Though perhaps easy to dismiss the ugly events of Charlottesville as a relatively small incident of social unrest over a contested history, this would be a mistake. It arrived, on the contrary, as further evidence of a society at war with itself — a war born of the economic dislocation of the 2008 recession and resulting fear, insecurity and rage it has produced.
There is a case to be made that Trump and Obama before him constitute two sides of the same government of the rich, by the rich, and for the rich coin. Rampant inequality at home buttressed by a foreign policy of conflict and aggression overseas is suggestive of a nation whose ruling class has no answer or solution to the chaos it has caused and continues to sow.
They say that no great civilization is conquered from without until it destroys itself from within. By this metric, the United States is a nation in crisis.
On this episode, John Wight is joined by Paul Craig Roberts to discuss and analyze the events of Charlottesville in their broader context.
Hard Facts is out every Wednesday. You can join the conversation on Facebook at Hard Facts.