Donald Trump’s racist and sexist attack on Puerto Rico is a new low, even for him
Anyone who’s been paying attention has figured out a long time ago that Donald Trump is the most notoriously and openly racist and sexist individual of this era. We’ve also seen him consistently attack and demonize any American individual who isn’t sufficiently impressed with him. But in a stunning display this morning, Trump managed to do all the above when he attacked his fellow Americans in Puerto Rico.
Trump posted an unhinged multi-part Twitter rant today, with the aim of distracting from his own slow an inadequate response to the post-hurricane crisis in Puerto Rico. Here’s what he had to say about San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz, after she dared to point out that he hadn’t bothered to send any personnel to spread around the supplies he’d dumped at the port: “The Mayor of San Juan, who was very complimentary only a few days ago, has now been told by the Democrats that you must be nasty to Trump.”
Two things stand out there. First, Trump is so defined by his narcissism that he doesn’t get why the Mayor initially tried the strategy of being polite to him, before moving on to the strategy of angrily calling out his failures. Real leaders, or really anyone trying to get what they need, is familiar with this tactic – but Trump is blind to it. He believes that when people who need something from him are being overly complimentary to him, it automatically means they truly like them.
Second, this is so overtly and predictably sexist it’s scary. The last time we heard Trump refer to anyone as “nasty,” it was when he called Hillary Clinton “such a nasty woman” to her face during a debate. Naturally, now that he’s dealing with another strong female leader who isn’t impressed with his conman antics, he’s once again trying to make it all about her supposedly “nasty” tone. But sexism isn’t Trump’s only vice on display here.
Here’s what Trump tweeted about the people of Puerto Rico in general, and keep in mind these people are United States citizens living in a United States territory: “Such poor leadership ability by the Mayor of San Juan, and others in Puerto Rico, who are not able to get their workers to help. They want everything to be done for them when it should be a community effort. 10,000 Federal workers now on Island doing a fantastic job.” Trump couldn’t be telegraphing his racist message any more clearly: he’s accusing Puerto Ricans of being stereotypically lazy minorities who want the white man to come down and do all the work for them.
Donald Trump’s strategy here is fairly transparent. His racist and sexist attacks on Puerto Rico and its leader are aimed at firing up his own bigoted base, so they’ll be willing to look past the incompetence he’s displaying. But his base isn’t enough to sustain him forever. In the mean time, the stunningly odious nature of his attacks this morning is enough to turn more people on the fence against him. There’s a reason his approval rating has dropped by around one-fifth since he took office.
