The Evolution of Donald Trump's Racist Circus

American Nazi Party founder George Lincoln Rockwell (center) attends a Nation of Islam summit in 1961

The American Nazi Party was originally known as the World Union of Free Enterprise National Socialists (WUFENS) - it was founded by George Lincoln Rockwell and had it's original headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, which is to say about 100 miles north of Charlottesville, the city where a white supremacist terrorist committed murder for political purposes in broad daylight yesterday.

What can one say about the #Charlottesville police? They were woefully unprepared and ill-equipped to deal with this situation. Two of their own tragically paid the price for this lack of preparation with their lives, perishing in a helicopter crash. Last year while following the Trump circus, I personally witnessed violent confrontations between pro and anti-Trump protesters and police in San Diego, Cleveland, Prescott, Tucson, Phoenix, Philadelphia, Las Vegas - surely I'm leaving some place or other out of this list. 

Anyway, the simple truth about the Trump campaign and the many rallies it put on during 2016 is that the entire thing was an insane traveling circus, the main animating base of which was white supremacists and racists. This phenomenon was already rampaging by the time Trump got to San Diego in April of last year. That particular rally turned into an open riot in the streets. There were very few antifascists in attendance at this rally - the people fighting Trump supporters in the streets were mainly Latino. This trend of escalation and increased organization on both sides of the violence continued at various rallies in California. At the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in July, it was impossible to walk 100 feet without tripping on a person espousing openly racist / Nazi / white supremacist views according to their personal animus.

Images of Trump rally in San Diego a GOP Convention in Cleveland. 

All images copyright Jimi Giannatti / only printed or copied with permission. 

Now we have a situation where the circus has become divorced from it's ringleader. Trump is always campaigning and holding rallies, remarkably for a sitting President, but even he is not in full campaign swing mode at the moment. The horrifically violent scenes which played out in Berkley, Portland, and Seattle have now morphed into a full on battle between two determined sides. This business in #Charlottesville was organized by white supremacists and American Nazis like Richard Spencer - the organizers were very clear and open about the purpose of the rally - namely, to advance into the open their own vision of America as a white supremacist enclave. "Blood and soil" in the words of the Nazi philosophers who inspire the American Nazi Party and the various flavors of white supremacist racists who populate these groups and represent the most animated portion of Donald Trump's base.

The escalation continues apace and gains velocity every time Donald Trump opens his mouth. Nazi Twitter is currently declaring rhetorical victory at Trump's unwillingness to condemn white supremacy by name.

This is a terrorist circus fostered and cajoled and encouraged by Donald Trump. The circus is teeming with angry racist arsonists in search of things to burn. The police in the next city chosen as a battleground over American racism should be prepared for something new and horrifying. Those of us unwilling to accept the further intrusion into American politics of racism, white supremacy, Nazis, alt-right trolls and associated scum should be prepared to suffer further losses and setbacks.

American Nazi George Lincoln Rockwell was eventually assassinated by a former member of the party he founded. The version of the circus he created just kept on rolling and morphing and seething. Now we have a President who is the chosen leader of this same circus in it's current form. The racist circus has a platform in Twitter and a curious ability to disguise itself as something it is not.

The fight is on. The stakes are more real than we can imagine. Get strong.

Charlottesville, VA during the rally and before the murder.