On May 25, 2018, Cody Fenwick of Alternet penned the following report, ‘Utterly Unfit”: MSNBC Panel Is Appalled at Latest Report of Trump’s Racist Comments Behind Closed Doors” (“It goes to the heart of his demagogic appeal to a nativist base and a form of xenophobic politics.”)
“MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace said a recent report about President Donald Trump’s racist comments at a meeting in the White House was “appalling,” a feeling echoed by her guest Bret Stephens, a columnist for the New York Times.”
“The report, published by the Washington Post, found that Trump had made the remarks at an Oval Office meeting discussing immigration. He mentioned how his comments about immigration fired up crowds at his campaign rallies. Trump then made up a list of Hispanic-sounding names and fictional crimes they supposedly committed. like rape and murder.”
“The report said White House aide Stephen Miller and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner laughed at the racist antics.”
Link to report to view video: Utterly Unfit’: MSNBC Panel Is Appalled at Latest Report of Trump’s …
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“It’s another reminder of why he is utterly unfit to be the President of the United States … it goes to the heart of his demagogic appeal to a nativist base and a form of xenophobic politics” – @BretStephensNYT w/ @NicolleDWallace
On May 25, 2018, Greg Sargent of the Washington Post penned the following piece, “This revealing anecdote unmasks Trump’s dehumanization game”
Excerpts:
“The Post has a good piece today that captures this whole game very well. It reports that Trump is increasingly enraged with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen over her alleged failure to secure the border. The story relates this remarkable anecdote about a meeting Trump held with son-in-law Jared Kushner and senior adviser Stephen Miller, the architect of his immigration agenda:”
“The night before Trump delivered his first speech to Congress in February 2017, he huddled with Jared Kushner and Miller in the Oval Office to talk immigration. The president reluctantly agreed with suggestions he strike a gentler tone on immigration in the speech.”
“Trump reminded them the crowds loved his rhetoric on immigrants along the campaign trail. Acting as if he was at a rally, he then read aloud a few made up Hispanic names and described potential crimes they could have committed, like rape or murder. Then, he said, the crowds would roar when the criminals were thrown out of the country — as they did when he highlighted crimes by illegal immigrants at his rallies, according to a person present for the exchange and another briefed on it later. Miller and Kushner laughed.”
“A senior White House official said that while the president did discuss the “crowd enthusiasm for crackdowns on criminal aliens,” the official disputed that Trump used Hispanic names to illustrate the point.”
“This took place just after Trump took office, but it’s useful for understanding much of what Trump is doing right now. First, it has important and immediate policy relevance. The Post report notes that Trump is raging about the undocumented immigrants still crossing the border, and this anecdote reminds us how viscerally this connects him with his base, which makes him more likely to demand insanely draconian concessions in exchange for protecting the “dreamers,” making that less likely.”
“Second, the anecdote neatly captures how Trump’s ongoing dehumanization game works.”
“The careful reader will note that, according to this report, Trump just selected Hispanic names at random — because they were Hispanic names — and then attached those names to heinous crimes. He then envisioned exciting his crowd by telling them that he was deporting these imaginary Hispanic criminals, just as he highlighted actual crimes by real undocumented immigrants on the campaign trail.”
“As you’ll recall, after Trump made his “animals” comment, his defenders — and Trump himself — erupted in anger at news organizations that had not explained that it had come amid a discussion of MS-13 members. It’s not clear from the context that he was talking only about MS-13 members. His ramble suggests he might have been referring to the people “we’re taking out of the country.” We can’t really be sure.”
“But as Julian Sanchez pointed out, this is precisely the point. Even if you adopt the most charitable interpretation — that Trump’s surface meaning was exclusively about MS-13 members — it is still not exonerating. That’s because the conflation of MS-13 members with undocumented immigrants is not an accident stemming from an imprecisely worded statement. The conflation is itself the statement.”
“Dehumanizing rhetoric works in exactly this way: It slaps the dehumanizing slur on the least sympathetic subgroup and then conflates that subgroup with the larger group that is the real target, then piously feigns innocence of any intention to tag the slur on the larger group. The dead giveaway here, as Sanchez also noted, is that this is a selectively applied technique: When Trump attacks criminals who don’t belong to the out-group he’s scapegoating, no such conflation is in evidence.”
“Trump’s reported play-acting gives away the game. There would be no reason to select imaginary Hispanic names to attach to crimes unless the whole point was to broadly associate Hispanics with criminals. A similar tactic is afoot when Trump attacks kneeling African American football players. They are protesting police brutality and systemic racism, but Trump instead attacks them for disrespecting the flag and our country, to avoid drawing attention to who and what he’s actually denigrating — African Americans who are demanding racial equality.”
“News organizations bent over backwards to chastise themselves for having failed to put Trump’s “animals” remark “in context.” And, yes, reports on it should have included the fact that MS-13 was being discussed. But “context” is a malleable thing. The still larger context is Trump’s well-documented use of dehumanization word games, not to mention his explicit conflation of immigrants with criminals. Downplaying that context is to err on the side of credulousness about Trump’s actual intent. The real import of this newly revealed anecdote should be that no one can credibly feign innocence about this game any longer.”
See: Opinion | Donald Trump’s Racism: The Definitive List – NY Times /Jan 2018
Dear Mz. Gronda,
While I do not think that racial prejudice (bigotry?) is only found in the Republican party, I do find it particularly appalling that a party that claims to own the Christian Religion has so many members that are openly racist in word and in deed! Is it not a problem in peoples minds that the leader they have chosen is openly and loudly a bigot and racist? How can one profess to adhere to a religion such a Christianity why allowing their leader to circumvent all of the basic principals of their very own Bible? I can only shake my head in disgust most of the time when King Donnie speaks as he is/has betrayed all the principals that this nation has stood for for it’s entire existence…
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Dear Crustyolemothman,
There is a strain of racism that has infected too many of the White Evangelicals who are supportive of President Donald Trump.
I’ve noted racists being more open in their views at campaign rallies at both the campaigns of President Trump and Sarah Palin. Both their rallies were full of Evangelicals. There is a connection.
Remember that there were Christians who were also KKK members and who justified the practice of slavery based on the bible.
Hugs, Gronda
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Gronda, to be honest Trump is a racist but he also looks down on most people. He screwed over many hard working contractors on a regular basis, refusing to pay them requiring them to sue him. They would accept less money or go with none as he could outspend them. He is just using these people to get and remain elected.
He sees it as advantageous to denigrate immigrants, especially from non-European countries and he ridiculed any protest movements by Blacks. I viewed his pardoning of Jack Johnson as a grandstanding not the result of soul searching conviction.
Keith
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Dear Keith,
President Trump has given racists an okay slip to act out on their racist impulses. There is a certain percentage of the president’s base that are racist. Then there are the others who claim to be non racists are are insulted to be characterized accordingly. But they are supporting a president who is racist and allowing for racists in the ranks.
The one thing that I have noted that has been similar in the Donald Trump and Sarah Palin rallies was the presence of racists in the midst while those around them were accepting of this.
I could no more participate in a rally where peoples were carrying the confederate flag or posters where President Obama was portrayed as a monkey, as this would be abhorrent to me. How come it isn’t abhorrent to those who are present, many of them who claim to be Evangelical Christians?
The republican party of President Trump is now equal to the party of racism.
Hugs, Gronda
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When the leader of a nation plays games to demoralize and denigrate certain groups of people based on any superficial criteria, such as race, ethnicity, religion, gender-orientation, or a host of others, he opens the door for all those who, for whatever reason, look up to him, to follow suit. He is enabling blatant racism, and this nation will be paying the price for his lunacy long after he has left the Oval Office. That his base is enjoying the game, cheering him on, is unconscionable. Sixteen months ago, many hoped that he would grow up, mature, step up to the plate and somehow act as a leader should act. Not for one minute did I think that would happen, and sadly it turns out that I was right. He is not capable of leading this nation anywhere but to the depths of chaos. Sigh.
Hugs!!!
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Dear Jill,
I’m afraid that the man living in the White House is also the racist-in-chief. You are right in that he has set the standard.
The other day I was listening to someone complain that she is tired of having the republican party being equated with the republican party. She did admit to being a supporter of President Trump.
I explained that there are many who suffer from the disease of racism who would go to their death beds denying that they were racists. I took the time to detail how I noticed that at President Trump’s and Sarah Palin’s rallies, the presence of peoples carrying the confederate flag and posters showing President Obama in a racist way with no one confronting those folks. Those who are truly non-racists could not participate in such an event and would never claim that President Obama was not a US citizen because he was born in Kenya.
At the very least, those in today’s republican party who are supportive of President Trump are tolerant of racism.
Hugs, Gronda
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I am always on guard when someone starts out with, “I am not a racist, BUT …” There should be no ‘but’ following that statement, for it negates the premise. The same is the case with, “I love you, BUT …” and “I’m sorry, BUT …” The world has become very complex … or rather, it always was and I was wearing blinders.
Hugs!!!
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