Left wing violence does not seem to be as serious to mainstream media
In response to the tragedy in Charlottesville, Virginia,
President Trump condemned the acts of violence in the “strongest terms.”
He expanded his condemnation to include ALL who promote or carry out
violence. Seems like a reasonable comment.
For the next several days, and counting, the left wing
news media spun a narrative that by not mentioning the perpetrators and
provocateurs by name, the President was actually endorsing the white supremacy
organizations. To reinforce this claim, they dredged up previous times
where they, themselves, interpreted Trump’s words to mean something other than
their defined meaning. Sure, he condemned David Duke, but not quickly
enough. He repeatedly preached against violence, but not in the right
words. It was what Trump did not say that became the point of criticism.
Consider this point again. The President strong words of
condemnation against those who perpetrated violence in Charlottesville and any
others who have similar motives had no meaning, but what he did not say did.
His words were described as a “dog whistle,” meaning that
his actual words of condemnation were to be interpreted as a subtle show of
support for the hate mongers. Dog whistle is a nonsense term that
self-justifies interpreting a person’s words to any meaning a critic might
prefer. A dog whistle is for dogs.
The Presidents condemnation was reiterated by virtually
every person in his administration, many naming the offensive organizations.
This included Vice President Pence, National Security Advisor H. R.
McMaster and others. Among those strongly condemning the action AND the
organizations was Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who immediately launched a
federal investigation.
In the perverse world inside the New York City/D.C. press
bubble, these condemnations by Trump administration officials, including his
most senior staff, were interpreted as repudiations of the President’s
statements. Even after the White House issued a statement on behalf of
the President – his official statement – repudiating the white supremacist
groups by name, the major media continued to malign the President by ignoring
his more specific statements.
The hyperbole of the media, especially CNN and MSNBC, was
boundless. The mainstream media, with their panels of parroting pundits,
began to characterize the President with offensive appellations that are
usually the rhetoric of the absurdly ignorant. Claiming that Trump’s
failure to read the script they offered up in hindsight, major news
personalities called him a racist, a Nazi, a white supremacist, a provocateur
of violence. They lashed out at anyone who would not take up their
intellectually corrupt cause in demonizing Trump to the point of impeachment or
worse. They descended on the President with all the table etiquette of a
pack of jackals.
They assassinated his character over condemning violent
groups “on many sides.” The fact that they found those words so offensive
is due to their acquiescence, if not endorsement, of the preponderance of
political violence emanating from the radical left. For proof, one only need
review the NY/DC media’s coverage of the attack on Republican congressman or
their limited, if any, coverage on the calls for the random killing of police
officers by left wing hate groups. For years, the mainstream media has
minimized the meaning of the ubiquitous left wing violence. Campus riots
and the trail of crime and violence in the wake of Occupy Wall Street were
largely brushed off. The left and its media spokespeople have no moral
pedestal from which to pass judgment. For these reasons, the left wing
press could not address the other side of the confrontation and took umbrage
when Trump did.
One thing I learned on the streets of Chicago is that
when you have two gangs egging for a fight, you will get a fight. The
reason for the conflict and who threw the first punch – or nowadays – fired the
first shot is generally unknown and pretty much unimportant. Most times
people wound up with bloody noses or black eyes, but sometimes people died.
In many ways, the tragedy that occurred in Charlottesville
was similar to those urban gang wars. By both their nature and its intent
the hateful white supremacist organizations are provocative and prone to
violent confrontation. This is common knowledge and has been as long as I
can remember.
I recall the ragtag remnants of the staunchly
anti-Semitic KKK marching in Skokie, Illinois – arguably one of the most Jewish
communities in America. It was not their intention to protest, but to provoke.
The arrival in Charlottesville was no different.
What gets lost in the news – intentionally, I believe –
is the motivation and intention of some of those who came to Charlottesville to
protest. Most came to peacefully demonstrate and show the world that the
hate mongers do not represent American values. Some, however, were there
to provoke physical confrontation as they have done in other areas of the
country. And they did. To doubt the culpability of the rally
protesters, one only need recall the violent confrontation that commenced long
before the fatal act of terrorism. This was a fight that could not have
been more predictable if it had been advertised as a boxing card event.
Two hateful elements met on the streets of
Charlottesville egging for a fight, much like those urban gangs of my youth.
Unfortunately, the police were not adequately prepared to impose order.
Like any such confrontation, shouts led to shoves and the cycle of
violence was begun. When Trump condemned ALL those who promote and
provoke violence, he is not wrong.
____________________
Trump Tells the Truth, and the Press Goes
Crazy
By John Hinderaker
This afternoon President Trump conducted an impromptu press conference at Trump Tower. Asked about Charlottesville, Trump said there was blame on both sides. The press went ballistic:
A combative President Donald Trump insisted Tuesday
“there is blame on both sides” for the deadly violence last weekend in
Charlottesville, Virginia, appearing to once again equate the actions of white
supremacist groups and those protesting them.
In the AP’s telling, the antifas were just
“protesting” the white supremacists. No mention of fighting, no reference to
baseball bats.
The president’s comments effectively wiped away the more
conventional statement he delivered at the White House one day earlier when he
branded members of the KKK, neo-Nazis and white supremacists who take part in
violence as “criminals and thugs.”
Why? There is no inconsistency between neo-Nazis
being criminals and thugs and antifas sharing the blame for the violence in
Charlottesville. They are criminals and thugs, too.
The president’s retorts Tuesday suggested he had been a
reluctant participant in that cleanup effort. During an impromptu press
conference in the lobby of his Manhattan skyscraper, he praised his original
response to Charlottesville and angrily blamed liberal groups in addition to
white supremacists for the violence. Some of those protesting the rally to save
a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee were “also very violent,” he
said.
“There are two sides to a story,” he said. He
added that some facts about the violence still aren’t known.
The AP wants us to believe that Trump’s statements were a
disaster. His aides “stood in silence,” John Kelly “crossed his arms and stared
down at his shoes,” Sarah Sanders “looked around the room trying to make eye
contact with other senior aides.” And “[o]ne young staffer stood with her mouth
agape.
The AP never questions, however, that what
Trump said was true. In fact, it was indisputable. The
antifas, a fascist group that has also rioted at Washington, Berkeley, Seattle
and other places, typically wears black clothes and masks, arms its members
with baseball bats, ax handles and 2x4s, and often attacks random people on the
street. Its behavior in Charlottesville was not much better than usual. New
York Times reporter Sheryl Gay Stolberg tweeted,
“The hard left seemed as hate-filled as alt-right. I saw club-wielding
‘antifa’ beating white nationalists being led out of the park.”
Anyone who has watched videos of the
Charlottesville riot knows that Trump’s description is accurate. In this video,
you can see antifa fascists initiating violence against both white supremacists
and the police:
The video is at: https://twitter.com/RepStevenSmith/status/896592075336142852
Who, exactly, brings bats and clubs to a
demonstration?
Here again, you see the so-called counter-demonstrators
initiate the violence:
The video is at: https://youtu.be/aOT3wDR7WZU
This longer video shows a confrontation that seems to
have been initiated by the white supremacists. Toward the end, multiple
black-clad and helmeted antifas assault an old man:
The video is at: https://youtu.be/_TWCEV5U09c
Why does the press go crazy over a statement
by President Trump that is patently true? “[T]here is blame on
both sides.” Because left-wing violence is becoming a prominent feature of our
political scene, and the Democratic Party press wants to cover it up.
Murderers inspired by Black Lives Matter have attempted to kill, and in several
instances have actually killed, policemen. Antifa fascists, doing their
best Nazi brownshirt imitation, have rioted in cities around the country,
smashing windows and attacking passers-by. And, of course, Democratic Party
activist and Bernie Sanders campaign worker James Hodgkinson attempted to
assassinate Congressional Republicans, grievously wounding the House Majority
Whip, Steve Scalise.
This violence is unhelpful to the left-wing
cause, so reporters and editors suppress references to it.
They were delighted to have an opportunity to report, for a change, on
right-wing violence perpetrated by James Fields. And they don’t want truth, or
any sort of nuance, to get in the way.
This is, I think, a winning issue for President Trump and
his allies. Any time the Democrats scream, “You can’t say that!” the best
policy is to go on saying it.
UPDATE: Additional quotes from yesterday’s mini-presser,
not referenced by the AP:
“Let me ask you this. What about the fact they came
charging — that they came charging, with clubs in their hands, swinging clubs?
Do they have any problem? I think they do. So, you know, as far as I’m
concerned, that was a horrible, horrible day. Wait a minute. I’m not finished.
I’m not finished, fake news. That was a horrible day.
“Is it the same level as neo-Nazis?” a reporter asked.
“I will tell you something,” Trump said.
“I watched those very closely, much more
closely than you people watched it, and you have – You had a group on one side
that was bad and you had a group on the other side that was also very violent.
And nobody wants to say that, but I’ll say it right now. You had a group, you
had a group on the other side that came charging in without a permit and they
were very, very violent.”
Trump is right on the money. Liberals hate it
when he tells the truth!
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2017/08/a-monument-falls-in-durham.php
