For Trump, it’s (white) America First
was just another week in Donald Trump’s (white) America First campaign.
At least twice, Trump alleged that people have called for a “moment of silence” for the madman who killed five police officers in Dallas at a Black Lives Matter protest.
It was an incendiary accusation, bound to stir racial hatred. Like Trump’s accusation that New Jersey Muslims cheered the 9/11 attacks, this, too, was categorically false. There was no sign of such calls, and a top Trump adviser couldn’t corroborate the allegation.
Yet what was remarkable about the reckless accusation was how unremarkable Trump’s appeals to racist division have become. Days before and after that remark, Trump:
●Snubbed the NAACP, saying he wouldn’t appear at the group’s convention.
●Declared in response to racial unrest that “I am the law-and-order candidate” — an echo of Richard Nixon’s response to violence following the Martin Luther King Jr. assassination.
●Spoke at a rally where, according to reports, supporters answered mentions of President Obama with “he’s a monkey” and of Hillary Clinton by saying “hang that bitch.”
●Was preceded at the lectern at one event by a speaker who asked the crowd if they would walk down a street in Washington or Baltimore on a weekend. The response, per The Post’s Jenna Johnson: “No!”
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/for-donald-trump-its-white-america-first/2016/07/15/4faa1b60-49f9-11e6-90a8-fb84201e0645_story.html?wpisrc=nl_rainbow&wpmm=1
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