We are over a year and a half removed from #Charlottesville. We have all seen the video footage multiple times. Several people have been convicted for violent crimes that took place that day. Even the organizers of the Charlottesville rally have acknowledged what its real purpose was.
Yet, the current President of the United States keeps saying regarding the rally goers, "There were some very fine people."
In fact, he repeated the assertion yesterday.
Here's the thing, people promoting hate, racism and anti-Semitism are not "very fine people"! Actually, they are the complete opposite!
As he has every other time he's uttered the "very fine people" garbage, he qualifies it (he thinks) by saying some of the attendees at the Unite The Right rally were there protesting the removal of the Robert E. Lee statue from the town square. However, that empirically is not true.
Yes, the rally was billed publicly as a protest against political correctness and a perceived assault on Confederate history. But, those reasons were at best tangential.
Jason Kessler, the avowed white nationalist who set up the rally, didn't invite any historians to speak. No public officials were asked to give a word or two. No, the invited speakers were all avowed vitriolic white nationalists and white supremacists.
And, let's discuss the night before that fateful Saturday in August 2017. Hundreds of folks (the vast majority white men) clad in white Polo shirts, khaki pants and Make America Great Again caps (as an homage to their great white hope, the Orange Menace) and carrying tiki torches (presumably from the local Home Depot) descended upon the town square chanting and screaming. They then stormed and invaded a church where people of all races and religions were inside praying for peace and unity.
Yes, "very fine people", indeed.
One thing of note that night was the chanting these "very fine people" were doing. Interestingly, they didn't chant about Robert E. Lee, "southern heritage" or even preserving Confederate history.
No, they were chanting, "Blood and soil"; "Jew will not replace us"; "White lives matter" and "Bring on the ovens".
Yes, Lawd, "very fine people"!
Then next day at the actually rally those same very loving peaceful sayings were chanted again. And this time instead of tiki torches these good folks showed up waving Confederate flags, Nazi flags and brandishing semi-automatic assault rifles. You know because it was a peaceful protest.
One huge misnomer I am getting out of the way now is that Antifa and Black Lives Matter started the riot that broke out. I realize some people are antagonistic toward facts but that's too damn bad! That claim is categorically untrue. It was the "peaceful protestors" who attacked the counter-protestors, and that is buoyed by empirical evidence, video evidence and eye witness accounts from people on "both sides".
Also, we should not forget it was not someone from Antifa or Black Lives Matter who used their vehicle to run down and kill Heather Heyer. It was one of these "very fine people".
Naturally and sadly, none of this phases Trump or Trumpsters. The President rebuts by saying Robert E. Lee was a "great general" and a "great man". That, of course, has nothing to do with the things these disgusting abhorrent racists did and said.
Speaking of disgusting abhorrent racists let's discuss General Lee some since Trump and his fanbase love him so.
I have no interest in equivocating whether Lee was a good general or not. I'll just note he lost the Civil War and lost it decidedly. But, whatevs.
As far as him being a good man, I vehemently disagree.
One of the many failures of our educational system is it inadequately teaches history and often-very often- literally whitewashes it. Unless folks go to college or possess some intellectual curiosity to read on their own they frequently are left with a cursory and distorted knowledge of history. And, an excellent example of this is General Robert E. Lee.
Here's the real tea about the man Trump and so many on the right hold up as a great historical figure. Lee was an awful human being! Many of his slaves said he was the "worst man they ever knew".
Now, in fairness, I imagine most slaves said that about their slaveholders. But, Lee was exceptionally racist and evil when it came to black people.
For example, in his will Lee's father instructed the general to free the family's slaves. Robert E. Lee refused to do it and went to court to contest the provisions of the will. He eventually lost the court case.
Some slave owners had a policy of not separating families. Lee, however, not only separated families but took glee in it. He wanted to literally break the slaves down to nothing.
Most slave owners were evil when it came to punishing runaway slaves. But, Lee was known for personally lashing runaways and then instructing his overseer to pour toxins into the slaves' open wounds.
During the Civil War Lee wrote his wife a letter acknowledging slavery was immoral but necessary. According to his logic black people were nothing more than property and slavery was necessary to properly impart Christianity into their lives. He actually said blacks were better off as slaves because they were incapable of thought or intellectual depth and enslavement would make them better people down the road.
This is the MUTHAFUCKA TRUMP AND HIS ILK HOLD UP AS A HISTORICAL ICON!
So, that is who Robert E. Lee really is.
And, one last thing about Trump's bullshit assertions of "very fine people". Let's say I take at face value that some of the people in Charlottesville that August weekend were really there to simply protest the removal of the General Lee statue and this perceived "assault" on Southern heritage. When it became obvious the rallies weren't about that why did those people stay? When they heard "Jew will not replace us" and "Bring on the ovens" why didn't they bolt? The next day when people were waving Nazi flags and sporting swastikas while intimidating people with assault rifles was that not an impetus to abandon the rally and go home?
We all know why they didn't. Trump knows why. His slavishly loyal supporters know why.
So, when some people say Trump is a white nationalist it's extremely difficult (in my opinion) to counter that argument when he continues to insist there were "good people on both sides" and some of the alt-righters in Charlottesville are "very fine people". They are not very fine people nor were there good people on both sides. That is just an inane argument.
And, I know many Trump supporters aren't racists but the fact is if you are someone who continues to defend Trump and/or agrees with his assertions then I'm side-eying you.
People who hate others simply because of their skin color, nationality or religion and who advocate for a genocide of those who aren't white, which is exactly what white nationalists and white supremacists advocate for regardless of what they claim, aren't fine people! That ideology is abhorrent and and antithetical to Christ and just basic human decency. There is no equivocation here! None whatsoever!
The fact that knowing the truth of what happened in Charlottesville and who those protestors really are yet, Trump and his fanbase keep defending and being apologists for them speaks volumes. And to quote Trump, "You all know it!"
Yet, the current President of the United States keeps saying regarding the rally goers, "There were some very fine people."
In fact, he repeated the assertion yesterday.
Here's the thing, people promoting hate, racism and anti-Semitism are not "very fine people"! Actually, they are the complete opposite!
As he has every other time he's uttered the "very fine people" garbage, he qualifies it (he thinks) by saying some of the attendees at the Unite The Right rally were there protesting the removal of the Robert E. Lee statue from the town square. However, that empirically is not true.
Yes, the rally was billed publicly as a protest against political correctness and a perceived assault on Confederate history. But, those reasons were at best tangential.
Jason Kessler, the avowed white nationalist who set up the rally, didn't invite any historians to speak. No public officials were asked to give a word or two. No, the invited speakers were all avowed vitriolic white nationalists and white supremacists.
And, let's discuss the night before that fateful Saturday in August 2017. Hundreds of folks (the vast majority white men) clad in white Polo shirts, khaki pants and Make America Great Again caps (as an homage to their great white hope, the Orange Menace) and carrying tiki torches (presumably from the local Home Depot) descended upon the town square chanting and screaming. They then stormed and invaded a church where people of all races and religions were inside praying for peace and unity.
Yes, "very fine people", indeed.
One thing of note that night was the chanting these "very fine people" were doing. Interestingly, they didn't chant about Robert E. Lee, "southern heritage" or even preserving Confederate history.
No, they were chanting, "Blood and soil"; "Jew will not replace us"; "White lives matter" and "Bring on the ovens".
Yes, Lawd, "very fine people"!
Then next day at the actually rally those same very loving peaceful sayings were chanted again. And this time instead of tiki torches these good folks showed up waving Confederate flags, Nazi flags and brandishing semi-automatic assault rifles. You know because it was a peaceful protest.
One huge misnomer I am getting out of the way now is that Antifa and Black Lives Matter started the riot that broke out. I realize some people are antagonistic toward facts but that's too damn bad! That claim is categorically untrue. It was the "peaceful protestors" who attacked the counter-protestors, and that is buoyed by empirical evidence, video evidence and eye witness accounts from people on "both sides".
Also, we should not forget it was not someone from Antifa or Black Lives Matter who used their vehicle to run down and kill Heather Heyer. It was one of these "very fine people".
Naturally and sadly, none of this phases Trump or Trumpsters. The President rebuts by saying Robert E. Lee was a "great general" and a "great man". That, of course, has nothing to do with the things these disgusting abhorrent racists did and said.
Speaking of disgusting abhorrent racists let's discuss General Lee some since Trump and his fanbase love him so.
I have no interest in equivocating whether Lee was a good general or not. I'll just note he lost the Civil War and lost it decidedly. But, whatevs.
As far as him being a good man, I vehemently disagree.
One of the many failures of our educational system is it inadequately teaches history and often-very often- literally whitewashes it. Unless folks go to college or possess some intellectual curiosity to read on their own they frequently are left with a cursory and distorted knowledge of history. And, an excellent example of this is General Robert E. Lee.
Here's the real tea about the man Trump and so many on the right hold up as a great historical figure. Lee was an awful human being! Many of his slaves said he was the "worst man they ever knew".
Now, in fairness, I imagine most slaves said that about their slaveholders. But, Lee was exceptionally racist and evil when it came to black people.
For example, in his will Lee's father instructed the general to free the family's slaves. Robert E. Lee refused to do it and went to court to contest the provisions of the will. He eventually lost the court case.
Some slave owners had a policy of not separating families. Lee, however, not only separated families but took glee in it. He wanted to literally break the slaves down to nothing.
Most slave owners were evil when it came to punishing runaway slaves. But, Lee was known for personally lashing runaways and then instructing his overseer to pour toxins into the slaves' open wounds.
During the Civil War Lee wrote his wife a letter acknowledging slavery was immoral but necessary. According to his logic black people were nothing more than property and slavery was necessary to properly impart Christianity into their lives. He actually said blacks were better off as slaves because they were incapable of thought or intellectual depth and enslavement would make them better people down the road.
This is the MUTHAFUCKA TRUMP AND HIS ILK HOLD UP AS A HISTORICAL ICON!
So, that is who Robert E. Lee really is.
And, one last thing about Trump's bullshit assertions of "very fine people". Let's say I take at face value that some of the people in Charlottesville that August weekend were really there to simply protest the removal of the General Lee statue and this perceived "assault" on Southern heritage. When it became obvious the rallies weren't about that why did those people stay? When they heard "Jew will not replace us" and "Bring on the ovens" why didn't they bolt? The next day when people were waving Nazi flags and sporting swastikas while intimidating people with assault rifles was that not an impetus to abandon the rally and go home?
We all know why they didn't. Trump knows why. His slavishly loyal supporters know why.
So, when some people say Trump is a white nationalist it's extremely difficult (in my opinion) to counter that argument when he continues to insist there were "good people on both sides" and some of the alt-righters in Charlottesville are "very fine people". They are not very fine people nor were there good people on both sides. That is just an inane argument.
And, I know many Trump supporters aren't racists but the fact is if you are someone who continues to defend Trump and/or agrees with his assertions then I'm side-eying you.
People who hate others simply because of their skin color, nationality or religion and who advocate for a genocide of those who aren't white, which is exactly what white nationalists and white supremacists advocate for regardless of what they claim, aren't fine people! That ideology is abhorrent and and antithetical to Christ and just basic human decency. There is no equivocation here! None whatsoever!
The fact that knowing the truth of what happened in Charlottesville and who those protestors really are yet, Trump and his fanbase keep defending and being apologists for them speaks volumes. And to quote Trump, "You all know it!"
