US: State Sanctioned Violence

Trump's contemptible response to the riots in Charlottesville marks a new low. Spiegel calls it "the harmlessing of hate":

Spiegel -- Die Verharmlosung des Hasses (Aug 16, 2017)

Reporter: "Die Neonazis haben das angefangen. Sie kamen nach Charlottesville, um zu protestieren" [...]

Trump: "Moment mal, Moment mal. Die haben sich nicht selbst - und es gab ein paar sehr schlechte Leute in dieser Gruppe, aber es gab auch Leute, die waren sehr anständige Leute, auf beiden Seiten."

Mit anderen Worten: Unter den Rechtsextremen, Neonazis und Rassisten, die mit Fackeln und "Heil Trump"-Sprechchören durch Charlottesville marschierten und Schwarze, Latinos, Juden und Schwule beschimpften, waren auch "sehr anständige Leute".

Former FBI special agent Michael German, who worked domestic terror cases, points out that Trump's administration is sanctioning the violence:

NPR -- Hate Groups' Core Changed Little Over The Years, Ex-FBI Agent Says (Aug 15, 2017)

GREENE: So the president has now disavowed these groups. I mean, it took him a couple of days. What more does this administration need to do to make sure it's supporting efforts to stop these hate groups?

GERMAN: Well, that disavowal was very reluctant and late. And the white supremacist groups got the message from that, that this is sanctioned. But more important is that the police in these cases - and Charlottesville isn't the first one. They were two in Berkeley. There was one in Sacramento and in Huntington Beach, Calif. - are policing these protests very differently, where they're allowing violence and these running street battles to happen. And that is - that, again, is a state sanctioning of this kind of violence that gives - that makes them far more dangerous.