We Resist: Day 207

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Monday, August 14, 2017
a black bar with the word RESIST in white text

One of the difficulties in resisting the Trump administration, the Republican Congressional majority, and Republican state legislatures is keeping on top of the sheer number of horrors, indignities, and normalization of the aggressively abnormal that they unleash every single day.

So here is a daily thread for all of us to share all the things that are going on, thus crowdsourcing a daily compendium of the onslaught of conservative erosion of our rights and our very democracy.

Stay engaged. Stay vigilant. Resist.

* * *

Here are some things in the news today:

Earlier today by me: On Charlottesville and White Supremacy Is Not a "Southern" Problem and Rightwing Extremist Arrested for Terrorist Plot.

Donald Trump appeared earlier to give some "unscheduled" comments. His appearance was brief and sinister.


Most of the political press appears to have lost sight of why we expect presidents to condemn acts of white supremacist violence: It's to communicate to the people who commit them that their beliefs and behaviors are intolerable; and to communicate to the people whom they target that their country cares about their safety.

Trump did neither. He said not a single thing to or about the people being targeted, and he left himself a secret exit in the form of an undefined "other hate groups" who are similarly "repugnant" to American values: "Racism is evil — and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, Neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans."

The emphasis on "including" (video below) is doing a lot of work. Especially given, as I noted above, "Black Lives Matter is a hate group" is and long has been a major talking point among white supremacists.

But Trump is nonetheless getting the desired headlines and cable news chyrons. As I write this, CNN's chyron reads: "TRUMP: KKK, NEO-NAZIS, WHITE SUPREMACISTS ARE 'REPUGNANT'." Mission accomplished.

And note here how carefully he communicates directly with white supremacists, telling them that if they broke the law, they will be held accountable, which is a different message entirely from telling them their views themselves are intolerable to their nation:

The Department of Justice has opened a civil rights investigation into the deadly car attack that killed one innocent American and wounded 20 others.

To anyone who acted criminally in this weekend's racist violence, you will be held fully accountable. Justice will be delivered. As I said on Saturday, we condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry, and violence. It has no place in America.

And as I have said many times before, no matter the color of our skin, we all live under the same laws. We all salute the same great flag. And we are all made by the same almighty god. We must love each other, show affection for each other, and unite together in condemnation of hatred, bigotry, and violence. We must rediscover the bonds of love and loyalty that bring us together as Americans.

Racism is evil — and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, Neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans.

We are a nation founded on the truth that all of us are created equal. We are equal in the eyes of our creator. We are equal under the law.
And we are equal under our Constitution.
Emphases mine. There are a lot of problems with this statement (like, as the Anne Frank Center pointed out, the fact that we don't all "salute the Nazi flag as the white supremacists in Charlottesville do"), but chief among those problems is that the president very carefully indicated that racism is only a problem if you commit visible acts of public violence because of racist views.

Racism is a problem long before it reaches the point of public violence. Like, for example, housing discrimination or appointing a racist to oversee the Department of Justice.

A very cynical observant person might say that the president was trying to distance his own demonstrable but (physically) non-violent white supremacy from the white supremacists in Charlottesville.

I am that person. I am saying that.

* * *

[CN: White supremacist violence; images of attack and injuries at link] Yesha Callahan at the Root: Interview: 20-Year Old Deandre Harris Speaks Out About Being Assaulted by White Supremacists in Charlottesville, Va.
By now, you've probably seen a photo of Harris that has gone viral. It was captured by Zach D. Roberts, and shows Harris being beaten with poles by a group of white supremacists.

The shocking photo immediately went far and wide, and although Harris received multiple injuries, he says that he's thankful to be alive to tell his story.

"Me and about five of my friends were out protesting. We thought [the racists] left, but at one point they came back. Everyone was exchanging words with the group, but then the KKK and white supremacists just rushed us," Harris told The Root in an interview.

"They were beating me with poles. I have eight staples in my head, a broken wrist, and a chipped tooth," Harris said.

Harris said if it wasn't for his friends who noticed him under the pile of white supremacists and helping him, he probably wouldn't be alive to tell his story. Harris is in the process of pressing charges and the photographer who took the photo is helping his mother identify the racists who took part in the attack.

After the photo made its rounds on social media, many people noticed that the parking garage where the assault took place was right near the Charlottesville police department.

...Harris' friends and family created a GoFundMe to help with his medical expenses, but there is no amount of money that could take away the trauma the 20-year-old experienced Saturday afternoon.

James Baldwin once said, "Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced." The violence that erupted in Charlottesville over the last 48 hours has been the face of America since the beginning of time.

It's gone from being cloaked in white masks to crisp Walmart and Target polos, but until those so-called allies stand up to their racist counterparts, nothing will change. People of color are tired. We've faced this head on, it's now your time to face it and change it.
Do the work.

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Jana Winter at Foreign Policy: FBI and DHS Warned of Growing Threat from White Supremacists Months Ago. "The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security in May warned that white supremacist groups had already carried out more attacks than any other domestic extremist group over the past 16 years and were likely to carry out more attacks over the next year, according to an intelligence bulletin obtained by Foreign Policy. Even as [Donald] Trump continues to resist calling out white supremacists for violence, federal law enforcement has made clear that it sees these types of domestic extremists as a severe threat. The report, dated May 10, says the FBI and DHS believe that members of the white supremacist movement 'likely will continue to pose a threat of lethal violence over the next year.'"


And of course everything is still going great in foreign policy thanks to Trump's amazing diplomatic skills just kidding everything is terrible:


D. Parvaz at ThinkProgress: Top Military, Intelligence, and Diplomatic Officials Counter Trump's Heated Rhetoric on North Korea. "After a week that saw U.S.-North Korea tensions climbing thanks to [Donald] Trump's volley of escalating threats, his generals, top diplomat, and intelligence chief all used news outlets on Sunday to emphasize the need to seek a peaceful solution. Most notable was the Wall Street Journal editorial by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defense James Mattis — the piece does not make mention of the president or his hardline 'locked and loaded' rhetoric (the only time his name comes up is in reference to his administration)." All of which is moot, because Trump doesn't listen to them.

Speaking of Trump's advisors... Jonathan Swan at Axios: Anti-McMaster Campaign Is about to Get Uglier.
The bare-knuckle campaign to remove National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster from the White House is about to get much uglier.

Outside forces opposed to McMaster are going to allege he has a drinking problem, according to sources outside the Trump administration familiar with the anti-McMaster campaign. The controversial nationalist Mike Cernovich, who has an inside track on the anti-McMaster campaign, teased the alcohol attack in an Internet video with Alex Jones of the website Infowars. Anti-McMaster forces believe this attack will harm his standing with the president, who is a teetotaler.

To be clear: I have never heard anything to support the allegation from anyone inside the Trump administration or from anyone who's socialized with McMaster. We are covering it to highlight the extremes to which McMaster's opponents are prepared to take their war against the National Security Adviser.
Fucking hell.


And finally, in disturbing news from the state level...


Not good at all.

What have you been reading that we need to resist today?
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