Bannon Declares War For Trump

Last week was another rough one in our new Trump world.  Trump's unprecedented glorification of white nationalists, white supremacists and Nazis when speaking of Charlottesville left us all in shock.  For Progressives, our opinion of Trump was validated by Trump himself. Progressives cried because the feeling of helplessness to stop destruction of our country became more of a reality.  Conservatives, if they cried, was because they realized that the man they have defended and voted for, does not represent their values. 

THEY SAY a President is defined by how he handles a crisis.  While there are all kinds of crisis-es, Charlottesville was a moral crisis. It  was the first time we've had the opportunity to see how Trump would stand up to a true crisis. He failed miserably!  This was Trump's big opportunity to bring our country together.  Obviously, he chose to divide us instead.  Reverend Falwell, Jr. said, “Trump speaks what's in his heart.”  Trump said it.  You heard it.  Now you should believe him.

WHILE DEALING with this crisis, Trump created a new crisis, or at least took us back three decades or more in our fight against racism. Those times were not when America was great, if that's what he thinks!  He has created a racial divisiveness for his own political purposes--to sustain his base of support. In my column last week, before he made this speech, I said Trump had unleashed evil.  That was a prescient statement if there ever was one.

IN CASE YOU missed it, we are now under a declaration of war by Trump's “alt-right” man, Steven Bannon.  After being fired on Friday, he said, “I'm leaving the White House and going to war for Trump against his opponents on Capitol Hill, in the media, and in corporate America.”  His weapon will be Breibart News.  I have been advocating for his ouster in my columns since he was Trump's campaign manager and I cannot imagine the war being any worse now than when he was in the White House.  But, Bannon assures us, “Oh, it's going to get worse.” 

 A WHITE nationalist monster in the form of Steve Bannon has been created and he is procreating more little monsters that need to be exterminated.  Unfortunately, the leader of this country sees these monster as “fine people” and will feed them.  Our Republican elected officials are afraid of these monsters as evidenced by the fact that not a single elected official accepted an invitation to speak to the horror we witnessed at Charlottesville on Sunday's Meet the Press.  All week, their voices have been noticeably absent.  Those that chose to speak, spoke out against hate and bigotry via Tweeter.  Important things should not be conveyed by “tweets.”  Since these elected officials are accountable to “we, the people,” we deserve more insight into their thoughts than one that can be expressed in 140 characters.  

MUCH TO Trump and Bannon's glee, we are now distracted from the real problem of today—having an unfit President.  Instead, we are now bordering on a civil war about Confederate monuments.  While that is a discussion that we need to have, at this moment in time there are far more destructive forces that need our united attention.  The “thinking” and “concerned” people in this country can only accomplish one thing at a time with our voices.  If we all go off on different issues, our voices will be drowned out on all the issues.  The Civil War is not the cause of the problems we have today.  The monuments may be a reminder of the Civil War, but the monuments themselves are not responsible for the hate and bigotry permeating our country today.  People are.  

DEMOCRATS WERE baited and they took it.  And for those that are using this divisive issue for political gain, shame on you and voters should rebuke you. We should believe Steve Bannon when he boasted, “The longer they talk about identity politics, I got 'em. I want them to talk about racism every day. If the left is focused on race and identity, and we go with economic nationalism, we can crush the Democrats.”  And if the Democrats are crushed, these hate mongers can erect all the offensive monuments they please and there's not a darn thing we can do about.  

DONALD TRUMP does not have a moral compass and in fairness to him, he has never claimed to have one.  However, Vice-President Mike Pence claims to be of the highest moral character but yet, in response to Trump's despicable behavior and words about Charlottesville, Pence made a bold and Christ-like statement-- “I stand by the President and the words he spoke.”  This makes me wonder if we would be that much better off if Trump was no longer in the picture and he was replaced by Pence.  Perhaps we should be careful what we wish for…..NOT!