Now let me see if I have this straight. David Duke and the KKK endorsed Donald Trump. When asked, Trump said he knew nothing about either. Then, the next day, he said he had a bad earpiece and did not hear the question. Yet, the tapes show that he responded by stating that he knew nothing about either while using Duke's name and using the phrase 'white supremacists.' How he gave such a directed response without hearing the words is beyond me. Keep in mind that a few years back he refused to run as the Reform Party candidate because of Duke's and the Klan's backing of that Party, so to say he did not know them is a little hard to swallow.
At about the same time, there was a little reported bit of news out of South Carolina. Seven protestors at a KKK rally were stabbed by Klansmen. How are these 2 events related? Glad you asked.
I understand that people do not know, or want to know, history, but it might be a good idea to learn a bit. In the ancient days of the 60s and 70s ( yes, I know, you are tired of hearing about the 60s, so am I, but bear with me), the FBI ran a program called COINTELPRO. Other agencies, such as the CIA ran similar plans and all were set up to observe and manipulate radical movements, ranging from the Black Panthers to SDS, from the NAACP to the Antidefamation League, and from the Mobilization to End the War in Viet Nam to, yes, the Ku Klux Klan. The goal was to infiltrate and subvert the plans of these groups and to do so, agents acted as provocateurs, urging insane tactics, including violence, to make these groups look bad, to justify police action against them. to turn public opinion against them, and to use one group to damage another. I will not go further into COINTELPRO because there are several thousand websites that explain it in detail. It is sufficient to know, beyond any doubt, that through this program, money and materials were funneled toward the Klan. Their job, to promote racial unrest.
Of course we are told that COINTELPRO was done away with long ago. Maybe, in name, but if you truly believe that the US Government does not have undercover operatives in many domestic groups, then I invite you to contact me about all of that swamp land I own in Florida; if you have enough cash and don't worry about silly little things like deeds, I'm sure we can make a deal.
So, we have, in a country already at the boiling point over racial issues (remember those riots in Ferguson and Baltimore), a Presidential candidate, faced with white supremacist endorsements saying he doesn't know a thing about them ( he did later, brusquely denounce them, but that is kind of like trying to put out one of their burning crosses with a squirt gun), and a violent confrontation at a Klan rally. Something smells rotten. Pay attention to anything that sets off further racial tensions soon. Someone, or some people, very powerful people want the racial pot stirred and the Donald dumped.
Or maybe I am just a paranoid lunatic and, come election day our new leader will wave a magic wand, say the magic word and the Land will be at peace, all will embrace each other as brothers and sisters and, like the old Merle Haggard song, 'we'll be drinkin' that free Bubble Up and eatin' that Rainbow Stew. Maybe, but not likely. Always remember the words of cartoonist R. Crumb's guru, Mr. Natural, 'just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get you.
Addendum: At a rally last night a group of Black students started their 'Black Lives Matter' routine, something I am growing rapidly weary of, and Trump had them thrown out. Understandable? Yes, but probably, given recent developments, he should have handled it a wee bit more delicately.
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