Yeah, um... a political party that has undisputed power over the national discourse probably wouldn't behave in this fashion when caught exceeding our national tolerance for racism: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/18/us/politics/ilhan-omar-donald-trump.html

Their hand-wringing has the tone of a school bully trying to pull a "Gosh, Miss Othmar, he was just running real fast and I tried to help him with his books! I don't know WHY those other boys I don't know were beating him up!"

You tell me these people are playing from a position of utter confidence and public support and I tell you you are wrong. There is CLEARLY still a line that they feel must not be crossed. And that was exactly what I was trying to tell you this morning: WE ARE THAT LINE. They wouldn't be playing these kinds of weak-ass rhetorical games if they thought there were no limits. They need to make it look like they're just misunderstood.
Their support still absolutely relies on that. This looks to me like a damn fine sign that as dire as things are, we have NOT lost.

Can you imagine Hitler going on stage and delivering a little toadie whine like this? "Gosh, vell, dere's been a lot of mischundershtanding about dis whole 'lebensraum' ting, boy, you gots our faces redt! Ve vill continue uns campaign of aggressive tourist visiting of der Sudetenland..."

Remember, the Nazis had overwhelming support. Trump has one of the lowest ratings in US history even at his *peaks*. Trump is menacingly good at fomenting this kind of cognitive dissonance, and that's a very very real and present threat to us all. (Musical selection: The Housemartins, "The People Who Grinned Themselves To Death"). But it's a whole different game than opposing a fascist culture with mass public support for its policies. The ball is not in our court, and it's amazing how well our opponent get away with cheating... but that's very different from a game with no rules and no hope of victory.

Dammit. -_-