Neo-nazis and white supremacists are celebrating Trump's remarks about the Charlottesville riot
Neo-nazis and white supremacists are celebrating Trump's remarks about the Charlottesville riot
White nationalists and neo-Nazis celebrated President Donald
Trump's remarks about the protests in Charlottesville,
Virginia on Friday, in which he denounced violence "on all sides"
rather than explicitly condemning white supremacism.
"We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious
display of hatred, bigotry, and violence on many sides," Trump
said at a press conference. "On many sides."
Trump said that he had spoken to Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe,
and that they "agreed that the hate and the division must stop
and must stop right now."
The president went on to talk about how the US is "doing
very well in so many ways," and touted the recent jobs and
unemployment numbers.
Many were quick to criticize the president for failing to
denounce the "Unite the Right" rally held by
white nationalists on Friday in response to a plan to remove a
statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee from a park in
Charlottesville.
The protests continued into Saturday and turned
deadly when a car, allegedly driven by 20-year-old Ohio
resident James Alex Fields, plowed through a crowd of
counter-protesters. Fields was arrested and charged Saturday
night with one count of second-degree murder, three
counts of malicious wounding, and hit and run.
A Facebook page that
appeared to belong to Fields featured alt-right memes like
Pepe the frog, an image of Hitler as a baby, and a cover photo of
soldiers with an American flag and swastikas.
"We should call evil by its name," said Republican Sen.
Orrin Hatch. "My brother didn't give his life fighting Hitler
for Nazi ideas to go unchallenged here at home."
"Very important for the nation to hear @POTUS describe
events in #Charlottesville for what they are, a terror attack by
#whitesupremacists," tweeted Republican Sen. Marco
Rubio.
"Praying for those hurt & killed today in
Charlottesville," tweeted Republican Sen. Cory Gardner. "This is
nothing short of domestic terrorism & should be named as
such."
Several prominent white nationalists and neo-Nazis,
however, praised Trump's comments.
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| White supremacists pass a militia member as the they arrive for a rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S., August 12, 2017. Joshua Roberts/Reuters |
The founder of the Daily Stormer,
a neo-Nazi and white supremacist website that
considers itself a part of the
alt-right, celebrated the fact that Trump
"outright refused to disavow" the white nationalist rally and
movement.
"People saying he cucked are shills and kikes," wrote the
founder, Andrew Anglin. "He did the opposite of cuck. He refused
to even mention anything to do with us. When reporters were
screaming at him about White Nationalism he just walked out of
the room."
"Cuck" is short for "cuckservative" — a portmanteau of
"cuckold" and "conservative" used by the alt-right to
describe white Republicans "who are participating in
the displacement of European Americans," according
to white nationalist Richard Spencer.
When Trump tweeted earlier on Saturday that "we ALL must be
united & condemn all that hate stands for," Spencer, who
attended both days of protests, replied:
"Did Trump
just denounce antifa?"
Antifa is short for antifascist organizations.
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| Members of the Ku Klux Klan rally in opposition to city proposals to remove or make changes to Confederate monuments in Charlottesville. Jonathan Ernst/Reuters |
"Clearly President Trump is condemning the real haters: the
SJW/Marxists who've attacked our guys," said
one
commenters on the far-right, pro-Trump
subreddit called r/The_Donald.
"Marxist" and "SJW," or social justice warrior, are
terms frequently used by the far-right to describe
liberals.
"So glad GEOTUS called this bulls--t out for what it really
is," said another commenter, using an acronym to refer to
Trump that stands for
"God Emperor of the United States.'"
"Trump comments were good," said another Daily Stormer
commenter. "He didn't attack us. He just said the nation should
come together. Nothing specific against us. He said that we need
to study why people are so angry, and implied that there was
hate... on both sides! So he implied the antifa are
haters."
The commenter continued: "There was virtually no
counter-signaling of us at all. He said he loves us all. Also
refused to answer a question about white nationalists supporting
him. No condemnation at all. When asked to condemn, he just
walked out of the room. Really, really good. God bless
him."
The White House did not respond to request for comment
about whether Trump condemns white supremacy. But a ProPublica
reporter asking the same question on Saturday was told only that
the president "condemns all acts of violence."
A commenter on the white nationalist website Stormfront,
which describes itself as "the voice of the new,
embattled White minority," wrote that
"some republicans want Trump to single out White Nationalists and
put the blame on them for the violence of Antifa/blm."
"Trump rejected that notion and talked about violence 'from
many sides,'" another Stormfront commenter replied.
Not all white supremacists celebrated Trump's remarks,
however. One Stormfront user said that "Trump has reached full-on
cuck status," and David Duke, the former "grand
wizard" of the Klu Klux Klan, implied that Trump had betrayed his
supporters.
"I would recommend you take a good look in the mirror,"
Duke tweeted, "& remember it was White Americans who put you
in the presidency, not radical leftists."
