Charlottesville

The pattern of news cycles we've become inured to in just six months of the Donald J. Trump presidency is this:   whatever dominates the news today will be replaced in a day or two by something else of equal or greater concern.

Last week, the calmer heads in the Trump administration (Kelly, McMaster, Tillerson, and Mattis) began to prevail in reassuring the public that we are not, after all -- despite the commander-in-chief's rhetoric and bombast -- about to go to nuclear war with North Korea.

So would we then, maybe, have a few days respite, while our publicity-craving president vacationed at his golf club?

No.

With potential terror from North Korea temporarily on hold, the tides shifted to domestic terrorism.   True, the gathering of nationalist, white supremacist, neo-Nazi, KKK groups -- the "Alt-Right" -- in Charolttesville, Virginia to protest the removal of Robert E. Lee's statue had been planned without regard to the president's schedule.   A local, alt-right blogger, Jason Kessler, organized the "Unite the Right" rally to bring together all these "take back our nation" groups to "carry out Trump's agenda" to "Make American Great Again."

About 1,000 showed up, many from out of state, plus hundreds of local counter-protesters -- and we know what happened.   Torchlight, night-time parades (no crosses burned but reminiscent of KKK rallies and night-rides, nevertheless);  then the next day, violent clashes with police and anti-fascist counter-protesters.  There were minor injuries, until a 20 year old, Hitler-admirer from Ohio decided to use his car as a weapon, plowing it into a crowd of peaceful counter-protesters, killing one and injuring many others.

There are two big stories here:   (1)  Who are these new Alt-Right people?   They don't look like the old crowd.   Mostly young men, who look better educated and better dressed than previous generations.  In fact, some of the crowd pictures -- if you removed their symbols and signs -- could be mistaken for a pre-football game, college campus rally.

(2) The other big story here, and the one that has dominated the news, is President Trump's response -- specifically his refusal to denounce by name these hate groups who brought their white supremacy and violent intent to a peaceful town.

As is now famously known, Trump condemned the violence -- but then he had to add "from many sides."    And then, in case you missed it, he repeated:   "from many sides."

In other words, he was making a moral equivalence between neo-Nazi and KKK groups with peaceful, democracy-protecting counter-protesters.    And no amount of public outcry seemed to convince him he had made a mistake.   Even though his National Security Adviser, his daughter, and numerous Republican political leaders put out their own statements calling the hates groups out specifically.

This doesn't come in a vacuum.   We have observed, again and again, that Trump insults and picks fights with leaders of our democratic allies, but refuses to utter one negative word about many autocratic leaders -- Russia's Vladimir Putin, Egypt's el-Sisi, Turkey's Erdogan, Phillipine's murderous Duterte.

All of which led Paul Krugman to address this in his New York Times column yesterday, in which he made the dramatic statement:  "In short, these days we have a president who is really, truly, deeply un-American, someone who doesn’t share the values and ideals that made this country special."

Disputing Sarah Palin's claim about the "real America" being its rural and small town residents who agree with her narrow political views, Krugman defines "real America" as:

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". . .  a multiracial, multicultural land of great metropolitan areas as well as small towns. More fundamentally, what makes America America is that it is built around an idea: the idea that all men are created equal, and are entitled to basic human rights. Take away that idea and we’re just a giant version of a two-bit autocracy.

  

"And maybe that is what we have, in fact, become. For Donald Trump’s refusal to condemn the murderous white supremacists in Charlottesville finally confirms what has become increasingly obvious: The current president of the United States isn’t a real American.

"Real Americans understand that our nation is built around values, not the “blood and soil” of the marchers' chants . . .["blood and soil" was a chant used at rallies in Nazi Germany] . . .  what makes you an American is your attempt to live up to those values, not the place or race your ancestors came from. And when we fall short in our effort to live up to our ideals, as we all too often do, at least we realize and acknowledge our failure.

"But the man who began his political ascent by falsely questioning Barack Obama’s place of birth — a blood-and-soil argument if ever there was one — clearly cares nothing about the openness and inclusiveness that have always been essential parts of who we are as a nation.

"Real Americans understand that our nation was born in a rebellion against tyranny. They feel an instinctive aversion to tyrants everywhere, and an underlying sympathy for democratic regimes, even those with whom we may currently have disputes. . . . 

"Real Americans expect public officials to be humbled by the responsibility that comes with the job. . . .

"Real Americans understand that being a powerful public figure means facing criticism. . . . 

"Finally, real Americans who manage to achieve high office realize that they are servants of the people, meant to use their position for the public good. . . .

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I wouldn't go so far as to call Trump "un-American," although I agree with Krugman that his performance of the office of president often gives the appearance of coming from an autocrat, not a democrat.

How much responsibility falls on this president for what happened?   There is no doubt that, especially at his campaign rallies -- which he continues to have, by the way -- he encouraged this rage and hatred and divisiveness.   Many at the Charlottesville rally wore the red, Trump MAGA hats.   David Duke, former KKK leader and sometime office-seeker, was there.  He praised the gathering to unite these groups, which he promised "would fulfill the promises of Donald Trump."

I'd love to know what Donald Trump, the man, is thinking about all this right now.  Any regrets?   Does he take it in?    Does he think about his role in this?   I'm not sure that he does, at all.

Ralph

PS:  After I wrote this on Monday, Trump held a press briefing and read another statement, saying:  "Racism is evil, and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, Neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans."

Frankly, it's too late -- coming two days later on his third attempt, and only after so much pressure and public denunciation -- so that it really does not change anything.

He made his position very clear with his first statement.   That's the way these Alt-Right groups heard it:  saying "on many sides," they heard as including the counterprotesters, whom they blame for the violence.  If they hadn't showed up, one wrote, their "Unite the Right" rally would have been non-violent.   Never mind the fact that the Alt-Right groups came with torches, sticks, shields, and bats.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions gets slightly better marks than his boss.   From the beginning, he was willing to call it "domestic terrorism" and said the Justice Department is opening a civil rights investigation of a potential hate crime.