Trump on Charlottesville: An Epic, Cowardly Fail

With white supremacists descending on Charlottesville, Va., today in an ugly "Unite the Right" rage that predictably turned violent, President Trump had an opportunity to unite all decent Americans and once and for all distance himself from all white supremacy.

Instead, Trump delivered a pathetic, feeble speech that didn't even mention the word white supremacist or even racism. He even had the audacity to suggest there were "many sides" to blame for the violence.

We already know that Trump is a smarmy, silver-spooned reality TV show host and pathological liar who brags about molesting women and is a bad and unethical businessman who defrauded thousands of students with his fake university and has bankrupted four or five of his businesses.

But today, he reached a new low. I never thought Trump was a true-red racist. But what he is, clearly, is a Machiavellian man-child who will say or do virtually anything to win favor. He simply did not possess the character or courage to do the right thing today.

And it's crystal clear why: He can't afford now to lose what little support he still has. Trump's only remaining loyal base are angry white males on the far fight -- some of whom are racists. God forbid he should alienate them by calling out the neo-Nazi protestors that wreaked violent havoc today and once again made our country look bad in the eyes of the world.

Not sure why I should be surprised by this. Two of Trump's closest advisors, Steve Bannon and Stephen Miller, are unapologetic racists. The engine that drove Trump's presidential campaign all the way to Pennsylvania Avenue and now drives his ugly presidency is in fact white nationalism.

It's an unabashedly anti-black, anti-muslim, anti-hispanic, anti-gay, anti-LGBT, anti-jew administration that frankly mirrors the motivations of the protestors in Virginia today. The evidence is overwhelming, in both the rhetoric and the actions. Just listen to and look at his speeches. They're filled with red meat for this hungry crowd.

More importantly, look at his policies. Virtually every act in the failing Trump regime has been anti-minority, and anti-poor. He wanted to decimate Medicaid, which would have been disastrous for millions of working-class and poor African Americans and Hispanics. Ironically, though, it would have also hurt millions of poor white people who voted for Trump.

The President also recently ordered Trump's cracker lapdog, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a known racist who once said the only thing he didn't like about a Klansman was that he smoked pot, to re-evaluate and potentially get rid of affirmative action.

Meanwhile, unlike Trump, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe did the right thing, right away. At a press conference this afternoon in which he announced that three people had died in the violence, he delivered the unambiguous message to these haters that Trump just didn't have the stuffing to say.

Go home," McAuliffe said flatly. "You are not wanted in this great commonwealth. Shame on you."

This president should have said something like that. He doesn't shy away from calling out the North Korean president. But he won't go after evil in his own backyard.

Trump is a coward. A full-bird coward. His general, garden-variety condemnation of violence today was not enough. It wasn't even close to enough.

Trump declined to answer shouted questions about the white nationalists marching today in his name, or whether the car plowing into a peaceful counter-protest could be called terrorism. Of course it's terrorism. But you didn't hear Trump say it.

America is not blind. From the moment Trump officially entered the political arena, many of us saw with clear eyes that he was opportunistically ramping up the hate and fire of the alt-right.

Trump could have steered a new course today. But no. He doesn't have it in him. He has done nothing to improve race relations since he was elected. He has in fact made it safe for these white-or-fight scumbags to act out.

His plan from day one was to reach out to angry white male voters, to whip them into a frenzy by any means necessary -- including lying over and over and over about his opponents.

And now that he's got ‘em, he's not gonna let them go.

Because most Americans have widely already abandoned Trump's leaky boat.

The underlying but absurdly false message Trump has been trying to spread since he was elected is that that there is no more racism in America.

Graphically, tragically, today's events in Charlottesville prove otherwise. Racism is alive and well in this country, and the racists are feeding off this coward in the White House.

Bloody Brilliant! Dunkirk Is The Best Film Of 2017, So Far, And The Best War Movie Since Saving Private Ryan

Christopher Nolan can seemingly do no wrong. The master-class filmmaker, whose "Interstellar" is my favorite sci-fi flick and one of my favorite movies, period, has done it again with "Dunkirk." 

Nolan's new epic, which chronicles the legendary predicament of several hundred thousand British warriors cornered on the Dunkirk bridgehead on the French side of the English Channel in 1940, is a masterpiece. 

The sounds of this film alone bring you immediately into the story. They're unavoidable. Relentless. Every ricocheting bullet. Every Spitfire plane engine flying overhead. And it never lets up. It's impossible to avoid becoming completely immersed in this film. But who would want to? 

Like all of Nolan's work, there's plenty of heart to accompany the sound and fury. Grueling, ambitious, intense, gut-wrenching, claustrophobic, redemptive, "Dunkirk" is masterfully directed, written, shot, edited and acted. It's the best war movie since “Saving Private Ryan,” and easily the best film I’ve seen in 2017. 

There's not much dialogue, but just enough. And if the story seems slight, it isn't. It’s a bit challenging at times to keep up with way the film tells three stories at once, and the characters kind of meld together. But that's clearly by design. 

The fact that the names and backgrounds of the characters are de-emphasized is surely an effort by Nolan, who also wrote the screenplay, to lump these young men, regardless of their bloodlines or home addresses, into the same boat. Literally.

The caviling critics who've called this film unsentimental simply don't get it. It wears its sentiments quietly, until a certain scene late that will bring you to tears and make you hail the Brits! 

Yes, the seminal moment in the film is a somewhat famous if still under-reported event in which British civilians come together to assist soldiers in the most heartwarming way you could possibly imagine. The way Americans did, too, during the same war, but in a way you'll just have to see to appreciate. No spoilers here folks. Just think "citizen sailors."

For me, “Dunkirk” is, above all, a powerful and poignant reminder of the indefatigable pride and character of our best allies, the Brits. These are a people whose homes and offices and landmarks were bombed non-stop by the Nazis. So many civilians died in the German attacks on London and other cities in England. 

This film shows just how much the dutiful, brave English endured and overcame in WWII. When one of the film's lead actors, Fionn Whitehead, playing a Brit soldier and Dunkirk survivor, reads a newspaper article featuring Winston Churchill's stirring and legendary call-to-arms speech delivered to Parliament in June, 1940, you will once again have to fight back a tear. 

"We shall fight on beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills," Churchill memorably pronounced. "We shall never surrender and if, which I do not for the moment believe, this island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, will carry on the struggle until in God's good time the New World with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and liberation of the Old."

And that's just what the Brits did. With some help from the Yanks, of course. 

As I watched this film, I could not help but think about my dad, who was a World War II veteran. He never made it to Europe, he was all set to be part of the invasion of Japan when the bomb dropped. I am very sure he would have loved this film even more than I did. 

When it ended, I sat silently for a second just thinking about what I'd just experienced. Then I began to applaud, loudly. And after a few claps, the rest of the good people at the theater joined me. Why? Because this movie is bloody brilliant. 

We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.
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