The Fake President

"I inherited a mess. Only I can fix it."
Good idea, Mr. President. When do you plan on starting?

  The tirades of this fake president are getting tiresome.
   "Before I make a statement, I like to know the facts." That has never stopped him before, so why start now, when speaking of the confrontations in Charlottesville, Va.? 
   "Many sides" are to blame, he said. There is, of course, something to be said for the argument that if fringe demonstrators are ignored, they will somehow go away. Sometimes, that may be true. But it does not address the reality that ignoring a problem does not make it go away, and confronting evil is essential to defeating it.
   Defending racists and bigots and accusing counter protestors of fomenting violence only encourages the radical extremists to believe they have the support of the president of the United States of America.
   Unfortunately, they're right. This president does indeed support them. The question now becomes why.
   Is it through ignorance of history? Is it through ignorance of the true aims of the demonstrators? The answer to both questions could be yes, since he has displayed ignorance of many things in recent months.
   More frightening, however, is the idea that he is not unaware of the consequences of what he says and does. That, in fact, he knows very well the consequences of what he says and does in explaining, forgiving or even endorsing the activities of extremists, whether they be individuals who beat up on protestors at political conventions or gangs of neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klan followers and other extremists who call for an all-white domination of American society and the ouster of all others.
   The president's soft criticism of the events in Virginia and his attempt to put equal blame on the counter-protestors actually brought a "thank you" from David Duke, a former leader of the KKK who was at the Charlottesville rioting and who has promised more demonstrations.

   This president also put a lot of blame on what he calls the "fake news media" for not reporting accurately the events and consequences of recent events.
   On the contrary, the news media have indeed been reporting accurately on events. One can attack the supposedly liberal print media for allegedly being selective in its reporting, thereby slanting the story, but the same criticism can be made of right-leaning conservative news outlets.
   The reality is that members of the public have a choice of media outlets. There are some that are indeed slanted in their coverage, but most general interest newspapers, magazines and TV news operations are neutral in their coverage of events. Radicals on each side, however, don't want neutrality in news coverage; they want coverage favorable to their views.
   This is especially true for the president, who has a long history of vehemently attacking anyone and everyone who disagrees with him on anything. Even neutral coverage is not enough. He wants and demands total, obsequious agreement on everything.
   News flash: Not gonna happen.
   In any case, cameras don't lie. When rioters carry flags advertising their racist, anti-Semitic bigotry as they beat up on those who disagree, there is no way to excuse that behavior.
   And trying to explain it away only puts you on their side.