I was just thinkin’

The president is courting evil.

President Trump says he condemns racism and bigotry, but he has consistently courted the evil, odious alt-right as a candidate and as president. He has no moral authority.

Said President Trump on Aug. 15, regarding the violence in Charlottesville, “There is blame on both sides.” Were the more than 400,000 American troops who died in World War II, many in the Pacific, and the more than 1.9 million allied troops who died fighting the Nazis “just as much to blame” as the Nazis? Well were they President Trump? Were the 6 million Jews who died in Hitler’s gas chambers or the many black Americans who were hung by the KKK equally to blame for their plight? Well were they Mr. President?

The president said that many of those marching with the KKK, Nazis, and other white supremacists in a torch light march, reminiscent of Germany’s Nazis, were “fine people.” Fine people don’t march side by side and shoulder to shoulder carrying torches with the KKK and Nazis. He glossed over the fact that many of the alt-right came dressed to kill during the daylight march. They were wearing armor, carrying baseball bats and assault weapons, and shouting anti-Jew slogans. Fine people Mr. President? Think again. One “fine Nazi” drove his car into peaceful demonstrators, killing a young women, Heather Heyer, and injuring 19 others.

These “fine people” were just protesting the taking down of a monument of Robert E. Lee, claimed the president. “When will it stop?” he asked. Here’s the answer sir. It should not stop until every monument honoring the traitors who took up arms against their own country to save the practice of slavery is toppled and hauled away. Robert E. Lee was a traitor. What would President Trump think if an American educated at West Point went to fight with ISIS? Would he support a monument to him?

The Confederate States were an enemy of the United States, the same as the Axis during WWII. Would these “fine people” tolerate monuments to Adolf Hitler? The Nazis they marched with would. Germany has nothing memorializing the Nazis. We will not tolerate a monument of Hitler, Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, or any enemy, anywhere in the United States. History is one thing, erecting monuments to traitors is another. The president should be a leader in calling for the removal of monuments of treasonous enemies of the United States. Many were erected in the 1950s as an affront to Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement.

“Race relations have gotten better since I took office,” said the president.” Wrong. The president, by claiming a moral equivalency between the Nazis, KKK and those opposing them has bolstered racists in this country. It’s an indictment of Donald Trump and his presidency. The Nazis, KKK, and White Nationalists are very happy with Trump.

Every American, including Republicans, should condemn the president for his remarks. Steve Schmidt, the former chairman of the McCain campaign for president, said this: “Any Republican who doesn’t denounce the president risks falling into an abyss with the president.” Well said.

The Nazis, KKK, and ISIS comprise the very worst of all people on earth. They are all the same; they’re terrorists who prey on innocent people. They believe violence and killing will lead to a paradise of their own making. For ISIS it’s perfect caliphate, for the KKK it’s an all white “Christian” America, and for the Nazis it’s racial purity. They’re all, along with White Nationalists, enemies of the United States.

In 1926, 50,000 Klansmen, in full hooded glory, marched in Washington, D.C. The KKK was, and is still, anti-Catholic and anti-people of color. Trump’s father is said to have been a member. The American Bundt marched in the streets of America in support of the Nazis. Would we allow ISIS to march in our streets today without violently protesting? Not bloody likely.

The history of the KKK is an indictment of many white protestants. The KKK’s numbers today are not what they once were, but they’re growing because of Trump. Many, certainly not all, self- proclaimed Christians support Trump, in spite of his hate-filled policies. How hypocritical.

Such an evil president Donald Trump is proving to be. It’s heartbreaking to have such a president. Although the exception, several Fox commentators were visibly shaken by Trump’s performance. Said one, “It was disgusting.” The Las Vegas Sun proclaimed Trump the first un-American president.

The president called those who opposed the KKK, Nazis, and white supremacists, the alt-left. There is no such group. They are just fine people.

Glen McAdoo, a Fallon resident, can be contacted at glynn@phonewave.net.