David Corn: Donald Trump Listens to His Gut. And It's the Gut of a Racist.

[babylonsister]

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/07/donald-trump-listens-to-his-gut-and-its-the-gut-of-a-racist/

17 hours ago
Donald Trump Listens to His Gut. And It’s the Gut of a Racist.
Slipping in the polls, Trump ratchets up the racism.
David Corn
Washington, DC, Bureau ChiefBio | Follow

snip//

As he aims to whip up his extremist base—apparently believing that is his only chance of victory in November—Trump realizes that his Confederate flag–waving loyalists and other of his supporters resent being called racists. In fact, much of the conservative movement for decades has sucked at the teat of anti-anti-racism, insisting that liberals and many Black critics have been too quick to hurl the charge of discrimination. With his blast on Wallace and his untrue depiction of the noose incident as a “hoax” that Wallace somehow cooked up—as if this episode was similar, as White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany actually said, to the Jussie Smollett case—Trump was signaling to his devotees that, yes, you see, all these charges of racism are phony-baloney. That is, racism is not the problem; the real threat to the nation is false accusations of racism. So when you are called a racist, well, that’s just another hoax.

Trump does try to have it both ways. He constantly asserts he has done more for Black Americans than any president since Abraham Lincoln. (Fact-check: LOL.) When Trump held his first post-pandemic campaign rally at a Tulsa arena, his campaign flew in two dozen members of its Black Voices for Trump group and displayed them prominently at the event. (Herman Cain, the 74-year-old co-chair of this outfit who attended the rally without wearing a mask, was subsequently hospitalized for COVID-19.) And Trumpworld does push back whenever Trump’s racism arises as an issue. As reporters at the Washington Post were examining Trump’s recent attempts at “amplifying racism and stoking culture wars,” they reached out to Armstrong Williams, a Black conservative and Trump supporter, who defended Trump with this curious statement: “President Trump has been more exposed to black people, black leaders and black culture than most previous presidents. He doesn’t see the implications of his tweets in the way that his critics do. He just loves his supporters.” So the president doesn’t understand what it means to tweet out a video of a supporter yelling “white power”? Williams then deployed the some-of-his-best-friends defense: “This is someone who spoke at length on the phone to Don King on election night—I was with Trump when he took the call. This is someone who welcomed Kanye West at the White House. That’s who Trump is.” Williams was scraping the bottom of the barrel.


Trump’s latest weaponizing of racism is an audacious move: he is embracing white supremacy (or its most powerful symbols) and absolving racists of being racists. Most political strategists would tell a candidate slipping in the polls because of his divisiveness and incompetence to be less divisive and more competent. But as Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, recently remarked, “He’s really the campaign manager at the end of the day.”

At the start of this week, Trump’s White House was prepping to promote talking points hailing the economy. But Trump had another plan. He blew that up with one racist tweet. His fans, advisers, and apologists often say Trump follows his own instincts and calls his own shots. As his presidency heads toward bankruptcy—as thousands of Americans continue to die in the pandemic and as tens of millions remain out of work—Trump is holding on to what he knows best: demagoguery and hate. He is indeed listening to his gut, and it’s a cauldron of racist bile.

[PRETZEL]

1. Glad someone finally put in writing

what we have all known for some time now.

[musclecar6]

2. Mary Trump

A clinical psychologist, said Donald’s father was a sociopath and Donald has so many pathologies she can’t even keep up with them. As we’ve all seen he is one screwed up person to put it mildly. Wildly insecure narcissist who will listen to no one and in many cases doesn’t know his ass from a hole in the ground but of course would never admit to that or is even aware of what a dunce he is. The craziest part is we still have Republican voters and Congress people kissing this guy’s ass like he’s the second coming.

[lagomorph777]

3. The gut of a racist who consumes chickens and cows by the truckload.

[zentrum]

4. "Caldron of racist bile".

[Hip2bSquare]

5. Taught racism

He's always been a racist. His father was a racist. This is nothing new and has never been a secret and this got many to the polls because of it. One of putin's goals was to start a 'race war'. Russian trolls began this effort after they picked trump to run for office.

This won't stop by trump and it will get worse. 130,000 Americans dead and more will die and he's blathering about a race car driver and a confederate flag...a born and raised Yankee crying about a southern flag. If stupid came in human form thy name would be trump.

[flibbitygiblets]

6. If stupid came in human form thy name would be trump SUPPORTERS

...IMO

Great post BTW!

[Evolve Dammit]

7. His father was arrested at a Klan Rally in NY. This is the apple not falling far from the tree.

He's been a racist his whole life, modeled after dear old dad.