-left” is typical of the white nationalist paradigm, and similar currents of political equivocation can be seen even in India when Sangh-affiliated violence is equated falsely with the protests against them, as happened in the #NotInMyName campaign. This is typical whataboutery and a denial of responsibility where it truly lies. No wonder then that Trump continues to jab at the liberal media which calls out his disgraceful blindness to history and his million attempts to whitewash it according to his false and fake beliefs.
Trump on Charlottesville: "What about the alt-left that came charging... with clubs in their hands, swinging clubs?" pic.twitter.com/NgBa9FiPGq
— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) August 15, 2017
In fact, Trump got a commendation tweet from none other than David Duke, the leader of the long banned Klux Klux Klan, when he refused to explicitly term the Charlottesville violence as a neo-Nazi hate crime, when others, including Republicans, had called it an act of domestic terrorism.
David Duke on Prez Trump Press Conference https://t.co/nuB9Zafx9V
— David Duke (@DrDavidDuke) August 14, 2017
Trump’s constant mincing of words, shifting of the blame for white violence, his own racist and discriminatory policies such as the travel ban on Muslim-majority countries, visa restrictions, immigration tightening impacting the black and brown poor, harping on the Mexican border “wall”, and the general “America First” white Christian paranoia fanning – have all led to the groups that voted him in feeling a sense of fresh historical buoyancy.
That’s precisely the reason that the 19th century civil war and the chapter on slave trade has been reopened not for critical reflection, but racist reinvention. This is the reason why Trump fails to remove Steve Bannon, the architect of the POTUS’ far-right alt-universe, from the White House, despite sinking ratings and extreme criticism from the liberal global media.