USA under presidency of a know-nothing, neo-fascist, racist, sexist, mobbed-up narcissist!!

[Peter Lemkin]

Eleven Jewish community centers across the country were hit by another wave of bomb threats on Monday. It was the fourth wave of nationwide bomb threats against JCCs in the last five weeks. In total, 69 threats have been reported against 54 JCCs. Meanwhile, at a cemetery in University City, Missouri, the gravesites of more than 100 Jews were vandalized over the weekend. The Southern Poverty Law Center has revealed the number of anti-Muslim groups in the United States tripled last year, from 34 in 2015 to 101 last year. The Southern Poverty Law Center and other groups have said hate groups have been energized by the candidacy and then the election of Donald Trump.
In recent weeks, Trump has faced increasing criticism for failing to denounce anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim threats. Well, on Tuesday, President Trump briefly addressed the recent wave of anti-Semitic threats, after tremendous public outcry that he hadn't. His comments came after he toured the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: The anti-Semitic threats targeting our Jewish community and community centers are horrible and are painful and a very sad reminder of the work that still must be done to root out hate and prejudice and evil.

AMY GOODMAN: President Trump's reading of that statement came less than a week after he chastised Jewish reporter Jake Turx for asking about the recent bomb threats at President Trump's news conference.

JAKE TURX: What we are concerned about, and what we haven't really heard being addressed is an uptick in anti-Semitism and how the government is planning to take care of it. There has been a report out that 48 bomb threats have been made against Jewish centers all across the country in the last couple of weeks. There are people who are committing anti-Semitic acts or threatening to

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: You see, he said he was going to ask a very simple, easy question. And it's not.

JAKE TURX: It's an important one.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: It's not. Not a simple question, not a fair question. OK, sit down. I understand the rest of your question.

So here's the story, folks. Number one, I am the least anti-Semitic person that you've ever seen in your entire life. Number two, racismthe least racist person. In fact, we did very well relative to other people running as a Republican.

JAKE TURX: [inaudible]

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Quiet, quiet, quiet. See, he lied abouthe was going to get up and ask a very straight, simple question. So, you know, welcome to the world of the media.

AMY GOODMAN: He was telling the Jewish reporter to be "quiet, quiet, quiet." Well, during a separate news conference, only days earlier, when he was standing with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Trump responded to a question from an Israeli reporter about the rise in anti-Semitic attacksby boasting about his election victory.
Well, for more, we're joined by two guests. Steven Goldstein, the executive director of the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect here in New York. The group posted a statement on Facebook: "Mr. President, Your Too Little, Too Late Acknowledgment of #Antisemitism Today is Not Enough." And in Montgomery, Alabama, we're joined by Mark Potok. He is senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center. He authored the group's year-end report, "Hate groups increase for second consecutive year as Trump electrifies radical right."
Steven Goldstein and Mark Potok, welcome to Democracy Now! Steven, let's begin with you. So you just heard that statement he read at the African American museum. Your response?
STEVEN GOLDSTEIN: Well, I actually thought the president lost it, if it was possible to think that he already hadn't lost it. His response was remarkable for its tin-eardom. This president said absolutely nothing over the weekend, when Jewish gravesites were desecrated. He said absolutely nothing about bomb threats. And he refused even to include Jews in the Holocaust. Then, all of a sudden
AMY GOODMAN: You mean theon World Holocaust Day
STEVEN GOLDSTEIN: The Holocaust remembrance, exactly.
AMY GOODMAN: he did not cite Jews as having to go
STEVEN GOLDSTEIN: Amy, astonishing, astonishing. Then, all of a sudden, he wakes up on a Tuesday, decides to give a speech, which, by the way, he read with all the sincerity of a bad method actor. And this is a president who really knows how to speak with passion when he wants to. And he expected our applause simply because he acknowledges anti-Semitism. And I have to ask: Are our nation's expectations so low that our president, merely by acknowledging anti-Semitism, something other presidents have now done for decades, should receive some applause? And worse yet, his spokesperson, Sean Spicer, yesterday chastised my organization for not applauding and be grateful for the president's remarks. It's unbelievable. It was as if little crumbs of condescension were being thrown my organization's way. Remarkable tin-eardom and remarkable prejudice coming from this administration.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to see if we have this clip of the reporter who asked the question yesterday. This is CBS News foreign affairs and White House correspondent Margaret Brennan questioning White House spokesperson Sean Spicer.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Sean, I want to give you a chance to respond to something, because I think that the president's remarks and your clarification about where he stands on anti-Semitism is clear. But after that statement was made by the president, the Anne Frank Center released a pretty strongly worded one

PRESS SECRETARY SEAN SPICER: Right.

MARGARET BRENNAN: saying that these remarks, while well received, are "a Band-Aid on the cancer" within the Trump administration, saying that there is, whether blessed or otherwise, a sense of xenophobia within this administration.

PRESS SECRETARY SEAN SPICER: Yeah, I think it's

MARGARET BRENNAN: How would you respond to that?

PRESS SECRETARY SEAN SPICER: Look, the president has made clear, since the day he was electedand, frankly, going back through the campaignthat he is someone who seeks to unite this country. He has brought a diverse group of folks into his administration, both in terms of actual positions and people that he has sought the advice of. And I think he has been very forceful with his denunciation of people who seek to attack people because of their hate, because ofexcuse me, because of their religion, because of their gender, because of the color of their skin. And it is something that he's going to continue to fight and make very, very clear that he has no place in this administration.

But I think that it's ironic that no matter how many times he talks about this, that it's never good enough. Today, I think, was an unbelievably forceful comment by the president, as far as his denunciation of the actions that are currently targeted towards Jewish community centers. But I think that he's been very clear previous to this that he wants to be someone that brings this country together and not divide people, especially in those areas.

So, I saw that statement. I wish that they had praised the president for his leadership in this area. And I think that, hopefully, as time continues to go by, they recognize his commitment to civil rights, to voting rights, to equality for all Americans.

AMY GOODMAN: So that was Sean Spicer at his White House press briefing. Steven Goldstein?
STEVEN GOLDSTEIN: That was insane. Sean Spicer is living in a parallel universe. First of all, admonishing us that we should praise the presidentare we supposed to salute this president? And as far as the words of the president being good enough, who says that to an oppressed community, that our words should be good enough? They simply cannot relate to anyone who looks like themselves. And as far as this president repeatedly calling out anti-Semitism, let alone Islamophobia, racism, sexism, he never speaks about it. So, I don't know what script Sean Spicer is reading from, but it was not a script from reality.

AMY GOODMAN: Also yesterday, our other guest's organization was raised, when the CBS News foreign affairs, White House correspondent Margaret Brennan also questioned Spicer on Tuesday.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Southern Poverty Law Center said that the number of anti-Muslim groups in the U.S. has tripled between 2015 and 2016, during the time of the campaign. Is this message within the administrationanti-Semitism is not allowed, xenophobia is not allowedanti-Muslim sentiment within the administration, has the president been forceful about that particular issue?

PRESS SECRETARY SEAN SPICER: Well, I don'tI think that the president, in terms of his desire to combat radical Islamic terrorism, he understands that people who want to express a peaceful position have every right in our Constitution. But if you come here or want to express views that areseek to do our country or our people harm, he is going to fight it aggressively, whether it's domestic acts that are going on here or attempts through people abroad to come into this country. So there's a big difference between preventing attacks and making sure that we keep this country safe so that there is no loss of life, and allowing people to express themselves in accordance with our First Amendment. Those are two very, very different, different, different things.

AMY GOODMAN: So that was White House spokesperson Sean Spicer. Mark Potok is with us, of the Southern Poverty Law Center, speaking to us from Montgomery, Alabama. Your response, Mark?
MARK POTOK: Well, I mean, I just have to agree: These comments, from Spicer, from Trump, are ludicrous in the extreme. I agree that they both seem to be living in another universe. I mean, let's get real about Trump. This ishe's the divider-in-chief. This is a guy who began his campaign describing Mexican immigrants as rapists and drug dealers. And he has gone on to denounce just about every minority out there. You know, it has just been an extraordinary thing to watch. I think that, you know, what has happened with Trump is that when he finally gets backed into a corner by reporters or other people, you know, he kind of says a few words, as was said by the other guest just now, with incredible insincerity about how terrible this anti-Semitism is and the Islamophobia and so on.
You know, I think that the truth is, is that Donald Trump has played footsie with the radical right from the very start of his campaign. He has studiously avoided denouncing or disavowing the extreme right again and again and again. I mean, let's remember how Trump claimed not to know who David Duke, the former Klan leader, is, therefore he couldn't disavow him. You know, that was simply a falsehood, a lie, to speak plainly. He knew perfectly well who Duke was. In fact, in 2000, Trump wrote an essay in The New York Times saying why he was dropping his bid for the presidency on the Reform Party ticket, because Duke was associated with the Reform Party and Trump couldn't have anything to do with him. So, this is all a word game, with an awful lot of falsehoods being sprinkled around.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, we're going to break. When we come back, I want to ask you about what you wrote: "The radical right was more successful in entering the political mainstream last year than in half a century." We are speaking with Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center, as well as Steven Goldstein of the Anne Frank Center here in New York. Stay with us.
[break]
AMY GOODMAN: Yes, that music that you just heard is "T5," Swet Shop Boys. This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman, as we continue with Steven Goldstein of the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect and Mark Potok with the Southern Poverty Law Center. That, what you wrote, Mark, "The radical right [was] more successful in entering the political mainstream last year than in half a century," explain. And explain the findings of your report.
MARK POTOK: Well, even more than half a century. I mean, half a century ago, George Wallace made a run for the presidency in 1968. And it seemed at least imaginable at that point that the radical right would enter the mainstream. But it didn't. Of course, Wallace lost the election, you know, and things have gone in much the other direction for most of the last 50 years.
So, you know, basically, what we found in the report was that for the second straight year, the number of hate groups went up. But more important than the actual numbers, which actually are near historic highs in some 30 years of counting that we've done, is the fact that these groups are just electrified by Trump. They feel that they have a man in the White House. They feel that they have been given permission to say the things they really believe, that these are legitimate and normalized views. So, really, I think the effect of Donald Trump has been to unleash a kind of Pandora's box of hatreds on our country. And those are not easy things to get back in the box.
You know, the other thing we found, the other really remarkable thing, which you mentioned already, was a near tripling in the number of anti-Muslim hate groups. And I think this is not, you know, 100 percent due to Donald Trump. Certainly, part of it is a response to real-life atrocities from the Islamic State and related kinds of groups. But a huge part of it is due to Trump. Trump really unleashed this with his comments about Muslims not being good enough to be in our country, with his proposal for a Muslim registry, with his idea of surveilling mosques, and on and on and on.
So that, essentially, was our finding, that, you know, the radical right has come alive as a result of Trump. They have never feltand, in fact, never been, in anyone's memoryso close to real power. They're in a position right now to actually have an effect on national policy. A remarkable thing.
AMY GOODMAN: Deeply moving story out of Missouri, where the Jewish cemetery, perhaps hundreds of tombstones, were upended, and a Muslim group went online to raise money to help the Jewish community restore these tombstones. And they raisedI think at this point it's over $50,000, and said they would contribute this not only to help the cemetery, but othernow over $60,000, it's been going up by leaps and boundsbut to help Jewish groups around the country that are facing assault. Steven?
STEVEN GOLDSTEIN: Amy, that is the real America. And that's what Muslim Americans are like, and that's what Jewish Americans are like, and that's what all other Americans are likepeople with essential goodness, whom this president should not demonize, people who have greater morals than the president himself has ever had.
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to go to some other news. On Tuesday, Milo Yiannopoulos resigned as Breitbart's editor. At a news conference in New York City, a reporter asked him about Trump's chief strategist, Steve Bannon, who was formerly the head of Breitbart.

REPORTER: What's your relationship with Steve Bannon? When was the last time you spoke to him?

MILO YIANNOPOULOS: Steve Bannon brought me into Breitbart. Steve Bannon is one of the most formidable and brilliant political operatives of his generation. I have nothing but admiration for the guy. Not an easy person to work for, if you're a slacker. Not an easy person to work for, if you don't show up to work or if you don't really give everything your all. Fortunately, I'm not one of those people. I haven't spoken to Steve for a very long time, since before he took the job at the White House.

REPORTER: [inaudible]

MILO YIANNOPOULOS: Yeah, Steve Bannon, you know, has populated Breitbart with, you know, a disproportionately Jewish, ethnic minority and gay senior editorial team, you know, and we arewell, we were, I should say, far more diverse than any of the people criticizing Breitbart for alleged racism or God knows what it is thistoday.

AMY GOODMAN: That was Milo Yiannopoulos, who has just resigned from Breitbart, under allegations that he supported pedophilia. Mark Potok, the significance of Breitbart now represented in the White House, although Steve Bannon, of course, has supposedly left Breitbart for the time being?
MARK POTOK: Well, I mean, Steve Bannon is the person that the extreme right feels is their man in the White House. And they are not wrong. You know, as far as the Milo Yiannopoulos escapade, I think it shows that, much like Donald Trump himself, Milo Yiannopoulos was a bit of an unexploded grenade. You know, this was bound to happen. This is the man who is so, quote-unquote, "politically incorrect" that he is willing to say thingsyou know, forget political correctnessthat are outrageous and really awful. So, you know, I think that we've seen what happened with Yiannopoulos. He basically imploded. He's lost his book contract. He's lost his work. And hopefully we won't have to hear too much more about him. You know, unfortunately, that's not the case with Donald Trump. He's the same kind of character, this sort of explosive character. You don't know what's coming next. You know, and one thing that is certain, though, is that Donald Trump is certainly not the uniter-in-chief, as he claims. He's quite the opposite.