Tag: Trump white supremacy

In a pair of interviews, Trump highlights white victimhood

Washington Post logoAsked about police killings of black Americans, Trump replies: What about whites?

The fundamental premise of the Black Lives Matter movement, agree with it or not, is straightforward: Too many black Americans die at the hands of police each year, a function of racism embedded in the system of law enforcement in this country. There’s no claim of primacy; it’s not the case that protesters with the movement demand that black Americans get exceptional treatment when confronted by law enforcement. Instead, it demands that they not be treated exceptionally, that being black not correlate with a higher risk of death when being detained.

This premise and its correlating demands and assertions have been the subjects of robust debate for more than five years, including in the past several weeks after the death of George Floyd while being restrained by a police officer in Minneapolis. There’s certainly nuance to the subject that demands close attention. It’s the sort of thing that poses a complex challenge to elected leaders, given its overlap with the complicated issues of race and power.

Most elected leaders, anyway. In an interview with CBS News’s Catherine Herridge on Tuesday, President Trump waved away concern about the rate at which black people die at the hands of police with a comment that amounted to white lives matter, too. Continue reading.

Missouri governor says Trump is ‘getting involved’ in case of St. Louis couple who pointed guns at protesters

Washington Post logoMissouri Gov. Mike Parson said Tuesday that President Trump would be “getting involved” in the case of the St. Louis couple who pointed guns at a group of protesters passing outside their home last month, and who are under review for criminal charges.

On Tuesday, both the president and Republican governor offered separate impassioned defenses of Mark and Patricia McCloskey, who went viral after brandishing guns at protesters on the private street outside their mansion on June 28.

Parson, who said the couple had “every right to protect their property,” said he spoke with Trump just before the governor’s coronavirus news briefing. He said Trump made it clear he “doesn’t like what he sees and the way these people are being treated,” referencing the McCloskeys. Continue reading.

Trump earns support from former KKK leader David Duke a second time

In recent weeks, Trump has defended Confederate memorials and denounced Black Lives Matter as a ‘symbol of hate.’

Former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke formally backed Donald Trump’s 2020 reelection on Wednesday. He also demanded that Fox News host Tucker Carlson replace Vice President Mike Pence on the ticket.

“President Trump! You have one last chance to turn the tables, win this election and save America — and yourself ! Nominate Tucker Carlson for Vice President. This would energize your campaign beyond belief. You can replace Zio NeoCon warmonger Pompeo with Pence as Sec. of State!” he tweeted.

“Trump & Tucker is the only way to stop the commie Bolsheviks! It is the only path to beat them! #TrumpTucker2020,” he added minutes later. Continue reading.

Boss Trump Incites The Resentment Of Losers

Pity the poor white man; he just can’t catch a break in this country.

If that strikes you as an unpromising theme for a presidential campaign in the year 2020, you must not be an adept of the Trump cult. Seemingly running as the reincarnation of Jefferson Davis—the Mississippian who served as the one-and-only president of the Confederate States of America—Boss Trump travels from sea to shining sea appealing to the resentment and self-pity of those whose ancestors lost the Civil War.

Even if they had no such ancestors. Not every paleface who gets all tingly and aroused by Trump’s dark intimations of cultural warfare is descended from slave owners or rebel soldiers. Unrepentant racists are actually a dying breed across the South. Indeed, you’d think that the state of Mississippi’s decision to remove Confederate imagery from its state flag would give even Trump pause. Not to mention NASCAR’s banning of the Stars and Bars. Bad for business, you see. After all, who defends slavery anymore? Continue reading.

Park Police did not record their radio transmissions during Lafayette Square operation on June 1

Washington Post logoCritical record of how police launched sweep against protesters is lost

Audio of the forceful push led by U.S. Park Police to sweep protesters out of Lafayette Square on June 1, moments before President Trump’s visit to St. John’s Episcopal Church, was not recorded by the Park Police radio communications system, the agency said Tuesday.

The sudden march into the group of protesters, featuring members of the Park Police, Secret Service, D.C. National Guard and Arlington County police, is now under investigation by Congress and the inspectors general of the Interior Department and Justice Department and the subject of civil lawsuits. The sweep along H Street caused an uproar because police used smoke and chemical irritants, along with officers on horseback, to clear out protesters well before a 7 p.m. curfew, with advance announcements that many said they did not hear.

Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.), chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, which is investigating the June 1 incident, said Tuesday that “Trump administration officials ordered the attack on clergy, nonviolent protesters, and working members of the press. For the official audio record of that day to now turn up missing has every appearance of a coverup.” Continue reading.

The Memo: Trump’s race tactics fall flat

The Hill logoPresident Trump waded anew into racial controversy on Monday, criticizing NASCAR for banning the Confederate flag at its events.

In the same tweet, Trump suggested that the sport’s only Black driver, Bubba Wallace, should “apologize” over an incident where a rope tied into a noose was found in the driver’s garage at the Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama.

Trump lambasted the incident as a “HOAX” — an investigation found the rope had been there for months, though it was not Wallace who first found it — and added, “That & Flag decision has caused lowest ratings EVER!” Continue reading.

Trump is betting on a foolish path to win in November

AlterNet logoOn the Fourth of July, a day meant to celebrate American independence, Donald Trump once again focused on creating a racist spectacle. Despite concerns about spreading the coronavirus and starting wildfires, Trump insisted on having a fireworks-heavy celebration at Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, which was clearly a campaign rally no matter how much the taxpayers were bilked for it. Of course, the president’s speech was pure culture-war vitriol, complete with classic Trumpian projection, this time when he called anti-racist activists “fascists,” an extraordinary word choice that obviously better suits him.

Despite the propaganda photos equating Trump with the carving of Abraham Lincoln on the mountain, his speech was once again better understood as a celebration of the Confederacy. Trump sniped at those who would “tear down our statues,” “defame our heroes” and “indoctrinate our children,” a slam clearly aimed at Black Lives Matter protesters who object to monuments celebrating white supremacy and who seek to “indoctrinate” people with the revolutionary argument that racism is wrong. Continue reading.

The trolling event played out as intended. The choice of Mount Rushmore, carved by a Ku Klux Klan-linked white supremacist who also carved the infamous tribute to the Confederacy on Stone Mountain in Georgia, helped drive home Trump’s campaign theme to his most overtly racist followers: White supremacy is the truest form of patriotism. Continue reading.

Black NASCAR driver targeted by Trump calls out the president’s ‘hate’

AlterNet logoPresident Donald Trump has been lambasting NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace, who is African-American, after an FBI investigation into a noose left in his garage stall found no evidence of a crime. The investigation showed that the noose had been left in the garage long before Wallace started using it, leading Trump to say that Wallace should apologize to NASCAR.

But there’s no evidence of any wrongdoing on Wallace’s part, and many believed the noose was evidence of an attempt to intimidate him. On Monday, Wallace responded to the president by denouncing his unprovoked attacks.

In a statement, Wallace told the “next generation” that “your words and actions will always be held to a higher standard than others. You have to be prepared for that. You don’t learn these things in school. You learn them from trial and tribulations, the ups and downs this crazy world provides.” Continue reading.

Trump expected to refile paperwork to end DACA this week

The Hill logoPresident Trump is expected to refile paperwork this week to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that offers protections for thousands of young immigrants, according to multiple people familiar with the planning.

Trump was initially expected to move to once again rescind the Obama-era program last week, but it was pushed back, according to one source. The exact timing remains in flux, but Trump is now expected to file the paperwork this week.

White House chief of staff Mark Meadows hinted in an interview with Fox News earlier Monday that the president was readying executive action on immigration issues, though he did not offer specifics. Continue reading.

President Trump says Bubba Wallace should apologize, calls noose incident a ‘hoax’

Washington Post logoPresident Trump said Monday on Twitter that NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace should apologize to those who stood beside him after his racing team discovered a noose in his garage stall at Talladega Superspeedway on June 21, describing the incident as a “hoax.” Trump added an assertion that the Wallace incident and NASCAR’s ban on the Confederate flag at its races have led to historically low television ratings for the stock-car circuit.

The tweet was the latest in a string of racially tinged overtures Trump has made to his political base as he runs for reelection amid a national reckoning prompted by the death in May of George Floyd, a black man, in Minneapolis police custody and the nationwide protests that followed. In recent weeks, Trump has threatened to veto a defense-spending bill if it includes a provision to rename bases honoring Confederate generals, promised lengthy prison sentences for those who damage federal monuments and stoked a cultural war in a pair of Independence Day speeches. Appearing before Mount Rushmore on Friday night, he pledged to “safeguard our values, traditions, customs and beliefs.”

After investigating, the FBI announced June 23 that no hate crime had been committedbecause the rope, which had been tied into a noose-like knot and used as a garage door pull, had been in that particular garage since October, when NASCAR previously raced at Talladega. Continue reading.