Cont: The Trump Presidency: Part 26

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JoeMorgue said:
Outside of Pence does Trump have anyone left in their original position?
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Carson, DeVos, Wilbur Ross, Mnuchin, Chao.

And the Kushner's. :)

ETA: after checking on Wikipedia, also Sonny Perdue and Robert Lighthizer.
 
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pgwenthold said:
Herman Cain did not quit and was not fired, right?
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I don't think Cain was ever part of the Trump administration. (He was considered for a position on the reserve board but it didn't go through. And he did work for some sort of re-election group but it wasn't a government body.)
 
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End Times conspiracy theorist Rick Wiles hopes that Donald Trump and Bill Barr will line Democrats, the news media, leftists, scientists, and professors up against a wall and shoot them "because that's what they deserve."
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pgwenthold said:
Yep, I've said it before and say it again.

This all makes a lot more sense when you accept the fact that a large number of Americans are just out-and-out racist.
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Something I did not want to believe, but the evidence is there. I'm of the belief that most people are somewhat racist, even if just unconsciously, but that overall they valued a fair society. I was shocked by the New Yorker article about Trump's extreme popularity with white supremacist groups (this was before the 2016 election). I thought his palaver about manufacturing and mining jobs was what ordinary people were responding to most.

Even after nonsense about Mexicans and the wall rhetoric I did not think this was going to strike a huge chord. Tom Tancredo got nowhere with it in 2008. I was surrounded by Mexican kids all the time - Mexican-American, some of them, but others from Mexico, and many kids of mixed races, and it was blindingly obvious that they were just people, and they were going to be an important part of the American workforce. They were (mostly) great kids. They weren't a threat to America; they were in fact necessary to the future of the U.S. But I live in the Southwest, not the heartland, where real Americans are apparently scared spitless that the white race is dying out.

So, I hate to be racist to white people, but whenever I see them, I know there's at least a 50-50 chance that they are Trump supporters, including some of my own relatives. I'm much more leery of white people as a race than I am of any minority. I had a brief pang when I realized I was going to become part of a racial minority, then made peace with it in 10 minutes or so.
 
Minoosh said:
Something I did not want to believe, but the evidence is there. I'm of the belief that most people are somewhat racist, even if just unconsciously, but that overall they valued a fair society. I was shocked by the New Yorker article about Trump's extreme popularity with white supremacist groups (this was before the 2016 election). I thought his palaver about manufacturing and mining jobs was what ordinary people were responding to most.

Even after nonsense about Mexicans and the wall rhetoric I did not think this was going to strike a huge chord. Tom Tancredo got nowhere with it in 2008. I was surrounded by Mexican kids all the time - Mexican-American, some of them, but others from Mexico, and many kids of mixed races, and it was blindingly obvious that they were just people, and they were going to be an important part of the American workforce. They were (mostly) great kids. They weren't a threat to America; they were in fact necessary to the future of the U.S. But I live in the Southwest, not the heartland, where real Americans are apparently scared spitless that the white race is dying out.

So, I hate to be racist to white people, but whenever I see them, I know there's at least a 50-50 chance that they are Trump supporters, including some of my own relatives. I'm much more leery of white people as a race than I am of any minority. I had a brief pang when I realized I was going to become part of a racial minority, then made peace with it in 10 minutes or so.
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Think about that a bit. That means mabe a quarter of Americans. Since being white is losing its majority status. I see it as a sign things are getting better. Trumpism is reactionary.
 
Minoosh said:
Something I did not want to believe, but the evidence is there. I'm of the belief that most people are somewhat racist, even if just unconsciously, but that overall they valued a fair society.
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I agree. It doesn't matter what race you are, most people are somewhat racist, it just depends on to what degree and if you recognize it. A lot of people will deny it rather than acknowledge it. I'd rather admit it but also acknowledge it's wrong and where it comes from than just pretend it doesn't exist.
 
Stacyhs said:
I agree. It doesn't matter what race you are, most people are somewhat racist, it just depends on to what degree and if you recognize it. A lot of people will deny it rather than acknowledge it. I'd rather admit it but also acknowledge it's wrong and where it comes from than just pretend it doesn't exist.
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I kind of hate the word "racist" as that it covers a gamut of reactions to race. I think xenophobia is kind of natural. When people, look, talk and act differently then you are accustomed to, it sort of threatens one's view of the world.

I admit being more comfortable being around white heterosexuals, but I certainly don't hate others who are not. Does that mean I'm a white supremacist?
 
acbytesla said:
I kind of hate the word "racist" as that it covers a gamut of reactions to race. I think xenophobia is kind of natural. When people, look, talk and act differently then you are accustomed to, it sort of threatens one's view of the world.

I admit being more comfortable being around white heterosexuals, but I certainly don't hate others who are not. Does that mean I'm a white supremacist?
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I think that the differences that unnerve us are more cultural than anything. It doesn't take much world experience to realize that race means squat.
 
eerok said:
I think that the differences that unnerve us are more cultural than anything. It doesn't take much world experience to realize that race means squat.
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I agree with that entirely. I worked in the early 80s tending bar at both a disco where the patrons were 85% African American and a few years later at what was mostly a gay disco. And both were a bit of a culture shock.

The thing is the years of segregation has made it more difficult for us to melt together. Especially in rural America. It is more culture shocking for me to find myself at the Doughnut Depot in Moses Lake, Washington with the rednecks then in central Philadelphia.
 
acbytesla said:
I kind of hate the word "racist" as that it covers a gamut of reactions to race. I think xenophobia is kind of natural. When people, look, talk and act differently then you are accustomed to, it sort of threatens one's view of the world.

I admit being more comfortable being around white heterosexuals, but I certainly don't hate others who are not. Does that mean I'm a white supremacist?
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Just to poke at the sentiment here a little hard by invoking definitions -

Oxford, from google search -

prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against a person or people on the basis of their membership in a particular racial or ethnic group, typically one that is a minority or marginalized.
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This pretty well sums up the most important and neutral normal usage, I think. The action part of it is the most important part, of course. Are we all a little racist? In the most absolute sense, probably, given a definition of prejudice such as "preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience" and biological factors. Discrimination and antagonism are a better focus for what's actually considered a real problem, though.

the belief that different races possess distinct characteristics, abilities, or qualities, especially so as to distinguish them as inferior or superior to one another.
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This is somewhat less normal usage, but does get mixed in. It's honestly not wrong at all to find and acknowledge ways in which groups of people are different. Say we see a study that finds that African Americans are, on average, 1-2 IQ points below equatable Caucasians? Okay. So what? Declaring that white people are superior to black people based on that? Problematic and invites fallacies. So a perfectly average white person is equivalent to a black person very slightly above average among black people? That gives no reasonable means to validly distinguish between the groups in actual practice, much less make meaningful judgements about the individuals.
 
I am the only known gringo resident in a city of 50,000. I dress like everyone else and do my best to blend in with Mexican culture.

Efforts to belong outweigh any difference in our roots. In the military it was the same, more Hispanic and black guys than white ghetto cheese like me. Nobody seemed to make any real distinction in social contacts.
 
8enotto said:
I am the only known gringo resident in a city of 50,000. I dress like everyone else and do my best to blend in with Mexican culture.

Efforts to belong outweigh any difference in our roots. In the military it was the same, more Hispanic and black guys than white ghetto cheese like me. Nobody seemed to make any real distinction in social contacts.
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My town greatly appreciates a gringo who speaks the language, makes in-roads to the local community and isn't an a-hole. No problems ever and even embraced by the town. As a mixed race man, I wish that I had such acceptance in my own country.

ETA beforehand: I didn't see what this was in response to, but what you said made me feel the need to respond in the affirmative.
 
acbytesla said:
I kind of hate the word "racist" as that it covers a gamut of reactions to race. I think xenophobia is kind of natural. When people, look, talk and act differently then you are accustomed to, it sort of threatens one's view of the world.

I admit being more comfortable being around white heterosexuals, but I certainly don't hate others who are not. Does that mean I'm a white supremacist?
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Racism doesn't mean you have to "hate" someone. As I said, there are degrees of racism. For example, parents might be just fine with their son/daughter being friends with people of another race and think they're not racist at all. But let that son/daughter bring home a romantic interest and the parents may feel a sudden "oh, no!" in their gut they didn't expect for no other reason than he/she's of another race.

Racism just under the surface can rear its ugly head when you last expect it. Even between friends. Let tempers flare, or a boy/girlfriend come between them and see how fast a racial epithet can be used to hurt the other.
 
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