Donald Trump is right, there were two sides fighting in Charlottesville and they each lovingly trace their roots back to earlier movements. On the right some of the groups honor the Third Reich that killed 15-20 million people in the Holocaust, which many of them deny ever happened, with another 60-65 million deaths resulting from the war. Others follow the KKK which was responsible for around 4000 lynchings and was a factor in the widespread race riots which claimed over 1000 more lives.
Other groups still support the Confederacy whose civil war claimed over 600,000 lives. And that war was a result of the slave trade which is estimated to have killed over 20-30 million while enslaving millions more. Just since 1992, the American right has killed over 200 people and engaged in several long massive armed standoffs with the federal government. It is currently responsible for over 300 violent attacks a year.
Compare this to those groups on the left whose roots go back to the civil rights movement where millions of Americans marched to end Jim Crow. Many were beaten and some were killed. Some came from the antiwar movement where again millions marched to end the disastrous Vietnam war. Still others marched to prevent the ill-conceived Iraq war that was based on lies.
Yet to Trump, the two sides are equivalent! David Duke, a former Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, understood what Mr. Trump had said when he commented, “This represents a turning point for the people of this country. We are determined to take our country back. We’re going to fulfill the promises of Donald Trump. That’s what we believed in. That’s why we voted for Donald Trump. Because he said we’re going to take our country back, and that’s what we’re going to do.“
Unstated in the quote, but understood by those on the right, is that he means “take our country back” from the “colored,” the Jews, the immigrants, the gays and any others who believe that legally, “All men are created equal.” And Mr Trump is fine with David Duke's views.
Trump's ignorance of anything not involving golf or real estate coupled with his inability to absorb information from his many briefings make him a thoroughly dangerous man to have as president. He has made America the laughing stock of the world. Trump must resign, be impeached (and convicted) or be removed via the 25th Amendment before he totally destroys this country, its reputation and perhaps even the world.
