The president is under a special prosecutor’s investigation into questions of collusion between his campaign and a Russian government committed to disrupting the 2016 presidential election.

ensure that these rights are accorded without regard to race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or identity. Those same early leaders enacted the Constitution and the Bill of Rights to memorialize our liberties in American life and assert a rule of law that would protect them.

But this is not about partisan politics. It is not about Democrats or Republicans, or even about liberals and conservatives. It is about an existential threat to America and to the underlying values that led its earliest leaders to declare that “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” are inalienable human rights. Slowly, all too slowly, America has moved to

When he leaves Washington to court his base at rallies around the country, he stirs his supporters in ways reminiscent of fascists from the past. His demagoguery, his threats to those who disagree, his support of those who disdain a democratic and diverse society, threaten our freedom.

The president has consistently vilified anyone who opposes him; he has disrespected and mocked Hispanics, African-Americans, Muslims, women and people with disabilities; now he is giving direct comfort and support to the Ku Klux Klan, the American Nazi Party, right-wing militias and white supremacist groups.

demonstration in Charlottesville, Virginia. It has been increasingly true since the days of his candidacy, as he has encouraged those forces in America that promote racism, ethnic hatred, violence and white supremacy.

Let’s be blunt about it: President Trump is inspiring fascism in America. And it is terribly important that we name it.

What he says, and what he does, is making this evident to most people, especially the fascists themselves. This is not just true since the terrible violence in the recent

If it really wants Chinese car companies to upgrade and develop a global profile, the government is first going to have to abandon the very industrial policies put in place to help them. What Chinese automakers need now aren’t subsidies or foreign acquisitions, but a healthy dose of the free market.

Look at Geely, which bought Volvo from Ford in 2010. The brand has since enjoyed a surprising comeback, with 2016 sales hitting an all-time high. Yet even so, Volvo remains a niche carmaker, with 534,332 cars sold. General Motors, by contrast, sold over 10 million vehicles last year.

Until these problems are addressed, foreign buyouts can only take China so far. The companies and brands available for purchase will likely be small chunks of bigger firms, or troubled nameplates. Chinese managers, who already lack international experience, will have an exceedingly tough time building these acquisitions into major contenders.

We know from historical experience that even large economies, such as the US, can sustain only a handful of car companies. Yet while consolidation is needed, “the fragmented production network and marketplace make it exceedingly difficult for any single Chinese company to emerge as a large player,” Crystal Chang, a lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley who has studied the industry, wrote in an email.

than even the world’s largest car market can support. As a result, most manufacturers can claim only a marginal share of the market -- even some of the better-known companies. The Chery brand, for instance, commands a mere 1.8 percent of the passenger-car market, while Great Wall’s Haval only has 3.4 percent.

Government support has created another problem as well: too many automakers. According to Bill Russo, an expert on the Chinese car industry at Gao Feng Advisory in Shanghai, there are more than 100 registered automakers in China. That’s far, far more

Instead, Chinese carmakers have made so much money selling these foreign brands that the joint ventures have dampened their incentive to compete against their partners. The JV system has also fallen terribly out of date with global practice. China’s emerging-market competitors, including India and Russia, don’t place any such restrictions on foreign firms.

Meanwhile, Chinese car companies have almost no presence overseas. Exports were smaller in 2016 than two years earlier, and the biggest markets for Chinese cars tend to be in the developing world. So far this year, Iran ranks as the largest importer.

only three of the 10 best-selling passenger vehicle brands in the first half of this year are from Chinese companies, according to market research firm LMC Automotive. The two largest, China Changan Automobile Group Co. and Geely Automobile Holdings, each have a share of only 4.6 percent, about a third of top dog Volkswagen AG’s.

Unless the government rethinks its own industrial policies, however, the strategy is almost certain to fail. Its own efforts to foster a homegrown car industry are holding the sector back.

acquisitions. The Chinese government has long dreamed of creating a globally competitive car industry, and having Chinese automakers purchase established companies and brands would seem one obvious way to accomplish its goal.

To all the bronze Confederate soldiers, in whom I see the image of my great-great-great-grandfather, I would extend this grace. Without resentment or rancor, I would move them into museums and there tell the story of their lives. I would end their utility as flashpoints for racism and division, and, once and for all, allow them to retire from their long service as sentries over a whitewashed history.

To those who would keep Jeremiah Dial frozen in time, forever trapped at the moment he chose a cause on the wrong side of humanity, I believe you do him a disservice. To those who use him as an excuse to fly the flag of modern-day anti-Semitism, racism and bigotry, you have no right.