Sunday, June 28, 2020

Trump's RACE to the Bottom


Of the myriad character flaws that make Donald Trump unfit both as a president and as a human being—corruption, narcissism and vindictiveness, to name a few—the one that is the most troubling is his racism.  For decades Trump has been consistent in his racism from the Central Park Five to leading the birther movement against President Obama to his involvement in discrimination against African Americans in housing. #hocopolitics

Since his descent down the Trump Tower’s escalator to announce his presidential bid in 2015 when he called Mexicans “rapists,” Trump had given the country and the world for that matter a preview of what his 2016 campaign would be about and provided a glimpse of what his presidency would be like.  

While Trump has continued his descent as a racist, increasing numbers of Americans are ascending, rising to the occasion, especially in the wake of the brutal murder of George Floyd and other unarmed Black individuals at the hands of the police. He and most of the nation are moving in opposite directions. The mainly young protesters comprised of all races and backgrounds formed a beautiful mosaic of people trying to bring justice to our society.

Trump can herald his administration’s few accomplishments vis-à-vis African Americans all he wants, it still boils down to one indisputable fact. Trump is a racist and a white supremacist.

I want to be clear, not every Trump supporter is a racist, but many are. He has given hope and life to a white nationalist movement in the country that had been percolating under the surface and in the shadows. His comment in the wake of Charlottesville where neo-Nazis marched with torches chanting anti-Semitic and anti-Black slogans as “very fine people on both sides” was a dagger to the core of the American conscience.

A despondent Trump arrives home following
embarrassing Tulsa rally

He has characterized African countries as “shithole countries.” He called majority Black Baltimore “a rodent infested mess.” He uses the term “thugs” referring to Black males. He frequently calls Black female journalists “nasty.”

Trump’s response to the murder of George Floyd reinforced his racist reputation.  As people took to the streets to protest police brutality the likes of which we have not seen in a half century, Trump labeled the mostly peaceful but angry and determined protesters who were exercising their First Amendment rights as “anarchists,” “rioters,” “arsonists,” “looters” and other disparaging names. 

Yes, there was arson, looting and destruction. But the Black Lives Matter movement and other leaders quickly condemned those acts, and the perpetrators comprised a very small portion of those protesting. They were mostly outside agitators and criminal opportunists who did not represent the largely peaceful protesters.  

Rather than demonstrating sincerity in the desire for much needed police reform, Trump stepped back 50 years and took a page out of another racist president’s playbook. He started tweeting and conjuring up Richard Nixon’s call for “law and order.” Yet, Trump did not condemn the instances of police violence occurring in the streets against the protesters.  Moreover, he seems more concerned about preserving the statues of Confederate soldiers.

With his presidential reelection campaign looking downtrodden, he is using another Nixon-Agnew trope “silent majority” whom he hopes will save his floundering chances. Trump has decided to bank on this group by playing the race card. He knows his base, and they eat this up.

To that end, he retweeted a video, since taken down by him, whereby one of his supporters chanted “White Power” during a protest in The Villages in Florida—a key swing state. Trump had sent this to over 80 million followers on Twitter on June 28. It is shown below. 

“Thank you to the great people of The Villages. The Radical Left Do Nothing Democrats will Fall in the Fall. Corrupt Joe is shot. See you soon!!” he wrote in the tweet.

Trump’s racism is disgusting. He has numerous character flaws but this is his most vile. With every passing day, there is no bottom to his descent.



A good article here on Trump's using racism as an election strategy.

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