Trump's America

[Frelga]

Today on your Real Saturday Morning Cartoon Villains show

Betsy DeVos grilled in Congress over proposed elimination of Special Olympics funding

[RoseMorninStar]

We have fundamentalist neighbors cut from a cloth similar to DeVos. This will just be the beginning.

[Frelga]

Oh great. Putin said on Russian TV that Trump pulling out of the nuclear arms treaty has taken the first step to a possible global nuclear conflict. And turned the EU into its hostages. That's the kind of rhetoric I haven't heard since the 1980s.

And Putin's recent meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping was about building a "post-American world," in case you've been wondering.

[RoseMorninStar]

The 'chicken' games Russia has been playing with our navy & air force are worrying as well.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

This is an actual headline at Fox News. Fox News!

Trump rails against ‘Fake News’ in bizarre tirade, warns industry will fold when he leaves office

[RoseMorninStar]

Ugh he's such a whiner. It's always all about him. Enough already.

Sorry. /rant.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

This is Trump's America, in nutshell:

Republican support for Trump rises after racially charged tweets: Reuters/Ipsos poll

Support for U.S. President Donald Trump increased slightly among Republicans after he lashed out on Twitter over the weekend in a racially charged attack on four minority Democratic congresswomen, a Reuters/Ipsos public opinion poll shows.

The national survey, conducted on Monday and Tuesday after Trump told the lawmakers they should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came,” showed his net approval among members of his Republican Party rose by 5 percentage points to 72%, compared with a similar poll that ran last week.

[RoseMorninStar]

Breaks my heart.

A couple of articles/headlines stood out for me this week: (from the New York Times) What Trump is teaching our Children and (from TIME) Republicans Want a White Republic, They'll Destroy America to Get It

Trump says if you are complaining all of the time you should leave. I have NEVER heard a politician, let alone a president complain more than Donald Trump. NEVER. He is a CONSTANT whiner and complainer. Whine, whine, whine. He is nearly always bashing someone or groups of people (unless they are Putin, Kim Jong-un, or some other despot.

Something I read on FB: Ironically, the people telling Americans that if they don't like their government they should leave, are the same people telling asylum seekers that if they don't like their government they should stay and fix it. Michael Hall

[yovargas]

I just can't with this anymore.

[Cerin]

I think focusing on race misses the point of these tweets to Trump supporters. These are four of the most progressive, radical if you will, from the right's point of view, and vocal members of the House, proposing ideas that are anathema to the right as they are represented to them by right wing media. Racial diversity is only part of the change they represent, along with the dreaded socialism, identity politics and rejection of pride in the country as was highlighted in the recent Kaepernick shoe kerfuffle. Dismissing it all as racism, as I think the corporate media tends to do, is dangerous in the sense that I believe it only recognizes the tip of the iceberg that is Trump supporter and undecided voter resentment of the left over a range of issues.

[yovargas]

The reason the media is focusing on the racial aspect is because that's the part that is disgusting, appalling, loathsome. Even he had merely said "I strongly disagree with the policies and ideas of these ladies", nobody would care because that part is obvious.

[Túrin Turambar]

No matter how much Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren criticise the Administration it seems like a massive stretch to imagine that the President would tell them to “go back to where they came from”. Or that a Democratic President would say it to Bill O’Reilly or Glenn Beck. I could make whatever critical comments I liked about the Australian government and nobody would say it to me. It is the type of criticism which is pretty much only ever directed to non-white people, which is the problem.

Even, bizarrely, Ayanna Pressley, who as far as I know is of mainstream African-American background and therefore her ancestors wouldn’t have exactly had a choice about whether to come to America or not.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Exactly, Túrin. Particularly with regard to Ayanna Pressley.

[Cerin]

The subject of the Pres.'s tweet was hatred of America. I'm not suggesting his characterization is accurate, but there was apparently something about the recent activities of 'the squad' (apart from their darker skin) that set them apart and made them a target, something the Pres. thought he could exploit. I think the press tends to oversimplify Trump's appeal; but then, they oversimplify everything, so I don't know why I'm going on about it.

edit

I think what I'm trying to say is, the left, or the elite, if you will, white, highly educated liberals and the media, are super sensitive about race and systemic racism, whereas the pool of potential Trump voters is less so (I'm talking about those who don't see themselves as overtly and consciously racist). So when we and the media see glaring racism, I think it is likely Trump is talking to his potential voters about something else. I think we would do well to try to understand that, so as not to be blindsided again at election time.

[Frelga]

I think focusing on race misses the point of these tweets to Trump supporters. These are four of the most progressive, radical if you will, from the right's point of view, and vocal members of the House, proposing ideas that are anathema to the right as they are represented to them by right wing media. Racial diversity is only part of the change they represent, along with the dreaded socialism, identity politics and rejection of pride in the country as was highlighted in the recent Kaepernick shoe kerfuffle. Dismissing it all as racism, as I think the corporate media tends to do, is dangerous in the sense that I believe it only recognizes the tip of the iceberg that is Trump supporter and undecided voter resentment of the left over a range of issues.

Nah, it's racism. There is no (honest) point in excusing it by presenting it as some sort of thoughtful ideological stand.

Put it simply, if "the base" was motivated by the politics of "the squad", then they would be chanting about that, wouldn't they?

[Cerin]

Put it simply, if "the base" was motivated by the politics of "the squad", then they would be chanting about that, wouldn't they?

They weren't chanting about race, either. They were echoing what the Pres. said -- go back to where they came from. I had assumed that he stupidly thought initially that all members of 'the squad' were immigrants. Since he and everyone else would have quickly learned his mistake, it was reduced to one person going back to where she came from. So why did the Pres. say they could go back, and why was the crowd saying 'she' should go back? Because she's black? I don't think that's it. Are you all too young to remember, 'America. Love it or leave it.' This was a prominent theme and bumper sticker back in the late 60s/early 70s when the country was torn apart by the Viet Nam war. The country is torn apart again, and I don't think it's all about race, at least, not in the minds of potential Trump voters. Now perhaps you (collective you) believe at the bottom it is all about race, but even so, I think it would be useful to understand what potential Trump voters understand it to be about if they are blind to their racism.

[yovargas]

At this point, I genuinely believe that Trump could plainly and frankly say "I think the white race is superior to other races"and not only would he not lose Republican support, those supporters would still say he isn't racist.

[RoseMorninStar]

Trump, in everything he does, practices 'otherism'. He's a divider. If you are not one of 'us' (Trump sees his followers as an extension of himself) you are 'them'. An Other. An Enemy. An Enemy is to be squashed by any and all means. This is in his playbook. America, the very foundation of America, is that we ARE a melting pot of ethnicities, cultures, religions, and beliefs to become one: Americans. This is not what Trump is selling.

If he were a decent man, like John McCain was, he would step in and correct his nasty crowds, but he doesn't because that is WHO HE IS. That is exactly what he is stoking. Racism. Misogyny. Xenophobia.

*Trump claimed a judge (Gonzalo Curiel) could not be fair because he was 'a Mexican' .. the Judge was born in Indiana. He is an American citizen. That is racism.

*The Justice department sued Trump's real estate company not once, but twice for not renting to black people. That is racism.

*At Trumps casino in Atlantic city managers would remove African-American card dealers at the request of a certain big-spending gambler for which The New Jersey Casino Control Commission fined the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino $200,000 in 1992. Additionally, Kip Brown, a former employee at Trump Castle said, “When Donald and Ivana came to the casino, the bosses would order all the black people off the floor. It was the eighties, I was a teen-ager, but I remember it: they put us all in the back.” That is racism.

*Trump disparaged his black casino employees as “lazy” in vividly bigoted terms, according to a 1991 book by John O’Donnell, a former president of Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino. “And isn’t it funny. I’ve got black accountants at Trump Castle and Trump Plaza. Black guys counting my money! I hate it,” O’Donnell recalled Trump saying. “The only kind of people I want counting my money are short guys that wear yarmulkes every day.”
“I think the guy is lazy,” Trump said of a black employee, according to O’Donnell. “And it’s probably not his fault because laziness is a trait in blacks. It really is, I believe that. It’s not anything they can control.”
That is racism.

*Failure to condemn the KKK is racism. Saying that they are 'fine people' is disgusting. That is racism or at the very least pandering to the most vile of racists.
That White Supremacists see him as 'one of their own' speaks volumes.

*Trump's refusal to believe that Obama was born in the US and was an American Citizen, the whole 'birtherism' campaign.. that is racism.

*Bigots tend not to see 'others' as individuals but as monoliths... Language is telling, here: Virtually every time Trump mentions a minority group, he uses the definite article the, as in “the Hispanics,” “the Muslims” and “the blacks.”

*In 1993, when Trump wanted to open a casino in Bridgeport, Connecticut, that would compete with one owned by the Mashantucket Pequot Nation, a local Native American tribe, he told the House subcommittee on Native American Affairs that “they don’t look like Indians to me... They don’t look like Indians to Indians.”
That is racism.

*Trump encouraged mob justice in the Central Park 5 case. The (black) men spent years in prison for a crime they did not commit and even after DNA evidence found them innocent, Trump refused to believe they were not guilty. This is what racism looks like.

*Trump addressed the Republican Jewish Coalition in Dec. 2016. Perhaps trying to relate to the crowd by invoking the stereotype of Jews as talented and cunning businesspeople he said, “I’m a negotiator, like you folks,” Trump told the crowd, “Is there anyone who doesn’t renegotiate deals in this room?” Trump said. “Perhaps more than any room I’ve spoken to.”
That is racism.

*There are many, many examples of Trump and racism that go well beyond the current comments with the congresswomen. As isolated instances they might be brushed off, but this is a long and strong pattern that is ugly. It is racism. It is hateful.

At this point, I genuinely believe that Trump could plainly and frankly say "I think the white race is superior to other races"and not only would he not lose Republican support, those supporters would still say he isn't racist.

Sadly, I agree yov. It's pretty obvious. If Trump's behavior isn't condemned as racist, then they are not racist either.

[Frelga]

Put it simply, if "the base" was motivated by the politics of "the squad", then they would be chanting about that, wouldn't they?

They weren't chanting about race, either. They were echoing what the Pres. said -- go back to where they came from. I had assumed that he stupidly thought initially that all members of 'the squad' were immigrants. Since he and everyone else would have quickly learned his mistake, it was reduced to one person going back to where she came from. So why did the Pres. say they could go back, and why was the crowd saying 'she' should go back? Because she's black? I don't think that's it. Are you all too young to remember, 'America. Love it or leave it.' This was a prominent theme and bumper sticker back in the late 60s/early 70s when the country was torn apart by the Viet Nam war. The country is torn apart again, and I don't think it's all about race, at least, not in the minds of potential Trump voters. Now perhaps you (collective you) believe at the bottom it is all about race, but even so, I think it would be useful to understand what potential Trump voters understand it to be about if they are blind to their racism.

They are not blind to their racism.

[yovargas]

Hey Rose, you forgot my "favorite" one - that one time he re-tweeted false neo-Nazi statistics that claimed blacks are far more violent than they really are. Something which his supporters do not view as racist.

http://thehalloffire.net/forum/viewtopi ... 33#p312933