Ali: Neo-Nazi marches. ‘Both sides’ framing. This is who we are. But it doesn’t have to be.

Last week in Columbus, Ohio, a dozen or so people marched through the city waving Nazi flags and yelling racial epithets.

Disturbing, to be sure, and a grim sign of the times.

But almost as troubling was the reaction from CNN anchor Dana Bash. After airing a video of the march on Monday’s edition of “Inside Politics,” she said it was unclear “which side of the aisle” these white nationalists came from.

“A group of neo-Nazis paraded through that city wearing, waving swastikas, covering their faces,” Bash said during the segment with Rep. Greg Landsman (D-Ohio). “This is not the first time this sort of thing has happened in Ohio in particular. And, of course, it’s continuing to spread. We don’t know what side of the aisle this comes from. I mean, typically neo-Nazis are from the far right,” she said before noting that Landsman, who is Jewish, had “far left” protests outside his house.

Conflating neo-Nazis with protesters for Palestinian human rights is in itself problematic, but blurring the hard right’s direct connection to white nationalism with “let’s be fair to both sides” comments was inexcusable.

Basic rule: Nazis should never be given the benefit of the doubt, or any leeway for that matter. Neither should the political movements that empower them.

Bash wasn’t the only media personality to shy away from condemning the people and parties that embolden fascism. “Morning Joe” hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, frequent critics of Donald Trump, revealed Monday that they’d recently visited the president-elect and members of his team at Mar-a-Lago to “restart communications.”

Brzezinski preempted questions about their decision with another question: “For those asking why we would go speak to the president-elect during such fraught times, especially between us, I guess I would ask back, why wouldn’t we?”

By the time the “Daily Show” aired that evening, host Jon Stewart had an answer: “Uh, because you said he was Hitler.”

The about-face of news anchors who as recently as last month voiced concerns about the future of the country under a second Trump term sparked plenty of criticism. Ratings plunged after the segment, with some detractors accusing the couple of obeying the president-elect in advance for fear of retaliation once he’s back in the White House. If true, their concern wouldn’t be unfounded. Trump has waged war on the media from Day One, referring to them often as “fake,” “crooked” and an “enemy of the state.”

I’d like to believe that these media figures aren’t folding like cheap suits, but maybe that’s wishful thinking. There’s a lot of that going around these days. Democratic leaders have been throwing pennies in a well since 2016, repeating the mantra, “This is not who we are. This is not who we are.” At least it put a rosier sheen on the rising tide of bigotry and violence unleashed by MAGA.

Aspirational thinking is healthy and admirable, but not in all cases. And in this case, it’s also not particularly accurate, because as the election results attest, this is who we are. Trump’s retribution approach resonated more with voters than Kamala Harris’ promises of a united future. Trump voters may not have fully agreed with his torrent of hate speech, “Access Hollywood” grab ‘em comments or labeling of fellow Americans as “the enemy within,” but they also weren’t bothered enough by it all to not vote for him.

And let me be clear, I’m not conflating the majority of Trump voters with those idiots marching in Ohio. What I am saying is that when news personalities like Bash and the “Morning Joe” crew operate on the unspoken premise that there are two sides to the story and we should give fascism a chance, it serves no one but the aspiring strongman.

Ignoring the obvious seemed to be what Bash was doing. But her viewers probably could discern which side those neo-Nazis were aligned with when they paraded through Columbus.

Journalists across social media were immediately on the case. Nick Martin, who runs the Informant, a publication covering hate and extremism in the U.S., posted a response to her comments. It was a selfie of a founder of the neo-Nazi groups in question, taken at a Trump rally.

Other examples of MAGA’s ties with white power were so fresh they were reported in the same news cycle.

Trump’s pick to lead the Pentagon, former Fox News host Pete Hegseth, was one of 12 National Guard members removed from security duty for President Biden’s 2021 inauguration over his potential extremist ties. Hegseth has tattoos associated with white nationalist movements, including a symbol popular with Christian nationalists referred to as a Jerusalem cross.

On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly parroted propaganda used in Nazi Germany when pledging to “root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical-left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country.”

Commentary in the Hill revealed that when he spoke that line at a 2023 rally in New Hampshire, he barely modified from its original 1930s Nazi form. The previous year he dined with prominent white supremacist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes at Mar-a-Lago.

And we all remember when during his first term he defended violent white nationalists who marched in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017, saying they included “some very fine people.”

Trump wants you to believe that. But we don’t have to. It’s time we admitted that we aren’t all that good, and that we need to be better.