"Hate on many sides"

I drove to Hollywood this morning to the Arclight Cinema on Sunset Boulevard.  The reason I went there was that the new film "Ingrid Goes West" was playing there and only there.  I missed a press screening this past week because I was not feeling well and I felt guilty about that.  I also very much wanted to see the movie.  It was well worth the horrendous traffic I dealt with driving to and from the theater.

But that meant that I was in my car and that is where I listened to the idiotic impromptu comments of the Liar-in-Chief regarding the tragedy in Charlottesville.  There is only one side involved here that has a hateful agenda.  The White Supremacists who try to normalize their identity by referring to themselves as the "Alt-Right" in some cases.  Others, like David Duke, feel no need to hide their feelings and beliefs.  If they could get away with it, they would probably still be lynching, bombing churches and the like. 

A president who truly cared for the people of this nation would denounce the specific people behind the violence and the hatred.  In point of fact, Agent Orange took previous presidents to task for failing to label some terrorists actions as such.  From November of 2015:

"Why won't President Obama use the term Islamic Terrorism? Isn't it now, after all of this time and so much death, about time!"

Well, Mr. Trump, why won't you use the term White Supremacist?  Is it because if you do and they stop supporting you and those parts of your agenda they support, you will never be reelected?  Because you lack the moral courage to tell the truth?  That might explain your apparent pathological need to lie nearly every time you speak or tweet.

As someone whose ancestry traces back to Germany, one would think you would want to denounce such things. 

* * *

Listening to the press conference given by the Cheeto-in-Chief raised another question in my mind.  He made it a point of asking the veterans he was talking about (the press conference was original designed to talk about "progress" at the Veterans Administration) to shake hands with him.

I asked myself, what would I do if he asked me, as a veteran, to shake his hand.  I do not respect the man, but I do respect the office.  We can say #NotMyPresident all we want to, but the reality is that he holds the office.  At least until he is forced to resign, is impeached, or G*d forbid, leaves office in January of 2021.

That being said, if there ever came a moment where I was face to face with Donald J. Trump and he held out his hand to shake mine, I would refuse.  I would do anything to avoid that situation from ever happening, but you cannot control everything in life.

I simply cannot muster even a modicum of respect for this charlatan who has sold his supporters a plate of promises he cannot deliver on.  Not enough to shake his hand.

I might change my mind if he were to do the right thing here, and condemn the white supremacists who caused at least three deaths today.