As per 7/19/2019 BBC report, “German Chancellor Merkel has expressed her solidarity with four US Democratic congresswomen who were attacked by the US President Donald Trump. Ms Merkel said Mr Trump’s tweets went “against what makes America great”, and she said that the strength of America lay in its ethnic diversity.”
One way for the US to show the world that it doesn’t support the republican President Donald Trump’s cruel racist behaviors that includes criminal activities, is for the US House to do its one US constitutional, non-legislative duty, the commencement of an “Impeachment Inquiry/ investigation which would garner world wide, daily media coverage.
Not acting on this power granted solely to the US House of Representatives by the US Constitution, also sends a message to the world, and not in a good way. There are those who don’t want to risk fighting to rescue the honor of what the USA is supposed to champion because of political calculations, like diversity, the rule of law, the right to criticize/ to protest peacefully against the policies of government; a free press, election integrity, and who are signaling to the world that these principles are just empty words.
Here’s the rest of the story as the world watches….
On July 18, 2019, Adam Serwer of the Atlantic penned the following report, “What Americans Do Now Will Define Us Forever” (“If multiracial democracy cannot be defended in America, it will not be defended elsewhere.”)
Excerpts:
“The conservative intelligentsia flocked to the Ritz-Carlton in Washington, D.C., this week for the National Conservatism Conference, an opportunity for people who may never have punched a time clock to declare their eternal enmity toward elites and to attempt to offer contemporary conservative nationalism the intellectual framework that has so far proved elusive.”
“The conference stood solidly within the conservative intellectual tradition, as a retroactive attempt by the right-wing intelligentsia to provide cover for what the great mass of Republican voters actually want. Barry Goldwater did not break the Solid South in 1964 because the once Democratic voters of the Jim Crow states had suddenly become principled small-government libertarians; voters who backed Donald Trump in 2016 did not do so because they believed a nonracial civic nationalism had been eroded by liberal cosmopolitanism.”
“The consensus that American civic nationalism recognizes all citizens regardless of race, creed, color, or religion was already fragile before Trump took office. That principle has been lauded, with varying degrees of sincerity, by presidents from both parties, and in particular by the first black president, who reveled in reminding audiences that “in no other country in the world is my story even possible.” The nationalism that conservatives say they wish to build in fact already existed, but it was championed by a president whose persona was so deformed by right-wing caricature that they couldn’t perceive it. Instead, they embraced the nationalism that emerged as a backlash to his very existence and all it represented.”
“Trump’s nationalist innovation isn’t taking pride in his country, supporting a principled non-interventionism, or even advocating strict enforcement of immigration laws. The only thing new Trump brings to the American nationalism of recent decades is a restoration of its old ethnic-chauvinist tradition. Conservative intellectuals cannot rescue nationalism from Trump, any more than they could rescue Goldwater from Jim Crow, because Trump’s explicit appeals to racial and religious traditionalism, and his authoritarian approach to enforcing those hierarchies, are the things that have bound conservative voters so closely to him. The failure of the conservative intelligentsia to recognize this is why it was caught so off-guard by Trump’s rise to begin with.”
“At a rally last night in North Carolina, Trump was reminding the country of this truth. Last week, the president told four Democratic congresswomen—Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib, and Ilhan Omar—to “go back” to their countries, even though all of them are American citizens. This is literally textbook racism. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission offers “Go back to where you came from” as its example of potentially unlawful harassment on the basis of national origin.”
“Trump’s demand is less a factual assertion than a moral one, an affirmation of the president’s belief that American citizenship is conditional for people of color, who should be grateful we are even allowed to be here. Some elected Republicans offered gentle rebukes; others defended the president’s remarks. But at his rally in North Carolina, Trump showed them all that the base is with him. The crowd erupted into chants of “Send her back” when the president mentioned Omar, the Minnesota representative who came to the United States as a refugee from Somalia.”
“It also speaks to the futility of trying to somehow rescue a Trumpian nationalism from Trump. Racism is at the core of Trumpism. The movement cannot be rescued from its bigotry, and those at the National Conservatism Conference who believe it can are in denial. Conservatives can make their case for limited government, or for religious traditionalism, but as long as it is tied to Trump or Trumpism, it will be tainted. Trump is not a champion of the civic nationalism Hazony and others claim they want to see. He is a mortal threat to it.”
Link to lengthy report: What Americans Do Now Will Define Us Forever :
Gronda Morin 
Gronda, I saw where Meghan McCain took on the younger Trumps for not cautioning their father about the “dystopian” pep rally following his racist remarks. It is not a surprise to see the president be factually incorrect about what Rep. Omar said, but that is truly beside the point. I also saw where German Chancellor Angela Merkel added her criticism to that of leaders in Canada, Scotland, UK and EU.
If people defending the president say they don’t see the racism in the dog whistle remarks, they should read what people of color or Asian, Middle East or Mediterranean descent have said about being told to “go back where you came from.” Of course, Trump is a racist, which is the theme of my latest post. Also, our friend Jill includes an article from two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Nicholas Kristof in her recent post which identifies the racist bones in Trump’s body.
Here is a link:
https://jilldennison.com/2019/07/19/call-a-spade-a-bloody-shovel/#comment-83404
This episode reveal why Donald J. Trump does not deserve to hold the president position – he made racist remarks, he double-downed and uses them as a campaign rallying cry, he tried to weasel out of his role (which is very common as he cannot accept accountability) and on the whole, he lied about what these women said, but also made it clear only white people can criticize our country – he did it before and during his presidency; Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden are not told to go back where he came from.
He is purposefully picking on women of color and some of non-Christian faith. And, then try to pretend he did not. Please recall the movie “The Caine Mutiny.” Who did the defense attorney get most upset with at the end – the man who incited the mutiny and then distanced himself when things hit the fan. That is classic definition of what “weaseling out” means.
Keith
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Dear Keith,
Now that we can view President Trump’s with 20/20 hindsight, we can see that he began his trafficking in racism even before he began his 2015 GOP presidential campaign with his birther hit job against President Obama.
Then he started off his elevator/ Trump Towers presidential announcement with a tirade against immigrants, in this case the Mexicans who were rapists, criminals.
Then it was the Muslim travel ban, followed by other clues, like him equating Neo Nazis at 2015 Charlottesville with those who opposed them; the slip of tongue about sh*thole countries; the way he treated Gold Star families of color, etc.
His welcoming White Nationalists into the White House was another clue.
Now he needs to really motivate his base who have been conditioned to obey like soldiers, to get out to vote in droves.
He already has GOP in US Congress acting like Pavlovian dogs whenever he needs them to lie and obfuscate on his behalf.
Personally, I can’t take 14 more months of this guy.
Hugs, Gronda
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What trump has done is 1. directed his followers to chant “Send them back.”;
2) got the news media to broadcast it with negative coverage from the media and Democrats, both of which are enemies of trump and his followers.
3. Then trump denies he was responsible which to many sounds as if trump is gaslighting, but trump is calling out the common enemy, standing up against them and because the trump supporters “know in their hearts” that what trump really means is not to deny it, but to play the media.
trump is “secretly sharing” this with his supporters, in their heart of hearts they are allowed to share this secret message –like pence having God talk to him—they know trump’s real intentions, they understand trump is “masterfully playing the media” and for trump supporters sharing this secret communication builds a stronger bond and increased distrust of the media.
trump “denying ” is just proof to his supporters that he is a great leader.
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Steve, whereas I try not to name call, I used “The Caine Mutiny” example with serious intent. The character in the movie, played by Fred MacMurray, stirred up trouble and a mutiny, then disavowed his role under oath. That is as good example as I can find for behavior unbecoming of anyone, much less the US president. Where Truman said famously “The buck stops here,” the current US president says it is other fault. Truman has been remembered as one of America;s best presidents. Keith
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Dear Steve Naegele,
You are right on the money. The racist comments that President Trump made against towards Democratic Party House freshmen of color had been read from the teleprompter which means that those words were premeditated.
He’s openly trafficking in racism as he thinks this tactic benefits him. What’s worse, the most recent polls show that his approval numbers are rising.
Then we have the House Democratic Party leadership team who are in denial about their current strategy of avoiding I-word, being a winning strategy.
What’s worse is that current circumstances could be getting worse. His supporters are going nowhere.
Hugs, Gronda
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