Infecting Monuments


CNN07052020

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Here’s a question: Has anyone checked to see if Donald Trump’s trip to South Dakota was paid for by the Trump Campaign, or was it officially listed as a “presidential” (sic) trip thus sticking us with the bill for his hate speech?

Donald Trump went to South Dakota for an early July 4th celebration last Friday. The event was held at the foot of Mt. Rushmore where the Republican governor declared social distancing would not be enacted (chairs were literally tied together to prevent social distancing) and face masks were optional. From the videos of the event, very few face masks were worn.

As is tradition with Donald Trump, he gave a hate speech casting his reelection campaign as a battle against a “new far-left fascism” seeking to wipe out the nation’s values and history. Donald Trump is betting his reelection on Confederate statues and instead of expanding his base, tightening his extremely small support of racists, white supremacists, klansmen, and neo-Nazis.

Trump said, “Our nation is witnessing a merciless campaign to wipe out our history, defame our heroes, erase our values and indoctrinate our children. Angry mobs are trying to tear down statues of our founders, deface our most sacred memorials, and unleash a wave of violent crime in our cities.” He barely mentioned the coronavirus which I’m sure several lucky winners in attendance would be leaving home with.

Donald Trump ignored his own White House guidelines for large gatherings for the South Dakota and Saturday’s Washington, DC crowd. Trump told his faithful on Friday, “We will not be tyrannized, we will not be demeaned, and we will not be intimidated by bad, evil people.”

But, Donald Trump, you are the one doing the tyranny, demeaning, and intimidation. You, Republicans, and your cult are the bad, evil people. If you, Donald Trump, were on the right side of this fight intending to land on the right side of history, you wouldn’t have lie and campaign on hate and fear.

Hopefully, in the future, nobody will be tearing down statues of Donald Trump because there won’t be any to begin with. That’s because Donald Trump is no hero.

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12 thoughts on “Infecting Monuments

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  1. “far left fascism’?? That’s a new one on me . . . I always thought fascism was far right, but what do I know . . . But Merriam-Webster says:
    1 often capitalized : a political philosophy, movement, or regime (such as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition
    2 : a tendency toward or actual exercise of strong autocratic or dictatorial control early instances of army fascism and brutality— J. W. Aldridge

    Maybe he should get a dictionary, or at least have someone read one for him.

    Liked by 4 people

    1. 45 is the emperor of gaslighting. A dangerous, despotic fool who accuses, knowing his crimes are so much worse. Andrea, 45 wouldn’t know a dictionary if one dropped on his head; so yeah, someone would have to read it to him. Would he listen without his name in the description;)?

      Liked by 2 people

  2. Of course America paid for his “party,” he never uses his own money when he can misuse someone else’s.
    Now here is a question for all of you. While you are busy taking down the statues and monuments built to celebrate slave owners and other racists, why aren’t you pulling down the symbols of people who were hellbent on genociding the original human inhabitants of the areas known as the Americas?
    We in Canada have taken down some, but not enough.
    The lands the whites now occupy belonged to someone else before you came, someone whom you slaughtered to steal their land, which they tried to share with you. If you are feeling existential guilt for what you did to people from Africa, and even Asia, then you best feel guilty for what you did to us. That was the original crime of Europeans when they first came here. The list grows from there!

    Liked by 3 people

      1. 😉 The Europeans brought the Native Americans shame, brutality, death, and homelessness. People ignore that bit of inconvenient history.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Don’t forget smallpox blankets, long marches with rotten meat the only food source, alcoholism, loss of culture, loss of language for many, being put on infertile reservations, etc. etc. etc.
        I know we weren’t the only people that were treated this way around the world. I’m sure we won’t be the last.

        Liked by 1 person

    1. Statues honoring oppressors and murderers of indigenous people are being protested, defaced and/or pulled down in the US. New Mexico has seen a lot of action – and hostile reaction – in this respect; some statue-targeting of this nature (e.g. against the monstrously cruel Christopher Columbus) has also occurred in Florida and the Northeast.

      Part of the problem is the general lack of mainstream media coverage of indigenous issues. (NBC has been an encouraging exception lately, doing a series of articles on the federal government’s slow and painfully inadequate-at-best response to the pandemic on tribal lands.) We’re still frequently unnoticed and invisible here. Like you I try to draw attention to some of the glaring failures of coverage, but on bad days I do wonder if invisibility might not still be a better strategy for survival at the moment given the current climate of inflammatory racist words and deliberately sadistic actions. These are dark times.

      Liked by 2 people

      1. You might be right, but I will not be silenced by fear, or death. Yeah, we may get lost in the shuffle, but if we are not represented at the Table of Change, others may think all is good for us. Very little is good for us. If we are going to create change, we must stand up for ourselves, and make ourselves be recognized, and respected. The other day I was asked how I wanted our people to be talked about, and discussed. Should he call us native Americans, Indians, Aboriginal, or what. This was my answer after much thought: we are the “original human inhabitants of the areas now known as the Americas.” It is a mouthful, but I think it describes us better than anything I have ever heard. (If you have something better, please advise.)
        The acronyn for that mouthful is “Ohiotankata.” I could live with being called that, as long as the person saying it knows what it means. It speaks to our humanity, our right to live anywhere we wish west of Europe and Africa, east of Asia and Oceania, north of Antarctica, and south of the Arctic Ocean. This is our land, and we are the people who rightly live here. And so it must be.

        Liked by 1 person

  3. Reblogged this on It Is What It Is and commented:
    He’s the infecting agent!! … #TrumpVirus … “Trump, you are the one doing the tyranny, demeaning, and intimidation. You, Republicans, and your cult are the bad, evil people. If you, Trump, were on the right side of this fight intending to land on the right side of history, you wouldn’t have lie and campaign on hate and fear. … Hopefully (Id rather say fir sure!!), in the future, nobody will be tearing down statues of Trump because there won’t be any to begin with. That’s because Trump is no hero.”

    Liked by 2 people

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