A Day In The Anti-Life - Race Bait!

Let's be clear -- the current President of the United States is a racist. I've been listening to the sundry news folk tenderly glide around this apparent fact now for months and the most recent tragedy in Charlottesville has showcased it in a startling way. The battle in the streets of Charlottesville between the Klu Klux Klan, Nazis, and other racist organizations and protesters on the other side (a violence both sides seemed well prepared and primed for) resulted in the death of one protester and two policeman (indirect as it was) and harmed many more. The ever-present desire by some to shout from the middle of the street the most heinous and vile ideas is something we've learned over the decades to absorb in America. You have the right to spew your vile as long as you don't try to force you ideas on others or convince them by force of arms. That line was crossed (almost literally) this past weekend.

I blame the police quite a bit for this one as they seemed unprepared for what was happening and were incredibly slow to respond to violence which was slowly but surely developing in their streets and before the cameras. You could see that the fighting only intensified as the day went on and the police demonstrated reluctance to intervene. A similar thing happened some years ago in Baltimore, as violence was tolerated until it couldn't be any longer. So at one level we already have a failure of the authorities in the face of this tragedy. Then our President made it worse.

His comments were typical of the loutish nonsense he's been pouring in our ears for many years now. He started his political climb by claiming the first black President in history was not legitimate, claims he never came close to proving and for which he only grudgingly apologized once. He started his campaign by claiming all Mexicans were rapists. He walked this comment back, but  allowed the original vile wording to resonate. And then he did the thing which completely convinced me he is a racist through and through -- he responded to an Indiana judge's decision with vitriol and claimed the judge was motivated to rule against him because of the judge's Hispanic heritage. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan described this last item as textbook racism. I agree and that shut the door on this seventy-one year old man who we hear time and again will not change. It was not arguably "political", it was not about larger issues, it was a small thing and showed us his inner self all too clearly.  If racists are people who say and do racist things then Donald Trump, our current "so-called" President is one.

He's not the first racist to be President I'm sure. But when he showed up to decry the violence in Charlottesville and failed to call out the infamous Klu Klux Klan (a group who have the blood of countless lynched black men on their hands) and the vile Nazis (really, the Nazis) he showed that his impulses are the worst possible ones. His most recent attempt toe "clean up" his earlier comments sound better but since he's such an inveterate liar cannot be taken with any sense of sincerity, as his later tweets demonstrated.  Let's face it, the President of the United States is a racist pure and simple.

(Note: I composed this post the day before the President lurched up to the microphone in Trump Tower and double downed on his insensitive "analysis" of the situation in Charlottesville. Those comments I believe have perhaps finally uncovered for many more the rank racism which nestles at the heart of our elected leader. Woe that it is so.)

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