Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSlate - "In his Charlottesville do-over, Trump insists he got it right the first time."
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2017/08/in_his_charlottesville_do_over_trump_insists_he_got_it_right_the_first_time.htmlAs I Have Said Many Times Before
In his Charlottesville do-over, Trump insists he got it right the first time.
By Katy Waldman
On Saturday, President Donald Trump responded to a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, with a prepared statement that condemned this egregious display of hatred, bigotry, and violence on many sides. He then appeared to ad lib that nullifying qualifier into a refrain: on many sides. Trump was deservedly criticized for, as my colleague Josh Levin put it, All Lives Matter[ing] a Nazi rally. Along with being awful, the presidents original speech was notable for its absence of Trump-ian rhetoric. Whereas he usually spins division into political gold, this time Trump preached a kind of horrifying togetherness. The address, tiptoeing instead of name-calling, politely declined to address the Klansmen and neo-Nazis whod marched through Virginia. Trump didnt just come down softly on fascist terrorists. What made Saturdays address so remarkable was that he bent so many of his own rules to do so.
On Monday, the president went back to normal. Or at least, he displayed all the now-familiar tics of a man allergic to accountability and desperate for praise, a man delighted to accept our congratulations on the sagacity of his responses to horror. After a few minutes of throat-clearing about his feats on behalf of the American worker, Trump reiterated, almost word for word, his language from the weekend. As I said on Saturday, he told reporters, we condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry, and violence. Trump then continued: And as I have said many times before, no matter the color of our skin, we all salute the same great flag. Racism is evil and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs.
It was a neat substitution: Instead of on many sides, the president offered another seemingly inconsequential phraseas I said. Over the weekend, Trump failed, resplendently, to denounce the gun-waving race vigilantes who instigated a riot in Charlottesville, one that ended in the death of a woman who was run over by a white supremacist. On Monday, he strode up to the podium and pretended that hes not the kind of guy whod embolden and encourage the alt-right. If you havent heard him declaring racism is evil, he said, thats because you havent been listening.
Trumps contempt for reality is such that he is not content to mislead the American people in the moment. He compounds the lie by telling us, in direct contradiction to what weve seen and heard, that he has always been doing whatever it is he wants to have been doing. No universe exists in which any Trump response could have possibly been inadequate or wrongheaded. Over the weekend, Trump delivered the perfect address to salve Charlottesvilles wounds and fire up its moral conscience. On Monday, he just repeated it for all us dummies who missed it the first time.
snip - more at the link above
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
2 replies, 3049 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (3)
ReplyReply to this post
2 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Slate - "In his Charlottesville do-over, Trump insists he got it right the first time." (Original Post)
NRaleighLiberal
Aug 2017
OP
Solly Mack
(90,769 posts)1. Denial ain't just the chasm between Trump's ears.
Delusions aren't either.
Response to NRaleighLiberal (Original post)
ck4829 This message was self-deleted by its author.