Donald Trump has given up
“President” Donald Trump just keeps at it. His racist statements and his attacks on people of color continue unabated, and the feckless GOP continues to double down in backing the racist president who does not give a shit.
The examples abound. After distancing himself from the “send her back” chants at his rally this week, Trump changed that tune, because he knows his base supports it. He called the chanters “patriots.” Shades of birtherism all over again. Representative Ilhan Omar is a United States citizen. Perhaps in his mind, “patriots” is an acronym for “patently and totally racist idiots of Trump supporters” because no real patriots ever turn on their own citizens. Trump also made references to Omar supposedly having married her brother, likely some other stereotype that Trump has in his reptilian brain.
On Friday, Nobel Laureate Nadia Murad visited Trump in the Oval Office, telling the harrowing story of her family being killed by ISIS. Trump primped and did his normal hamming for the cameras, and showed he had not listened at all to the incredible person of color speaking to him. After she told of the murder of her family, Trump asked the question, “Where are they now?”
Finally, Trump this week again attacked Puerto Rico and stated that Congress had wasted billions on Puerto Rico. Trump apparently cannot comprehend that Puerto Rico is in fact part of the United States of America and that its citizens are citizens of the United States of America. Trump overstated by tens of billions the aid that was sent to Puerto Rico.
Trump’s latest racist attacks are dangerous, but not surprising, and likely to continue and be featured in his 2020 presidential campaign. When he refers to making “America Great Again,” he apparently harks back to Reconstruction or the Jim Crow era, some time before the second half of the 20th Century. He is only interested in making “Racist Americans Great Again,” and his party remains silent.
Daniel is a lawyer writing and teaching about SCOTUS, and is the author of the book “The Chief Justices” about the SCOTUS as seen through the center seat.