I am not impressed with the Republicans coming out of the woodwork and expressing their outrage at the tragedy in Charlottesville. Yes, I’m sure they like all of us, are deeply saddened and angry at what happened. But just because you recognize a tragedy as a tragedy, you don’t get to escape your responsibility for contributing to this attack on our American culture!
I’m sure you’ve all seen the expressions of rejection of what happened by prominent Republicans yesterday. Here’s an example of just one.
Does anyone believe for a second that if there hadn’t been a ton of voter suppression laws aimed at POC, that if Trump hadn’t been elected, that if Gorsuch and Sessions hadn’t been confirmed, that if these same Republicans hadn’t supported the bigoted judges and policies, and hadn’t remained silent when Trump surrounded himself with Alt-right people like Bannon, that the openly racist rally in Charlottesville would have ever happened?
The massive right wing propaganda machine that talks about a war on Christmas with a black Santa Clause, that promotes the lies of voter fraud so voter suppression laws designed to stop POC from voting…, send a giant signal to the Alt-right that your time has come, you’re free to come out of the closet, throw away your hoods and put on your NAZI arm bands because the GOP has set you free. Where were the deeply felt messages from these Republicans when they were helping to build the conditions that grew the alt-right movement?!
Here’s a little something from an NPR report about a Senate judicial confirmation hearing.
Democrat Al Franken of Minnesota chimed in, asking Bush about blog posts that cited alt-right reports containing conspiracy theories and false information, such as the claim that President Obama was not born in the U.S.
In a testy exchange, Franken pressed Bush on how he decided which sources to rely on for information, pointing to one source which Franken called a "white nationalism" propaganda organ filled with "hate speech."
...
Schiff, a senior attorney with the conservative Pacific Legal Foundation in California, is nominated to sit on the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. He has a long record challenging everything from environmental regulations, to health and safety laws, to gay rights laws.
In one of his many blog posts, Schiff called Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy a "judicial prostitute."
…
Schiff's answer seemed to satisfy Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina.
"People make mistakes," Tillis said. "I think you've done a good job of explaining the context of your actions."
The same Republicans publicly showing their “concern” about the Alt-right today, tomorrow will be voting to support the bigots and racists that will corrupt our judicial system and spend decades on the courts. If you think the NAZI’s have already received a strong signal to come out of the woodwork, wait until these judges start saying openly racist laws are constitutional.
So NO! I don’t give you credit Orrin Hatch, or Jeff Sessions, or Ted Cruz, or Marco Rubio or any of you other fascist Republicans for expressing “concern” over the rise of NAZI’s and KKK’ers and the general environment of hate, when YOU built the ladder for these deplorables to climb! You draw the line of racism and bigotry at violent actions that get people killed, otherwise it’s just fine with you if it helps get you reelected. So NO, you won’t get praise from me.
RESIST!