For years now, Trump has been accused of being a racist. This was particularly true after numerous incidents where he seemed to have said or done something that sure could be interpreted as racist, but did not quite outright qualify as him giving a straight-arm, fascist salute and yelling out “White power.”
Long before Trump ever ran for the White House (the first time he ran was for the 2012 election, by the way), Trump took out a full page ad in the New York Times calling for the death of the Central Park Five, even though, it turned out, they did not commit the crime for which they were accused, and for which he was calling for the death penalty. He never gave an apology for that, either.
But Trump supporters often had not heard about that, and did not care about it when they did. After all, Trump is a “law and order” kind of a guy, and they argue that he has the stomach to say and do what liberal snowflakes will not. Okay, then.
Trump claimed that Mexicans in the United States were rapists and criminals. Some, he guessed, were decent people.
But his supporters took exception to anyone daring suggest that Trump claiming that one specific group of people being horrendous criminals were racist.
Trump championed halting all immigration from predominately Muslim countries, specifically, until we find out what the hell is going on.
But his group of supporters also claimed that this was not racism, that this was just common sense, because all of the terrorists who attacked America on 9/11 were Muslims. They made no mention of whether some homegrown terrorists, like Timothy McVeigh, were Muslim, but that is another conversation for some other day, I guess.
Trump made fun of a disabled reporter, seeming to mock his disabilities.
But his supporters insisted that he was not really making fun of him, even though Trump said “you should see this guy” before acting out in a very physical, mocking way, what the guy was like, according to him. Maybe, maybe this was misinterpreted, although it sure strongly seems like he is indeed mocking the man for his disabilities.
The Ku Klux Klan’s official newspaper endorsed Trump for the presidency in November of 2016, days before Election Day.
But his supporters claimed that this does not mean that Trump himself endorses everything that the Ku Klux Klan supports, and that he cannot help it if they opt to endorse him. Still, was it not more than a little alarming that such a blatantly racist, homegrown terrorist organization like the KKK would support him? Okay, though, I guess you cannot control who will support you (Bill Clinton once got the endorsement of OJ Simpson, for example), but he could have made clearer that he did not stand for or represent their ideals, and their hatred.
During the Republican convention, Laura Ingraham extended her right arm and gave what seemed like a Fascist, straight-arm salute while wearing a very serious, grim face, before suddenly loosening up and waving to the crowd, after endorsing Trump for president in the speech that had preceded her infamous moment.
But his supporters claimed that she had not really given the Fascist salute, that the liberal elite media were producing still more “Fake News” just to try and stir the pot. Perhaps it really was not a fascist salute.
Trump suggested that there were “very fine people” on both sides of the Charlottesville white nationalist rally in the summer of 2017, and then had a hard time criticizing any of the blatant white supremacists and Ku Klux Klansman and straight up Nazis who had gathered there, some of whom felt empowered by Trump’s rise to the White House.
But his supporters suggested that the real instigators of the violence that weekend was the presence of Antifa (short for anti-facist). That, despite many of the white supremacists coming armed with shields and weapons, clearly gearing up for a fight.
Trump dismissed dozens of countries in Africa and Central America, and the combined hundreds of millions of people living in them, presumably, when he referred to them as “shithole nations.”
His supporters had a ready answer, of course. They stated that these places were pretty crappy, with many of them being impoverished, and some even being dictatorships.
Trump visited Puerto Rico after the hurricane that brought such destruction there, and infamously made a point of not touching anyone, and throwing packages of paper towels like he was shooting basketball. He also seemed to make a point of making the whole thing confrontational with Puerto Ricans, and they never did get the assistance that they really needed in their hour of need.
But his defenders suggested that he had a point, that the island had been badly mismanaged. They once again said that the media was making too much of a big deal out of those basketball throws, and his immediate turn to confrontation. Anyone who thinks otherwise is just trying to stir up trouble. Right.
When the coronavirus hit, Trump kept trying to push the name “Chinese flu” for the pandemic, and kept reminding everyone that it had originated in China. More recently, he referred to it as the “Kung Flu,” and when he did it again after receiving considerable criticism for what appeared to be blatant racism, the pro-Trump audience exploded with enthusiastic cheers. What a daring man! What an American hero.
Of course, the allegations that this was a pretty damn racist statement were rejected by Trump supporters. No, this was not racist, they said. It was said in good fun, and not against Asian Americans. Besides, Covid-19 did originate in China, did it not? Fine, so be it. It does appear that it began in China. But what good does it do to try and keep reminding everyone of that? And why the petty mockery? Is that necessary, or helpful in the least?
Recently, Trump, in an effort to try and bolster support for the 2020 campaign, used an upside down red triangle with black outlining, which was accompanied with rhetoric about how dangerous mobs of leftists were destroying the country. He pounded the idea of the necessity to declare Antifa (which stands for Anti-Fascist for those who might be unfamiliar) - which is, in fact, not an actual organization - as a terrorist group. Meanwhile, he got into trouble because that red triangle was also used by Nazis used that upside red triangle with black outlining to mark political prisoners.
An honest mistake? Well, his supporters sure seemed to think so. At least publicly they did. But you have to wonder what made them use that symbol, specifically, while advocating illegalizing a non-existent political opposition group.
Recently, Trump, in an effort to try and bolster support for the 2020 campaign, used an upside down red triangle with black outlining, which was accompanied with rhetoric about how dangerous mobs of leftists were destroying the country. He pounded the idea of the necessity to declare Antifa (which stands for Anti-Fascist for those who might be unfamiliar) - which is, in fact, not an actual organization - as a terrorist group. Meanwhile, he got into trouble because that red triangle was also used by Nazis used that upside red triangle with black outlining to mark political prisoners.
An honest mistake? Well, his supporters sure seemed to think so. At least publicly they did. But you have to wonder what made them use that symbol, specifically, while advocating illegalizing a non-existent political opposition group.
Now Trump just retweeted a video of one of his supporters arguing with anti-Trump protesters, and one of them, quite clearly audible, shouts out “white power” before cowardly driving away in a golf cart. He even thanked the people in the video, claiming that they were “great people.” But three hours later, the tweet had been removed.
Of course, Trump supporters are trying, once again, to defend the president’s disgusting actions. No, they say, he is not a passive-aggressive racist, trying to get away with sneaking videos that will appeal to racists, before taking them down a few hours later. This was just an honest mistake. He did not even hear the shout of “white power.”
But the audio is a major part of it, and it rings out clearly. Trump, to my knowledge, does not have a problem with his physical hearing abilities (whether or not he actually listens to people might be another matter). So really, there should be no issue with him understanding what he was posting. He surely could have looked at the comments from the source that he got it from, just to be on the safe side. Yet, after all of that, he still nevertheless opted to retweet this video, only taking it down three hours later. Just enough to generate attention, to make racist whites feel at home, if you will. But then taking it down, to make it seem like he was being responsible, once he understood he was making a mistake. That is Trump’s style, doing or saying things that are outrageous and generate negative publicity, and then backing away from them when there is significant pressure. He misspoke. Or he was just being sarcastic. Or he was not aware, did not know, even though he makes it clear at other times that, as President, his authority is total, which means that he should be held responsible. After all, he has a team of capable people working for him, trying hard to make his image as acceptable to as many people as possible.
Frankly, there is no excuse for this. Once again, Trump has done something indefensible, something that a grown man in a position of responsibility should have known better than to do. Yet, he did it.
His defenders will be at it again, regurgitating Trump’s own arguments that he did not hear, that it was an honest mistake, even though Trump himself will never admit to having made a mistake. They will claim, once again, that this was just an isolated incident, like all of the other isolated incidents involving this particular man and an attitude of racism. They all just happen to have occurred, just by accident. Or perhaps they were all just misunderstandings.
Are all of these incidents really just misunderstandings? Can they all be chalked up to imaginations of what Trump and many of his supporters call the "lamestream media" (when he isn't busy referring to them as "enemies of the people"? Perhaps one or two, maybe, could be chalked up as honest mistakes. Maybe Laura Ingraham really did not give the Nazi salute, for example. Or maybe one of those other incidents could be dismissed as an exaggeration. But when these things keep happening, time and time again, and this pathetic man keeps catering to at least a very visible element of his support - that being the so-called white nationalists - with these" alleged misunderstandings that sure seem, in reality, shrewdly orchestrated, you cannot merely dismiss it as the workings of imagination. You cannot claim that these are just honest mistakes or misunderstandings, especially when he has been condemned by various groups for hate speech regarding numerous comments and speeches, from black activist groups to Jewish activists groups. Indeed, at some point, we have to admit that it's a problem. And retweeting a video where a Trump supporter clearly, loudly, and obnoxiously yells out "white power" is one of those moments where even supposedly modest Trump fans have run out of excuses. After a while, you just have to admit that there is no excuse for this man, and his consistently racist behavior.
Are all of these incidents really just misunderstandings? Can they all be chalked up to imaginations of what Trump and many of his supporters call the "lamestream media" (when he isn't busy referring to them as "enemies of the people"? Perhaps one or two, maybe, could be chalked up as honest mistakes. Maybe Laura Ingraham really did not give the Nazi salute, for example. Or maybe one of those other incidents could be dismissed as an exaggeration. But when these things keep happening, time and time again, and this pathetic man keeps catering to at least a very visible element of his support - that being the so-called white nationalists - with these" alleged misunderstandings that sure seem, in reality, shrewdly orchestrated, you cannot merely dismiss it as the workings of imagination. You cannot claim that these are just honest mistakes or misunderstandings, especially when he has been condemned by various groups for hate speech regarding numerous comments and speeches, from black activist groups to Jewish activists groups. Indeed, at some point, we have to admit that it's a problem. And retweeting a video where a Trump supporter clearly, loudly, and obnoxiously yells out "white power" is one of those moments where even supposedly modest Trump fans have run out of excuses. After a while, you just have to admit that there is no excuse for this man, and his consistently racist behavior.
Trump thanked 'great people' shown in Twitter video in which a man chants 'white power' by Veronica Stracqualursi and Sarah Westwood, CNN, Mon June 29, 2020:
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