President Donald Trump, in another display of abilities of what former White House comms director Scaramucci called “most media savvy person of our times,” had ignited the anger of many with his failure to quickly and decisively condemn the actions of the white supremacist, neo-Nazi protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia.
The protest arose following a decision by Charlottesville officials to take down a statue of the renowned Confederate general Robert E. Lee from Emancipation Park in Charlottesville. That plan prompted a similar protest in May, led by the white nationalist Richard B. Spencer, as well as a Ku Klux Klan rally in July. The removal of Confederate monuments has also stirred up anger in cities like New Orleans, and officials in several states are now making similar efforts.
A clash between the initial protest and the counter-protest against the white supremacists eventually led to violence and even death, as James Alex Fields Jr., of Maumee, Ohio, plowed his car into a group of counterprotesters, killing Charlottesville paralegal Heather D. Heyer.
After an initial statement where Trump condemned the “egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides” without singling out white nationalists or neo-Nazis, he took two full days to actually declare the evil of racism. But just one day later, Trump reverted to his original views and furiously argued in a press conference that both sides were to blame.
Of course, this led to much criticism and backlash from the left, including a wide variety of musical artists who displayed their disgust on Twitter.
American singer-songwriter and vocalist for the Dresden Dolls Amanda Palmer retweeted a tweet by David Maraniss which said that “The living former presidents – Bushes, Carter, Clinton & Obama- should make a joint statement calling on the racist Trump to resign.”
Both members of rap duo Run the Jewels condemned Trump’s statements, with El-P saying that it is “time for [Trump] to be forced out of office” and Killer Mike addressing the President, arguing that we should “Keep the country Great and never honor an enemy we defeated.”
Questlove posted “People. It’s Time. He Gotta Go” linking to a video of The Honey Drippers’ song “Impeach the President,” while Hayley Williams of Paramore tweeted a single word: “Impeach.”
Chris Rock, in his usual witty style, tweeted “If 10 guys thinks it’s ok to hang with 1 Nazi then they just became 11 Nazis. Alt right / white supremacist it’s just nazis. Fuck Nazis.”
Singer-songwriter Amber Coffman, formerly of the Dirty Projectors, tweeted “So angry, so sick. Get him out NOW. This CANNOT keep going,” and Ted Leo of Ted Leo and the Pharmacists echoed this sentiment, saying “I got nothin’. They all need to go.”
Neko Case added “Hello, @NATO we in the USA need your help. We have Nazis in the White House who incite violence. This is not a joke.” John Legend found some sad humor in the situation, tweeting “One of the most transparent lies Drumpf told today is that he likes to wait for the facts before he makes a statement. Hahahahahaahaha”
Colin Meloy of the Decemberists said in no uncertain terms “Fuck our nazi sympathizing @POTUS”
Geoff Barrow of Portishead also tweeted:
Anton Newcombe of the Brian Jonestown Massacre also contributed, tweeting “Its appropriate to tell a dickhead like @realDonaldDrumpf to fuck himself on twitter as he spends a lot of his time attacking others here.”
And Janelle Monae tweeted that the identities of these white supremacists should be revealed:
Photo Credit: Owen Ela
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