Trump Racist?
In the aftermath of the alleged comments by the President the Left, including members of this forum, are going crazy calling Trump a racist.
Here is the question, how does describing a country and its conditions make Trump a racist? If you have been to any of these countries, and I have, you know that living conditions are terrible in many places in those nations. And, while I would not have used the same words to describe the country, I must agree with the President's assessment of the conditions in many of those places.
This does beg the question he asked, which has been lost in the media's rabid desire to destroy the President, why are we not more selective about who we bring and allow into the country to stay? Why do we let just anyone in? That makes no sense.
We should make sure that the people we bring here can be productive members of society and can contribute something to the betterment of our nation.
Now, before our left-leaning friends here go crazy about what I just said, I am not saying that countries like Haiti do not have citizens that could benefit the United States. But what I am saying is this:
- Trump was right about the living conditions and status of those nations in general.
- We need to be choosy about who we let in whether it is from those countries from the third world status, or from modern countries like, to use the President's words, Norway.
Comments
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@davidtaylorjr said:
In the aftermath of the alleged comments by the President the Left, including members of this forum, are going crazy calling Trump a racist.
We're not "going crazy" or "rabid," David. We're observing reality and reaching what we believe are reasonable conclusions. I'm sure you think you're implementing a similar process and reaching similarly reasonable conclusions. Your conclusions happen to be different from ours.
The heading you attached to this thread is about racism, but the substance of your post is predominantly about immigration. The immigration debate is one we must have as Americans, but I choose to focus on your thread's topic, racism.
Is Donald Trump a racist? Yes. What do I mean? In my view - a view shared by the NAACP and many others - a racist is a racially prejudiced person who has the power to affect the lives of those against whom he or she has the prejudice. The iconic television character Archie Bunker was clearly racially prejudiced, but he wasn't a racist because he lacked the power to affect others. Donald Trump is racially prejudiced AND, as president (and formerly, as the CEO of his company) he has the power to affect the lives of those against whom he is prejudiced.
What's the evidence of Trump's racism? THIS ARTICLE AT VOX.COM offers a devastating portrait of the man and his history. Among the examples it cites are the 1970's housing discrimination fines he and his father paid; the 1989 "Central Park Five" case against whose defendants he took out a full page newspaper ad calling for their executions, and whom to this day he still believes are guilty despite DNA evidence that set them free from prison after spending seven to thirteen years there for a crime they did not commit; the 1992 fine he paid for transferring African American casino table workers off the floor to accommodate a customer's prejudices; and of course, more modern events such as his many years' promotion of the birther lie, and his judgment against an American judge of Mexican heritage in the "Trump University" case.
The author says any one or small number of the more than two dozen examples he lists does not make the case for Trump's racism. What makes the case is the pattern of behavior - over many decades and in various settings. I agree.
You're welcome to conclude that the president is not a racist. But the presentation in the VOX article (which is much more multi-dimensional than I have depicted!) makes clear, in my view, that those who conclude Trump is a racist are neither "crazy" nor "rabid."
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@Bill_Coley said:
@davidtaylorjr said:
In the aftermath of the alleged comments by the President the Left, including members of this forum, are going crazy calling Trump a racist.
We're not "going crazy" or "rabid," David. We're observing reality and reaching what we believe are reasonable conclusions. I'm sure you think you're implementing a similar process and reaching similarly reasonable conclusions. Your conclusions happen to be different from ours.
The heading you attached to this thread is about racism, but the substance of your post is predominantly about immigration. The immigration debate is one we must have as Americans, but I choose to focus on your thread's topic, racism.
Is Donald Trump a racist? Yes. What do I mean? In my view - a view shared by the NAACP and many others - a racist is a racially prejudiced person who has the power to affect the lives of those against whom he or she has the prejudice. The iconic television character Archie Bunker was clearly racially prejudiced, but he wasn't a racist because he lacked the power to affect others. Donald Trump is racially prejudiced AND, as president (and formerly, as the CEO of his company) he has the power to affect the lives of those against whom he is prejudiced.
What's the evidence of Trump's racism? THIS ARTICLE AT VOX.COM offers a devastating portrait of the man and his history. Among the examples it cites are the 1970's housing discrimination fines he and his father paid; the 1989 "Central Park Five" case against whose defendants he took out a full page newspaper ad calling for their executions, and whom to this day he still believes are guilty despite DNA evidence that set them free from prison after spending seven to thirteen years there for a crime they did not commit; the 1992 fine he paid for transferring African American casino table workers off the floor to accommodate a customer's prejudices; and of course, more modern events such as his many years' promotion of the birther lie, and his judgment against an American judge of Mexican heritage in the "Trump University" case.
The author says any one or small number of the more than two dozen examples he lists does not make the case for Trump's racism. What makes the case is the pattern of behavior - over many decades and in various settings. I agree.
You're welcome to conclude that the president is not a racist. But the presentation in the VOX article (which is much more multi-dimensional than I have depicted!) makes clear, in my view, that those who conclude Trump is a racist are neither "crazy" nor "rabid."
You should look up the definition of racism. prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior.
I don't see evidence of that at all. Heck, part of his cabinet are African American.
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I think we can safely judge people by their actions. But I think we judge ourselves when we assume people have the same motives we would have if we were to do the same.
That is, since I'm not a bigot, I do not see this as a first choice of another's motives unless their actions make it obviously clear.
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I think you have a good point, Dave. My dad is a gentle, kind old person. Would die for anyone of any race. Yet he loves jokes about different countries and even ethnicities. I am sometimes quite embarrassed by those jokes. Some people would trash him for things he says, but I know my dad. He can say such things because he is able to see nuances of culture and delights in the beauty of that. Nothing in him thinks less of a person because of those nuances. Yet some things he says would get him stoned to death before a PC crowd. I also know that my dad would be first in line to do anything, even die for them long before any PC bullhorn was done blaring.
