Nebraska GOP lawmaker accuses Republicans of 'enabling white supremacy' by refusing to condemn Trump

A Republican state lawmaker from Nebraska is gaining attention for calling out the GOP for "enabling white supremacy in our country" after a mass murderer with racist motivations killed 20 people and injured several others in El Paso, Texas.

State Sen. John McCollister of Omaha accused President Trump of stoking "racist fears in his base," in a Twitter thread demanding Republicans speak out against white nationalism and condemn President Trump.

In an interview with the Omaha World-Herald, McCollister elaborated on his Twitter thread, attacking Nebraska's GOP congressional delegation for neglecting to voice a full condemnation of the president.

“I’d like to see some moral outrage from some of our Republican officeholders,” McCollister said. “The silence is deafening.”

This is asinine. What "racist and immoral activity" is "enabling white supremacy" in the Republican Party? Refusing to join the Left in screaming "Trump is racist!" every time the president says something rude? The remarks McCollister cites about "sh*tholes" or the "go back" comments do not show that President Trump believes white people are racially superior to people with darker skin. They're impolite, they're not traditionally presidential, but they're not "enabling white supremacy."

Which Trump comments qualify as stoking "racist fears" in his base? Ask the Left, and they'll say anyone who uses the phrase "illegal immigrant" should be condemned. Is President Trump stoking fear by frequently making statements about the illegal immigration issue or the border crisis? Should Republicans stop talking about these issues because they enable "white supremacy," since white supremacists don't like migrants from south of the border?

What does "enabling white supremacy" even mean? Would white supremacy cease to exist if Trump never said or tweeted anything controversial? How exactly would condemning Trump disable white supremacy? Say Republicans did condemn the president; say they even impeached him. If Trump were removed from office or if he loses the 2020 election, would racists in America stop being racists? Obviously not.

And what evidence of "white supremacy" is there in the GOP anyway? McCollister only mentions Trump. Is he implying that the El Paso murderer is somehow related to the Republican Party or inspired by his rhetoric? There's no evidence that the murderer was a Republican or a Democrat. In his manifesto, the murderer attacked Democrats and Republicans. He ranted about environmental degradation caused by climate change in addition to illegal immigration. You might just as soon call him an eco-terrorist as a white supremacist terrorist, if you wanted to play stupid word games with acts of evil to score political points.

If McCollister knows about white supremacists in the Republican Party, he should out them and show what they've done to advance that racist ideology. If he's going to accuse Republicans of being "complicit" with racism, he needs to do more than complain that the GOP won't join in with Democrats and the media in hating the president.

President Trump, speaking for himself, condemned racism and white supremacy Monday in a speech on the weekend's mass shootings. “Our nation is overcome with shock, horror and sorrow,” Trump said. “We are outraged and sickened by this monstrous evil.”

"In one voice, our nation must condemn racism, bigotry and white supremacy,” Trump said. “These sinister ideologies must be defeated. Hatred has no place in America.”

Dozens of people are dead or injured after two acts of heinous evil committed by mass murderers over the weekend. Making Donald Trump the problem today, and attacking other Republicans for refusing to join in, is deplorable.

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