I am puzzled by the number of people who are surprised at Trump for not initially criticizing and condemning the white nationalists, neo-Nazis, and other thugs that marched for hate, racism, and antisemitism in Virginia. Why would he denounce something he supports and has never been shy about letting it be known? That is where the emphasis should be--we have president in office who has brought a radical right fringe group to the center of power in the likes of Bannon, Sessions, Miller, and other white supremacists. The real focus should be on the fact that he does not condemn the neo-Nazis and other right-wing white supremacists because he represents what they stand for. This is not to suggest that we should not call him out for refusing to denounce the right-wing extremists who marched in Virginia, but it is crucial, I think, to use this opportunity to point to the apparatus and deeper structures of authoritarianism that both produced him and to which he is now carrying to a new level of violence.
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