So the race is on to make POTUS’s neo-nazi sympathizing about something relatively less radioactive, sympathizing with the Confederacy. NYTimes:
President Trump’s personal lawyer on Wednesday forwarded an email to conservative journalists, government officials and friends that echoed secessionist Civil War propaganda and declared that the group Black Lives Matter “has been totally infiltrated by terrorist groups.”
...
“You cannot be against General Lee and be for General Washington,” the email reads, “there literally is no difference between the two men.”
NBC News:
President Donald Trump railed against the movement to remove "beautiful" Confederate statues and monuments in cities across the country Thursday, tweeting that it was "foolish" and he was sad to see the “history and culture” of the country being “ripped apart."
“Sad to see the history and culture of our great country being ripped apart with the removal of our beautiful statues and monuments,” the president said. “You can't change history, but you can learn from it. Robert E Lee, Stonewall Jackson - who's next, Washington, Jefferson? So foolish!”
“Also, the beauty that is being taken out of our cities, towns and parks will be greatly missed and never able to be comparably replaced!”
The stories above have to be read together. There is a public relations plan being executed here. Let’s be clear about what is happening today. POTUS stepped in some deep shit this week. He defended these people:
As an aside, for clarity, anyone see the flags on that thumbnail? The Confederate battle flag right damn next to the Nazi Party flag.
Anyway, back on topic. POTUS defended those people. Now, POTUS would have us believe that he only cares about preserving the best of Old Dixie — and hopes we forget about the chants of “blood and soil” outside of a synagogue last weekend.
Please, do not let this ridiculous PR tactic work. This isn’t about preserving history, or statutes. This is about “blood and soil,” and neo-nazi groups utilizing brownshirt terror tactics against the rest of us. It is about the murder of Heather Heyer by these groups. It is about them casing out a synagogue and forcing congregants to exit out the back. And it is about POTUS defending them.
We have an odd, but entirely predictable, situation. The fascist fringe has appropriated the so-called Lost Cause of the Confederacy and run with it. When we talk about Confederate statues today, let’s be clear that we are not talking about the Civil War, or preserving history (something I am very interested in as a personal matter). We are talking about white supremacy today.
Eric Foner, an eminent historian, has it right. The New Yorker:
Eric Foner, the Columbia University historian, won the Pulitzer Prize, in 2011, for his book “The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery.” Like the other scholars I spoke to, Foner is skeptical that any future conflict will resemble America’s last civil war. “Obviously, we have some pretty deep divisions along multiple lines—racial, ideological, rural versus urban,” he told me. “Whether they will lead to civil war, I doubt. We have strong gravitational forces that counteract what we’re seeing today.” He pointed out that “the spark in Charlottesville—taking down a statue of Robert E. Lee—doesn’t have to do with civil war. People are not debating the Civil War. They’re debating American society and race today.”
So, for the love of all that is good, please don’t fall into POTUS’s trap today. Don’t let him make this about statuaries and historical preservation. This is about something very different, and he was talking about something very different earlier this week.
"But he saw too that in America the struggle was befogged by the fact that the worst Fascists were they who disowned the word 'Fascism' and preached enslavement to Capitalism under the style of Constitutional and Traditional Native American Liberty." — Sinclair Lewis, It Can’t Happen Here
In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me;
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free!
While God is marching on.