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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Charlottesville Shuffle
By Josh Marshall
March 15, 2019 2:37 pm
We should note were back to the standard Trump dance in which he needs to be dragged kicking and screaming to call what happened in New Zealand terrorism as opposed to just some senseless, unfortunate thing. A short time ago Mercedes Schlapp, White House Director of Strategic Communications, went on Fox to insist that Trump had privately called the incident an act of terror even if he wouldnt do so publicly. I just spoke with the President, he made it very clear this is an act of terror.
On both sides of the equation, Ive always thought we fetishize the word terrorism far too much. Its really just a sub rosa dialogue about Islamist political violence. We use this word as code for political violence carried out by Muslims. Its a word we use to make Islamist violence uniquely threatening and evil and make right-wing (and other forms of terrorism and political violence) political violence inherently individual and thus politically meaningless, invisible. So it is altogether understandable and salutary to press the point that ubiquitous acts of right-wing terrorism are just as dangerous, evil and systemic as things carried out by al Qaeda or whoever else. They are terrorism just as much. The deeper issue is the learned and willfully blindness toward right-wing terrorism in the US and Europe.
Almost inevitably Trump will soon come out and read some version of the right words from a script possibly in about an hour where he holds a veto signing ceremony over his border emergency declaration. But the key point will remain that, just as with Charlottesville, he does everything within his power to avoid discussing right-wing violence or terrorism as part of a broader movement or context. This is unsurprising since he is a major part of the context.
After all, while dismissing him as clownish personally, the New Zealand mass shooter praised Trump as a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose. This is no accident.
Trumps former advisor Walid Phares made the point clearly enough this morning. You can disagree with the methods but appreciate the legitimacy of the terrorists goals. That is to say, you can if you harbor racist, eliminationist political beliefs and values.
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The Charlottesville Shuffle (Original Post)
DonViejo
Mar 2019
OP
Hermit-The-Prog
(33,271 posts)1. Osama bin Trump leads Nazis, fascists, and white supremacists
He is trying to be the leader of RWNJ world-wide. This is why he can't say "radical right-wing terrorists", or "radical Nazi terrorists", or "radical white supremacist terrorists". He can't call them terrorists and still lead them.
Solly Mack
(90,758 posts)2. K&R
suffragette
(12,232 posts)3. K&R
Johnny2X2X
(18,973 posts)4. The disgusting pig is deplorable
He never speaks against White Supremacists, they are his base.