Yes! You, sir, like your President, are a racist!

IT’S NOT ABOUT WHAT HE SAYS, BUT HOW HE SAYS IT

I’m actually working on another post that’s more involved, but I wanted to take a few minutes to offer this quick little nugget.

I took a few minutes to peruse my social media, knowing full well that I would find some commentary on The Orange Don’s latest racist spew. That the President is a racist and isn’t afraid to let everyone know is pretty old news, so this really is a non-issue. So I had no intention of saying anything. I just braced myself for the twisted justifications, equivocations, and denials from my conservative friends.

So I was heartened when I saw this post from the most outspoken of the right-wingers on my feed.

 

 

Oh, well, that’s not so bad. I’m glad my friend is willing to stand up and stand up for what is right even in the face of someone he usually supports. Kudos to him.

And had I stopped there, I probably would have been happy. But I never stop. I keep digging. I saw the first reply to my friend’s post and I had to click the string. Here’s the rest of the story.

 

Dammit!

So let’s put this in context. Donald Trump should not have referred to El Salvadore, Haiti and other such nations as “shitholes” not because it’s a mischaracterization, culturally insensitive and ignorant, but because saying so lacks “decorum.” Other than that, everyone on this string agrees that his overall assessment was “…not wrong” and “spot on.” These countries really are shitholes, he should have just used more decorous phraseology.

That being said, they really don’t want Donald Trump to show more restraint because they admire the fact that he is not PC and he “calls it as he sees it.”

Um…so that makes them racists.

Perhaps I’m being politically incorrect in saying that, but hey, I call it as I see it.

 

Look, I don’t know the gentlemen who commented on my friend’s post except for the right-wing politics that is clear from their participation in past online conversations. I do, however, know my friend. He’s a good person and he certainly does not consider himself a racist. This string, however, indicates that even as he is not a racist, many his political views are informed by racist assumptions and philosophies as well as a profound ignorance of global history.

 

Look, I’ve been to some of the countries that the President just derided. They are not shitholes. They are poor, and the people there do the best that they can with what they have…which is almost nothing. That’s why we receive immigrants from these countries, not from Norway. Furthermore, among the reasons why they are so poor is because they were exploited and destroyed by the United States and Europe, and wealthy countries continue to stand in the way of their development. Want to stop brown immigrants from coming to the United States, pay back what was stolen from them.

Some time ago I posted one of my most controversial essays in which I characterized Trump voters as being bigots, idiots or assholes (which I later changed to sociopaths). Since then, I’ve seen absolutely nothing to change my analysis. I have seen a great deal, like this particular string, that confirms my evaluation. To be sure, it’s very possible that many who fall under the “bigot” category would not characterize themselves that way. They may not even know they are bigots. But they are bigots nonetheless and that’s not going to change unless they are willing to perform the necessary introspective analysis required to root out their prejudices.

Until they, don’t expect them to waver from their support of The Orange Don. They agree with his positions. They believe that he is getting a lot done. They really think that all of the bad stuff coming out about their anointed one is nothing more than fake news and liberal propaganda. It’s the PC police who can’t handle the truth about those people.

They will be there to cast their vote to re-elect come 2020.