Charlottesville, Arguing over the Unarguable

Charlottesville, Arguing Over the Unarguable
The View from the Middle

Abraham Lincoln once made a profound statement on the perspective and motives of people. He said, “If you look for the bad in people expecting to find it, you certainly will.” I’m certain that Honest Abe would find himself a frequent defender of Donald Trump against those groups who have already decided that they will oppose, resist and demonize everything that the President says or does.
Let’s take a look at what President Trump actually said about the dreadful violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, this last weekend that lead to the tragic death of Heather Heyer. He said, “(he) Condemns in the strongest possible terms “this” egregious display of bigotry and violence on many sides.” There is much to defend in this statement. I also condemn bigotry and violence no matter what its source.
But some people only heard the last three words and took that as some sort of endorsement of the white supremacist groups. Of course, I think that is ludicrous and I applaud Trump taking this opportunity to denounce ALL hate groups who deny equal opportunity and justice for anyone.
According to ABC News, there are over 900 hate groups in America today. They identified 130 different Ku Klux Klan groups (started by the democrats, by the way) and 100 white nationalist groups, but they also identified over 190 black separatist groups as well as anti-Muslim, anti-Zionist and even “general” hate groups (whatever they are). We should rebuke ALL of these hate groups at every opportunity, and Charlottesville is one of those opportunities.
I will come out right now and condemn all of these groups, including the white supremacist group whose name defines prejudice. I will also condemn The New Black Panther Party when it says that they want to, “kill white babies”. I denounce Louis Farrakhan when he spews anti-Jewish swill and any group that would like to deny freedom of religion to peace loving Muslims.
The President just now reinforced his message against bigotry, racism and violence and specifically condemned the Neo-Nazis, White Supremacists and the Ku Klux Klan. Do I think this will be good enough for the “never Trumpers” or the “I just hate Trump” people? I doubt it.
At this point, if you can’t accept Trump’s overall message of unity, love for each other and the denouncement of hatred, bigotry and racism with specific condemnation of the Charlottesville white supremacist groups, I must refer you to Honest Abe. Check your bias at the door. Pretend that Barack Obama said these exact same words, which is certainly NOT a stretch, and you just might have to agree with this position, as I do!!