Silence deafening from governor candidates

Enough of Donald Trump's thoughts on race relations.

The president made his stand perfectly clear last Tuesday when discussing the white supremacy rally that caused a riot in Charlottesville, and then he doubled down a week later in Phoenix by praising convicted sheriff Joe Arpaio — perhaps the nation's most notorious racial profiler.

No matter how you feel about all the rest of Trump's policies, and he's very popular here, I'm sorry but ...

He's wrong to divide the nation by pandering to neo- Nazis, white nationalists and their skinhead fellow travelers.

These people are peddling hate, they're preaching divisiveness, they're insisting the country be torn apart — and any president of the United States has a moral obligation to denounce them repeatedly and make sure they're arrested the instant it's legally possible.

ARE WE clear on that one point?

Even if you voted for Trump and remain a huge fan...

Get off the racial bandwagon. You're going to be on the wrong side of history.

Which brings us to Idaho: Why have the three main candidates for governor delayed in calling out the president by name — on just this one single issue — and made clear that he's wrong to encourage the alt-right, with their swastikas and chants about getting Jews out of this country?

So far, the only peep has come from Rep. Raul Labrador, who said: “I detest white supremacy as much as I detest black nationalism.”

That's a weak response, on so many levels.

First of all, President Trump's tirades the past 10 days have had nothing to do with black nationalism.

Next up, Labrador refused to name the president as the architect of this latest national disgrace.

And Arpaio?

Mr. Congressman, this was a sheriff who would have pulled you over because of your skin color.

Isn't it time that you and your fellow candidates for governor challenge Trump's position on this?

Nobody will claim you aren't Republicans.

They won't even say you aren't backing the president's agenda on almost everything.

All they WILL say is that you're not racists, nor will you support giving legitimacy to those who are.

LOOK, THIS matters in Idaho.

And it especially lights fuses here in the northern part of the state, which is still regarded in some parts of the nation as the home of the Aryan Nations.

Tony Stewart, longtime stalwart of the Coeur d'Alene Human Rights Coalition, put it perfectly when he said: “We have seen hate up close.”

Stewart and a lot of brave men and women ran Richard Butler and his miserable mob out of North Idaho, and helped enact laws to ensure that their successors won't be back.

“People don't realize this,” said Stewart, who forged ahead despite multiple death threats, “but Idaho now would be just about the worst place a white supremacist could go.

“We have tough laws, and we've had governors and legislators who made sure they were passed and enforced.”

And yet, just before Trump spoke in Phoenix Tuesday night, white nationalists were bragging to a national TV outlet that their “Unite the Right” movement has gone mainstream because of this president's support.

David Duke, former grand duke of the Ku Klux Klan, said openly: “Trump is our president, our commander in chief.”

AND THEN there's Matt Heimbach, who was a key organizer of the Charlottesville madness.

Heimbach believes that the Holocaust never happened, and says his goal is to see an America without African-Americans, Jews or homosexuals.

“We have energy,” Heimbach told CBSN, “I think because Donald Trump's election showed that the majority of white America's social, working class believes in sovereignty.”

Heimbach added that his movement will be recruiting candidates to run in local elections — for school boards, for county commissions.

The thought is frightening.

Stewart, as always, feels optimistic that Idaho has rejected hate, but insists that people everywhere should remain wary.

What would he like to see in local and statewide politics?

“We have always remained non-partisan and peaceful, and we've worked with both Republican and Democratic governors,” Stewart said.

“I just hope that all our candidates would follow the example of those previous governors who have fought against hate, and that anyone running for office would make it clear that they will do the same.”

Indeed.

It's time for Raul Labrador, Brad Little and Tommy Ahlquist to take that advice — and shout it from the steps of the Capitol.

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Steve Cameron is a special assignment reporter for The Press. Reach Steve at: [email protected].