MARK KARLIN, EDITOR OF BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT

Robert E. Lee statue that hopefully will be removed from Emancipation Park in Charlottesville, Virginia. (Photo: Bob Mical)

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Martin Luther King Jr. famously said, "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." If morality bends toward justice, it was perverted by rioting white nationalists brandishing tiki torches in defense of a Robert E. Lee statue and white supremacy in Charlottesville, Virginia.

On Tuesday, August 15, Donald Trump returned to where he had started on Saturday, blaming "both sides ... many sides" for the deaths and injuries in and surrounding Emancipation Park, where the Lee statue is located. According to the Tuesday news conference transcript, Trump extended the false equivalency of blame for the violence even further than on Saturday, saying:

You had a group on one side that was bad and you had a group on the other side that was also very violent…. No one wants to say that, but I’ll say it right now....

What about the alt-left that came charging at ‘em. Excuse me, what about the alt-left that came charging at, as you say the alt-right? Do they have any semblance of guilt?

Not only did he manufacture acts of violence from those who were peacefully protesting racism and white supremacy, he also created a term that he will now likely use -- along with his white nationalist allies: "the alt-left." This will facilitate the media's tendency to report from a perspective of false equivalencies. "There are two sides to every story," many news producers and editors argue. Now Trump has made it easy for the press to describe alt-right and alt-left forces "clashing" at white nationalist mob actions.

In the end, Trump's attempt to muddle accountability for white nationalist violence is an attempt to legitimatize the white supremacists, white nationalists and others who make up the so-called alt-right. Trump claimed to be making his revised Tuesday statement and analysis on finally having the "facts" -- or are they "alternative facts"? He asserted that he never rushed to judgment, which is a rather brazen lie considering that he writes corrosive, offensive and untrue tweets on a moment's notice.

You can't, however, straddle an ethical issue. Indeed, Trump -- in defending statues honoring confederate heroes and making redeeming comments about the white supremacist marchers -- is condoning white racism.

No doubt Trump would have identified the attacks with billy clubs, tear gas and dogs on the 1965 Selma civil rights marchers as due to "both sides ... many sides" being responsible. The integrity of a moral position, then and now, is that one has to take a side based on an ethical decision. In fact, Trump has taken a position in defense of white nationalists; he has poured the gasoline and lit the match.

By asserting a moral equivalency between anti-racist activists on the one hand and white supremacists, anti-Semites, homophobic and transphobic bigots on the other, Trump is legitimatizing an aggrieved white supremacist sentiment that dates back to slavery. Furthermore, his repeated use of the term "alt-right" assists in rebranding racists as benign, thoughtful conservatives. However, those torches at Charlottesville were more reminiscent of Nuremberg in the Nazi era than of a respectable right-wing movement.

That explains the hearty praise that David Duke heaped on Trump Tuesday, as reported by CNN:

One person who was very happy with the words of the US President was the former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke, who just as quickly reacted on Twitter, thanking the President "for your honesty and courage."

"Thank you President Trump for your honesty & courage to tell the truth about #Charlottesville & condemn the leftist terrorists in BLM/Antifa," was the full tweet from an account that is not verified by Twitter but appears to represent Duke and features videos apparently posted by and of him.

Meanwhile, the tiki torch manufacturer was dismayed by the use of their product for a white nationalist riot, as reported by WSBTV.com:

The head of the Georgia-based company that makes Tiki torches says he was offended by images of white supremacists marching through Charlottesville, Virginia, using his company's products....

“Obviously, we cannot control the way people use our torches, but the fact the people who promote bigotry and promote hatred are using these torches was really shocking to me,” [the CEO of the Tiki torch parent company] said.

[The Tiki company said in a] Facebook post Saturday... in part, "TIKI Brand is not associated in any way with the events that took place in Charlottesville and (we) are deeply saddened and disappointed."

It is sadly ironic that the manufacturer of the torches used by the white nationalists has come out more strongly than the president of the United States against the extremist bigotry acted out in Charlottesville.