“As speakers mounted their defenses of the president, it seemed apparent that supporters were cheering them on as a means of affirming not just Trump, but also themselves. Because to accuse a politician of holding virulent racist beliefs is also, if only implicitly, to condemn his or her voters of harboring those same tendencies.
“And that’s what the rally-goers I spoke to last night seemed most nonplussed by – not so much that Trump had been roundly condemned in recent days as a racist, or a bigot, but that they, by virtue of association, had been as well.
“But rather than distancing them from Trump, the accusations have only seemed to strengthen their support of this president. To back down, they suggested, would be to bow down to the scourge of political correctness.”
– Elaina Plott, national political reporter for The New York Times reporting about Trump Rally at Cincinnati on August 3, 2019
Carefully reading the quote above is an exercise in understanding – a brief reading so telling of the racism generated by Donald Trump.
Trump supporters refuse to “back down” and “distance” from Trump even though he repeatedly displays bigotry and racism. They do so because of their belief that “political correctness” is taking away both their freedom of speech and their values – all fears actually generated by their own White fragility – discomfort and defensiveness on the part of Whites when confronted by information about racial inequality and injustice. This “discomfort” prevents them from actively confronting their own aversive racism.
(Elaina Plott. “We’re All Tired of Being Called Racists.” The Atlantic. August 02, 2019.)
In other words, White Trump supporters see his bigotry and racism and know it is wrong. However, they continue to support Trump in the name of fighting what they see as a foe of their own identity. In truth, they have caved to a charlatan with solely personal motives who cares nothing about anything but money, power, and advancing his own agenda. Despite his claims to the contrary, Trump employs the racial divide – pokes it, stirs it, smears it – for his own biased, selfish interests.
Moira Weigel, author and postdoctoral scholar at the Harvard Society of Fellows, explains how from the very start of his first campaign, Trump's “outsider” image appealed to his faithful, a group craving to vent …
“Every demagogue needs an enemy. Trump’s was the ruling elite, and his charge was that they were not only failing to solve the greatest problems facing Americans, they were trying to stop anyone from even talking about those problems …
“We should not underestimate how many Trump supporters held views that were sexist, racist, xenophobic and Islamophobic, and were thrilled to feel that he had given them permission to say so. It’s an old trick: the powerful encourage the less powerful to vent their rage against those who might have been their allies, and to delude themselves into thinking that they have been liberated. It costs the powerful nothing; it pays frightful dividends …
“Trump and his followers never defined 'political correctness,' or specified who was enforcing it. They did not have to. The phrase conjured powerful forces determined to suppress inconvenient truths by policing language.”
(Moira Weigel. “Political correctness: how the right invented a phantom enemy.” The Guardian. November 30, 2016.)
Trump's contempt for political correctness looks a lot like contempt for politics itself. He does not talk about diplomacy; he talks about “deals.” Debate and disagreement are central to politics, yet Trump has made clear that he has no time for these distractions. “Make America great again” is a White Nationalist call for superiority and control.
The real point of Trump's use of the political correctness argument is to challenge and eventually abandon terms, attitudes, beliefs, positions, and practices/behaviors that presuppose any kind of inferiority, abnormality, or “otherness” among those who deviate from a White, Christian, middle class, hetero-patriarchal norm.
Instead of challenging injustice and promoting a more equitable type of diversity, Trump seeks to ignore racism, sexism, and homophobia in current language, norms, value systems, and practices that, for too long, have been regarded as natural or universal.
(Luigi Esposito and Laura Finley. Political Correctness in the Era of Trump: Threat to Freedom or Ideological Scapegoat? 2019.)
What results is a Trump-sponsored sanction – whether reluctant or enthusiastic – for racist behavior, including actions by right-wing militia groups and other armed non-state actors. As Trump warns of rigged elections, calls out for poll watchers, and asks the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by,” he incites bigotry and hatred. The fight against political correctness actually condones inequality and injustice as tenets of its beliefs.
According to FBI data, the number of hate crimes reached a 5 year high in 2016, spiking towards the end of the year, soon after Trump’s presidential victory. These data show that 58.9% of the victims were targeted because of their race or ethnicity; 21.1% because of their religion (anti-Muslim hate crimes increased by 20% compared to 2015); and 16.7% because of their sexual orientation (FBI Releases 2016 Hate Crime Statistics).
The Southern Poverty Law Center reports that the spike is likely related to Trump’s campaign. Indeed, various critics have argued that Trump’s overtly racist messages, advocacy for violence at his rallies, and continuous calls to discard all political correctness might have emboldened some of his supporters to engage in overt bigotry and violence, including hate crimes.
(“Hate groups increase for second consecutive year as Trump electrifies radical right.” Southern Poverty Law Center. February 15, 2017.)
(Christopher Mathias. “Go Back To Your Country, They Said.” Huffington Post. November 04, 2019.)
Despite all of Trump’s talk about the need to do away with political correctness, the president himself has consistently displayed inexcusable, right-wing hate speech. His contentious comments about people of color have contributed to a deeply divided America.
Trump has undermined Black Lives Matter protesters, calling them "terrorists" and "thugs." He has made Asian Americans the target of hate crimes, calling the deadly coronavirus the "Chinese virus" and "Kung flu." And he has used eugenics to appeal to his white supporters, telling a mostly white crowd in Minnesota they have "good genes."
(Nicquel Terry Ellis. “'Stand back and stand by': Rhetoric some call racist has marked Trump's entire presidency.” USA Today. October 13, 2020.)
Going Along With Trump Despite His Racism
In the case of Trump supporters, a difference between people's White “minds” and their “unconscious feelings” delineates an important understanding.
John Dovidio, PhD, a professor of psychology and public health at Yale University, has studied issues of social power and social relations, both between and among groups and individuals. His work explores both conscious (explicit) and unconscious (implicit) influences on how people think about, feel about, and behave toward others based on group membership. He has conducted research on “aversive racism,” a contemporary, subtle form of prejudice, and on techniques for reducing conscious and unconscious biases.
Dovidio cited what he calls “aversive racists” who “sympathize with victims of past injustice, support principles of racial equality, and genuinely regard themselves as non-prejudiced, but at the same time possess conflicting, often non-conscious, negative feelings and beliefs about blacks.”
These negative feelings are rooted in basic psychological processes (e.g., social categorization) that promote racial bias. In addition, the negative feelings that aversive racists have toward blacks do not reflect open hostility or hatred. Instead, aversive racists’ reactions typically involve discomfort, anxiety, or fear.”
(Robert Mitchell. “Yale professor examines unconscious biases by whites.” The Harvard Gazette. December 7, 2015.)
Dovidio believes attitudes do help us orient ourselves to others and the environment, and he concludes the world would be chaos if we changed our attitudes toward people and objects too easily. Here is how he describes change …
“In America, whites have been able to change their minds about racism faster than they have been able to change their deep-seated, and often unconscious, feelings. The vast majority of white Americans currently know we should be non-prejudiced and egalitarian. But the emotional impact, the “gut” impact, that race has on people still lags behind.”
(Staff. “Five Questions for John Dovidio, PhD.” American Psychological Association.” 2009.)
The result of that “gut impact”? White people are challenged to identify and change feelings that are often not plainly or easily expressed – usually subtle and easily mistaken emotions of which they are largely unaware.
Dovidio explains …
“Aversive racists typically don’t discriminate against a black person in situations where right and wrong are clearly defined. To discriminate in that situation would be obvious to other people and yourself; aversive racists don’t want to appear and don’t want to be racially biased. However, because of their unconscious negative feelings and beliefs, aversive racists will discriminate, but primarily in situations in which right and wrong are not clearly defined or in which they can justify or rationalize a negative response on the basis of some factor other than race.”
(Staff. “Five Questions for John Dovidio, PhD.” American Psychological Association.” 2009.)
Aversive Racists Associate With Trump
Donald Trump, himself, admitted to “not being concerned” about white nationalist groups finding “a common cause” with his racist remarks because “many people agree with him.”
Confirmation of support for his bigotry is evidenced by those who love his daily tweets, campaign rallies, and executive orders. The faithful, like programmed automatons on steroids, parrot his messages of hatred for anything that doesn't meet his view of “making America great again.” Of course, after Trump's divisive tirades, political parasites in the GOP like Lindsey Graham debase themselves by supporting his unquestionable bigotry.
Still, at his rallies, Trump routinely spews racist rhetoric. And, he referred to Haiti, El Salvador, and an assortment of African nations as “shithole countries”; he complained about Sen. Mitt Romney “walking with the Black Lives Matter” movement; in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, he claimed that "more White people" are dying at the hands of law enforcement than Black people; and he told Ohioans that a Black senator from New Jersey wants to destroy their suburbs with low-income housing.
Trump calls himself “the least racist person anywhere in the world.” At his October 2020 rally in Greenville, he declared: “Democrats smear decent Americans as racists, slander our nation as evil, indoctrinate our children and incite anti-American riots on our streets.” Yet, in a Presidential Debate this year, Trump refused to condemn white supremacists, and even called for their mobilization.
For God's sake, Trump supporters, it is time to hold your candidate responsible for his speech, for his views, and for his actions. Trump is not your savior. He is not “the chosen one.” He is not trying to save you from political correctness … whatever in the hell that means. Trump is a bigoted racist.
YOU, WHITE AMERICANS, MUST RECOGNIZE YOUR OWN WHITE FRAGILITY AND AVERSIVE RACISM. STOP SUPPORTING TRUMP. To fail to do so makes you a vulnerable sheep willingly accepting injustice for the reelection of a leader who doesn't even have your true interests in mind … that is, unless you are confessing you too are a bigot, a racist, or a willing participant for advancing their evil beliefs.
“This is the dull semantics of racism. The white conservative twists the discursive field so that he is the sane arbiter of what is or isn’t racist; everyone else is frivolous and excessive, 'recklessly' invoking the most sacrilegious offense. This logic rests on the illusion that racism is mythically rare, that 'racist' is a dangerous slur rather than a common condition.”
– Doreen St. Felix, Staff Writer for The New Yorker, “Trump, the Squad, and the 'Standard Definition' of Racism”
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