Trump must be so proud.
RICHMOND — Self-proclaimed white nationalist Richard Spencer led a large group of demonstrators carrying torches and chanting “You will not replace us” Saturday in Charlottesville, protesting plans to remove a Confederate monument that has played an outsize role in this year’s race for Virginia governor.
“What brings us together is that we are white, we are a people, we will not be replaced,” Spencer said at an afternoon protest, the first of two rallies he led in the town where he once attended the University of Virginia.
At the second rally, dozens of torch-bearing protesters gathered in a city park Saturday evening and chanted “You will not replace us” and “Russia is our friend,” local television footage shows. Spencer was not shown addressing that gathering, but he tweeted a photo of himself standing in the crowd carrying what appeared to be a bamboo tiki torch.
Protesters gather at Lee Park in Charlottesville on Saturday. (Allison Wrabel/The Daily Progress)
Russia is our friend? Not even trying to hide it. That just blows my mind. And may I just add… Tiki torches?
None of this is surprising. It’s exactly what Trump ran on. But it is dangerous out there, and getting more so by the day.
Actually surprised it was not more overtly racist, dare say that was tamped down by the organizers at the start.
Chants also included “all white lives matter” and the Nazi chant of “blood and soil”. They are who we always thought they were.
I did note, however, that in all of the places where I saw this posted yesterday, there was NO ONE who pushed back with All Lives Matter.
“And may I just add… Tiki torches?”
I guess the figure if it’s sold at Walmart, it must be white.