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A white supremacist leader who assaulted an African-American woman at a Trump rally in Lousiville, KY in 2016 claims he did so under the direction of Donald Trump.
Matthew Heimbach denies assaulting an African-American woman, but also blames Donald Trump for directing the violence by telling his supporters to, “get ’em out of here.”
In his lawsuit, Heimbach argued that he was just following orders. Heimbach wrote that he, “relied on Trump’s reputation and expertise in doing the things alleged. Heimbach relied on Trump’s authority to order disruptive persons removed and that Trump was legally within his rights to ask other attendees to assist in defending their constitutional rights against ‘protestors’ who were disrupting.”
The lawsuit is revealing it is a public decoding of the dog whistle messages that Trump was sending supporters throughout his presidential campaign. The Trump campaign was based on racism, and those who supported Donald Trump viewed him as their racist leader.
Trump was intentionally sending messages during his campaign to these people, and his supporters read what he was saying loud and clear. The historical record of the I was just following orders defense is not good. Donald Trump isn’t a Nazi, but his tactics and techniques are similar to those used by authoritarian regimes that attempt to stay in power through division and bigotry.
It’s not so much what Trump was saying, but what his supporters thought he was saying that is so telling.
Donald Trump is being sued by a white nationalist who was one of his biggest supporters. The wheels are falling off of the Trump presidency, and even the racists are jumping off of his sinking ship.
