Charlottesville: Donald Trump dramatically showed his true colors and they are not red, white and blue. There’s a world of difference between a flag honoring the Hitler master-race regime and a “Black Lives Matter” placard—but not in Donald’s mind. 

Pictured above: Trump with inset of his murderous little supporter and Heather Heyer who died at the scene of the Charlottesville rioting.

This blog is a re-do as my first version didn’t post. I believe it was because of my free use of the word neo-N*zi. I can understand ptleader.com's automatic censor if that is the case. A blogger or commenter indeed might, in a fit of pique, use that particular N-word inappropriately in referring to another person—opening up all manner of problems for the newspaper. So moving on . . .

Anyone paying attention must realize that Donald Trump has been reluctant for a long time to criticize his friend Vladimir Putin. It seems to be the same now with a major portion of his “base” supporters—white supremacists and all manner of racists, gun-enthusiasts, misogynists and miscellaneous disgruntled sorts. No big surprise he tried to side-step, with faint concern, Charlottesville.

In his re-do speech after public indignation at his initial few empty tepid words, Donald said many were innocently at the scene just to protest removal of the Robert E. Lee statue. But why then was the event titled “Unite the Right” and how do flags bearing the symbol of the Holocaust apply all that directly to the statue of a general who fought to preserve American racism during our Civil War? Why was the disgusting organization championing anti-black racism so prominent” What’s with chants that “Jews won’t replace us”? 

David Duke, former grand wizard of southern bigotry, tweeted after Trump’s original comments of blame being assessed on “many sides” for the violence of the protest: “Thank you President Trump for your honesty & courage to tell the truth about it #Charlottesville & considerin the leftist terrorists  . . .”  Hate groups have coalesced around this president to an unprecedented degree.

I’ve taken a lot of shots in this forum for my assaults on Donald Trump and my seeming disrespect for the office of President. I have been criticized a number of times for stating that the coarse and flippant language and petty actions of Trump have encouraged and empowered the likes of anti-Semites, white supremacists, racists and misogynists, etc.

But the chickens really came home to roost the other day in Charlottesville, Virginia. 

I’ve heard Trump defenders loudly accusing me and others of “saying Trump supporters are racists.” No, they aren't listening; what so many of us have been saying is, “Racists are Trump supporters.” Please don’t twist our words for your straw-clutching convenience. I’m sure that there were non-racist Trump supporters here and there in the beginning, inspired by such things as his economic pie  in the sky. 

32-year-old Heather Heyer, a paralegal from nearby Ruckersville, died while passionately standing up for the beliefs she held. She was in the crowd protesting the white supremacist demonstration when she was run down and killed by an avowed Trump supporter. She died a hero on behalf of the decency and virtue in our society. 

Some suggest not turning out to protest hate groups and thus giving them the attention they so desire. I like the statement of the Southern Poverty Law Center: “Sitting at home with your virtue does no good.”

I believe when the statue of Robert E. Lee is removed in that Virginia park, they should erect one of Heather as symbolic of the true soul of American Democracy. And I won’t wish her murderer any luck finding a prison where African-Americans aren’t the majority of inmates (in large part due to white racial supremacy).

Donald Trump seems to have the misguided belief that he is some silver-tongued orator who can convince the public of the existence of an alternate reality where his own mind resides most of the time. He also is a bully  determined to force others to adopt his personal flawed way of thinking, when he instead should be paying more attention to the public’s way of thinking.

Meanwhile, factor in the Aug. 16 report that the Justice Department is trying to force an internet company to turn out information on who visited a website used to organize protests during Trump’s inauguration. Pathetic—and particularly strange in light of Charlottesville . . . and the lack of arrests there after the near-fatal clubbing by thugs of a young African-American man lying defenseless on the ground. 

As for Trump’s mention of an “alt-left” being partly to blame for the Charlottesville violence, analysts say there is no such thing. It is a word made up to create a false equivalence between the alt-right and “anything vaguely left-seeming that they don’t like.”   

The country (and world) will be watching Tuesday night when Donald holds his next personal pep rally in Phoenix, Arizona. The word on the street is that he is considering pardoning Joe Arpaio, notorious ex-county sheriff and Trump campaign supporter, recently convicted of having defied a judge’s order to stop racial profiling of Latinos when in office. Security for that event could be a nightmare.