President Donald Trump
unleashed a tweet storm – more than 80 messages – early Sunday
(August 30) about Portland, Oregon, hours after a man was killed
there during clashes between a large group of Trump supporters and
Black Lives Matter demonstrators.
The president retweeted a
post that had used a profanity to describe Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler
– “Ted Wheeler is the useless fucking idiot and comic relief that
gets everyone killed in every disaster movie” – commenting only
to “Tone down the language, but TRUE!” – and others in which
the original tweeters accused the mayor, a Democrat, of “war
crimes” and of having blood on his hands – "It is August 29,
2020, and Ted Wheeler has not yet resigned for committing war
crimes.”
Trump referred to Black
Lives Matter protesters in Washington as "Disgraceful
Anarchists" and said, "We are watching them closely”
while he shared a video of the pro-Trump caravan driving into
Portland labeling its members as “GREAT PATRIOTS!!!” He concluded
a string of dozens of tweets with the slogan “LAW AND ORDER!!!”
(Allan
Smith. “Trump praises right-wing supporters, rails against
protesters after unrest in Portland.” NBC News. August 30, 2020.)
Trump unleashed this
frantic, misdirected barrage during a time of great social and
political unrest. It is evident that this president of the United
States lacks concern about healing and, instead, continues to divide
the country for his personal gain. He is looking to inflame unrest in
U.S. cities because he believes it will help his re-election
campaign. Without the core group of Trump loyalists, he has no path
to victory.
Speaking at a news
conference, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler asked, "Do you seriously
wonder, Mr. President, why this is the first time in decades that
America has seen this level of violence?" He continued …
"It's you who have
created the hate and the division. It's you who have not found a way
to say the names of Black people killed by police officers even as
people in law enforcement have. And it's you who claimed that White
supremacists are good people. Your campaign of fear is as
anti-democratic as anything you've done to create hate and vitriol in
our beautiful country."
Onetime Defense Secretary
Jim Mattis has issued a statement to The Atlantic denouncing
Trump's behavior and rhetoric. Mattis wrote …
"Donald Trump is the
first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American
people – does not even pretend to try. Instead, he tries to divide
us.”
An Associated Press-NORC
Center for Public Affairs Research poll (June 2020) found Americans
are deeply unhappy about the state of their country – and a
majority think President Donald Trump is exacerbating tensions in a
moment of national crisis.
The survey concluded
Americans – including 63% of Republicans – say the country is
heading in the wrong direction. And close to two-thirds – including
37% of Republicans – say Trump is making America more divided.
(Julie Pace and Emily
Swanson. “AP-NORC poll: Trump adds to divisions in an unhappy
country.” AP News. June 18, 2020.)
The protests over police
brutality against black Americans have proven to be a particularly
searing moment for the nation, as well as for Trump’s presidency.
And he gets low marks for his handling of them.
A majority of Americans – 64% – say Trump has made things worse during the unrest following
the death of Floyd, an unarmed and handcuffed black man who died
after a white police officer knelt on his neck for nearly eight
minutes. Seventy-two percent of black Americans and 51% of white
Americans think Trump has made things worse following Floyd’s
death.
Trump took to Twitter in
May 2020 to express his displeasure with the anti-racism
protests around the country following the police killing of George
Floyd and other Black Americans. “These THUGS are dishonoring the
memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen. Just spoke to
Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the
way,” he wrote.
Trump tweeted: “Any difficulty and we
will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting
starts.” The phrase “when the looting starts, the shooting
starts” has a racist history, being used before by a white police
chief in response to civil unrest and a segregationist politician.
Racial division is a
hallmark of Trump's presidency. He engages in public racism seemingly
at will as he repeatedly pours gasoline on racial flames. Consider …
- He led the “birther” crusade against Barack Obama, questioning whether the nation’s first African-American president was born in the United States.
- He kicked off his 2016 presidential announcement talking about Mexican rapists. (“They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”)
- He said a U.S. federal judge had a conflict of interest in presiding over a case involving Trump because of the judge’s “Mexican heritage.”
- As president, he referred to Haiti and African nations as “shithole” countries.
- He talked about “very fine people, on both sides” in response to the unrest in Charlottesville, Va.
- He questioned LeBron James’ intelligence.
- And he did the same to Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif.
Republicans worry Trump's
racist comments will hurt him in 2020. Republican pollster Frank
Luntz says …
“Anything that
detracts from a truly remarkable economic renaissance undermines his
re-election. This is a distraction.”
(Tessa Berenson. “'This
Is a Distraction.' Republicans Worry Trump's Racist Comments Will
Hurt Him in 2020.” Time. July 30, 2019.)
Yet, the GOP fails to do
anything about Trump's outbursts. They hold onto the same platform
endorsed in 2016. To Trump, and to many of his supporters, the
American body must be a white body. Trump has revealed the depth of
the country's prejudice and inadvertently forced a reckoning.
“I’m the least racist
person there is anywhere in the world,” Trump told reporters on
July 30, 2019. He will continue to call himself “not racist,” and
turn the descriptive term “racist” back on anyone who has
the temerity to call out his own prejudice.
Ibram X. Kendi, author and
Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities and the director of the
Boston University Center for Antiracist Research, explains …
“Trump clearly hopes
that racist ideas – paired with policies designed to suppress the
vote – will lead to his reelection. But now that Trump has pushed a
critical mass of Americans to a point where they can no longer
explain away the nation’s sins, the question is what those
Americans will do about it.”
(Ibram X. Kendi. “Is
This the Beginning of the End of American Racism?”
The Atlantic.
September 2020.)
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