Today's Must-Read: The Next Step

From Trump's re-election campaign (because that's all he can do -- campaign):

Donald Trump’s campaign for his 2020 re-election has released a new ad attacking Democrats, the media and “career politicians” just one day after the president refused to denounce white supremacism.

“Democrats, obstructing – the media, attacking our president,” the ad begins, displaying imagery featuring Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Elizabeth Warren, Maxine Waters, various hosts and commentators at MSNBC, CNN and others. “Career politicians, standing in the way of success. But President Trump’s plan is working.”

The propaganda-fueled video then proceeds to tout job creation, the stock market and a strong military as Donald Trump’s successes, noting that “the president’s enemies don’t want him to succeed.”

"The president's enemies" -- think about how that resonates for a second. And how long before that gets morphed into "enemies of the people"?

There's much commentary on the fact that Trump did not denounce the Nazis demonstrating in Charlottesville. I can't figure out why everyone is so surprised: he agrees with them. He believes the same things they do. I suppose it's to his credit that he retains at least that little shred of honesty, but there's an element of self-preservation involved: they are his base.

And do note that he has had nothing to do with anything he's taking credit for. Again, typical.

The must-read is here. It's not that long, but it pulls a lot of things together:

In late August, in a speech delineating white nationalist support for Donald Trump, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton unveiled a new title for Russian President Vladimir Putin: “The Grand Godfather of Extreme Nationalism.” With the sinecure, Clinton sought to directly link the odious policies of her Republican counterpart — namely, mainstreaming a racialized, white supremacist discourse the United States had not seen at such levels in a generation — to those brought to bear under Putin’s third term.

The epithet built upon one of the pillars of Clinton’s campaign which, in turn, built upon the primary campaign of former GOP contender, and current Ohio governor, John Kasich. That is, in addition to Trump’s outright praise for Putin’s leadership, as well as his murky, secretive financial ties to those close to the Kremlin, Clinton tied Trump to the Kremlin’s campaign of stoking hyper-nationalistic movements throughout the West. 

As a rhetorical device, the title remains a flurry of brilliance. Not only does the terminology help highlight the Kremlin’s kleptocratic coterie — with Putin as don, as mafioso — but it also further emphasized Clinton’s grasp of Moscow’s policies, and the motivations therein. As seen with Hungary’s Jobbik, with France’s National Front, with Greece’s Golden Dawn, those far-right movements sprouting throughout Europe have found a counterpart in Trump’s hostile takeover of the Republican Party. And much as Trump has aped the rotted, regressive policies of Putin-friendly leaders throughout Europe — see: Hungary’s Viktor Orban — so, too, has he helped give a national platform to the groups and movements that have not only fueled a resurgence of white nationalism in the United States, but who have gone out of their way to praise, of all international leaders, Putin. These groups, as noted in Clinton’s speech, include the “alt-right,” a gathering of fascists and white nationalists who would Balkanize the United States or who would return the country to a bygone era of white supremacy, but also extend to the secessionists and Christian fundamentalists further propping Trump’s campaign.

The article was published in the fall of last year, before the election, but it's scarily prescient.

Via Digby.

Footnote: They just don't get it:

Peter Cvjetanovic

“I came to this march for the message that white European culture has a right to be here just like every other culture,” Cvjetanovic opined. “It is not perfect; there are flaws to it, of course. However I do believe that the replacement of the statue will be the slow replacement of white heritage within the United States and the people who fought and defended and built their homeland. Robert E Lee is a great example of that. He wasn’t a perfect man, but I want to honor and respect what he stood for during his time.”

He sounds like a thoughtful young man, but he's missing a big part of the message that he's pushing by attending that march: do you suppose he understand the "supremacy" part of "white supremacy"?

Apparently not.