The Trump Presidency 15

[JoeMorgue]

Yeah so basically the guy in the stands who every time the opposing team goes for a free throw jumps up screaming at the top of his lungs, waving a pool noodle around to distract him... just literally walked on the court and smacked the ball out of their hand. The previous behavior was annoying and borderline, this is not.

A line got crossed. All the "Sortas" and "maybes" and "racially tinged" and "the kind of thing a racist says..." and all the other modifiers just got dropped. Sort of using the N-word you don't get more like... cartoonishly racist then the old "Go back where you came from" routine.

Seriously if Trump's plan is to continue his "Just distract them by doing another outrageous thing" tactic... he's gonna eat a baby on live TV next

ETA: Hell... now that I think about I've never even heard a legit, actual racist actually do the whole "Go back where you came from routine." It's too cliche, too on the nose. I've argued for a while now that the reason the Left isn't as good at fighting racism as they could be is that they have a very, very odd view of racism that doesn't actually exist. I lived in the deep South for most all of my life and that TV/Movie version of racism doesn't really exist all that much outside of the extreme margins. Real racism is this weird, hard to explain "one step removed" thing where nobody has problems with this or that minority group, they just always worked hard to find an excuse to have a problem with this or that minority group. I had relatives that were pretty much as racist as you could get on a functional level without straight up eating a black person for Sunday dinner, but even they conceptualized in this weird "I don't hate black people, I'm just going to always have an excuse why I'm hating this particular black person" way.

We can argued over how prevalent racism is in America. But open, proud racism is rare in America.

But now we have this and I have no idea what to think or how to react.

 

[angrysoba]

Yeah so basically the guy in the stands who every time the opposing team goes for a free throw jumps up screaming at the top of his lungs, waving a pool noodle around to distract him... just literally walked on the court and smacked the ball out of their hand. The previous behavior was annoying and borderline, this is not.

A line got crossed. All the "Sortas" and "maybes" and "racially tinged" and "the kind of thing a racist says..." and all the other modifiers just got dropped. Sort of using the N-word you don't get more like... cartoonishly racist then the old "Go back where you came from" routine.

Seriously if Trump's plan is to continue his "Just distract them by doing another outrageous thing" tactic... he's gonna eat a baby on live TV next.

He's going to shoot someone on Main Street.

 

[Armitage72]

ETA: Hell... now that I think about I've never even heard a legit, actual racist actually do the whole "Go back where you came from routine." It's too cliche, too on the nose.

Not quite that, but I went to the same barber shop from my first haircut until the barber passed away a few decades later. It was a stereotypical small-town shop with one chair and one barber, and a bunch of elderly men would congregate there and spend hours reading the paper and talking. I don't remember what prompted it, but I remember one of the men commenting that all of the black men in the country should be rounded up and dumped on an island "with all the watermelon and blow-up dolls they need." It's telling that there was no mention of getting rid of the women. This was some time in the `90s in upstate New York.

 

[The Don]

Seriously if Trump's plan is to continue his "Just distract them by doing another outrageous thing" tactic... he's gonna eat a baby on live TV next.

The thing is that 25%-30% of the US electorate not only don't think that what the President said was outrageous, it echoes their own sentiments entirely.

Another 10%-15% are willing to be persuaded that in this case what he said wasn't motivated by racism but that he was so incensed by the evil, unamerican, antisemitic and traitorous things that The Squad have said about the US and President Trump that his comments are, in this case justified. They are part of a fifth column who are trying to destroy America from within and are better off out of the country or in jail but they certainly shouldn't be in congress.

That 40%-45% are likely enough to get the President reelected, keep the GOP majority in the senate and, with suitable Gerrymandering (now endorsed by SCOTUS) regain the House.

This isn't distracting by doing outrageous things, this is absolutely core messaging.

 

[TofuFighter]

...
But the telling four non-white women to "go back where they came from" (despite the fact that 3 of them were born in America and the one who wasn't has been a citizen longer then Trump's wife has).... that isn't "using racist language just to piss off people you know are hyper sensitive about racism." It's just... racism.

Trump is racist, he just doesn't believe he is racist because he doesn't understand why what he said here (or during the birther bs, or the central park 5 thing, or the muslim ban, or the curiel accusation) is racist

He doesn't care to understand things because so many years of blowing smoke up his own ass has caused total saturation, and he thinks he has nothing new to learn. You must have noticed how, when he actually does learn something new, "very very few people know that", sometimes followed by "I invented that".

 

[JoeMorgue]

Yeah so right now our best possible version of this narrative is "X (X being at least a significant percentage of the population) isn't necessarily okay with racism, but they do see racism as superior to 'letting the liberals win or even score a point.'"

And that's the best possible version. They get even ickier from there.

 

[angrysoba]

The thing is that 25%-30% of the US electorate not only don't think that what the President said was outrageous, it echoes their own sentiments entirely.

Another 10%-15% are willing to be persuaded that in this case what he said wasn't motivated by racism but that he was so incensed by the evil, unamerican, antisemitic and traitorous things that The Squad have said about the US and President Trump that his comments are, in this case justified. They are part of a fifth column who are trying to destroy America from within and are better off out of the country or in jail but they certainly shouldn't be in congress.

That 40%-45% are likely enough to get the President reelected, keep the GOP majority in the senate and, with suitable Gerrymandering (now endorsed by SCOTUS) regain the House.

This isn't distracting by doing outrageous things, this is absolutely core messaging.

I don't know. I am sure if you had told people two years ago that the guy they voted for would start saying "Go back to your country!" they would deny he would say it, and would be against it. I can't believe it myself.

But for some of them they will have to spend a couple of days trying to assimilate their beliefs that Trump is not a racist and that he was justified in telling them to go back to where they came from. The cognitive dissonance this time is much tougher for them to navigate but they will get there in the end. Then they can start practicing their "Are you still going on about that? He's explained the context... etc... Besides, what about the real racism of 'Benjamins', huh?"

 

[Ladewig]

Unfortunately Colbert's whole shtick now is to tell that to Trump and get applause. He's nowhere near as interesting, thoughtful or entertaining as he used to be when he was pretending to be a right-wing pundit.

Perhaps so. But we are now at a point where it would be impossible to do that show. He took Republican statements and turned them so over-the-top that it became funny. The things the president says today are already so over-the-top that there is nowhere to go.

 

[The Don]

I don't know. I am sure if you had told people two years ago that the guy they voted for would start saying "Go back to your country!" they would deny he would say it, and would be against it. I can't believe it myself.

I can believe it, but as a UK-based lefty (by US standards) I probably had a different way of interpreting Donald Trump's previous statements than GOP voters.

But for some of them they will have to spend a couple of days trying to assimilate their beliefs that Trump is not a racist and that he was justified in telling them to go back to where they came from. The cognitive dissonance this time is much tougher for them to navigate but they will get there in the end. Then they can start practicing their "Are you still going on about that? He's explained the context... etc... Besides, what about the real racism of 'Benjamins', huh?"

From a BBC article:

Whatever the aim, the relative silence from his own party's leadership over his remarks may have sent a clear signal to the president - that the party was with him in an electoral strategy that accommodated language widely regarded as racist.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-49001236

Of course the reason that I consider the article insightful and worth quoting from is that its views align with my own

Being openly racist will not really damage President Trump's standing with anyone other than the most so-called moderate Republicans who will in any case find some religious and/or personal financial motive to support him.

 

[Belz...]

Perhaps so. But we are now at a point where it would be impossible to do that show. He took Republican statements and turned them so over-the-top that it became funny. The things the president says today are already so over-the-top that there is nowhere to go.

Yeah we're right into the Twilight Zone at this point.

 

[Ladewig]

Trump Tweets

If you come after the President, the Country, the Flag - he’s going to defend himself. What the squad doesn’t like is that Donald Trump is enforcing the very laws that are on the books that were put there by Congress.” Jason Chaffetz.

Also, buy Jason’s great new book, POWER GRAB!

I find that wording rather chilling. Attack the flag and Donald Trump is going to defend himself.

 

[JoeMorgue]

So basically Trump is a real life internet troll, he has successfully morphed into a real life Poe, who has perfected the real life Gish Gallop.

 

[angrysoba]

I can believe it, but as a UK-based lefty (by US standards) I probably had a different way of interpreting Donald Trump's previous statements than GOP voters.

As someone from the UK myself, I tend to agree with JoeMorgue's assessment that Trump had to know where the line was and yet just rampaged over it.

I don't know how much of this is calculated, but he may just have decided that the Republicans have to go along with them as they have shown themselves to be pretty spineless up until now.

I don't really agree that this shows the whole Republican Party were racist from the start. I think that some of them are privately sweating over this, but want to prove themselves the obsequieous lickspittles they are.

Of course the reason that I consider the article insightful and worth quoting from is that its views align with my own

Being openly racist will not really damage President Trump's standing with anyone other than the most so-called moderate Republicans who will in any case find some religious and/or personal financial motive to support him.

 

[Safe-Keeper]

But for some of them they will have to spend a couple of days trying to assimilate their beliefs that Trump is not a racist and that he was justified in telling them to go back to where they came from. The cognitive dissonance this time is much tougher for them to navigate but they will get there in the end. Then they can start practicing their "Are you still going on about that? He's explained the context... etc... Besides, what about the real racism of 'Benjamins', huh?"

They have probably fled to their favourite trumpkin Twitter forums for large doses of edgy anti-librul content, Trump propaganda, and coverage of bad brown men at the border.

 

[Andy_Ross]

Trump Tweets

Those Tweets were NOT Racist. I don’t have a Racist bone in my body! The so-called vote to be taken is a Democrat con game. Republicans should not show “weakness” and fall into their trap. This should be a vote on the filthy language, statements and lies told by the Democrat.....

.....Congresswomen, who I truly believe, based on their actions, hate our Country. Get a list of the HORRIBLE things they have said. Omar is polling at 8%, Cortez at 21%. Nancy Pelosi tried to push them away, but now they are forever wedded to the Democrat Party. See you in 2020!

 

[JoeMorgue]

Trump Tweets

Those Tweets were NOT Racist. I don’t have a Racist bone in my body! The so-called vote to be taken is a Democrat con game. Republicans should not show “weakness” and fall into their trap. This should be a vote on the filthy language, statements and lies told by the Democrat.....

.....Congresswomen, who I truly believe, based on their actions, hate our Country. Get a list of the HORRIBLE things they have said. Omar is polling at 8%, Cortez at 21%. Nancy Pelosi tried to push them away, but now they are forever wedded to the Democrat Party. See you in 2020!

Charming.

 

[Andy_Ross]

Remember trump said

Black guys counting my money! I hate it. The only kind of people I want counting my money are short guys that wear yarmulkes every day

and

I think that the guy is lazy. 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.

 

[The Don]

I don't really agree that this shows the whole Republican Party were racist from the start.

The whole Republican Party ? I agree that they weren't and indeed aren't, there are doubtless fringe members of every party.

I would claim that the majority of Republicans are demonstrably racist (which, considering the core demographics is hardly surprising). Maybe not all in a "white sheet and burning cross" sort of a way, but certainly in a "being uncomfortable with their daughter dating a black man" way. The way that the GOP treated President Obama is ample proof of this.

Then again the majority of Trump's base (which is a big part of current GOP support) is properly racist in all the usual cliched ways.

 

[Belz...]

Those Tweets were NOT Racist. I don’t have a Racist bone in my body!

Please tell me you made that tweet up, Swoop.

Get a list of the HORRIBLE things they have said.

I'll match that to what Trump says on a regular basis. Hell, what he's said even just today.

 

[autumn1971]

I find that wording rather chilling. Attack the flag and Donald Trump is going to defend himself.

He explicitly equates the country and the flag with himself.
That is tin-hat despot speech.