Politics and Money

[BOREALIS]

GOP on the brink: Embrace Nazis or reject Trump

By Mark Sumner
Wednesday Aug 16, 2017 · 7:58 AM CST

In what was certainly the most astounding White House session of this century, and a good candidate for all time champ, Donald Trump determined that Nazis, and people who fight Nazis, are morally equivalent. And the Nazis loved it.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/15/us/politics/trump-charlottesville-white-nationalists.html?_r=1

“Thank you President Trump for your honesty & courage to tell the truth,” David Duke, a former Ku Klux Klan leader, wrote in a Twitter post shortly after Mr. Trump spoke.

Trump isn’t backing away from his support of genuine swastika-wearing, torch-waving “Heil Trump” shouting Nazis.
In fact, he’s determined that it’s time for everyone else to put on their jackboots or get out. He’s brought Republicans to a decision point where they can hold onto Trump or a modicum of the American ideal. But not both.

A GOP source says WH issuing messaging memo tonight urging surrogates to say both sides acted inappropriately in Charlottesville.
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) August 16, 2017

A GOP source says WH issuing messaging memo tonight urging surrogates to say both sides acted inappropriately in Charlottesville.

— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) August 16, 2017

Republicans can attempt to salvage their dignity, and search for a remaining scrap of decency, denounce Trump, and work to repair the damage already done to America in the few months of the Trump regime. Or they can embrace Trumpism—complete with racism, violence, and full-on Nazis—and get on with talking about tax breaks for billionaires.

And … that elephant logo was getting old anyway, and they already did like red.

The idea that the Republican Party would become fellow travelers with Nazis and the KKK might seem unthinkable. But it shouldn’t be.

No matter how many times someone talks about “economic uncertainty,” anyone who voted for Donald Trump had to be comfortable with someone who was perfectly willing to attack someone based on race, religion, or gender—with disabilities tossed in for a side dish. While pundit and politicians of all stripes are still quick to say that not all Trump voters were racists, that doesn’t matter.

Trump voters were willing to accept racism to get what they wanted. That’s all it takes.

Where Trump is taking Republicans, and the nation, now is only a further step down the road they were already walking. He already told them that Mexicans were worse than they were, and deserving of contempt. They agreed to that. He already told them that Muslims were evil, and deserving of death. They agreed to that. He already told them that African Americans were lazy, and violent, and disrespectful to the police, and unable to think for themselves. Trump voters may contend that they voted for him because he promising more jobs in Ohio, or to burn more coal in West Virginia, or bring more auto factories back to Michigan, or make more steel in Pennsylvania—even though he didn’t say how he would do any of those things. But to get what they wanted, they were willing to accept it.

What Trump is asking of Republicans now is that they only take the next logical step and agree that Nazis, the KKK, and white nationalists of all stripes are okay. Or, if not okay, at least no worse than the people fighting against racism, hatred, and bigotry.

For that, Republicans get to move ahead to tax reform and maybe even take another swing at health care. It’s a simple bargain.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/8/16/1690242/-GOP-on-the-brink-Embrace-Nazis-or-reject-Trump#read-more