'Some folks still find Donald Trump's (racist) behavior shocking. I do not'

[bigtree]

'Rep. Yvette D. Clarke @RepYvetteClarke
Some folks still find Donald Trump’s behavior shocking. I do not.

This is the man who built his political fortune by way of a vile campaign of birther lies and harassment against President Obama. Bigotry has been his brand since Day 1, and the wretched “yes” men who surround him enabling or endorsing this conduct aren’t going to change that.

As his scandals continue to escalate, and as he continues to lose the little lucidity that remains with him, I expect Donald to only retreat deeper into the sewers of racism and ignorance. That’s where he’s most at home. That’s where he’s most comfortable.


from 2012:

Magic Mulatto, Mrs. YoMama, Touching A Tar Baby, Your Boy, Orbameo, Watermelons on the White House Lawn, cartoons with the President Obama's head and a chimpanzee's body, references to monkeys who escaped the zoo being related to the First Lady, and the list goes on with the racial slurs that have been hurled at this President and his family. Along with these is the recent attack of racial slurs against 11-year-old Malia, his youngest daughter.

Along with these insults is the greatest insult of all coming from the birthers with racism bubbling from every word that they speak. There is not any way that rational people would have initiated this very bizarre discussion regarding the citizenship of the President unless it was undergirded by the blinding energy of racist fear. What truly thoughtful person would have the notion that a man who is trained in constitutional law and who is an African American would be unconscious enough to imagine that he could pull off being President and not be a citizen. The entire discussion is almost beyond comprehension for those of us who are not being blinded by bigotry and hatred.

I am really not interested in hearing anyone say that these comments are about not wanting President Barack Obama to be criticized because nothing is further from the truth. Whatever policy issues that anyone finds themselves at odds with him about should be spoken about, debated and fought over in whatever civilized manner that discourse can occur. But I am talking about this low level of racist discourse that has been going on since day one. A discourse that has exhibited no respect for the office of President in the first place as well as no respect for this man, his wife and children. But even larger than this is the lack of respect that is being shown toward every African American in this country.

Another frightening thought about all of this expression of racist hatred is the fact that if President Obama and his family are treated this way, what about the young black men and women in the many racist pockets of this country who do not have the protection of education and power to buffer such attacks upon them? So many of them stand in the courts everyday and are treated to a massive dose of racist laced justice as they receive unfair treatment and find themselves being given sentences that never would be given to young whites who have committed similar crimes. This spirit that some politicians, media pundits and the birthers are fueling adds to the racism that already exists across this country and we will live to regret it if we don't find a way to show how unacceptable it is.

As a member of the Anti-Racism Commission for the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta, Georgia, I know how difficult it is to get good people who are trying to be fair and open minded to see what is really going on now. But all of us need to stay clearly focused upon the fact that the only thing that it takes for evil to triumph is for good people to be unconscious and to congratulate themselves on not being evil. This evil has to be named and resisted every day no matter what your particular political party might be since it goes deeper and further than politics. We cannot allow the artificial lines of division to deter us from standing together because we are losing our souls and the country's soul while we watch in silence.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/all-the-voices-are-white_b_1192195

(too damn tired to work up something new in response right now, but this isn't a new thing)

Jan 13, 2012, Let's be clear about the effect of the racism directed against President Obama and his family
https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=166592

[sop]

1. The lower his approval numbers tumble, the more his support becomes limited to only the most ultra-racist MAGA,

the more virulent his racism will have to be to please his dwindling base. In desperation he's gone all the way back to the openly racist anti-Obama shit that launched his political career.

[bigtree]

3. that's right. It's his old playbook

...and an inflection moment for the people who voted some three times for this man who uses racism as his core appeal.

[malaise]

2. K&R

for the truth

[LetMyPeopleVote]

4. MaddowBlog-White House tries to defend Trump amplifying a racist video targeting the Obamas

After Karoline Leavitt tried to defend the latest example of the president’s routine racism, the White House stepped on her dreadful argument.

Trump amplifying another racist video got me thinking about the commitment he made to Black voters in his second inaugural — and how quickly he returned to the kind of gutter racism that helped fuel his political rise in the first place. www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-02-06T16:01:29.577Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/white-house-tries-to-defend-trump-amplifying-a-racist-video-targeting-the-obamas

In the fall, for example, the Republican used the term “DEI” as a slur for minorities in blaming their involvement with the construction of Barack Obama’s presidential library. Soon after, the president, as part of an ugly anti-immigrant pitch, publicly referred to Somali Americans as “garbage” and revived his “s—hole countries” rhetoric.

The list, alas, continues to grow longer. The Associated Press reported:

President Donald Trump used his social media account to share a video about election conspiracy theories that includes a racist depiction of former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama, as primates in a jungle. […]

Nearly all of the 62-second clip, which was among dozens of Truth Social posts from Trump overnight, appears to be from a conservative video alleging deliberate tampering with voting machines in battleground states as the 2020 presidential votes were tallied. At the 60-second mark is a quick scene of two primates, with the Obamas’ smiling faces imposed on them.

The fact that the Republican president didn’t make the video himself is hardly exculpatory: Trump saw the video and thought it’d be a good to idea to amplify it, just as he did in his first term when he promoted a video of a supporter wearing Trump campaign gear while shouting “white power!”...

Republican Sen. Tim Scott, who is Black, wrote online that he was praying the video “was fake because it’s the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House.” The South Carolinian, who’s currently chairing the National Republican Senatorial Committee, added: “The President should remove it.”....

Complicating matters, a few hours after Leavitt tried to defend the racist video, the White House changed its story, saying in a statement, “A White House staffer erroneously made the post. It has been taken down.”

Evidently, the press secretary’s “fake outrage” line proved unsustainable.

In his second inaugural address, Trump said: “To the Black and Hispanic communities, I want to thank you for the tremendous outpouring of love and trust that you have shown me with your vote. We set records, and I will not forget it. I’ve heard your voices in the campaign, and I look forward to working with you in the years to come.”

Like too many of Trump’s promises, he wasted little time in trashing this commitment and returning to the kind of gutter racism that helped fuel his political rise in the first place.