Trump keeps reminding us why people support him. It's the racism

[Zorro]

The president of the United States posted a racist video Thursday night depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes. On Friday, the White House dismissed criticism — but the president deleted the post. Was this episode disappointing? Yes. Surprising? Not anymore.

Last spring, after Pope Francis had died, Donald Trump posted an AI image of himself as the pope just days before cardinals convened to elect a successor.

So, no — it is not surprising that the president would choose to post virulent anti-Black imagery during Black History Month.

But it is disappointing here in 2026 that an occupant of the Oval Office is still thinking like that.

Back in 1971, the president of the United States laughed when the governor of California referred to the African delegates at the United Nations as monkeys. Less than 10 years later, that governor became the president of the United States. And here we are, half a century later, and yet another president has amplified that racist trope.

Meaning white supremacy is still on the ballot.

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2026-02-06/trump-racist-video-post-obamas-white-supremacy

[Kid Berwyn]

1. Pruneface was a klansman.

The late Honorable Detroit Mayor Coleman A. Young on Ronald Reagan, before he was elected president:

"Pruneface."

On Ronald Reagan, after he was elected:

"President Pruneface."



Reagan, White As Snow

by Alec Dubro
www.tompaine.com/, May 13, 2007

EXCERPT...

Domestically, he opposed every legislative remedy for African Americans, betraying a meanness of spirit and an open racism. As Sidney Blumenthal wrote in The Guardian in 2003:

Reagan opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, opposed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (calling it "humiliating to the South", and ran for governor of California in 1966 promising to wipe the Fair Housing Act off the books. "If an individual wants to discriminate against Negroes or others in selling or renting his house," he said, "he has a right to do so." After the Republican convention in 1980, Reagan traveled to the county fair in Neshoba, Mississippi, where, in 1964, three Freedom Riders had been slain by the Ku Klux Klan. Before an all-white crowd of tens of thousands, Reagan declared: "I believe in states' rights."

It's hard to believe now, but in 1965, a higher percentage of congressional Republicans voted for the Voting Rights Act than Democrats. Reagan, then, wasn't following party tradition; he was making a grab for the white racist vote-and it worked. Southern Democrats abandoned the party en masse for one more welcoming to white supremacy. No wonder so many loved, and still love, the man: He validated people's whiteness.

It's true that Reagan knew enough to occasionally disguise his racism. He appointed Samuel Pierce to head the Department of Housing and Urban Development, where Pierce presided over the halving of housing subsidies. No matter. Reagan couldn't remember the man's name. Once, at a reception for the nation's mayors, he greeted Pierce with a '"Hello, Mr. Mayor." Despite this, a few black conservatives, such as Armstrong Williams, were willing to validate him as someone who knew better than the "civil rights establishment" what was good for African Americans.

But it was in foreign affairs that he showed that he could rise above mere opportunism and flaunt his racism for all the world to see. He was the best friend that South Africa's apartheid government had in the developed world.

CONTINUED...

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Ronald_Reagan/Reagan_WhiteAsSnow.html

For all the lurking Fundamentalists: Reagan and his ilk brought America full-spectrum evil.



Bell Book Says Officials Told Racist Jokes : Reagan Aide Says He Doubts Claim by Ex-Education Secretary

October 21, 1987|Associated Press

WASHINGTON — President Reagan's first secretary of education says mid-level Administration officials made racist jokes and other scurrilous remarks during civil rights discussions, but Reagan's chief spokesman said Tuesday he does not believe it.

Terrel H. Bell, in a memoir of Reagan's first term, said the slurs included references to the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as "Martin Lucifer Coon" and calling Title IX, a federal law guaranteeing women equal educational opportunity, "the lesbian's bill of rights."

SNIP...

Bell did not identify those who made the racist or scurrilous comments. He could not be reached for further comment.

In his book, he says the jokes about King were made as Reagan was deciding whether to sign or veto a bill establishing King's birthday as a national holiday. He eventually signed it.

Bell said: "I do not mean to imply that these scurrilous remarks were common utterances in the rooms and corridors of the White House and the Old Executive Office Building, but I heard them when issues related to civil rights enforcement weighed heavily on my mind."

Bell added: "It seemed obvious they were said for my benefit, since they often accompanied sardonic references to 'Comrade Bell.' "

CONTINUED...

http://articles.latimes.com/1987-10-21/news/mn-9912_1_racist-jokes

What it has to do with the present situation:



Media Ignores Ronald Reagan’s Unmasking as Donald Trump’s Racist Grandpa

By Tommy Christopher
Mediate, August 3, 2019

Excerpt…

You could be forgiven if you missed the news that a racist telephone conversation between then-California Governor Reagan and then-President Richard Nixon was unearthed and released this week.

The call took place in October of 1971, during which Reagan and Nixon discussed the United Nations delegation from the United Republic of Tanzania following a vote on a resolution to seat China in the world body.

“Last night, I tell you, to watch that thing on television as I did,” Reagan said in the brief recording.

“Yeah,” Nixon agreed.

“To see those, those monkeys from those African countries — damn them, they’re still uncomfortable wearing shoes!” Reagan continued, to hearty laughter from Nixon.

Continues…

https://www.mediaite.com/opinion/media-ignores-ronald-reagans-unmasking-as-donald-trumps-racist-grandpa/



Great OP, Zorro! Recycling to pile on.

[Henry203]

2. I was reading the NY times

When they reported that Reagan had declared states rights in Mississippi. I threw the paper against the wall. Reagan has always disgusted me. Trump is worse.

[chowmama]

3. But Reagan said publicly that there were no racial problems when he was young.

Because everybody knew their place.

(I wanted to add a vomit emoji, but it just comes out as text.)