Trump’s rhetoric panders to white supremacist supporters, and his policies are guided by white identity politics. When commenting on a rally in Charlottesville in 2017 where white supremacists chanted, ” Jews will not replace us,” Trump said, “there were good people on both sides.” That statement revealed his unwillingness to entirely, directly reject the existence of racial hate groups. Most of his time as President has involved counting the number of base voters he can retain. He is so desperate to get re-elected he isn’ t willing to meet the challenge of taking on racism and anti – Semitism because the majority of his base is white. He has created no federal policies or task forces that show a commitment to resolving these toxic, unAmerican ideologies of hatred. His silence during the past two weeks towards the national outcry for police reform support is more proof his governing is guided only by how to get re-elected.
He initially scheduled his first rally since the COVID-19 shutdown on Juneteenth, a holiday known as “Freedom Day” annually celebrated on June 19. It was the day in 1865 when the Union declared all previously enslaved people in Texas were free. Trump has had a pattern of disregarding the importance of many other dates in history to make any day be about him. Due to public backlash, he moved the event by one day. After deciding not to hold the Republican Convention in North Carolina because of a social distancing requirement set forth by the governor, he chose Jacksonville, Florida, the sight of one of the darkest days in American history. Sixty years ago, on the day Trump’s speech will be delivered, a massacre known as “Ax Handle Saturday” involved the slaughter of black protesters who were sitting at a city white-only lunch counter.
In an article on June 11 in The New York Times, it was reported, “the white mayor at the time, Haydon Bruners suppressed news about the beatings, and it wasn’t until 2001 that the day was commemorated with a marker.”Republican officials continue to claim they are unaware of the dates chosen for these Trump events represented days that were insensitive to horrific, historical, racist events against black people. Can these choices continue to be seen as merely ignorance, incompetence, or insensitivity, or is it the more egregious indication of a racist ideology by the President and the Republican Party?
Additionally, Trump does not limit his white identity/discriminatory ideology to just blacks and Hispanic people. This week he announced he will be rolling back protections for transgender Americans within the healthcare system. The NY Times reported on June 12, “The Trump Administration finalized a regulation that will erase protections for transgender patients against discrimination by doctors, hospitals and health insurance, a move announced on the fourth anniversary of the massacre at the Pulse gay nightclub and in the middle of gay pride month.” Trump has consistently governed against the rights of the LGBTQ community, intending to retain the vote of his evangelical voters, who degrade what Jesus stood for in their support of this President.
Trump is a member of an outdated generation of old white men hanging on to racism, misogyny, and religious discrimination against non-Christians. The massive protests for the Black Lives Matter and police reform movements are signs that no matter how scared white people are about no longer being the majority, America is a diverse, compassionate country. It is founded on the premise that all people are created equal. Trump is a dinosaur and represents everything that is wrong with America. Greed, dishonesty, prejudice, and criminality can be heard in his rhetoric and seen in how he treats people who offer no use to his personal or political gains. He does not stand for the values and laws that reflect the Founding Fathers’ efforts. He has fooled a small portion of the country who share his outdated, divisive views. Still, the outcry across America is loud, signaling his reign of destruction will soon become a dark memory in our history. MAKE AMERICA MORAL AGAIN!
