Quote of the week:
Alas!
Lonely sits the city
Once great with people!
She that was great among nations
Is becoming like a widow;
The princess among states
Is become a thrall.
—The Book of Lamentations
Muslim extremists aren’t the only ones using moving vehicles as instruments of death and injury. A neo-Nazi has done the same at a “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, home of Thomas Jefferson’s peaceful “academical” village.
The University of Virginia and its environs draw all sorts of people who choose quality of life over big city hassles. Now our area (my wife and I live eleven miles away) is drawing the hate crowd, emboldened by our Divider-in-Chief who sees moral equivalency between outsiders looking for a fight and locals protecting their turf.
It was an unfair contest. The locals weren’t wearing helmets and carrying staves and shields. Plus, the haters knew how to get under everybody’s skin. First came a torchlight procession with the visitors chanting Nazi, racist and anti-Semitic slogans. Pitched battles then followed in broad daylight. Local law enforcement wasn’t up to the task of keeping the locals apart from those inciting violence.
The horrible tableau that followed is unlikely to separate the Polarizer-in-Chief from one of his core constituencies. In the 48 hours after these appalling scenes, a familiar pattern re-emerged: Trump initially spread the blame around and then, when faced with a predictable backlash, came assurances that, of course, the President of the United States didn’t approve of White Supremacy and neo-Nazis.
Are my fellow citizens fed up yet? When Richard Nixon was faced with impeachment proceedings, his approval rating was around 24%. Trump is heading there as the potential for dangerous confrontation with North Korea looms.