Trump Racist?
Seems so, if one listens to the Main Stream Media and any number of Hollywood personalities and lefty politicians. The outcry after the Jussie Smollette incident- before the facts came out, painted Trump with that brush. At the Oscars the other evening, where Spike Lee, picking up his golden doll for his movie, “BlackKklansman” mentioned “Let’s all mobilize, let’s all be on the right side of history, let’s choose love over hate, let’s do the right thing…” A direct jab as Trump the Hater, and so forth and so on.
Seem VoV has been thinking about this, and jotted those thoughts down. Here they are:
Veritas Omnia Vincit
Trump’s a racist?
As a daily routine I tend to watch a lot of “news” programs (I’m sure that’s not surprising to some of you) and I watch news offered by what appear to be partisans from both sides of the aisle, so perhaps modern news is less about news and more about directing political thought while tossing in some information about the weather, national disasters and the occasional human interest story about a puppy being saved by a cat or some such horse shit.
One of my recent viewings involved a gentleman who was incredulous while reviewing Trump’s recent commentary about the wall and how the narrative changes. He seemed unable to understand how his base could support him in spite of the broken wall promises. The hosts on CNN let him ramble on in this vein for sometime and when he was done they asked him, “Why do they support such racist policies in your view?”
Now this gentleman had for the eight years of the Bush administration complained incessantly about the “illegal” wars in the Middle East, the unnecessary deaths of our troops and how Bush did nothing to get the troops home, but during the Obama years this very same gentleman lost all of his anti-war fervor and almost orgasmed on himself nationally when Obama won the peace prize, this gentleman never once questioned how a guy who had done nothing and would spend his entire presidency at war every day while adding to the number of countries being bombed and the number of people to be killed by drones could possibly win the Nobel Peace Prize. During the eight years of the Obama presidency this fellow never mentioned the war again and was so adoring of Obama he was practically giddy during interviews with President Obama. But, he opined, how anyone could feel great about Trump was something he couldn’t understand…the level of lost irony here is probably “expert” along with a pro or semi-pro level lack of self-awareness. He was astonished these people elected leaders that didn’t fulfill their promises and then kept supporting those leaders.
As many of you know I’m not Republican or Democrat and I often wear it as a badge of honor if I can piss of liberals and conservatives in the same day with some uncomfortable observations about their tribes and their elected representatives. One thing I’ve never done is a cast a vote for a leader, my votes are cast for people I hope will represent me to some degree. I don’t need a leader, I need someone who understands what it’s like to pay taxes, to underwrite college for four kids, to build a decent life from very humble beginnings and then understand what I don’t need is someone who thinks they can run my life better than I have already done.
Which brings me, once again, to the politics of division. To the tribalization of the electorate, and the resultant discourse currently on display in the media, on social networks and in our streets. The politics of dividing a people into so many segmented components all concerned with single issue politics they are all completely ineffective at doing anything in unity to direct the actions of the government. My tribe is better than your tribe sounds like a grade school game, except it’s currently the reality of existence in our nation where “Orange Man Bad” has a little more than half the electorate unable to posit a salient argument in favor of any program that might benefit the nation beyond being in opposition to anything Trump might suggest.
It’s created an interesting situation where a nation that has historically low levels of unemployment, historic levels of workforce employment for blacks and Hispanics, and a stock market that will no doubt start to regain even more lost ground when China and the US finally finish their trade war (with favorable concessions for US markets), considers the man making this all possible to be the biggest racist in the history of the United States. So me, being me, I consider what factual evidence I can find. Is Trump in fact the most racist president we’ve ever had or is this another aspect of the Cult of Personality gone round the bend for the Orange Man Bad crowd? Trump has had some mistakes in this area to be sure, but were they mistakes of commission or mistakes of omission? Because that matters, or at least it should matter to anyone who wants to honestly review the reality. For me Trump isn’t very good at being an actual racist, after all what racist wants blacks and Hispanics to succeed by making sure they have more jobs than at any other time in our history? And what racist dates a biracial woman for a couple of years as Trump did almost twenty years before running for president. That biracial woman, by the way, said during that entire two year period she never once heard Trump say a single disparaging thing about anyone based on their race. She could make a shit ton of money if she said Trump said racist things all day long even while dating her and yet she’s never done that. The blacks in his inner circle have all said they would never have stayed with Trump had he proven to be a racist and everyone of them enjoys the work they’ve done with Trump while also stating unequivocally that he never says racist commentary around anyone.
Like I said, seems like he’s not very good at being the worst racist ever…
Sure, we have a president who doesn’t always tell the truth, who isn’t always a very faithful guy, who certainly has a world of flaws we can all see, and to which he has confessed at various times, doing a pretty decent job of fixing a lot of broken aspects of our nation but is still considered to be far worse than reality indicates.
It should make honest people on the left and on the right, wonder what the hell is going on. Who wins when we the people are always divided? Who benefits from a government that is fairly dysfunctional and gridlocked? I know I do to some degree as a government that isn’t making new laws is a government not taking more of my hard earned cash for some supposed benefit that won’t actually ever benefit me or anyone I know. But I don’t benefit to a degree where I find it useful to be so angry every day I unfriend people on social media or randomly yell at some kid in a red hat. I am not so angry I need to break some poor small business owners windows and set some police cars on fire.
I have some ideas on who benefits from the discord, or who thinks they might benefit but I’m not convinced it’s going to go exactly how they envision it as their last round of regular public derision over the “deplorables” who wanted to vote for Trump went somewhat awry on Election Day 2016.
To be fair, Trump has employed more than a little division in his own commentary, and reaped a benefit from creating an Us Vs Them reality around his supporters and those opposed to the President and his ideas. Trump’s use of pejorative commentary to describe his political opponents during the primaries, his phrasing regarding his national election opponent and a host of other examples of divisive speech to have something to rail against and unite those behind him has long been on display thus leaving him without clean hands in the politics of division. But I would add that it’s perhaps not an unrealistic Us Vs Them because “Them” were the people calling Trump’s supporters names and laughing in derision about those deplorable people.
So is it one party specifically or is it incumbents in general who understand nothing works better for (re-)elections than getting your base pissed off at the other guys?
I’m thinking some of you have a few ideas on the politics of division and I think those ideas should be shared.
Vov
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I may have an opinion on the issue, but I’ll wait until some other members have had their chance to opine. Another thought provoker, V. Thanks
Category: Economy, Guest Post, Politics, Trump!, Usual Suspects
There is only one group that openly and publicly promotes the claim of racism to further their causes. And they are some of the most virulent racists.
ORANGE MAN BAD!!!!!!!!!
/somebody had to say it.
//
I’m not a huge Trump fan. But as I’ve said before , when I think he’s wrong I’ll say so , but when he gets it right I’ll be the first to say good job! As far as us vs them I’ll never make politics a reason to size up the measure of someone. It’s just not fair. That brain surgeon that saved your kids life might be a liberal. The cop that saved you might be a conservative. 30 years ago when Trump was mostly known for real estate and casinos. Nobody ever judged me based on how I felt about the guy. And I’m not to start saying ppl are racist simply because they voted for and like him. I simply don’t know what’s in his heart or any strangers heart so again not fair. Unless they are being overtly racist. Like I said not a fan but I’m willing to cut him some slack because I really don’t want him to fail because of the President fails where does that leave us a nation
What Spike Lee fails to understand is that the films he lost to were uplifting and had a message of unity and cultural understanding.
He peddles in hate messages.
Protesting, unfortunately, may benefit him but once you sway the judges to consider someone’s anger and accusations, the entire process is thrown out the window.
BlackkKlansman actually wasn’t too divisionary. The source material is plenty interesting enough. So it’s not a bad movie. Until… You get to the very end and it gets all preachy and shows pictures of Charlottesville and insinuates that Trump is a racist.
It’s like every show or movie now has to have some ham fisted political message thrown in.
That and gay couples in every flick these days.
But of course. The single most overrepresented demographic. Every show has at least one, more often multiple, of a group that’s what, 3%?
Don’t forget commercials! You can’t watch one without a gay couple in it.
At least he made money on this one. His track record is sketchy to say the least. He banked what 90m which is 6x production cost. Think that makes it his best ever. cost to profit that is..I liked Do the Right Thing. but that was ages ago.
I think it cuts both ways.
The difference is that those on the left side of the political fence are almost irrationally reactive now, instead of responsive, and those on the right side of the political fence tend to wait until the “reaction” begins to sputter and then respond. There’s a huge emotional divide there that I do not recall seeing during prior administrations, except for LBJ and the Vietnam era. It seems to have grown in volume over the uh, centuries. 🙂
Yes. He is. But you all know that.
Racism/division has been used in politics since we were in tribes hitting each other with rock.
Some just use it as pretty much their only schtick.
Arguably his open racism is the most honest part of his public persona. Besides the fact that he does nothing to hide is malignant narcissism and sociopathy.
Name an occurrence of his malignant narcissism, unless you’re referring to Obama.
“Sociopathy definition: a person with a psychopathic personality whose behavior is antisocial, often criminal, and who lacks a sense of moral responsibility or social conscience.”
Go ahead, Lars. Waiting for examples to back your accusations.
Surprised to see this coming from you. He doesn’t hide his narcissm.
No one is more conservative than me.”
“No one is stronger on the Second Amendment than me.”
“No one respects women more than me. No one reads the Bible more than me.”
“There’s nobody more pro-Israel than I am.”
“There’s nobody that’s done so much for equality as I have.”
“There’s nobody who feels more strongly about women’s health issues.”
“Nobody knows more about taxes than me, maybe in the history of the world.”
“I have studied the Iran deal in great detail, greater by far than anyone else.”
“Nobody’s ever been more successful than me.”
“Nobody knows banking better than I do.”
“Nobody knows more about debt than I do.”
“Nobody’s bigger or better at the military I am.”
“I am the least racist person you’ll ever meet.”
“Nobody knows the system better than me.”
“Nobody knows politicians better than me.”
“Nobody builds better walls than me.”
“Nobody knows more about trade than me.”
But google Trump and Malignant Narcissism and pick a source.
As for sociopathic behavior; he completely lacks any empathy, or any sense of having an ethical compass in any way. He openly sees people as tools he can exploit for his own gain with no regard to the consequences to those in his life. Loyalty to him and no loyalty in return.
Sociopaths are not rare. Clinically they are 2-3% of the population. Effectively they are more like 6-8%.
Spotting them is a life skill and you should do some research to develop it. Everyone should. You need a clinical license to diagnoses sociopath but do not need one to spot a sociopath.
Sociopaths are not always criminals. Many high functioning people are sociopaths. Kennedy was one. As was Bill Clinton. Andrew Jackson, Lyndon Johnson, Teddy Roosevelt… all sociopaths. And probably several others.
Obama was not even close and have no idea where you get that.
The term is “Malignant Narcissism.” In your unattributed quotes I see no malice, just someone supremely confident in his abilities, at times overbearingly so.
And in quite a few he happens to be right as well. How many CEO’s of successful corporations are not Type A?
I look at it, if my pilot doesn’t secretly think he’s the best airplane driver in the world I’ll refuse to fly with him. Or her, these days.
After two years of Trump, the economy has roared back, more people of all colors are are employed, America is now an energy exporter, out of the Paris Climate Accords and the idiotic Iran Nuke deal, need I go on? In two years he’s pretty much fixed what it took Barry eight to fuck up.
Ed, do me a favor and look at all the trend lines for the economy for every major metric going back to the recovery period from the 2007 collapse to now.
You will see everything now is a continuation of trans lines going back to 2010.
Whith the exception of the stock market which is the result of a trillion in takes cuts while maintaining Obama era deficit spending. The bulk of those tax cuts went into buybacks. Essentially thus far the administration has been gaming the economy by maintaining spending anf giving tax cuts while interest rates are low. It is like nitrous in an engine but does long term damage. We are starting to see evidence of that and indicators are converging toward a major recession before the end of 2020.
I’ll say the feeble economic recovery that was occurring in spite of Obama, not because of him, and I could bring out graphs depicting the nearly flat economy.
I’m not going to change your mind, and you won’t change mine. Just agree to disagree, and move on.
It seems like you’re applying the term sociopath rather loosely, given the people you’ve named… it also seems like you’re confusing sociopathy with psychopathy; though they may both be antisocial personality disorder, clinically, they manifest in different ways. Psychopaths do tend to be disproportionately successful, but sociopaths are, statistically, not. The idea of such people being ethically directionless is also a gross overstatement.
I will call them psychopaths if you prefer.
I see a lot of debate concerning distinctions between sociopaths and psychopaths with no real agreement.
Though in Trump’s case I do not think he would have lasted long without consequences had he not been rich.
“I see a lot of debate concerning distinctions between sociopaths and psychopaths with no real agreement.”
Try pg659 of the DSM-V (Code 301.7)
In further readings, stay away from papers written by authors prone to using UK style spelling/grammar.
Beyond the semantics, I feel you’d have a hard time arguing that many of those you named are without empathy. Men like the Colonel, JFK, and Jackson – while not perfect men – hardly leave a soulless legacy. By that standard, anyone who approaches an issue with principled apathy is a psychopath… incidentally, that is also the scientific ideal. Is it really a wonder why their success is so disproportionate?
Obama not a sociopath? What? Speechless on that one. I’m glad you didn’t try to say he isn’t narcissistic. Jeez.
Hillary Clinton, THERE’S a sociopath!
“Yes. He is. But you all know that.”
No. I don’t know that. Enlighten me.
*Sigh*….
Commissar:
What is YOUR definition of Racism and Division?
What is YOUR definition of narcissism and sociopathy?
Trump.
That is all. It doesn’t matter that he doesn’t actually act like a racist, live like a racist, or display any racist tendencies at all, he just IS because the lunatics like to throw around the term. If they say it it becomes true. Then they redefine words to fit their delusions.
ah, another thread that treats the DSM-V like a hockey puck. Always fun to read. 🙂
I made a clear distinction between diagnosing one and spotting one.
Everyone should learn to spot a sociopath or psychopath.
Also, there is plenty of material online by well established diagnosticians who have come out publicly with their concerns about Trump.
As far as presidents who display that behavior there are clinicians that have done that kind of research; forensic psychologists.
It is their conclusions that I used for my list. These are professionals that do similar research for FBI profiles and for personality profile work for the intelligence community so we can better understand prominent leaders globally. Nobody in the CIA has sat down and diagnosed Putin but the CIA knows he is a psychopath.
I’ve read a few forensic profiles on notable people including Putin. Interesting reading.
There’s quite a difference in the methodology’s depth and breadth used for CIA profiles than the simplistic use of cherry picking facets of personality easily non-pathologically present in any random individual.
Interestingly most forensic psychiatrists/psychologists are clinical psychiatrists/psychologists in a forensic role. There aren’t many forensic programs and fewer are APA approved.
The non-contextual quoting often used is one of those ways to fall into anchoring bias. Context,consistency, societal roles, day to day functioning within those roles and changes in those patterns are crucial in an assessment worth considering.
Everybody feels sad occasionally. That doesn’t mean the day you see them and they happen to be sad that they obviously suffer from Major Clinical Depression.
Unrelated: If you haven’t read the book “Bad Men Do What Good Men Dream” by Dr. Robert Simon M.D.(Program Director of Psychiatry and Law at Georgetown University) I recommend you do. It’s a good book, easy to read (not a textbook), but very interesting.
Oh, and “Antisocial Behavior” by Benjamin Wolman PhD
An example of where the UK (NATO more precisely)terminology confuses things is in a book I have by Carl Gacono, “The Clinical and Forensic Assessment of Psychopathy” It’s a text, so it can be dry, and you have to realize some of the terms are not used in American Psych, but the content is very interesting. It explains the flavors of sociopaths and could very well be the source of some of the confusion already mentioned.
You were arguing diagnostics with a pro.
Spotting/diagnosing. Using a different verb doesn’t change the noun. The subject is, or is not.
This sort of thing is what tends to burn down what respect you may earn on other topics.
Once again, Dr. Know It All appears just when we simple-minded minions so desperately need his counsel on how to live our daily lives. IMHO, anyone who reaches conclusions based on what the Internet provides, is likely a bed wetter.
“We are starting to see evidence of that and indicators are converging toward a major recession before the end of 2020.” Just f__g
brilliant Lars. That speculation has been around since the early 80’s and no speculator has been right yet. Always pushing the economic crash further and further down the road. While at it, might you please tell us the day the world is going to end?
If you don’t mind my asking, what has brought your drivel back to grace this web site again? You seem to come and go regularly about every six months. You babble just long enough to see how many you can piss off and then take your mental toys and leave for a while. Seems to be a pattern there. As usual, sooner or later some one tells you to STFU. You are TRULY the definition of a full-blooded narcissist. You win the vote for the most contemptible personality Sigmund Freud ever recognized.
Like many others here, and as posted previously, dTrumpster was not my first choice. Neither were any of the other career politicians that were running. Ben Carson and Herman Cain come to mind of men I did support and would had voted for in the elections. Wow! Am I racysss cause I supported black men over white men. Or I am I sexist because I supported men over women? When a qualified, honest, electable female runs, and I think she would do a good job, I’ll vote for her.
The racist charge is as predictable as Larsie Boi showing up to seagull a thread. Bound to happen, and we can’t stop it. I just try to ignore both. Bad for my blood pressure. When I see help wanted signs across the whole country, people doing trade and commerce, more money in my take home check, my 401K getting fatter; That tells me somebody, somewhere is doing something right. I personally am sick of all the accusations brought against The President. The Bitch of Benghazi and her minions have skated for years. Both sides are pissed that dTrumpster won, and their silly assed jobs were all seemingly up for grabs. They keep throwing stuff against the wall, hoping that something will finally stick.
#ORANGEMANGOOD! How can a man of color (orange) be prejudiced against people of color?
5th/77th FA…am smiling, because I like Ben Carson and Herman Cain as well.
Mr. Carson was my first choice. President Trump my second.
And now they work together…😊
godfatherspizza
greatmindsthinkalike
rtr…godawds
goarmybeatnavy
Tanks Matey. My brain is just bruised, not broken. Just remember I am the person that Mothers warn their daughters about.
orangemangood
larsisidiot
armywillbeatnavy
dawgsgood
tiderolls
pizza&beer
So….getting back to the original topic “Trump Racist?”
Commissar, you commented “Yes. He Is.”
Can you please share why you feel President Trump is racist? Not interested in personality disorders.
IMHO, President Trump is not racist. I have yet to see any behavior where he attacks Blacks, Whites, Orientals in any shape or form. Critical of individuals? Sure he is critical…aren’t we all? President Trump is equal on all when it comes to his critiques, no matter what their skin color. I do not see or hear him spewing hate toward an individual because of their race. Do you?
Looking forward to your reply.
Thank You.
I’m still waiting to be enlightened as well.
Still waiting…
And still waiting
This is my position as well, he’s not very good at being a racist.
The only thing they point to is the late-60’s HUD lawsuit against the Trump family.
This is bait. TLDR; Suddenly Dickweeds!
Clicks pay the bills.
Note, writing for an audience is far, far more work than most people realize.
My essays aren’t for everyone, I certainly understand that and it’s no worries.
VOV, my own view is that President Trump being painted as a racist is based on a false narrative dependent on two parts. It has never been about racism per se; it’s actually about open borders. You might remember a 2013 private speech Hillary Clinton gave to a Brazilian bank about open trade, open borders, and green energy on this.
In the Progressive mantra, respect for U.S. sovereignty translates into evidence of white supremacy.
Yet another cause of Trump’s false racism label is that not only does the news media love to generate conflict, it will also happily jump in bed with whoever sucks up to it. The candidates in 2016 had very different campaign styles. Hillary never had a talent equal to Trump’s on the stump because she didn’t do well with crowds. Instead, she set up interviews and granted favors to news media figures to build relationships that likely exist to this day.
The same people calling him racist in MSM/Politics conspicuously refuse to entertain the basic difference between legal and illegal immigration. So much for empiricism. 🙂
OK. I AM PISSED.
So, yes TTruumpp is a rassist as much as I paint my finger nails black, enjoy lattes and scream in agony every morning at 0300 as monkeys and squirrels fly out of my ass in search of pink jelly beans.
OK. I FEEL BETTER NOW.
One word, Master Chief……
Colonoscopy (grin)
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSlh6deM3xNy9xayoqGwaIFY57Xw7DyiUlMhaX3yB58wC0FELti
Hehehehehehehehehe … you actually made me laugh out loud.
MCPO: Be sure to drink your 8-Liter Colonoscopy Bowel Prep PEG/Electrolyte-Generic, NuLYTELY®, GoLYTELY®, or CoLyte®
That’s it! I’m pulling out my red t-shirts that I’ve had for 15 years and WEARING THEM IN PUBLIC!!!!
I am 64 years old and always said America needed a businessman as President to get America on the right track again. When Ross Perow ran as a business man from Texas I worked his campaign and cried when he left the race. You run government like you run a business. The President is the CEO and the VP is the COO. That is why I voted for President Trump. My first choice was Dr. Ben Carson. I had worked on his campaign from the very beginning before he even declared his running for President. Then when Ted Cruz stole his votes in Iowa because Dr. Carson was at a funeral for a campaign worker who got killed working on Dr. Carson’s campaign he felt he had to be there. Then the Cruz teamsters said Dr.Carson had dropped out and then took his votes in Iowa. When Dr. Carson got back and realized he lost most his votes in Iowa he dropped out. Then my mindset was I would vote for whomever was running for President. Until Dr. Carson stated he was thinking of supporting our President. I knew Dr. Carson well enough that he never makes a decision unless he has thought it thru, talked to family and friends and most of all prayed about it. So when Dr. Carson came out and said he was supporting President Trump I knew it was the right decision I jumped on the Donald Trump train too. And look how right Dr. Carson was. As he always is.
I just wanna reply to someone that has actually met Dr. Carson. I’ve read his books and admired him for years. OMG!
The only source I could find (quickly) is this right wing rag,
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/14/us/politics/prison-sentencing-trump.html
Reducing mandatory minimums enacted under Clinton, and ignored by Obama.