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Nobody should be surprised by the president's deplorable behavior in recent days, writes Reich, "Trump's unwillingness to denounce hateful violence has been part of his political strategy from the start."
Making America Hate Again
Two days late, Donald Trump has finally condemned violent white supremacists. He was pushed into it by a storm of outrage at his initial failure to do so in the wake of deadly violence to Charlottesville, Virginia.
But it's too little, too late. Trump's unwillingness to denounce hateful violence has been part of his political strategy from the start.
Aug 15, 2017
Two days late, Donald Trump has finally condemned violent white supremacists. He was pushed into it by a storm of outrage at his initial failure to do so in the wake of deadly violence to Charlottesville, Virginia.
But it's too little, too late. Trump's unwillingness to denounce hateful violence has been part of his political strategy from the start.
Weeks after he began his campaign by alleging that Mexican immigrants were criminals and rapists, two brothers in Boston beat up and urinated on a 58-year-old homeless Mexican national, subsequently telling police "Donald Trump was right, all these illegals need to be deported."
Instead of condemning the brutality, Trump excused it by saying "people who are following me are very passionate. They love this country and they want this country to be great again."
During campaign rallies Trump repeatedly excused brutality toward protesters. "You know what they used to do to guys like that when they were in a place like this? They'd be carried out on a stretcher, folks."
After white supporters punched and attempted to choke a Black Lives Matter protester, Trump said "maybe he should have been roughed up."
Trump was even reluctant to distance himself from David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan.
Since becoming president, Trump's instigations have continued. As Representative Mark Sanford, a Republican from South Carolina, told the Washington Post, "the president has unearthed some demons."
In May, Trump congratulated body-slamming businessman Greg Gianforte on his special election win in Montana, making no mention of the victor's attack on a reporter the night before.
Weeks ago Trump even tweeted a video clip of himself in a WWE professional wrestling match slamming a CNN avatar to the ground and pounding him with punches and elbows to the head.
Hateful violence is hardly new to America. But never before has a president licensed it as a political strategy or considered haters part of his political base.
In his second week as president, Trump called Wayne LaPierre, CEO of the National Rifle Association to the White House.
Soon thereafter, LaPierre told gun owners they should fear "leftists" and the "national media machine" that were "an enemy utterly dedicated to destroy not just our country, but also Western civilization."
Since then the NRA has run ads with the same theme, concluding "the only way we stop this, the only way we save our country and our freedom, is to fight this violence of lies with a clenched fist of truth."
It's almost as if someone had declared a new civil war. But who? And for what purpose?
One clue came earlier last week in a memo from Rich Higgins, who had been director for strategic planning in Trump's National Security Council.
Entitled "POTUS & Political Warfare," Higgins wrote the seven-page document in May, which was recently leaked to Foreign Policy Magazine.
In it Higgins charges that a cabal of leftist "deep state" government workers, "globalists," bankers, adherents to Islamic fundamentalism and establishment Republicans want to impose cultural Marxism in the United States. "Recognizing in candidate Trump an existential threat to cultural Marxist memes that dominate the prevailing cultural narrative, those that benefit recognize the threat he poses and seek his destruction."
There you have it. Trump's goal has never been to promote guns or white supremacy or to fuel attacks on the press and the left. These may be means, but the goal has been to build and fortify his power. And keep him in power even if it's found that he colluded with Russia to get power.
Trump and his consigliere Steve Bannon have been quietly encouraging a civil war between Trump's base of support - mostly white and worried - and everyone who's not.
It's built on economic stresses and racial resentments. It's fueled by paranoia. And it's conveyed by Trump's winks and nods haters, and his deafening silence in the face of their violence.
A smaller version of the civil war extends even into the White House, where Bannon and his proteges are doing battle with leveler heads.
National security advisor Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster fired Higgins. Reportedly, Trump was furious at the firing.
McMaster was quick to term the Charlottesville violence "terrorism." Ivanka Trump denounced "racism, white supremacy and neo-nazis." Reportedly, chief of staff John Kelly pushed Trump to condemn the haters who descended on Charlottesville.
Let's hope the leveler heads win the civil war in the White House. Let's pray the leveler heads in our society prevent the civil war Trump and Bannon want to instigate in America.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
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Robert Reich
Robert Reich is professor emeritus of public policy at Berkeley and former US secretary of labor. His latest book is the No. 1 New York Times best-seller, "Coming Up Short."
#notnormalblack lives mattercharlottesvilledavid dukeku klux klanrobert reichsteve bannontrumpismwhite supremacy
Two days late, Donald Trump has finally condemned violent white supremacists. He was pushed into it by a storm of outrage at his initial failure to do so in the wake of deadly violence to Charlottesville, Virginia.
But it's too little, too late. Trump's unwillingness to denounce hateful violence has been part of his political strategy from the start.
Weeks after he began his campaign by alleging that Mexican immigrants were criminals and rapists, two brothers in Boston beat up and urinated on a 58-year-old homeless Mexican national, subsequently telling police "Donald Trump was right, all these illegals need to be deported."
Instead of condemning the brutality, Trump excused it by saying "people who are following me are very passionate. They love this country and they want this country to be great again."
During campaign rallies Trump repeatedly excused brutality toward protesters. "You know what they used to do to guys like that when they were in a place like this? They'd be carried out on a stretcher, folks."
After white supporters punched and attempted to choke a Black Lives Matter protester, Trump said "maybe he should have been roughed up."
Trump was even reluctant to distance himself from David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan.
Since becoming president, Trump's instigations have continued. As Representative Mark Sanford, a Republican from South Carolina, told the Washington Post, "the president has unearthed some demons."
In May, Trump congratulated body-slamming businessman Greg Gianforte on his special election win in Montana, making no mention of the victor's attack on a reporter the night before.
Weeks ago Trump even tweeted a video clip of himself in a WWE professional wrestling match slamming a CNN avatar to the ground and pounding him with punches and elbows to the head.
Hateful violence is hardly new to America. But never before has a president licensed it as a political strategy or considered haters part of his political base.
In his second week as president, Trump called Wayne LaPierre, CEO of the National Rifle Association to the White House.
Soon thereafter, LaPierre told gun owners they should fear "leftists" and the "national media machine" that were "an enemy utterly dedicated to destroy not just our country, but also Western civilization."
Since then the NRA has run ads with the same theme, concluding "the only way we stop this, the only way we save our country and our freedom, is to fight this violence of lies with a clenched fist of truth."
It's almost as if someone had declared a new civil war. But who? And for what purpose?
One clue came earlier last week in a memo from Rich Higgins, who had been director for strategic planning in Trump's National Security Council.
Entitled "POTUS & Political Warfare," Higgins wrote the seven-page document in May, which was recently leaked to Foreign Policy Magazine.
In it Higgins charges that a cabal of leftist "deep state" government workers, "globalists," bankers, adherents to Islamic fundamentalism and establishment Republicans want to impose cultural Marxism in the United States. "Recognizing in candidate Trump an existential threat to cultural Marxist memes that dominate the prevailing cultural narrative, those that benefit recognize the threat he poses and seek his destruction."
There you have it. Trump's goal has never been to promote guns or white supremacy or to fuel attacks on the press and the left. These may be means, but the goal has been to build and fortify his power. And keep him in power even if it's found that he colluded with Russia to get power.
Trump and his consigliere Steve Bannon have been quietly encouraging a civil war between Trump's base of support - mostly white and worried - and everyone who's not.
It's built on economic stresses and racial resentments. It's fueled by paranoia. And it's conveyed by Trump's winks and nods haters, and his deafening silence in the face of their violence.
A smaller version of the civil war extends even into the White House, where Bannon and his proteges are doing battle with leveler heads.
National security advisor Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster fired Higgins. Reportedly, Trump was furious at the firing.
McMaster was quick to term the Charlottesville violence "terrorism." Ivanka Trump denounced "racism, white supremacy and neo-nazis." Reportedly, chief of staff John Kelly pushed Trump to condemn the haters who descended on Charlottesville.
Let's hope the leveler heads win the civil war in the White House. Let's pray the leveler heads in our society prevent the civil war Trump and Bannon want to instigate in America.
Robert Reich
Robert Reich is professor emeritus of public policy at Berkeley and former US secretary of labor. His latest book is the No. 1 New York Times best-seller, "Coming Up Short."
Two days late, Donald Trump has finally condemned violent white supremacists. He was pushed into it by a storm of outrage at his initial failure to do so in the wake of deadly violence to Charlottesville, Virginia.
But it's too little, too late. Trump's unwillingness to denounce hateful violence has been part of his political strategy from the start.
Weeks after he began his campaign by alleging that Mexican immigrants were criminals and rapists, two brothers in Boston beat up and urinated on a 58-year-old homeless Mexican national, subsequently telling police "Donald Trump was right, all these illegals need to be deported."
Instead of condemning the brutality, Trump excused it by saying "people who are following me are very passionate. They love this country and they want this country to be great again."
During campaign rallies Trump repeatedly excused brutality toward protesters. "You know what they used to do to guys like that when they were in a place like this? They'd be carried out on a stretcher, folks."
After white supporters punched and attempted to choke a Black Lives Matter protester, Trump said "maybe he should have been roughed up."
Trump was even reluctant to distance himself from David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan.
Since becoming president, Trump's instigations have continued. As Representative Mark Sanford, a Republican from South Carolina, told the Washington Post, "the president has unearthed some demons."
In May, Trump congratulated body-slamming businessman Greg Gianforte on his special election win in Montana, making no mention of the victor's attack on a reporter the night before.
Weeks ago Trump even tweeted a video clip of himself in a WWE professional wrestling match slamming a CNN avatar to the ground and pounding him with punches and elbows to the head.
Hateful violence is hardly new to America. But never before has a president licensed it as a political strategy or considered haters part of his political base.
In his second week as president, Trump called Wayne LaPierre, CEO of the National Rifle Association to the White House.
Soon thereafter, LaPierre told gun owners they should fear "leftists" and the "national media machine" that were "an enemy utterly dedicated to destroy not just our country, but also Western civilization."
Since then the NRA has run ads with the same theme, concluding "the only way we stop this, the only way we save our country and our freedom, is to fight this violence of lies with a clenched fist of truth."
It's almost as if someone had declared a new civil war. But who? And for what purpose?
One clue came earlier last week in a memo from Rich Higgins, who had been director for strategic planning in Trump's National Security Council.
Entitled "POTUS & Political Warfare," Higgins wrote the seven-page document in May, which was recently leaked to Foreign Policy Magazine.
In it Higgins charges that a cabal of leftist "deep state" government workers, "globalists," bankers, adherents to Islamic fundamentalism and establishment Republicans want to impose cultural Marxism in the United States. "Recognizing in candidate Trump an existential threat to cultural Marxist memes that dominate the prevailing cultural narrative, those that benefit recognize the threat he poses and seek his destruction."
There you have it. Trump's goal has never been to promote guns or white supremacy or to fuel attacks on the press and the left. These may be means, but the goal has been to build and fortify his power. And keep him in power even if it's found that he colluded with Russia to get power.
Trump and his consigliere Steve Bannon have been quietly encouraging a civil war between Trump's base of support - mostly white and worried - and everyone who's not.
It's built on economic stresses and racial resentments. It's fueled by paranoia. And it's conveyed by Trump's winks and nods haters, and his deafening silence in the face of their violence.
A smaller version of the civil war extends even into the White House, where Bannon and his proteges are doing battle with leveler heads.
National security advisor Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster fired Higgins. Reportedly, Trump was furious at the firing.
McMaster was quick to term the Charlottesville violence "terrorism." Ivanka Trump denounced "racism, white supremacy and neo-nazis." Reportedly, chief of staff John Kelly pushed Trump to condemn the haters who descended on Charlottesville.
Let's hope the leveler heads win the civil war in the White House. Let's pray the leveler heads in our society prevent the civil war Trump and Bannon want to instigate in America.
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