Charlottesville, Virginia. A sad story with no heroes, lots of villains, three ultimate villains and numerous injured. My subtitle should be, "A Plague on Both Their Houses."
A (liberal) media friend of mine asked if I still supported President Trump after his Charlottesville statements. I responded this way — I’m Jewish. Charlottesville was a clash of fascists versus fascists. Many on both sides want me dead. Again, a plague on both their houses.
Let’s review the story. A group calling itself "Unite the Right" and consisting mostly of neo-Nazis, white supremacists and KKK’s wanted to conduct a rally in Charlotteville, on Saturday Aug. 12.
The supposed purpose was to argue against the destruction or removal of Confederate statues. The city denied them a permit. They hired the ACLU; they got their permit. After all, if the First Amendment doesn’t allow the worst ideas to be presented we wouldn’t need it. Indeed, we could go straight to the Second Amendment, where those who were denied their First Amendment rights would employ another form of protest.
That attracted a counter protest, without a permit. The mayor supposedly told his police force to "stand down" and make no arrests. That had no chance. The counter protesters clearly believe in the Obama doctrine of "bring a gun to a knife fight."
They brought baseball bats to a "unity" ally. The predictable happened — clashes, finger pointing and the end of a rally before anyone had a chance to speak. The counter protesters carried the day. The Unite the Right as well as their First Amendment rights were silenced. Thuggery beat debate.
Real people died. Heather Heyer was run down allegedly by James Alex Fields Jr. of Maumee, Ohio. She deserves the thoughts and prayers of an entire nation. He deserves a trial by his peers and, if guilty, the full force of the law brought upon him.
The greatest charge is second degree murder which means he’s not going to face the death penalty. Police Lt. H. Jay Cullen and Trooper-Pilot Berke M.M. Bates, of the Virginia Sate Police, also died when their helicopter crashed while heading towards the out of control rally. Close to 30 others were injured between the Fields vehicle and the rally clashes.
So how did the U.S. wind up with so many fascists? My simplified explanation of this issue is by referring to our two main fascist clans, the David Dukes and the Rev. Al Sharptons.
You may wish to view them as two sides of the exact same coin. David Duke is the face of white supremacy in America. He and his followers are anti-black, anti-Jew, anti-minority; that is, anti everything that doesn’t look and sound like them. I never met David Duke. But I have come in contact with some of his followers. You may not know that the largest white supremacy website, Stormfront, is domiciled in Palm Beach County, where I was Republican Party chairman.
One day young Derek Black, literally the son of Stormfront and of David Duke's ex-wife, earned a seat on my Republican Executive Committee. I found a technicality to disallow his seating. I became an immediate "celebrity" on Stormfront. They referred to me as a Jewish supremacist. It all culminated one very early Sunday morning, around 2:00 am. I received a number of calls from out of state David Dukers threatening me and my family.
The local police came to my house. They called the local police at the callers’ area. I never heard from the "David Dukers" again.
Then there’s my Rev. Al Sharpton connection. I grew up in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, N.Y. In 1991 the country suffered through the Crown Heights riots. According to Wikipedia, "Al Sharpton led a march through Crown Heights, carrying anti Semitic signs and an Israeli flag was burned . . . 152 police and 38 citizens were injured. 27 vehicles were destroyed and 7 stores were looted or burned." Early in the rioting, a Jewish student, Yankel Rosenbaum, was killed for the crime of "walking while Jewish."
His killer was tried, acquitted, and later confessed. The Rev. Al Sharpton fascist following is now Black Lives Matter and the Antifa (anti-fascists), a European born violent group of Stalin Communists.
The upshot. A plague on both their houses. But the threat is not equal. David Duke and the Unite the Right crowd are a joke. They have no friends, no power, no ability to move their odious agenda. The Rev. Al Sharpton, on the other hand, got "punished" with a television show, hundreds of visits to the Obama White House and a ranking of high poobah within the Democratic Party.
President Trump was right. Both sides were to blame. Or as I like to say, "When it’s fascists against fascists, I want no friends." The Democrats, I’m happy to say, prefer some fascists over others. I can’t wait until the 2018 elections.
Sid Dinerstein is a former chairman of the Palm Beach County Republican Party. He founded JBS Associates, a 600-person financial service company, and currently combines politics and business with Niger Innis in Inclusive Elections LLC, a firm that brings urban electorate voters to the GOP. He is the author of "Adults Only: For Those Who Love Their Country More Than Their Party." For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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