Donald Trump was asked multiple times, during Thursday's bizarre and somewhat spittle-flecked press conference, to weigh in on the spike of racist violence that has paralleled his campaign and election. He refused. But that violence is showing no signs of abating.
A man with connections to a white supremacy group was arrested in Myrtle Beach Wednesday after purchasing a gun from an undercover FBI agent, apparently intending to commit an attack “in the spirit of Dylann Roof.”
The apparent target was a synagogue in Myrtle Beach. And the white supremacist, Benjamin McDowell, didn't intend to go out in a blaze of glory.
McDowell went on to say that “I got the heart to do that s***, but I don’t have the good training,” the document states. He told the agent he sought a way to conduct an attack on non-whites without getting caught. He continued: "I seen what Dylann Roof did and in my heart I reckon I got a little bit of hatred and I..I want to do that s***. Like, I got desire, not for nobody else...it just...I want something where i can say, 'I f****** did that'...me personally."
This parallels the recent attack by a Trump-supporting white supremacist on a Quebec City mosque, an attack Trump's team bizarrely used to justify its ban on Muslim immigrants. It's not likely Trump will so much as acknowledge this latest act of attempted terrorism.
Indeed, by retargeting programs combating violent extremism to focus solely on Muslim communities, this White House seems to be intentionally turning a blind eye to white nationalist violence. Still.