I have been railing against Trump's seeming neo-colonialist ambitions and tendencies lately, and it feels like that is for good reason.
However, there is also the racist tendencies with people involved with this Trump administration which really bothers me too, of course. Despite some people insisting otherwise, it sure seemed to me that Elon Musk was giving the "Sieg Heil" salute on Inauguration Day. I mean, the guy had privileged upbringing in a prominent white family during the days of apartheid in South Africa. And he actively supports extremists neo-Nazis in Germany. So no, it hardly seems to me like he could have been oblivious of what he was doing, or how easily that could have been interpreted as a Nazi-style salute. Which is precisely what I think it was.
When Trump's campaign began to gain steam in 2015 and into 2016, and especially after he won that election, there was a spike in hate crimes. It seemed that suddenly, too many people felt that expressing racist sentiments was back in vogue after many decades.
That never really went away since, but it sure feels like it is, once again, coming from people at the very top again. Trump just hired Darren Beattie to a top spot in the State Department, to be in charge of public diplomacy in recent days.
Who is Darren Beattie?
Beattie was a member of Trump's first administration as a speechwriter, until he ws fired for attending a white nationalist conference. While he might have been fired then for that, back in 2018, it sure does not appear that he has changed his views much. In a tweet last year, he expressed this charming sentiment:
“Competent white men must be in charge if you want things to work. Unfortunately, our entire national ideology is predicated on coddling the feelings of women and minorities, and demoralizing competent white men.”
Yeah, not exactly a ringing endorsement of all Americans there, right? In fact, the majority are swept aside in that statement, with him championing the traditional power base of white males being in charge, to the exclusion of pretty much everyone else.
I know a lot of people - particularly Trump supporters - often dismiss allegations of racism and bigotry. But when these kinds of things keep happening, you cannot merely explain away or dismiss these things. When they keep happening, it is clearly a trend, and a message is being sent. And that message is that a new form of white supremacy for the 21st century really is beginning to be installed here in the United States.
And the whole world is watching.
Below are the links to the two articles which I used in writing this particular blog entry, and from which I obtained the quote used above:
Trump appoints speechwriter fired for attending conference with White nationalists to top State Department role Andrew Kaczynski Jennifer Hansler Em Steck By Andrew Kaczynski, Jennifer Hansler and Em Steck, CNN 5 minute read Updated 9:51 PM EST, Mon February 3, 2025:
https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/03/politics/kfile-darren-beattie-state-department-controversial-tweets-white-nationalist-conference/index.html
Competent White Men Must Be in Charge,’ High-Profile State Dept. Appointee Wrote Last Year Darren Beattie, who was fired from Trump's first administration after attending a white nationalist conference, is making a comeback By Nikki McCann Ramirez February 3, 2025
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/darren-beattie-state-department-1235255529/
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