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Trump Escalates Culture War

Steve Herman

   WHITE HOUSE - U.S. President Donald Trump is firmly planting his flag
   on one side of the culture war in America.

   In a pair of high-profile speeches and in comments on Twitter, Trump
   rebuffedthe growing movement that wants police forces to address racial
   bias and seeks the removal of monuments and flags of the Confederacy.

   Emphasizing patriotism and a traditional narrative of American history,
   Trump is appealing to his political base and rejecting his opponents as
   dangerous for the country.

   With the granite giant heads of four U.S. presidents as his backdrop at
   Mt. Rushmore on Friday and on the White House South Lawn to celebrate
   the country's independence anniversary the following day, Trump warned
   of a domestic threat from angry mobs composed of anarchists, Marxists
   and far-left fascists, who are "trying to tear down statues of our
   founders, deface our most sacred memorials, and unleash a wave of
   violent crime in our cities."

   A left-wing cultural revolution, according to Trump, seeks to wage a
   "merciless campaign to wipe out our history, defame our heroes, erase
   our values, and indoctrinate our children."

   Public opinion polling has shown broad support among Americans for the
   Black Lives Matter movement, with about two-thirds of Americans saying
   they support the movement, including some 60% of white Americans.

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