Is President Trump racist? He doesn't mind sounding like one
To those who complain that I never seem to have anything positive to say about President Donald Trump, now hear this: I appreciate his lack of ability to hide his sexism and racism, among other odious -isms. Or maybe it's simply a lack of interest.
I try to use the S-word and the R-word sparingly. The words spark so many different reactions that the result often sheds more heat than light. But in this president's case, when the shoe fits, he should wear it.
Sure. Trump is an equal-opportunity offender in many ways. But race and gender have special power politically. Imagine, I often ask myself, how Americans would react if President Barack Obama behaved as Trump does?
Remember the uproar in 2009 that followed Obama's comment that Cambridge, Mass., police behaved "stupidly" in arresting his friend, Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, for breaking into his own home? Stupid is as stupid does. (Thank you, Forrest Gump.)
Yet the uproar was considerably more muted after Trump singled out and belittled three African-American female journalists -- for simply doing their jobs, which is to ask our president questions that the public would like to have answered.
For that, Yamiche Alcindor of "PBS NewsHour," Abby Phillip of CNN and April Ryan, a reporter for American Urban Radio Networks and a CNN contributor, ignited his contempt.
Alcindor's offense? In the news conference a day after the midterm elections, she asked Trump whether his recent characterization of himself as "a nationalist" was "emboldening white nationalists," as many observers believe it does.
Trump interrupted her with a groan and responded, "I don't know why you say that, that is such a racist question." He repeated that "racist" characterization twice more. Why did he think the question about racism was racist? Or was he merely dodging the question to fire up his base, many of whom feel aggrieved by minority grievances?
Yet, Alcindor asked a legitimate question. When Trump recently claimed the "nationalist" label to describe his "America first" views, David Duke, the former Ku Klux Klan leader, immediately tweeted his delight. To paraphrase a line from Andrew Gillum, the Democratic Tallahassee mayor and Florida gubernatorial candidate: I'm not calling the president a racist, "I'm simply saying the racists believe he's a racist."
"Sit down! I didn't call you," Trump barked at Ryan on Friday after she tried to ask him about alleged voter suppression in the midterm elections. "Such a hostile media, it's so sad."
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