Quote:Fox’s Chris Wallace pointed out that before allegedly massacring 50 people at two mosques, the New Zealand shooter declared that he supports Trump “as a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose.” Wallace asked Mulvaney: “What does the president think of that?”
Mulvaney replied that it is not “fair” to cast the shooter as a “supporter of Donald Trump.” Wallace pressed Mulvaney on Trump’s history of anti-Muslim remarks — which is long and ugly — and noted that just after the shooting, Trump described immigrants as an “invasion,” just as the alleged shooter did. He asked why Trump won’t state clearly that “there is no place in America for this kind of hatred.”
Mulvaney repeatedly brushed off Wallace’s questions, bridled at the suggestion that the violence was Trump’s “fault,” and whined: “I’m not sure what more you want the president to do.”
What’s particularly reprehensible about this performance is what’s hiding in plain sight: There are no signs that Trump is troubled by the fact that the man who allegedly murdered dozens of people because of their Muslim faith sees him as a symbol of the devotion to protecting white identity that drove this act.
Greg Sargent
The bolded portion is true and it is self-evident. This is not small or unimportant thing. Trump's personal notions re white supremacy can be inferred by his words and actions but I'm not prepared to say he is himself a white supremacist.
But that doesn't matter. It is irrelevant. What
is relevant is that through failing to identify the growing white nationalist movement because to do so might cause him to lose political support from that portion of his base, Trump demonstrates that he is less concerned with all the victims murdered in such attacks (and the future murders that are bound to follow) than his own personal situation.
As I've noted before (please check, please do) Trump matches almost every characteristic of a sociopath. This is just one more example on top of many, many others.
What seems utterly clear to me is that America, as a community, is having a very rough time coming to grips with even the possibility that such a personality could end up in the WH. Many clearly believe that "it couldn't happen here". There are magical ideas in this mix, for sure - notions about the unique aspects of American culture and history that will inevitably ward off such an evil long before it comes to fruition. And one can understand this. Who among us thought it was a real possibility?
It is long past time to confront what is going on but there's another impediment. Mulvaney is just a contemporary example. We have almost all Republicans in office or citizens retaining their support for Trump. To put that more starkly, US conservatism is now functioning to further the actions and personal interests of a sociopath.
