Well, csl, I can't easily distinguish your position from Duke's and Trump's with respect to the violence at the demonstration.
Moral equivalence between Nazis and Democrats? You demonstrated it here: "Yep, let us make every effort to morph Trump into David Duke. Gets really old. Seems to me the biggest ally of racists is Planned Parenthood but what do I know?" That's what Trump and Duke did. Moral equivalence rather than condemnation.
Given the opportunity to condemn a person who drove a car into a group of protesters, you went for the gaslight (compare, contrast and distract), when the obvious moral response was to condemn a heinous act: "To me it appears the problem is orders of magnitude larger on the left." That's Duke's position.
Duke takes courage from Trump's equivocation. Duke knows his movement and he indicates his movement supports Trump. Not all Republicans are racists. But it does appear that the vast majority of white supremacists support Trump. It seems clear to me that he courts that voting bloc. Enough instances to see a pattern. Tar is sticky. Same brush. Avoid proximity.
Sometimes, the mirror is the best tool. In this case, although I understand your wider frustration, I think it would have been nice to see you look into it with respect to this terrorist incident and this President's failure to focus on it: even to share blame. Nothing justifies it.
Did clo accuse you of being a racist? I didn't see it. But you've expressed your increasing support of a President who sails very close to the wind. And that is why it might have been helpful if you kept your condemnation free of comparisons and rebuttals.
One thing I have learned along the way is that it is generally a weak foundation for an argument to justify or seek to diminish the importance of a bad act by comparing it with another one.
Charles Krauthammer: "What Trump did today was a moral disgrace."
Paul Ryan: "White supremacy is repulsive. This bigotry is counter to all this country stands for. There can be no moral ambiguity."
Isn't that the right position for a concerned, non-racist Republican to take?
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