06 August 2019

He's Getting Worse

Jeffrey Goldberg at The Atlantic wrote an excellent short piece yesterday (link here) about Donald Trump's overt racism with the title "He's Getting Worse" and the deck "Trump is turning the American presidency into a platform for the wholesale demonization of minorities."

Trump's racism has always been in plain sight. His chronic demonization of the Central Park Five, for instance, along with his claims that President Obama was not born in the United States are two of many examples of his embrace of racism.

His presidential campaign regularly featured racist rhetoric. His characterization of Mexican immigrants as a class of rapists was the worst example of many.

His presidency itself has repeatedly stooped to racist rhetoric, the rate of which is accelerating. Some of his supporters encourage this because they share his racism. Others make excuses for him, insisting he's not racist, conveniently failing to notice what's in plain sight.

Trump's re-election campaign is steeped in racism. It's one of the central themes. He has so little actual successes he can run on, so he instead appears determined to motivate every adult racist in the country to turn out to vote for him.

Trump arguably is not the worst racist to ever inhabit the Oval Office. But he's the first one in a very long time, more than a hundred years, thus making him a great disgrace to this nation. He will not be President forever, but the stain he will leave on the presidency and the country will long outlive him.

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