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Charles Pierce: Journalists Need to Stop Giving Bigoted Trump Supporters a Free Pass
There are two trials happening in different parts of the country that ought to give pause to all of those guilt-sodden editors who insist on sending reporters out into the wilds of the middle of the country to see how most of the people who saddled us with this grotesque of a presidency are doing. (I'm looking at you, this morning, Tiger Beat On The Potomac.) These two trials are in sharp counterpoint to the Forgotten American narrative that's become so beloved of many of our coastal elites since the election.
The fact is that, out there in Real America, there are some dangerous goddamn fools with some dangerous goddamn ideas, and those ideas aren't any more connected to reality than are all the dreams that people have about the return of the golden age of coal or the notion that the president* cares so deeply about the concerns of the people of Youngstown that he's willing to upend the economic elites in order to reopen the steel mills. (I'm sure foreclosure king Steve Mnuchin, who will be the Secretary of the Treasury before first light on Tuesday, is keen to help.) Also, guns, too. Lots and lots of guns.
The first trial is taking place in Nevada, and it involves those events that took place when giddy patriots flocked to that state in order to defend the rights of chronic deadbeat and racist kook Cliven Bundy to graze his cattle for free on public lands. (You remember? That time when guys drew down on federal law enforcement and nobody got shot? ) Ol' Clive and his son, Ammon, who later went on to liberate a bird sanctuary in Oregon, and a handful of the faithful are charged with a whole truckload of federal crimes.
. . .
Meanwhile, down in Tennessee, there's this guy named Robert Doggert who's on trial, charged with amassing a considerable amount of firepower to take action against a New York mosque. Doggert claims to be a minister, and he became convinced that the mosque was about to embark on a nationwide killing spree, including the poisoning of the Delaware River and a massive attack on New York City...
Doggart is completely a creature of the white-supremacist underground that respectable conservatives would rather the Trump people not talk about out loud. He was a fringe congressional candidate, and he believes that the U.S. government is controlled by some shadowy cabal...
The fact is that, out there in Real America, there are some dangerous goddamn fools with some dangerous goddamn ideas, and those ideas aren't any more connected to reality than are all the dreams that people have about the return of the golden age of coal or the notion that the president* cares so deeply about the concerns of the people of Youngstown that he's willing to upend the economic elites in order to reopen the steel mills. (I'm sure foreclosure king Steve Mnuchin, who will be the Secretary of the Treasury before first light on Tuesday, is keen to help.) Also, guns, too. Lots and lots of guns.
The first trial is taking place in Nevada, and it involves those events that took place when giddy patriots flocked to that state in order to defend the rights of chronic deadbeat and racist kook Cliven Bundy to graze his cattle for free on public lands. (You remember? That time when guys drew down on federal law enforcement and nobody got shot? ) Ol' Clive and his son, Ammon, who later went on to liberate a bird sanctuary in Oregon, and a handful of the faithful are charged with a whole truckload of federal crimes.
. . .
Meanwhile, down in Tennessee, there's this guy named Robert Doggert who's on trial, charged with amassing a considerable amount of firepower to take action against a New York mosque. Doggert claims to be a minister, and he became convinced that the mosque was about to embark on a nationwide killing spree, including the poisoning of the Delaware River and a massive attack on New York City...
Doggart is completely a creature of the white-supremacist underground that respectable conservatives would rather the Trump people not talk about out loud. He was a fringe congressional candidate, and he believes that the U.S. government is controlled by some shadowy cabal...
http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a53096/trump-supporters-bigots/
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You remember? That time when guys drew down on federal law enforcement and nobody got shot? ) Ol' Clive and his son, Ammon, who later went on to liberate a bird sanctuary in Oregon, and a handful of the faithful are charged with a whole truckload of federal crimes. "
Any other color skin would have all dies in a hail of bullets and flash bangs.