Donald Trump is basically advocating for white violence. His actions continue to prove it.
On Thursday, hundreds of people carrying firearms descended on Michigan’s state capitol building to protest Governor Gretchen Whitner’s stay at home order extension to May 15.
A move that was seemingly constructed to intimidate lawmakers to lift safety restrictions on a state that has been one of the hardest hit by COVID-19. As of Thursday, Michigan had reported nearly 3,800 deaths in total and 119 deaths on Wednesday alone.
On Friday morning, Trump sent out a tweet calling these individuals who swarmed the capitol “very good people.”
He even implored Whitmer to “make them a deal” and instructed her to “give a little.”
What’s crazy is that the new stay at home extension already relaxes many of the state’s initial restrictions. It allows more businesses to open and lets the public enjoy more outside activities.
So per usual, Trump has no idea what he’s talking about.
Meanwhile, Patriots draft pick Justin Rohrwasser is in a rush to make the public forget about his tattoo, a tribute to the “Three Percenters,” a right-wing militia with ties to white nationalism.
Rohrwasser has promised to remove the offending tattoo. But the damage is done.
In this situation, Trump’s incompetence isn’t even his most glaring, country-hurting offense.
It’s Trump’s deliberate intention to normalize white violence and white scare tactics that could leave this country in peril for years to come.
Just like those who sport “Three Percenter” tattoos.
First, let’s address a few things about this situation.
There is nothing noble about “protesting” the safety of millions of mortally endangered Americans because you are too selfish to sacrifice on behalf of another person’s life.
Secondly, it is impossible to engage in peaceful protests when you are carrying weapons that are designed to kill. Any notion that these are “good people,” merely exercising their right to protest, is illogical at its core.
Yet the President of the United States continues to catalyze these actions by refusing to condemn these radicals, who in turn serve as his far-right base.
In 2017, Trump defended white nationalists, white supremacists, and neo-Nazi groups who incited violence at a rally in Charlottesville, Va. that resulted in one woman losing her life. In a press conference after the incident, Trump said that there were “very fine people” on both sides.
Two years later, Trump continued to stick by that stance. He has even claimed to have “answered perfectly” in his comments after the fatal rally.
Later in 2017, Trump ridiculed NFL players who kneeled in peaceful protest against social injustice and police brutality.
Compare the language he used:
”Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out! He’s fired. He’s fired!’” Trump said at a rally for Republican senator Luther Strange, who at the time was running in a special election to replace former Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
The statement by Trump not only seemed to illustrate his lack of care for the black community but his flaming hypocrisy. Especially, when you consider how quick he was to defend the violent white supremacist groups a month earlier.
Trump even went as far as naming Steve Bannon as his chief strategist in 2016. An individual who has expressed enthusiasm for the alt-right and whose selection was praised by David Duke, former leader of the Ku Klux Klan.
Trump has been an inspiration for these despicable organizations since before his election in 2016.
He has continued to embolden these hate groups to act in ways that endanger entire minority communities daily.
His response to protestors in Michigan on Friday is only his latest debacle.
Trump’s continued justification of violence forces us to no longer look at him as solely a bumbling figurehead. His sugar coating of white supremacist behavior makes him complicit in the dangers that impact millions of Americans.
This is not another one of Trump’s mind-numbing moves.
This is a calculated trivialization of the lives of those who don’t look like him.
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