2017 has been a gloomy year for American liberals so far. It seems as if since Donald Trump was declared president-elect, the sun has left the sky and the happiness has left their hearts. However, on Inauguration Day, a ray of light emerged, as White nationalist Richard Spencer was punched in the face during an interview; and there was nothing wrong with this action.

The clip, which has over two million views on YouTube,  shows Spencer being questioned by Trump protestors off-screen. After being asked about a pin of Pepe The Frog, the controversial meme that was recently declared a hate symbol by the Anti-Defamation League, which he wore on his shirt, a hooded man enters the frame and punches Spencer in the face, knocking him to the ground. 

In this day and age, it is possible for one to believe that Nazis are long gone, that this way of thinking ended with the second World War, but as Spencer has shown, this is not the case.

Spencer is the current president of The National Policy Institute, which defines itself as “an independent organization dedicated to the heritage, identity, and future of people of European descent in the United States, and around the world.”

A punch to the face is the smartest and most effective way to handle any encounter with a known Neo-Nazi. A person with this belief may deem someone of another skin color as lesser and wish to exterminate them — along with anyone that resembles them or has a different religious belief. This gives any encounter with a Neo-Nazi the possibility of becoming fatal. 

White nationalists make up a portion of the  “silent majority” that helped send Trump to the White House. While Spencer may be the first to break the silence, but he is undoubtedly not the last. 

We cannot let Trump’s skewed ideology become normalized. Last November, Frank Navarro, a Holocaust survivor and high school teacher in California’s Silicon Valley, was placed on paid leave after comparing Trump to Adolf Hitler. 

When the Holocaust began in 1933, there was nothing to compare it to. There was no precedent for people to look back on to predict what Hitler was capable of. There was no inclination that Hitler and his followers were planning to murder over 6 million Jews.

In 2017, we have these signs. There are clear signals that Trump is capable of terrible things. Things not seen since the rise of Hitler.

Both Trump and Hitler promised to make their countries “great again” and both used dangerous rhetoric to undermine the media.

We cannot let this happen without a fight. We cannot let people who believe that one race is superior to another continue to have this way of thinking. 

We cannot sit idly as we watch Nazis and white supremacists take over our country.

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