Media hype had it that Unite the Right protesters would storm into Washington on Sunday and march down Pennsylvania Avenue like the giant Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters, smashing federal icons left and right. Instead, there was a pathetic rabble of two dozen racists who likely would have been hard-pressed to capture a chicken coop.
Historian Henry Adams observed a century ago that politics is “the systematic organization of hatreds.” The hubbub around yesterday’s protests illustrates how Adams’ axiom is more true than ever.
“I condemn all types of racism and acts of violence. Peace to ALL Americans!” President Donald Trump tweeted the day before the protest. Despite some kvetching over his comment, it was much closer to the American mainstream than the views of most of the protesters in D.C. parks and on the streets.
The scattering of Unite the Right 2 protesters could have been delivered straight from Liberal Central Casting. Even though the white nationalists, especially after Charlottesville, are a political nonentity, they can still serve as a profitable bogeyman.
Who were the few Unite the Right faithful?
One of the big mysteries is why anyone would trust or follow protest organizer Jason Kessler. A year ago, after a neo-Nazi crashed his car into counterprotesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, killing Heather Heyer, Kessler tweeted out that she was a “fat, disgusting communist.” That sparked an uproar, so Kessler blamed Ambien and Xanax for the noxious tweet. After Kessler sued the Charlottesville government, the names of his allies and cohorts were disclosed in court filings, even including encrypted messages sent via Signal. Kessler admitted that he is relying on “donations sporadically from my grandmother.”
