Can there be any denying?
There will be no
pivot. There never was going to be.
There will be no
becoming presidential. There never was going to be.
There will be no
humility. No decorum. No sense of justice or empathy. There never was going to
be.
We are far past the
time for excuses, for anyone.
In one of the most surreal and depressing presidential press conferences ever, Mr. Trump said what most people dreaded but already knew.
His blatant false
equivalence between Nazis and those who oppose them that he said on Saturday,
that's how he really feels - times a thousand.
With any other
president this would be unbelievable. But with Mr. Trump it is all too
believable.
It is clear that he
doesn't consider himself to be the President of the United States of America -
no matter what his official job title says. Down where he lives he is the
president of his base, which includes a lot of bigots and even Nazis and
members of the Klan.
Not everyone who voted
for him is in this category, not nearly. But they make up a large majority of
his personal base.
And thankfully for all
of us, this is a distinct (but frightening) minority of our nation.
The vast majority of Americans are decent people of conscience. And I believe in the end this vast majority will prevail.
The vast majority of Americans are decent people of conscience. And I believe in the end this vast majority will prevail.
The question is
whether those who defend the President, or seeks to normalize him or change the
subject, will be seen as worse than enablers. Will they be viewed by history as
sympathizers to the worst instincts of American hatred?