“Yet, people still support him.”

| 12:01 pm EST January 16, 2024
Dear Palmer Report readers, we all understand the difficult era we're heading into. Major media outlets are caving to Trump already. Even the internet itself and publishing platforms may be at risk. But Palmer Report is nonetheless going to lead the fight. We're funding our 2025 operating expenses now, so we can keep publishing no matter what happens. I'm asking you to contribute if you can, because the stakes are just so high. You can donate here.

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.” The words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. resonate with many of us every day. We try to live in the light and allow our light to shine on others. Dr. King withstood beatings, jailings, and was finally taken from us by a sniper’s bullet. As the years have passed, we have continued to try to live by his words. Unfortunately, much of that has been destroyed by the presence of one Donald Trump. It seems blasphemous to speak of Trump and Dr. King in the same breath, but Donald Trump is the darkness of which King spoke. Yet, people still support him.

Trump has been trying to avoid prosecution by claiming that he is immune because he was president at the time of his crimes. Had Trump been conducting presidential duties, he would have been immune. Lying and committing fraud while doing so had nothing to do with Trump’s duties. Trump had lost to Joe Biden, and the only duty remaining was to ensure the peaceful transfer of power. He never invited Biden to the White House as Obama did with Trump. Trump spent years before that meeting with President Obama spreading his “birther” story. Trump didn’t like or respect President Obama for one reason: the color of his skin. In fact, he hated what President Obama represented-an intelligent, well-spoken Black man. In Dr. King’s time, people like Trump would have called President Obama an “uppity n*gger.” That is the very thing that Dr. King laid down his life to stop, yet on the one day to honor him, we must deal with the worst type of racism we have seen in modern times. Yet, people still support him.

Trump believes he is immune because the U.S. Senate twice acquitted him of impeachment. They didn’t acquit him because he was innocent; they acquitted him because they were afraid of him and his supporters. They gave him power he had no right to have; they gave his predominantly racist supporters the power they certainly had no right to have. As a result, they emboldened both. They believe it’s okay to return us to the days prior to Dr. King’s arrival, when police officers could viciously sic dogs on people with no recourse, when they could treat other Americans with disdain and disrespect for one reason: the color of our skin. They hid in the shadows until Trump reared his ugly head and told them it was okay to be assholes. Yet, people still support him. They claim not to be racist and part of the darkness that currently surrounds our society. They are not only part; they are the root from which it grows.

Dr. King taught us the power of inclusion and understanding. When we are inclusive, we are stronger, we are unbeatable. For those of us who dream of living in such a world, let us continue Dr. King’s dream of content of character over color of skin. Let us reach out with our lights and shine it on those who cannot see. If we reach enough, they too shall see.

Dear Palmer Report readers, we all understand the difficult era we're heading into. Major media outlets are caving to Trump already. Even the internet itself and publishing platforms may be at risk. But Palmer Report is nonetheless going to lead the fight. We're funding our 2025 operating expenses now, so we can keep publishing no matter what happens. I'm asking you to contribute if you can, because the stakes are just so high. You can donate here.