Day 208 - Mr. President, You have Blood on your Hands

Dear Mr. President,

Because of you, racists are alive and well in our country, Mr. President. They are crawling out of the woodwork, and they are looking at you as their leader in chief. You did this. You used a common phrase from Hitler for your own campaign slogan. The White Supremacists were watching and cheering. You incited violence on multiple occasions. The White Supremacists were watching and cheering. You repeatedly attacked President Obama’s citizenship. The White Supremacists were watching and cheering. You failed to distance yourself from the KKK and David Duke and your attempts to later “disavow” were weak at best. The White Supremacists were watching and cheering. Even now, David Duke promises to fulfill your campaign promises. And the White Supremacists? They are ready. You have mastered whataboutism, the common Soviet propaganda move, and the White Supremacists have studied your rhetorical moves and have mastered them, better than you ever will.

They have been emboldened by your words, your behavior, and your inability to call evil by its name:

They are Racists. 

They are Bigots.

They are Terrorists.

Photograph from @m1523751

Because of you, 3 people are dead and 19 are wounded. Because of you, a community has been terrorized. One woman, at a rally counter-protesting the White Supremacists: dead because of you. Two police officers, sworn to protect our citizens and and finally rushing in after so many were injured and bleeding: dead because of you.

You cannot change the subject away from your guilt. You cannot shift the focus away from yourself and your White Supremacist followers by insisting that there is blame “on many sides” and that hatred, bigotry, and violence has been “going on for a long time in our country.” As Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large clearly states,”

“Chalking it all up to a violent political rhetoric that occurs on both sides and has been around for a very long time contextualizes and normalizes the behavior of people who should not be normalized.”

You have normalized the behavior of White Supremacists, and because of this, three people are dead and 19 are wounded. Your more recent statement that “Racism is evil…And those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans” is a step in the right direction, but it does not diminish the damage you have already caused. It does not assuage you of your guilt.

You have blood on your hands, sir. You may not have driven the car into the crowd, but just like Lady Macbeth, your words caused the deaths of 3 innocent people. You cannot wash this blood away, no matter how many times you wring your hands and change the subject.

If you were truly presidential, you would understand that “The President—whoever he is—has to decide. He can’t pass the buck to anybody. No one else can do the deciding for him. That’s his job.” – President Harry S. Truman, 1953

You have to decide, Mr. President, to look in the mirror and acknowledge: you have blood on your hands. You did this. And it is now your responsibility to stop it. The buck stops with you, Mr. President. It is time for you to own what you have caused. It is time for you to call evil by its name, even when you are looking in the mirror.

Sincerely,

Letters2Trump

Note on the image: Suspected Murderer James Alex Fields stands in a line with young neo-Nazis and fascists before the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville on Saturday.  He holds a round black shield belonging to Vanguard America, a group who actively recruits college-aged white men and operates under the slogan “the face of American fascism.”

(Originally posted at Letters2Trump.)