In Charlottesville, avowed neo-Nazis chanted "Jews will not replace us" and beat unarmed counter-protestors because they wanted to retain statues honoring those who fought to maintain slavery in the US civil war. President Trump equated them with the people they beat and hit with a car. 40% of the US still supported him.
President Trump condemned football players who peacefully protest racially-biased policing by kneeling during the national anthem - while excusing murder and genocide by foreign leaders. He objects to the assertion that #BlackLivesMatter The KKK echoes his arguments and 40% of the US still supported him.
President Trump sought to ban Muslims from entering the United States - including those fleeing war-torn countries and those seeking medical attention for their children. He convinced the conservative majority on the Supreme Court to go along with the ban by pretending in legal filings - and nowhere else - that He included in his ban those who risked their lives to help US troops as translators and local liaisons in our Middle East conflicts. He pardons US soldiers who have been convicted of war crimes by the US military justice system because their victims were Muslim. White nationalists around the world recognize him as a leader and quote his words as they harass Muslims and shoot up mosques. 40% of the US still supports him.
President Trump sought to redirect taxpayer money to build a wall on the southern border, shutting down legal options for entry while espousing racist rhetoric and using the power of his office to defend and cover for those who will break the law and abuse immigrant children. He weakens the citizenship of US-born Hispanics and deports Latin Americans who serve honorably in the US military. He spreads lies about voter fraud and endorses those convicted of hate crimes. His supporters complain about the "invasion" of people fleeing violence and looking for jobs. His supporters complain about peaceful protests and sit-ins directed at the places and people responsible for jailing children and asylum-seekers. 40% of the US still supports him.
That Administration was terrible in many ways; the racism here is just one aspect of it. The problem I want to highlight is that many Americans, especially white, rural, male Americans, don't see a problem with blatant racism. Trump's supporters excuse his racism and the violence he endorses but they condemn peaceful protesters and members of Congress who seek to constrain his racism. Senator James Inhofe, the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed services committee endorsed racial profiling and vigorous investigations in the wake of the Fort Hood shooting, but said counterterrorism was a waste of taxpayer funds several years later when the dominant forms of violent extremism were coming from his white rural male supporters. There's a double-standard.
Meanwhile the Supreme Court is pressing ahead with historically unpopular decisions, political gerrymandering is continuing, as are voter-suppression and disinformation efforts and election-related conspiracy theories. Explicit disinformation and endorsement of political violence reached the highest levels of the US government, including President Trump and his Congressional conspirators.
As a John F. Kennedy said "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." The former President and his supporters are trying to reverse demographic changes, block peaceful immigration, block peaceful protest, block police & military accountability, and prevent legal reforms. They are using the power of the executive branch, racially-biased voting restrictions, and as much legislative & judicial power as they can muster to lock minorities out of the legal system. Peaceful revolution and gradual reforms are fast becoming impossible, and 40% of the US still supports the President and his efforts to block accountability. As Kennedy predicted, as peaceful reforms are becoming harder to obtain, violent options and Antifa are looking more and more relevant. This is quite worrisome - political violence and polarization seem to have become self-sustaining and the numerical-majority-but-legal-minority is left with fewer options to defend their lives. We must find a way to turn down the rhetoric. We must find a way to limit the damage and make this a government “of the people, by the people, and for the people”.
If we do not succeed, there is historical precedent for even worse violence to come.