Trump's Long History of Racism
UPDATE: Trump gave a press conference Tuesday during which he essentially unsaid all the good things he asserted in his speech Monday. While he claimed he still condemned neo-Nazis and white supremacists, he also said there were "many fine people" protesting alongside the people carrying swastika flags and shields bearing racist symbols. He expressed clearly his opposition to taking down Confederate monuments. He once again blamed both sides equally for the violence that broke out. He confirmed his complete inability to understand what systemic racism is and his own role in perpetuating it.
The moment that struck me in Trump's make-up speech Monday afternoon wasn't when he declared racism "evil" or finally name-checked the KKK, neo-Nazis and white supremacists. It was his remark about the flag. "No matter the color of our skin, we all live under the same laws," he said. "We all salute the same great flag."
Maybe Trump should have watched the news a little more closely this weekend. If he had, he might have seen large numbers of Americans carrying and saluting flags that weren't the Stars and Stripes. Confederate flags, obscure racist insignia and straight-up swastikas were all on display.
The racists and Nazis and white supremacists of all stripes who carried that flag were heartened by Trump's failure to denounce them or their ideology in the immediate aftermath of the violence in Charlottesville and the murder of Heather Heyer. And his tepid, reluctant, TelePrompTer-fed denunciation of racism days later appears to have done little to discourage their belief that he supports them in the deepest, darkest, most wizened recesses of his heart.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/trumps-long-history-of-racism-w497876?utm_source=rsnewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=daily&utm_campaign=081517_15
