One of the co-founders of Black Lives Matter told the Los Angeles Times that the movement won’t be taking a meeting with President Donald Trump any time soon — even to discuss how BLM and the Trump Administration can work together to find common ground — because Donald Trump is basically Hitler.
Patrisse Cullors sat down with the LA Times because she’s about to release a memoir, detailing how Black Lives Matter came to be, and how the movement plans to expand in the future.
Of course, the reporter asked Cullors whether the door was open to talk with Donald Trump who, in the past, has called the movement “a threat,” and has taken it to task for its hard line on police (one of BLM’s “unofficial” platform documents calls for the total demilitarization of every police force in America). But Cullors was quick to say that, even if Trump invited them, they’d refuse the invitation.
“We wouldn’t as a movement take a seat at the table with Trump, because we wouldn’t have done that with Hitler. Trump is literally the epitome of evil, all the evils of this country — be it racism, capitalism, sexism, homophobia,” Cullers said.
Got that? Literally the epitome of evil. Donald Trump is literally Hitler.
She didn’t stop there.
“He has set out some of the most dangerous policies, not just that impacts this country but impacts the globe. And so for us, the answer is not to sit with him but to resist him and to resist every single policy that he’s implemented that impacts our communities,” Cullers said, apparently not aware that Trump has been able to enact very few policies since taking office in January.
“And … if I’m thinking about what I want my children to know in 30, 40, 50 years,” Cullers went on, “I want them to know that I resisted a president at all costs, because this president literally tried to kill our communities, and is killing our communities.”
Literally. He literally tried to kill our communities.
Look, we’re not saying Donald Trump is perfect, or, even for that matter, fully conservative. But there’s a big difference between “this President has enacted policies we don’t like and which make us feel less safe,” and “Donald Trump has been literally plotting on how to wipe out entire communities of people with his bare hands.”
Going for the latter makes major policy changes more difficult. Black Lives Matter may have its (often very serious) issues, but it’s ideas aren’t all bad — particularly its opposition to things like mandatory minimum sentencing laws and civil asset forefeiture, two policy areas where they and more libertarian conservatives often agree. But this totally destroys any hope BLM might have of making much of a difference. Oppose capitalism? There’s a hefty market for BLM merchandise. Consider a Republican president literally Hitler? That’s eight years on the outside of policy when you could be making progress.
Not to mention, it’s just fully crazy.
