L ast week in Charlottesville Virginia neo-Nazis and white supremacists clashed with leftists and Black Lives Matters members in what a New York Times reporter said “looked like a war zone.” And in the end there was bloodshed as one of the former — a young punk described by a former teacher as enamored of Nazi Germany — plowed his car into a group of the latter killing a woman and injuring numerous others.
Senator Ted Cruz made the strongest clearest statement of any political leader about the events which was also noteworthy for having specifically mentioned anti-Semitism present in Charlottesville in the signs held and chants bellowed by the neo-Nazis. An excerpt:
Heidi’s and my prayers are with the loved ones of those killed and injured in the ongoing violence in Charlottesville…. The Nazis the KKK and white supremacists are repulsive and evil and all of us have a moral obligation to speak out against the lies bigotry anti-Semitism and hatred that they propagate. Having watched the horrifying video of the car deliberately crashing into a crowd of protesters I urge the Department of Justice to immediately investigate and prosecute this grotesque act of domestic terrorism.
Mr. Cruz seems to have decided he doesn’t care if some on the right will construe his words as somehow caving to the left or the media or if some on the left will seize upon his words as proof of this or that. He chose not to issue a tepid vague statement morally equating murderer and victim but to speak instead with honesty and moral clarity.
