Everyone except those under Trump’ a autocratic spell know Trump is a racist. That assessment of him is not based on a flimsy, partisan viewpoint. Rather it is based on evidence such as his history of anti- minority rhetoric, business practices, and more recently as president policies that punish and marginalize people of color. So far, the much talked about ” N” tapes, have not been produced however several former contestants who appeared on the Celebrity Apprentice report they exist.
Before becoming president, Trump launched a relentless campaign to prove America’s first black president, Barack Obama, was not born in the United States. Known as the “birther movement”, Trump’s assault led Obama to produce his legitimate birth certificate which Trump called inauthentic. Motivated by being jealous of Obama’ extraordinary talents, Trump, the poster boy for an insecure imposter, continued his attacks on Obama personally and politically. His opposition to Obama’ party and policies does not explain the viciousness he displayed. Racism, however, would explain it.
Trump’ a first act as president was to order a ban on all Muslims from entering the United States. Racists often target whole groups of people and generalize them as all bad to justify abuse or abandonment. His false excuse to justify these expressions of racist ideology is to claim a need to protect Americans from harm. Like many dictators, he is a master at the use of lies, propaganda, and conspiracy theories to sow fear and manipulate the masses support his ideology and actions.
This pattern of race- based demonization continued with his assault on the DACA program which protects over 700,000 undocumented young immigrants from deportation who were brought into the United States by their parents as young children. Trump continued the pattern by demonizing asylum seekers from Central America as ” caravans of terrorists”, separating immigrant children from their parents, erecting camps with cages to house immigrant asylum seekers, and referring countries populated by black and brown people as ” shitholes.” He has convinced his base that these policies are based on his commitment to enforce American Immigration laws and protect them from the dangers he professes these minority immigrants pose.
In the 1970′ s, Trump was sued for racial discrimination in his real estate practices as a landlord. He was found guilty of refusing to rent apartments to prospective black tenants. He was also viciously vocal against the Central Park 5, five black youths who were accused of raping a white woman in Central Park in 1989. Before the conviction by jury decisions Trump flooded the New York media with cries of their guilt and a call for the death penalty. Year’s later, these men were found to have been falsely accused and coerced to confess by brutal police tactics. Their full exoneration came years later when the man who committed the rape confessed to being the rapist. Trump has never apologized to the Central Park 5 or acknowledged any empathy for the tragedy of their false imprisonment. This lack of empathy towards those black kids indicates he does not think Black Lives Matter.
His administration is predominantly white with a few black appointments in a strategic attempt to deflect attention away from his racist leanings. He has shown weak, lacking in compassion response to the George Floyd killing and the massive protests throughout the country against police brutality and racial injustice towards black Americans. In his ” “law and order” president mantra is a dog- whistle to his white identity base that he doesn’t support the goals the Black Lives Matter movement represents. He makes sure he and his administration, most recently his sycophant VP Mike Pence, refuse to use the term, replacing it with ” all lives matter.”
The tide is turning in the country against the white supremacy view of America. Trump and the great majority of his supporters are history illiterates. Blacks, American Indians, European immigrants built this country. The biggest ” fake news” story by Trump and his elitist, white Administration is that American core identity is White Christian. The denial of facts, replaced with lies, propaganda, and opposition to the rule of law are lessons it seems Trump has learned from Putin. Love or hate Hillary, it seems she was accurate in describing Trump as Putin’s puppet. However, the exposing of Trump as a white supremacist sympathizer during the recent Black Lives Matter protests has energized this nation to rid the government of racist laws and the President’s racially motivated inaction.
Hopefully, Mary Elizabeth Taylor’s courage to prioritize her morals and conviction over party loyalty will inspire spineless Republican senators to redeem their character and stand up for morality, ethics, and democracy.
