I’ve been busy here lately.  Last Friday I published a post where I pointed out how Trump’s “Make America Great Again” was “dog whistle” messaging for “Make America White Again.”  It’s been obvious to many more than me – for years – that Trump is a racist AND during the campaign of 2016 he had aligned himself with the very people who, shortly after I made that post, were walking across the University of Virginia campus carrying torches – symbolic of the KKK days I still remember in the 50’s and 60’s when I first became interested in our government.

The next day there was a protest (by groups calling themselves “Unite the Right”) in opposition to a statue of Robert E Lee being taken down and a “counter” protest by groups opposed to the White Nationalist movement that has been spreading across America at a heightened pace since Trump’s election.  These demonstrations broke out in violence and a “neo-Nazi” ended up killing one and injuring 20 in a bizarre terrorist type action.  This morning I put up a post with my thoughts about Trump’s initial reaction to the violence in Charlottesville on Saturday which emanated from that demonstration.  For Trump, it just keeps getting worse.

Here’s the picture:  The “protesters” were representative of the KKK, the Skinheads, White nationalists, the “Aryan nation” movement, neo-Nazi’s, and others making up the so-called “Alt Right” – which is the work of people in the “White House” like Steve Bannon, Steven Miller, Sebastian Gorka, and Kellyanne Conway.  Honestly, it sickens me that members of our society feel comfortable marching and carrying a Nazi flag while claiming allegiance to the president of the United States.  The “counter protesters” included a group labeled by the media I saw/heard as “leftists” and they included groups ranging from “Black Lives Matter” to religiously affiliated groups who are standing up against so-called “hate groups.”  I don’t think it should be too hard to imagine what side of the street I would have been on had I been in Charlottesville this past weekend.

A person, since labeled by a former teacher of his as a “Nazi sympathizer,” drove a car into a group of people, killing a 32 year old woman and injuring another 20 or so of the “counter protesters.”  Obviously, this was a planned assault because the front and back license plates had been removed from the car and the driver made a futile attempt to escape after the initial incident.  (how the groups got this young man to do this kind of thing brought the thought to my mind of these groups using the same tactics to recruit young “members” as groups like ISIS – the person driving the car was only 20 years old and most people who know him refer to him as “shy” – probably at this rally because of internet recruiting)  Pretty much everyone in leadership in this country referred to this incident as a “terrorist” attack.  That is, pretty much everyone except Trump and those in his closest circle.

Trump made a statement that just further cemented the dilemma he faces in trying to condemn this act of violence while somehow sending a message to the perpetrators that he’s got their backs.  In his remarks shortly after the incident Trump placed the blame for the HATE that was promoted at the rally and in the attack on the “counter demonstrators” as coming from “many sides.”  It was a feeble attempt to placate both sides in this situation.  Temporarily it worked for the white nationalists involved – as they “God Blessed” Trump for not putting the blame on them.  David Duke, former head of the KKK, reminded Trump to “look in the mirror” before condemning these groups and then adding, “it was the White people who put you in office.”  (and, of course, that’s actually a factual statement)  In fact, many of the “protesters” were wearing the “Make Our Country Great Again” hats (and other garb) from the campaign and they openly pointed out they were celebrating that Trump was in the “White House.”

The Daily Stormer blog embraced Trump’s words as encouragement for the white nationalist movement.  From what I can tell this is a neo-Nazi affiliated website and its members were right in the middle of Charlottesville.  The post on their site “blessing” Trump ended with this:  “And to everyone, know this: we are now at war. And we are not going to back down. … We are going to go bigger than Charlottesville. We are going to go huge. We are going to take over the country. … We learned a lot today. And we are going to remember what we learned. This has only just begun.”  I hope my friends who voted for Trump are paying attention – I hope this is not what they had in mind.

Well, today (Monday) as I was driving around I heard Trump READ comments that were pre-written for him in response to the immense backlash his tepid remarks of Saturday generated.  Even republicans understood what Trump meant when he blamed “many sides” for this violence.  As some people pointed out (correctly) it usually takes Trump around a minute to display his ANGER at anyone who opposes him (for any reason) – for example, his remarks Saturday caused the CEO of MERCK pharmaceutical to withdraw from a business association of the president.  Almost immediately, Trump was on Twitter bashing the man and accusing him and his company of, essentially, price gouging – which may be true, but to Trump it wasn’t an issue until this man could no longer associate himself (and his company) with Trump’s racism.

Obviously, the pressure to say something more definitive AGAINST the “Alt Right” groups continued to MOUNT over the weekend and Trump finally agreed to make a statement condemning the KKK and the other groups involved.  He used to “bash” President Obama for using a “teleprompter” in giving a speech, but this was clearly an address using a teleprompter or some other mechanism to allow Trump to read the remarks.  (I only heard the remarks)  I say that because there’s NO doubt in my mind the remarks were the result of the pressure coming from republicans in Congress and not to the TRUTH about what happened and why it happened this past weekend.

These groups – which, by the way, ARE the reason Trump is in the “White House,” will, in the end, put the republican party in a very uncomfortable position.  Either they continue supporting Trump or they do the right thing and impeach him.  Based on the remarks coming from “The Daily Stormer” I don’t believe republicans can avoid the consequences of aligning themselves with this group either way (and, just to be clear, the so-called “tea party” emanated from people with similar mind sets) and they’re going to have to take sides in this “war” referenced on the “Stormer” website.

From what the “Alt Right” groups are saying – Charlottesville is just the beginning.  This thinking was energized when many latent racists “awoke” after Barack Obama was elected president.  Obviously, at least to me, the issue of racism was much more prevalent in America than I understood when Obama was elected.  President Obama’s election caused it to go from covert to overt – I mean Trump spent five years questioning where Obama was born.  People like Mitch McConnell and Rush Limbaugh publicly proclaimed the republicans’ job #1 was to make sure Obama FAILED.  Now, republicans are getting what was inevitable – their willingness to “partner” with those who perpetrated “Charlottesville” was bound to catch up to them – and it has.  Now, what do they do?  They will be forced to publicly take sides!  Remember, Trump will be the “commander in chief” fighting this “war” referenced by the likes of Duke and the others if republicans continue enabling him.

I don’t believe Trump will be able, anymore, to have it “both ways.”  He talks about our constitution (which I doubt seriously he’s ever read) and “law and order.”  Do you really think he’s the one to lead the cleansing of our nation of this disgusting ideology?  I mean, he essentially embraced it throughout the campaign.  Are they his “backup army?”  He’s constantly “ginning” these people up as he tries to defend himself from the Mueller investigation.  Do you really think he was sincere in his condemnation of them today?  Do you think maybe Bannon or Miller or Gorka sent a text or two letting “the boys” know his remarks were due only to political pressure?  I believe Trump now finds himself in that spot which has famously been described as “between a rock and a hard place.”  The next few days and weeks should be interesting.

As myself (and many many others) have pointed out NUMEROUS times, Trump has proven himself to be a pathological LIAR.  So, most people are already at a place where they don’t believe a word coming from his mouth.  On this issue or any other.  For example, he prefaced his “condemnation” of the “hate groups” today with some bragging about the number of jobs he’s created.  He still doesn’t understand that he’s flying on Obama’s coattails for at least another month (depending on whether he and his republican brethren can come up with their own budget come September).  Few media pundits correct him when he takes credit for the same numbers he criticized Obama for during the campaign.  The reality:  the new president gets credit for the budget beginning in the NEXT fiscal year after the election.  Today, he confirmed he’s incapable of making any statement under any circumstances without first reaffirming his narcissism.  It’s all about Trump, right?

Well, what happened in Charlottesville IS all about Trump and he won’t be able to dodge that reality.  To me, his statement – two days after the tragedy was contrived and only made because of the mounting political pressure.  The remarks made on Saturday were his own – I have no idea who wrote the message given today – what I do know is that it wasn’t Trump.  Here’s the deal – If Trump wants anyone to give credence to his condemnation of racism and hate he MUST remove Steve Bannon, Steven Miller, Sebastian Gorka, and Kellyanne Conway from his administration and he MUST disassociate himself from the likes of people like Richard Spencer.  Until he does so, his words will remain HOLLOW!