Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 09:24 pm
You really don’t have to look far to see examples of ways in which Donald Trump, while claiming to “make America great again” seems to be speaking the language of people who aren’t “all in” on America, like the group spotted by CNN’s Ana Navarro on Miami’s Bird Rd, which she posted to Instagram with the caption,
“20 person pro-Trump street waving on Miami’s Bird Rd right now, featuring Confederate flag. No words.”
No words indeed. Though there is some irony, in that Trump had just appeared at Gettysburg, pretending to be a new Abraham Lincoln – you know, the guy who defeated the guys waving the Confederate flag.
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The Confederate States of America seceded from the Union Trump claims to represent. If he represents neo-Confederates, he is not representing America. If he is representing these people, he cannot be representing African-Americans, because that flag is a symbol of slavery.
It is not the first time. Trump supporters hoisted a Confederate flag at a Trump rally in Kissimmee, Florida, in August. A Public Policy Polling poll of Trump supporters in South Carolina found back in February that 38 percent of them wished the South had won the Civil War, and 70 percent wanted the Confederate flag flying over the state house.
The Young Turks interviewed some of these Confederate flag waving Trump supporters back in February. Never mind that at the time the flag came down in South Carolina, Trump agreed with the move, saying, “I would take it down, yes. I think they should put it in a museum and respect whatever it is you have to respect.â€
Hope springs eternal perhaps. Certainly nothing Trump has said since has discouraged white supremacist slavery fans from supporting Trump. You would think Trump was running for president of the Confederate States of America rather than the United States.
The Trump campaign has been and has remained tone deaf to any racial issues outside of those so popular on the so-called “alt-right.”
He has claimed to respect women while bragging about sexually assaulting them; claimed to love Mexicans while calling them rapists and drug traffickers; and of course, saying he’ll more for African-Americans than Hillary Clinton, whose supporters don’t fly the Confederate flag.
Just remember on Election Day what you’re voting for: the Confederacy with Donald Trump, or the United States of America with Hillary Clinton.
Hrafnkell Haraldsson, a social liberal with leanings toward centrist politics has degrees in history and philosophy. His interests include, besides history and philosophy, human rights issues, freedom of choice, religion, and the precarious dichotomy of freedom of speech and intolerance. He brings a slightly different perspective to his writing, being that he is neither a follower of an Abrahamic faith nor an atheist but a polytheist, a modern-day Heathen who follows the customs and traditions of his Norse ancestors. He maintains his own blog, A Heathen’s Day, which deals with Heathen and Pagan matters, and Mos Maiorum Foundation www.mosmaiorum.org, dedicated to ethnic religion. He has also contributed to NewsJunkiePost, GodsOwnParty and Pagan+Politics.