Trump

[bralbovsky]

While order in this case is an upgrade, too many generals means we're even closer to banana republic territory.

[poorpete]

In military terms, they might maintain unit cohesion and improve strategy, but the war they are fighting is still just as unjust.

[Tahlvin]

What. The. Fuck. Is. Going. On. In. VA?

[FlameBlade]

Nazi march, basically. Naturally met by counter protestors. Someone just drove a car into counterprotestors.

[bralbovsky]

This is what zombie apocalypse looks like in real life.

[poorpete]

Um, fuck this Trump guy. All Nazis are shit and the terrorist one especially so. But instead we get "all sides."

[Tahlvin]

[FlameBlade]

Your sig is appropriate, Tahlvin.

[Tahlvin]

Shit

[Phoebe]

The many sides thing is just what most Republicans believe. No more, no less.

[Tahlvin]

Certainly, there were instances of physical assault by both sides. I believe it was a local ACLU chapter that posted pictures of antifA counterprotestors beating up a white supremacist marcher. And there were physical assaults going the other direction as well, before the incident with the car. But when you display Nazi symbols AND YOU SUPPORT THEIR IDEOLOGY, as opposed to displaying it in an oh-my-god-don't-ever-let-this-happen-again way, AND one of your marchers/supporters uses a vehicle as a weapon to deliberately target the opposition, then talk of "many sides" takes a far, far back seat to "just get the fuck out of here, now!"

[WillyGilligan]

Current narrative from the alt-right is that the counter protesters had been attacking cars prior to the incident, maybe even the driver who plowed into the crowd.

[Zen]

Oh... so the car got angry?

[Phoebe]

The many sides thing is a lie. There is lots of evidence, video and otherwise, of nazis violently attacking people unprovoked. Where's the comparable evidence of "many sides"? Seriously, if there is any such that doesn't come from a nazi site or partisan, let me know. Especially if any of that happened before Trump's "many sides" remarks.

[Mike]

Watch him give that line. He's clearly reading from a prepared statement, and then breaks from it to give the "many sides" line. It was a conscious decision, in the moment, to avoid sounding like he was assigning blame. A conscious decision to create equivalence between hate groups who instigate violence and protesters who speak out against them. They're all the same.

[Mike]

[Phoebe]

I might add that one reason there were problems is the ACLU decided it wasn't appropriate to move the protest to an alternate location where the numbers of people expected could be accommodated and security could be maintained. They filed an injunction which killed the city's attempt to move the protest. Then partway through, the nazis ended up moving their rally to the park where the city had wanted to have it in the first place, but there were people going everywhere. So the ACLU has some egg on their face in this one, since their claims minimizing the security concerns turned out to be pretty weak in hindsight.

[Phoebe]

"And the President of the United States, de facto leader of the Republican Party, is unwilling to call it such, and to call it terrorism, *because he depends on the ACTUAL FUCKING NAZIS to vote for him.*"

I don't think I'm disagreeing with the above, just putting a different twist on it: I don't think he is unwilling to call it out because he depends on these people to vote for him. I think he says what he does because he believes it and means it. This is the birther-in-chief, remember? This is the guy who just advocated for police to rough up suspects they're bringing in, kind of like they did in Baltimore when that man was killed during his ride to the station and nobody paid the slightest price for it in justice. This is the same guy whose rallies often featured violence against black and brown citizens and journalists and he egged it on and even offered to pay for the legal fees of someone who sucker punched a black man who was being escorted out (though I doubt he paid). He chose these people like Miller, Gorka, and Bannon to be on his staff. I don't think it's an act; that's who he is! All his campaign stuff about the Mexican judge and the rapists coming in... all of it makes the same arguments, the only difference being the part about Jews.

[Mike]

I don't think Trump believes in anything. He says a lot of thus shit because Bannon told him it was how to win. He continues, because he lobes the adulation of his base. Alt-righters call him God-Emporer. He must love that.

[Mike]

Godwin has weighed in: