Sadness.
That’s what I’m feeling right now. Sadness for my country, sadness for my countrymen, and most of all, sadness for being unable to do more to avert the disaster I’ve seen coming for the last 10 months. For those who might be reading this in the future without understanding the context of my words, let me set the stage. Yesterday was August 15th, 2017, the day President Donald Trump gave his “Remarks on Infrastructure”. The bland sounding name of the speech belies the shockingly horrible Q&A session that followed where Trump excused the actions of, and ultimately aligned himself with, Nazis and white supremacists.
Let me be clear here. The President of the United States has, through both his words and actions, aligned himself with Nazis.
This cannot be denied. It cannot be taken back. No one can claim Trump was mis-quoted, or joking, or being sarcastic, or anything else. Trump said what he said and now everyone in the world knows what is in his heart and what the so-called “Leader of the Free World” thinks about racism and domestic terrorists in America. And although he has been almost universally rebuked by everyone with a conscious, it is notable that David Duke, the former grand wizard of the KKK, personally thanked Trump in a tweet minutes after Trump expressed his belief that white supremacists and those opposed to them are on the same moral plane and equally responsible for the violence in Charlottesville. It’s also important to note that the republicans in Congress, while denouncing Nazis and white nationalists in tweets, have all refused any and all calls for interviews (even from Fox News) and have very obviously refused to rebuke Trump specifically.
And that refusal to publicly condemn Trump speaks volumes.
In the past, meaning 10 months ago, some people were able to justify aligning themselves with Trump by claiming he was a successful businessman who would finally shake up Washington and bring about the kind of change in government they believed the country needed. No matter that he incited violence at his rallies, that was the fault of the protesters. Forget about the video recording of him saying he assaults women by grabbing them by their nethers, that’s just locker room talk. Let’s all ignore how he claimed a judge of Mexican descent shouldn’t be allowed to preside over any case involving Trump because he had insulted Mexicans by calling them rapists so the Judge wouldn’t be impartial, that’s just the ‘truth’. Time and time and time again, people made excuses for Trump’s words and actions in the hopes that by doing so he’d actually help them get what they wanted.
Well, that all ends today.
From this day forward Donald Trump must be considered a Nazi and/or white supremacist sympathizer. Period, end of story. No matter who you are, or whether you voted for him or not, you need to understand that Trump will now and forevermore be considered one of the bad guys of history. If you’re tempted, even a little, to try to defend Trump, you are now aligning yourself with Nazis. If you think you can hold your nose and back him because of policy X, or reason Y, then you are now aligning yourself with Nazis. If you voted for Trump and refuse to denounce him now, then you are aligning yourself with Nazis. There is no longer any grey area here. If you don’t condemn Trump himself for his lack of moral leadership, then you are a Nazi sympathizer by association. If you back Trump in any way, you are a white supremacist by association. Thanks to Trump, the office of the President itself has become befouled by the stink that is Nazi-style racism and it may never recover.
One cannot admire Hannibal Lecter’s cooking skills without being stained by stigma of his choice of entree.
America is now a country with no leader, no leadership, and no moral center. When the members of his own party refuse to condemn his words and actions Trump is emboldened to be even worse. To drop the moral bar even lower as he drags the entire country to the depths of the abyss with him. And if you think this is as low as Trump can, or will go, then I have sad news for you.
I don’t believe we’re even halfway to the bottom.
