Last night in Trump’s campaign rally speech (now think about that for a second—a campaign rally in the eighth month of his term; the event was paid for with campaign funds. And you think Christmas merchandise on shelves in September is premature!) we heard the code words “culture” and “heritage”. These are normally venerable words, now being pressed into service for ignoble purposes. When used to lament the loss of Confederate monuments, the culture and heritage being referenced is White Supremacy and slavery. Indeed, White Supremacy has been part of the national fabric of our country’s history since it’s founding and has never entirely been eliminated. But in recent years, especially after the Civil Rights movement, social pressure forced it into remission, to exist in the shadows. Sadly, lately, it has begun to crawl out from the shadows. Adherents apparently no longer feel the need to conceal their identity and now act with impunity. But that cannot be something to be proud of.

The current administration cut funding for programs combating domestic hate groups, including one whose focus would have been to actively seek out members of neo-Nazi and White Supremacist groups who are attempting to break away from their organizations and assist them in their effort.  Charlottesville’s tragic events question the wisdom of that budgetary policy choice. Here to provide a bit of context for this issue is a brief interview with a former FBI agent who was active in the effort to combat this home grown native terrorist threat. Recorded back in March of this year before Bannon’s departure from the administration, it’s still relevant, considering that Stephen Miller and Sebastian Gorka remain, and given the behavior of Trump himself.

 

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