I came here to the hospitable Northwest in 1971, and in spite of a few “go backs” yelled at me, have never felt unwanted. But the “send her back” initiated by President Trump at his rally sent a chill down my back. I have now lived in US for 48 years, more than the nearly 29 years in my land of birth.. Am I still an outsider? Am I not American in spite of being a citizen? Along the way, I have experienced prejudice at the hands of people who don't even know they are prejudiced or racist. In the end, it does not matter if President Trump has no racist bone. Perhaps it resides in his brain. Racism is not recognized by the perpetrators. If the targets “feel” it, then it IS racism—unless the perpetrators apologize after recognizing it in themselves.
11
As we grapple with the current landscape of heated rhetoric, racial strife and xenophobia, we should all be reminded of what happened in the summer 1919 in the United States:
"The Chicago race riot of 1919 was a major racial conflict of violence committed by ethnic white Americans against black Americans that began in Chicago, Illinois, on July 27, 1919, and ended on August 3. During the riot, thirty-eight people died (23 black and 15 white) and over five hundred were injured. It is considered the worst of the approximately 25 riots during the "Red Summer", so named because of the violence and fatalities across the nation. The combination of prolonged arson, looting, and murder made it the worst race riot in the history of Illinois." (source: Wikipedia)
One would hope that we can avoid a similar conflagration, although the increasingly vitriolic rhetoric is leading many to believe that once again we will experience a "Red Summer".
4
I wonder if Trump is setting himself up for the possibility of losing in 2020. Maybe he is just firming up his base. But he also must be aware his historically low approval ratings have not budged and that the intensity of feelings of disapproval, both in job performance and character, is high. Nothing is guaranteed, so he must be considering his options, and fading away after losing would not be one of them.
What is certain is the blind fervor of his supporters and their willingness to be a cash cow. Trump already has transformed the Republican Party into the party of white nationalism, with him as its leader, and he certainly could continue in that role if he loses. In fact, it might be a better fit, being able to operate without the ethical expectations of elected office. What we’re seeing now could be a firming-up of the brand: openly racist, scornful of the Constitution, disdainful of facts, and driven by emotionalism. It is a cudgel he could use against Democrats and straying Republicans, while keeping him financially secure and satisfying his psychological need for attention.
This would be consistent with his expectation he would lose in 2016, but use that campaign to start a television network or similar endeavor. Trump throughout his life has shown proficiency in only one thing — survival — be it through bankruptcy, lawsuits, manufactured publicity or fraud. As long as divisiveness, hate, and lies prove profitable, I do not think we will be rid of him.
6
I cannot believe how incompetent everyone we're supposed to be looking to for leadership and, well, competence, is in handling this guy. Pelosi picks a mean girl, high school level fight with these women, insulting and dismissing the many many DEMOCRATS who fought for them and voted for them, Trump picks up the scent of blood and runs with it.
And this editorial board thinks it's taking a stand by denouncing a spine chilling chant, threat and scene. Where was this paper when the mainstream media was treating his campaign like a reality show?
You want to do something? Dedicate time and space everyday- everyday- to calling out every member of congress who doesn't denounce him and/or take action against him and publish it. Everyday. Make. Them. Sweat.
13
I agree with the Editorial Board. But what are the Democrats doing? The candidates talk about Medicare for All which would throw millions of Americans off their health care through their employment. Never mind that many would have to accept a lesser plan.
They talk about giving illegal aliens free health care. Say what? Meanwhile our veterans have been on the receiving end of inferior health care, or none at all.
They talk about reducing the criminal charge of entering the country illegally to a civil charge, like a speeding ticket.
This is just plain crazy. It will guarantee Donald Trump that second term. This is not a circular firing squad. It is self implosion.
7
If people hate America so much why don't they leave? They won't leave so they expect everyone to conform to their rules. They get offended over simple statements and cannot think rationally.
3
Ms Omar should challenge Trump to a written citizenship test on a world stage. I know my bet.
11
July 19, 2019
This is one happy president living in his own bubble of fantasy and we might say there is no meaning to his shout out other than narcissistic pleasure and so just another shock from the jock of politics : as the country is free to live however it happens to us.
1
In the meanwhile, Trump refused to build a wall (even after Democrats offered full funding of it, in 2017), refused to deport and remove as many illegals as Obama did in 2016, refused to pass comprehensive immigration reform, and refused to lock Hillary up.
He simply refused to sign his signature campaign issues into law, and look, all he needs to do is to keep sending racist tweets, and his supporters are more than happy.
In the meanwhile, white males are losing their jobs and healthcare because of his confused executive decisions.
But hey, Fox News is there 24/7 to demonize Democrats, and the GOP massively takes over their fake news. So GOP voters continue to live in an "alternative facts" bubble where racism and corruption are the new normal ("Democrats do so too!"), and where "all talk no action" Trump is there hero.
THAT is the "real message" of Trump's presidency.
3
Being a white older man these days is sometimes difficult in that we are stereo typed as Make America White Again folks. I'm not. I have great distain for this monster in the White House. Having said this the video of this atrocity does provide some hope. As President Trump gloated in the "Send her back!" chant many of the women in the backround were not participating. Maybe this is where some begin to see the truth of things, we'll see.
4
Trump - as a human being is an empty vessel. It's always all about him and he will always do whatever works in his favor. He's a great con man, a great self-promoter and a great master manipulator of people. And those who don't go along by choice - he will try to force them by using intimidation. To save our democracy and our self respect Trump must lose in 2020.
5
What is the real meaning of 'Send her back'? Is it a racist statement? Questions, questions, questions. For the President the main reason for establishing an environment where such chants catch hold is reelection. Kellyanne asks us to look into the President's heart. That is his least vulnerable part. He will continue to push his agenda of hatred, fear and divisiveness. He sees it as his path to victory. Only when Ivanka tells Daddy he has gone to far will he issue a muted yeah maybe that was a little bit wrong. Ivanka and company hold the slack reins on this president. That should give people comfort.
1
His he racist? No question. Misogynistic? Xenophobic? Again, no question this is documented in tweets, words and videos.
Does he have a megaphone? Absolutely. He can change the national discussion in 160 characters - more outrageous the better.
One thing I have not seen examined or put forward by the media, is the timeframe surrounding the tweets. When things are going to happen that add to his legal woes, challenge power, etc. all he has to do is tweet and the press reinforce his message as it ricochets around the globe. 160 characters and he doesn’t have to do anything else. And he really outdid himself this time - so what is it that he wants us not to focus on this week and next?
The Epstein case - documents that he flew 26 underage girls out for a “special” party with him and trump. A steady drip of videos that are surfacing of trump with Epstein groping women, no doubt more will be coming and he knows it.
The Mueller Hearing - No one is talking about this anymore, are we? Mueller will reinforce why the GOP spin on this is wrong and that will add to the growing bonfire of Russian interference and that trump and his campaign were clearly in cahoots with them.
First Responders Healthcare Bill - that’s being blocked by the GOP.
Is it possible for the press to examine what else is going on from which he wants a major distraction? The crazier, nasty and desperate the tweets, the more problems are surfacing for him and the GOP, this is an obvious pattern.
4
Next verse, same as the first: "Lock her up" simply became "send her back". One suspects Donald Trump since childhood has gifted himself with a female or three to stomp on.
3
Interesting that Trump always chooses women to pick on.
Why isn't he saying such unpatriotic (yes, read about what our founding fathers were aiming for) things to men of color?
1
The election of 2020 is going to be referendum on racism. Vote yes for lots and plenty of delicious racism with Trump or vote against Trump and say no to racism. Those that vote for Trump and say the Democrats don't have anyone to vote for or I don't want socialism is merely trying to mask who they are.
We all know who Trump is and all Americans know who Trump is. It is my hope that racism is rejected because if Trump gets in again where does America hope to go from there? Blacks and hispanic and asians are in the United States to stay and in 2045 whites will be the minority. The only alternative is diversity and inclusiveness. Treating everyone with dignity and respect.
2
“For those interested in the truth…” the editors write.
But it sure looks like that excludes about 40% of American voters, real grown-ups who raise and have raised real children.
We know that many Trump fans saw him race-bait on national TV, but his admirers will say (and soon believe) that he did not.
They really don’t care at all about the truth.
Or they’ll say, yes, he’s lying about it now, but we agree with what he did so who cares?
To Trump supporters, telling a colossal lie that no one believes for a second is a sign of power.
Lying extravagantly and repeatedly to all American voters just proves how powerful he really is.
I am a 73 year old Black man and I have seen and heard a lot of racist stuff before, during and after the Civil Rights Movement struggles for equality in the 60s and 70s.
I have seen bigoted politicians enforce and condone hateful policies, I have dried the tears of hate-victims in their moments of pain and I have heard racist apologist try to convince me that what I was seeing and feeling was not racism.
But I have never seen a current President of the United States so openly use hatred, racism and fear as the soul basis of their reelection platform.
America, the pull of hatred is strong but it's a road that leads to disaster.
6
It's time to change your reporting to just say, "Trump lied again" or "issued another of his bigoted and/or hateful statements" and move of to the issues of our time. It's obvious he is just gas-lighting and deflecting, so don't give him the benefit of reporting what he says and does, just note it and move on!
1
Yes Trump is a raciest. We have known that for years.He loves that political position and enjoys the publicity and stage presence he receives. Remember his job is to divide, confuse, disrupt, berate belittle and destroy. That is why Putin and the Russians helped him win the Republican gerrymanders election. How many weeks will we continue to talk about this raciest action?
We are not a nation of immigrants. White settlers established the country, not immigrants.
I wish more time would be devoted to President Trump's ACTS of racial animus on the border. Talk is cheap, human life is not.
Mike Pence would not have seen such treatment of inmates in a POW camp, unless you went back in time. It violates the Geneva Conventions, it violates human dignity and the honor of this country.
Then you have the taking of children away from their parents. This is the most cruel and unusual punishment I think anyone could imagine to punish children and parents. For many families destroyed by this President, due to his unfit ineptitude and that of this administration, it is a life sentence these family members never seeing each other again. Mind boggling and despicable.
These are not well thought out and implemented polices. These are reflections of sadism and racial animus without thought or morality, mental illness.
Racism isn't found in bones, it's only found in hearts hardened by a lack of love and understanding, god.
I don't pity Trump, I hate him as God hates him (Proverbs 6: 16-19).
DON'T 'GO BACK!' DON'T 'SEND HER BACK:' This Is Our Republic
The USA desperately needs leaders who understand the quintessence of this country as a nation of immigrants, a nation whose citizens - I mean most of them, except for NATIVE Amerindians - come from another country, directly or indirectly.
We need to keep working on the contents of our character and national unity.
The U.S. is the land of the brave, the land of opportunity, the land of the free. It is not private property. That is what makes America exceptional. That is what makes America a favorite destination for those who seek opportunity and freedom.
No single person or population group owns the USA in such a way that they may ask another person/citizen or population group, "Go Back" to the country from which you came. There is no such thing as second citizenship. As citizens who love the public/common property known as USA, our country, let's share it without fighting over who should get more and who should get less based on where we come from. Let's live in and govern it as a REPUBLIC (from 'res publica,' in Latin, meaning 'public thing, as opposed to 'res privata,' meaning 'private thing). Moral Leadership matters. I therefore, commend the 116th Congress for showing leadership by passing RESOLUTION H. RES. 489of July 15, 2019, Condemning President Trump's racist comments directed to Members of Congress."
Don't Go back! Don't send her back!
Welcome back to your country, USA.
E Pluribus, Unum.
1
Did Omar first slam and talk trash of the United States? YES SHE DID.
Is this the what a Congressperson should be doing? NO IT IS NOT.
PERIOD. SEND HER BACK if she doesn't like living in our United States.
THIS IS THE MEANING OF THE PHRASE,...SIMPLE AND TO THE POINT.
SEND HER BACK.
1
I wish I could “go back,” to Ireland, Finland. Please, I would LOVE to go back.
1
You may be misinterpreting this a little. I am virtually certain that Trump is totally fluid in his convictions, i.e. that he has no convictions at all. Trump is foremost an opportunist and reality TV producer. This is his biggest role ever.
He will hit on anyone and anything, as long as it helps his ratings, because he knows that he has no competence whatsoever to achieve anything of value. He knows that what he is good at is producing a show, intimidating others and smash all the China in the shop to create a great spectacle.
He is baiting the left and the NYT to jump on that toxic racism bandwagon that will carry him to reelection. Fact is, it's not him that is screaming racism, it is those who oppose him. Ultimately, they will be ones bearing the racism badge, which will have too many voters disgusted, sick and too tired of it all next year to bother voting.
He's got good intuition. Ignore that at your own peril and prepare for 4 more years of idiocracy.
3
I have yet to see a single report on the facts behind President Trump's claims against the four female Congresspersons. This would be useful reporting. Is what he says true or not? If not, in this editorial, the New York Times is simply acting as a carrier for Trump's lies, and in effect giving him free advertising...without carrying out its responsibility to point out every single Trump lie, every single time he tells one. I'm sure such reports exist somewhere, but all coverage of his comments must carry the truth...as well as what he says... every single time he makes such claims.
1
I was born in Puerto Rico and I am still living here. By definition that makes me a second class USA citizen.
Having said that, where am I supposed to go according to Trump?
I consider Puerto Rico my nation, but under the USA constitution we “belong to” but we are “not part of USA” i.e. we are colony of USA. Weird? Confused? Absolutely!
AOC was born in NYC, her parents were Puerto Ricans. She has a first class seat and even so she is treated by Trump as a “foreigner”. That's why when he came to our island he did the infamous paper towels jump shots. Racism? Bigotry? Of course!!
GOP is full of overtly opportunistic, toadied politicians – their seats in Congress are valued by them as supreme. For them, American values, are just words. 2020 elections are immensely important for, not just USA, but to the whole world.
Regardless of the answer to the question whether the wig-wearing guy in the White House is a real racist or "only" uses dividing and racist language and contents I really wonder: Everybody knows that Trump´s grandfather emigrated to the US from Germany, so the "Proud to be American" is american only in the second generation. If one generation (born in the US) is not enough, why should 2 be? So why is the statement at hand never posted: If Trump does not like politicians and a big part of the US people - why doesn´t HE go back to where his forefathers came from? In fact, his grandfather wanted to go back to Germany, but the Bavarian government refused to give his citizenship back to him ...
2
If a person discriminates against another based upon a bias against that person's national origin, it is racist.
I am white. I am an American. I am a patriot. I am a man. I know a racist and a sexist when I see one.
Trump is bully and a fake masquerading as a leader, and a patriot.
1
I'm pretty sure the bad player here is whoever coined the term "white privilege".
I could be mistaken, but I doubt it.
Let's all have a beer summit on this hot July afternoon, shall we?
2
I think all of the Homo sapiens who evolved in North, Central and South American should be allowed to stay and everyone else should just go home. Wait! There are no native Homo sapiens who evolved in the Americas, or in Europe, or the Middle East, or Asia. I guess we’re all going back to Mother Africa. What a good idea!
Or, just perhaps, everyone could try just a little harder to get along by realizing that everyone is, ultimately, from somewhere else. And if not, I can think of a third generation German (or is he Swiss?) who should be deported… perhaps to Mars… with his supporters.
2
"At this point, does it much matter if he is acting purely out of political cynicism, with no element of personal prejudice?" Yes it does.
Trump is a member of the Dark Triad; he is a narcissistic psychopath. As such, he does not possess the emotions of love and empathy or hate and disdain; his emotional state is apathy.
This is an important distinction. When Trump makes racist comments, those comments don't come from his gut. They are planned to elicit reactions from the millions of true racists in America. Future racist comments by Trump must be considered in the context of the racial games being played and the strategy employed.
Just picked up our new au pair from South America and had to tell her first off to never be without her visa papers and a copy of her passport so I would not end up having to dig her out of an ICE detention facility because she was at the wrong place at the wrong time. Never thought I'd have to teach people close to be to fear the government as they jackboot around trying to impress the boss. I guess these are the kind of conversations people were having with Jewish friends and associates in Germany in 1930.
3
Democrats! Get our country back.
Register!
Vote!
Get involved!
1
“When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” —Maya Angelou
1
I guess if your comment in part criticizes the mainstream media, including this paper, and the role they played- or rather didn't- in going after this man during the campaign, it doesn't get published. Good to know.
Read this article to find out precisely what Trump's comments didn't mean. The NYT is a reliable source of disinformation, so can just assume that the opposite of what they promote is the truth.
1
Send him (Trump) back.
4
It’s pretty astonishing, the lengths and twists people will go to in order to pretend that this isn’t racist, or isn’t on Trump and the GOP because they already fixed this, or at least that the Democrats are just as bad.
I think my face rave was the guy who blamed it all on post-structualism, and then went on to yack about how we shoulda listened to the oragmatist William James—as though that didn’t all boil down to a) them commie lesbian black studies perfessers is a-lyin’ to decent folk again, and b) thank gawd Trump liked to attend the church where Norman Vincent Peale started out, drag his wife along, and hit on new prospective wives come Sunday.
Honestly, it’s always Freud’s bucket joke: I never borrowed your bucket, I gave it back last week, and anyway it had a hole in the bottom when you loaned it to me.
2
"Send her back" and other racist rhetoric from Trump diverts attention from the damage his administration has done elsewhere, geographically with U.S. allies and trade partners in policy mis-adventures. The policy silences suggest erosion on critical administrative and statutory infrastructure taken for granted. How many parents listen for silences in their infants and children? Silence can mean mischief or trouble. In this case, the depth of damage from the infant in the White House will take decades to heal.
1
Speaking of sending her back... The Logan Act is a United States federal law which is currently in force. The intent behind the Act is to prevent unauthorized negotiations from undermining the US Government's position. By pushing for a BDS effort against Israel, a close US ally, Omar is undermining the US Government's ability to conduct foreign relations which is normally the province of the Executive Branch. Accordingly, Omar should be charged with violating the Logan Act which carries a maximum penalty of a fine or imprisonment for not more than three years, or both. Upon conviction, I believe Omar could be legally deported as a convicted felon since she was not born in the US.
I think it'll take another president or two to even figure out what the real problem is with this country. For one thing, there needs to be a time limit on the election campaign — and that's only to ease the pain. The inability to even make simple changes like that is frightening.
4
For those seeking to abolish the Electoral College consider that the Founders, who gave Electors real choice & power, believed that the Electoral College would prevent a Donald Trump from becoming president because the Electors would know the character of the candidates but the vast majority of the voters could not know that character
The Founders also knew that over time the majority would be able to prevail but designed Congress in a manner to slow it down so that change could be moderated; Republic vs Democracy. That totally fell apart with the election of 1800 & the rise of political parties. Add to that gerrymandering & you no longer have Congress as a moderating force but a truly rigged system in which political power can become self sustaining so long as the political party in control can raise the funds to publish enough convincing propaganda
8
@sbmirow
A republic is a political system where the head of state isn't appointed through heredity, but elected (by Congress, or directly by the people). The opposite isn't a democracy, but an kingdom.
A democracy is a political system where the three branches of government are separated, and that guarantees freedom of speech, gathering, voting etc., and the separation of state and church. The opposite of a democracy is a dictatorship/totalitarian regime.
The US is a democratic republic, constitutionally. China is a dictatorial republic. The UK is a democratic kingdom. Saudi Arabia is a dictatorial kingdom.
Conservatives in the West tend to want to go back to aristocratic forms of government, where only a handful of people take the most important decisions (those people are then considered to be "the best", "aristos", in Greek, the "elites", in English).
That's why they created Fox News, because no ordinary citizen will ever knowingly vote for policies that systematically shift power to the wealthiest, so they need a massive fake news propaganda machine to still win elections. Cultivating racism is part of that fake news mission.
Democrats, on the other hand, strongly believe in democratic republics. So they want to enhance voting rights, civil rights, equal opportunity for all etc.
1
I paint the entire US political situation in terms of the battle between Neoliberalism and Neoconservatism. I don't like either one, nor do I think most Americans do. Only the separate elements of our political elite like these ideologies.
There is nothing about either one of these failed ideologies that entails any more knowledge of 'how things work' in the real world than any other religion. The main difference, it seems to me, is that these failed ideologies tend to ignore common sense and morality in favor of some 'higher wisdom'. Most other descent religions, on the other hand, hold common sense and morality primary.
I hope those with power can calm the world down. Things are looking pretty ugly. I have no wisdom to offer other than that I think we should return to our base morality. Do unto others, etc...
1
Trump has rung the bell of racism, misogyny, indecency and hatred. The peal will be heard loudly and painfully for an incalculable period of time. He has changed our country in ways I never imagined. At the age of 72, I am learning that people who have been my close friends for 50 plus years are racists and bigots. It seems likely that these people have held these feelings for some time, but prior to the Trump era my assumption is that they had some reluctance to reveal who they really are. I’ve always known these people to be polite, courteous, and considerate of the feelings of others. Religion and politics were subjects that were rarely discussed, seemingly to avoid risking making anyone uncomfortable. Trump’s vile conduct appears to have opened the door for them to reveal the feelings they’ve kept contained for decades. They now express their love of Trump for, among other things, his “keep them out” or “send them home” mentality. There’s a lot of “they’re different from us” talk and it seems to provide them satisfaction and a false sense of comfort that we finally have a president who will keep us safe from the “thems” and “theys” with his bombast and bad guy persona. Obviously, this is happening countrywide as evidenced by the recent “Send her back” chant. I find it very sad and terribly frightening. By the way, this particular door to free speech opens one way amongst these people. I guess that shouldn’t be a surprise.
9
In Los Angeles I tell people to go back to Ohio all the time.
10
And, also, send us all , those with very light tan skin ranging to with very dark brown skin, - - there is no such thing as black or white or yellow skin - - , back to southern Africa where we all originated.
As our ancestors migrated northward, - - often due to climate change, we needed less melanin because the Sun in the northern parts of the planet Earth is not as strong.
Oh, and also, people with different shades of brown skin, from dark brown to tan, copulated, some lovingly and some violently [rape] and created different shades of skin.
Migration, throughout prehistory, now and onward, is caused by dangerous climate change , - which modern humans cause, as well as by economic deprivation coupled with greed, that is not sharing with each other.
And, lastly, humans suffer from Stranger Anxiety which causes the rejection of and also violence toward strangers, other human beings we are unfamiliar with.
6
“Send her back-wards” - turn back the clock. Regress. That’s the real meaning.
2
Il Doce would be proud of his present day doppelgänger’s ability to incite a crowd.
6
He’s doing what Putin wants, exacerbating the fault lines of race in the USA, weakening the Democrats, and messing up our relationship with our allies. Watch out for Russian election meddling and he’ll get right back into the White House!!!!
8
What the hell, indeed. Thanks for this spot-on summary.
4
I grew up in a small town that provided bread for discussion on the late Paul Harvey’s radio program during the 1970s after there was a race riot at our only high school. Kings Mountain, N.C., is a city known more for its role in the Battle of Kings Mountain during the Revolutionary War. I still feel astonishment and pride about that battle where men from across the Southeast united in the cause for freedom and arguably changed the war’s course. Recently, however, I read that there was more going on besides the patriots’ anger toward Great Britain. There was unrest among slaves and Native Americans regarding their mistreatment by white settlers. Our conflicts today are not new, nor is there a simple solution outside of loving our neighbors as ourselves. No matter who you are, you deserve to be treated with kindness and dignity. I have experienced my share of disrespect by people who have different skin tones than mine, and sense that there is a code shared by those good people who pretend that’s okay too. There really isn’t a black or white answer, and if we can find the middle way, then we will be great again.
2
I am not a Christian or Republican but some of the blame must lay with a multicultural ethos rooted in the worst of Post-Structuralism that insisted no culture is better than any other culture, often labeling any critique as Imperialistic. This is faulty thinking that could only have arisen in the ruins of theism, an all or nothing approach to Truth. Maybe we can wave the flag of Pragmatism, the original American philosophy: Some truths work better than others. Some cultures promote human well-being better than others. This seeming lack of willingness by some on the Left to acknowledge this baffles those on the Right. You on the Left who supposedly believe in Science; Try living your life as a Postmodernists. Or do you care whether your car works or not? Whether the building you designed will stand? Whether the subway will stay on the track? Let's stop separating the actions of the mind from those of the body and admit some things work and some do not, whether they are products of the mind (culture) or products of materiality.
4
@Sage X
ALL objective studies have proven that single payer works better, if you want to obtain a healthy population, than Ryancare.
So that idea IS better, you see?
All that Rep. Omar does is representing the majority of the American people who agree with her and now want to see it signed into law.
Secondly, all objective studies show that fighting against racism "works better" than cultivating it.
Here too, the GOP prefers "alternative truths", in other words prefers to massively spread lies about Omar, simply to fire up its supporters in the absence of any significant legislative or other achievement.
It won't work. The GOP's approach is a mere "product of materialism".
4
I don’t disagree. I am a Pragmatist. Republicans are ideologues. The products of their minds trump reality. But the same can be said of many Leftists whose policy ideas have no basis in fact.
“Bring back nuance.” That’s my mantra.
2
@Sage X
“Bring back nuance.”
Let me add to this: "...and common sense."
1
I disagree with those commenting, "We are all racist." We may all have prejudices, but that is not the same thing. I certainly have ideas about certain groups of people that are not based on personal knowledge, but on stereotypes coming from the media and other sources. But I try hard to fight against my prejudices and to treat everyone with an open mind. And I would never support a system where certain groups were excluded from full participation in society due to their skin color (or age, sex, or any other characteristic)!
Good article explaining the difference between prejudice and racism -- https://www.thoughtco.com/racism-vs-prejudice-3026086
3
A True Fable
My niece is a red-headed freckled Bostonian whose first job was Walmart cashier. To make the most of the entry-level job, she endeavored to learn Spanish from her customers, asking them the name for items as she rang them up and smiling, thankfully repeated their corrections. As she became fluent, she was offered the “Go back” taunt constantly, then served her attackers politely in English. After a year, management noticed that customers were willing to wait in a long line to check out with her. She got a promotion for her bilingual status and welcoming attitude, and continues to rise through the ranks.
The Moral: In our great American Melting Pot, a willingness to try new seasonings can improve the taste of the whole stew. I’ve gleaned enough Spanish from my hosts at the taco trucks to order deliciously. Try it.
18
Trump is now, “the voice and the face of America.”
Our international reputation is eroding steadily.
America is no longer trusted by its friends or its enemies.
As a nation, we are now regarded as, “adrift and dangerous.”
We may never recover, in the eyes of others.
10
It is useless to discern the character and values of Trump and the tone he has set for his administration.Slowly but surely he has surrounded himself with people of his il. We also know how the Republican leaders in both houses are willing enabler of him. By now we all know this. It is no longer newsworthy, just as to say that elephant has trunk is not newsworthy.
I think all fair minded people ought think how to replace him. Democrats must not be distracted with issues that take the ficus away. To this extent "the Squad"has let Trump to control the media and obfuscate our attention from real issues related our economic and security issues. We need more media to be more vigilant and not legitimize his pronouncements.
7
But he didn't have a private email server!
11
But his daughter and son-in-law used an unsecured server!
1
In Junior High a group friends were musing about summer jobs. A black friend of mine commented, " Not sure I'll get a job with this skin."
Decades later this testimony of American racism still rings in my ears.
10
It doesn't matter what Pres. Trump or his supporters and enablers really think in their hearts.
The problem is not with people who may really recoil inwardly at any encounter with people of another ethnicity but who are scrupulous about making sure that everyone is treated courteously and fairly.
It's with people who may really not have ethnic phobias but who are willing to talk and act like racist pigs in return for applause, votes, and money.
5
For two and a half years the MSM, including the NYTimes, gave us "Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia." Then the collusion story was confirmed to be a hoax.
Now they're going to give us a year and a half of "Racist, racist, racist, racist, racist,"
Remember the Lincoln's adage NYTimes- "Something, something, you can't fool all of the people all of the time." Enough, already.
4
@Nate
Ummm ... When was the collusion story "confirmed to be a hoax"?
8
Not a hoax, and not Lincoln. Please get your facts straight.
8
@Nate
The “MSM” as you call it, is merely pointing out commenting on Trump’s repeated, identifiably racist behavior and comments. With Trump, this goes back years. At some point, a person IS what he says and does, regardless of what’s in his/her heart and mind.
Oh and Russia. They DID mess with our election process. This is a FACT.
2
Every minute that Trump remains in office, every moment that he continues to use that megaphone to spew poison into the atmosphere and to whip up hatred and resentment among his deluded followers through lies and distortions, brings us closer to the abyss. House Democratic leaders are living in a fantasy world when they tell themselves and us that we can rein in Trump's aberrations by voting him out of office. They're assuming we will win. But they don't consider, or don't talk about, the strong possibility that we may lose. There is every sign that Trump and the Republicans are planning to hijack the next election using all the tools they used the last time and then some. What happens next? Trump, unchained, and with Barr at his side, launches an all-out attack on the Constitution and the rule of law. Who will protect us then? The time to act is NOW, when we still have leverage over them. We have the power to make this hateful, transgressive and illegitimate presidency grind to a halt through impeachment. Please, Democrats, reread the history of the Weimar Republic. Its failure to act decisively when it had the chance paved the way for Hitler's rise to power. Don't say it can't happen here.
12
Trump and his supporters claim that we on the left are “destroying” America. Well, yes, we are destroying the idea of America as a nation where your color (white) gives you outsized privilege. Or the idea of America where your money doesn’t just buy you a comfortable and secure future, but one where you have outsized political influence and power.
Yes, we are destroying that America, or we’d sure as hell would like to, if we could get everyone to vote in 2020.
12
The problem is there is nothing of substance in Trump's heart. He is an empty shell, with no moral compass, motivated by the basest and most primal unchecked emotions. He can't be believed or trusted, and true to his sociopathic tendencies, he enjoys nothing more than to get away with no less than total destruction of anything and everything that doesn't cater to Donald Trump's every need. Which, I'm sad to say, he seems to be getting away with so far, assisted by the Republican party and the media.
7
I would suggest we use the term "Race Hustler" to describe what Donald Trump is doing. Its a term that has been popular on Fox News to describe left wing politicians of color, and I believe it is a very accurate description of what he is doing.
4
"The damage he is doing will take years to undo."
Indeed. The US used to attract the best and the brightest from all over the world. And the contributions of these immigrants have been largely responsible for making the US economy what it is today. Just look up "who's who" names of Silicon Valley. The next generation of these "beautiful minds" will no longer be interested in coming to the US. The racist chants, which are already circulating in social media, will be there forever to discourage those who want to come to the US with the dream of building a "brave new world".
6
Trump fundamentally cares about nothing or no-one but himself. Thereby, I wonder that if he saw he could bask in the glory of an audience appreciating the genuine ideals of MLK, then he might be glad for it. He has features like a Chauncey Gardner ("Being There") character. He is amoral and has found a niche with the bigots, rendering the relationship a kind of symbiosis. It is destructive and typically leads to woe, as all such movements eventually face such an end when people with integrity (finally) take substantive action against them. Tragedy is in the suffering that people must go through in the meantime. Here is Ms. Pelosi's lesson, comparable to credit card debt--the longer you wait, the more you pay.
3
Here's all you need to know about the Trump supporters who were shouting "Send her back!", they don't think Abraham Lincoln was a great president, they think Jefferson Davis was a great president.
4
The chant 'Send her back' might be racist and it might even be misogynistic. But the real problem is that it is profoundly undemocratic. It says, in effect, 'if your ideas don't align with mine, they must be silenced'. To promote such an idea is to promote totalitarianism. This, in America, the land of the free?
227
@PMD
America, the Land of the Rich.
7
@Technic Ally
I agree.
1
@PMD
"...it says, in effect, 'if your ideas don't align with mine, they must be silenced'.
I hope you are not a staff member or student at UC Berkley or one of the many other "progressive" schools that continually ban conservative speakers from their campus. "Progressives" are typically the first to silence those with opposing opinions. Maybe Trumps supporters are just following the "progressive's" strategy of limiting free speech?
To some extent, we are all racist. Everyone has been conditioned culturally to identify people by race just as they identify people as men and women. Even the college where I work, which goes out of its way to see every single student as just that, a student, will also keep records that identify and categorize them by race. The students themselves will do this.
Hence, it is very easy to declare that you are not a racist since, in essence, we all have the same cultural bracketing system. What matters, as the Times points out, is what you do with this cultural identification. If you use it like a club to batter anyone you don't like, that is the problem, not the semantics of your internal cultural settings. This president, devoid of any admirable personal character traits, has purposely fomented a society of racial animus and division to feed his own vanity. Every day he rips apart the very fabric of representative democracy, which depends not on a bunch of ambiguous guidelines written in a 200-year old document, but on a principle of civic virtue, where leaders put the welfare of others above their own.
2
“A house divided against itself, cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved — I do not expect the house to fall — but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it forward, till it shall become lawful in all the States, old as well as new — North as well as South”...Abraham Lincoln.
No matter the issue, what is different in the year 2019 between all Americans and between the 7.7 billion humans on earth???
3
So, we never heard chants of send them back for Sanders or Warren, who are both just as left as the Squad. What can explain that?
3
Trump is not a racist.
Guess which president signed the bill to federally recognize 6 Indian tribes in Virginia?
Trump.
Not Obama. Not Clinton. Not any president, even though these tribes had been trying to gain federal recognition for decades.
He didn't have to - but he did.
Trump is not a racist.
4
I despise what Donald Trump has done to this country, even more, I hate what he has done to me. Certainly, I've been a life long liberal but never before did I feel overwhelming animus towards all Republicans. Trump's division of this country has eroded our collective decency. Perhaps, that's been his goal all along. It's difficult to believe that he wants to destroy our democracy, where everyone is equal and free to dissent, however regardless of his intent, he is degrading this country 24/7. I've become less open minded and empathetic towards my fellow Americans. I find it very hard to go high when Trump's administration goes lower and lower, into a bottomless swamp.
197
"The damage he is doing will take years to undo."
No, it will take decades, maybe a couple of generations.
Look at the scotus, quite diminished in stature and font.
6
I am afraid we are in the era of lawless mob-think, much like the middle ages, just a more digitized version of it. Wait a couple of months, people will be saying it was the racists expressing their right to free expression, even though it was clearly inciting violence by asking a sitting president "to send back" elected member of Congress away from her own country. If you don't get why that is not violent, thank your privilege, clearly you have no idea what it means to hear that directed at you by a mob.
Well-researched articulate pieces like this will not away the minds of bigots. It is now left to the non-bigots, regardless of political viewpoints, to actually vote against Trump in 2020 to restore us back to the 21st century. There will be fewer and fewer left of voices of sanity as the country sinks further into racism.
3
I believe one must first be a racist to use racism as a campaign strategy. A person who is not a racist would not go to the extreme of creating hate and fanning the embers of racism simply to get reelected. A person who believes all are created equal would be concerned about the consequences of their actions. Trump is clearly a racist.
7
As an independent voter every time we disagree with the lefts view of the world we are called racist. My companies employees are from all over the world and many are in senior leadership positions. The last thing I am is a racist. However we do have very different world views from the "Squad". We support Israel. We do not trust big government to run things. Centralized power is against our founding principles and leads to the corruption we see today in Washington. WE are not in favor of socialist policies and the control of healthcare via single payer. Free college is a horrible idea and we need immigration reform rather than open borders. We want to get control of the debt and reform entitlements before our children cannot pay for our tab. Our education system is failing and we do nothing about it. WE need drastic reform measures and still nothing happens. The jobs of the future demand higher level skills. Our culture is a mess with wide spread drug use and addiction in all levels of our society and our response is to legalize marijuana and tax it. None of what I propose is racist. So stop putting all of us who disagree with the left positions as anti minority or white supremacists. Lets have the debate on the merits of the ideas. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies. A dream of a land where men will not argue that the color of a man’s skin determines the content of his character
4
@Just 4 Play
Disagreeing with left-leaning policy does not, as you say, make you a racist (nor anyone else who disagrees with left-leaning policy ideas). Being somewhat on the lefty side of things myself, I can disagree with right-leaning policy ideas and not be a communist. Right? Ok, good. However:
Telling four congresswomen who happen to be not-white to "go back to their countries" when all four are citizens and elected representatives makes Trump a racist. Period.
People who happen to agree with him on that issue are racists. People who chant "Send her back" are racists.
I think we can chew gum and walk at the same time.
1
All fascist dictators start their rise by galvanizing the impotent anger of a supposed "uber-mensch" by picking on a group that is small in number, weak in power and poor in economic clout. And if no one speaks out against the marginalizing of the one group, then the community is complicit from then on. And then the fascist dictator goes for the next weak group. And the next. And the next. And then he goes for all the members of those minorities who thought their money or supposed power insulated them. This scenario is happening here. Happening now.
10
"At this point, does it much matter if (Trump) is acting purely out of political cynicism, with no element of personal prejudice? "
Some GOP spokemen seem to think so -- because if there is no presonal prejudice they can gaslight his statements into some sort of false news.
The shameful video, and Trump's relishing of the hate chant he promoted, is there for all to see. Any member of the GOP who apologizes for or gaslights that evil is themself a racist. You can't hide from self-evident truth.
6
I'm sorry to say but there is no insight in this article. The general message is plainly obvious. Is there anyone out there that thinks by saying Trump is trying to divide us, play to his base, the writer is telling us something we don't know. I don't play a habit of this, but the journalist world has to get off the path of bashing on Trump and instead work on what the Democrats must do to kick him out. All the screaming to say "he's a bad man" isn't going to change a single mind out there. Please NYT (and media), step up here.
2
"Vote him out" should be the rallying cry of all Democrats in the USA.
5
Also, “One And Done” would be great if true next November.
Not too far from “round them up.”
6
Trump is too lazy and machevelian, in turns, to be committed to any ideology. He’s a sleeze, that’s all. Why debate it? Just deploy proactive damage control on all fronts.
3
I would be willing to bet that Trump spends every day talking to Steve Bannon who has said that if you get the Democrats to only be talking about race and make this a Black vs. White issue -- the Republicans will win. It seems Trump is listening and following suit. What a disgrace it all is and has and continues to be. It has been truly terrifying to see a White Nationalist in the Presidency. Although pathetic -- Trump is the most dangerous and vicious person I have ever witnessed in Office. Another sad day in a long line of sad days.
4
The real meaning is sexism. There are at least 2 immigrant men of color in Congress who oppose Trump. You don't hear them asked to go back.
Male Black slaves were granted the right to vote before any White women were given the right to vote. That's the USA folks.
He is sexist and his White women supporters don't know or care.
4
The order of Trump's vilified attacks... #1 misogynist, #2 elitist, #3 racist. When people support him, they support this as well. Folks can claim they are the 401k Trump, the America is safer Trump, the "outsider" Trump...it's all a hoax... hey believe like he does! :(
5
If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck.
Donald Trump is a racist. No other conclusion can be drawn from his words and actions, dating back to the late 1970's.
What is particularly chilling is that it is now clear that a large part of the Republican base is both racist and fascistic. The "send her back" chant that Trump basked in makes that painfully clear. By their pathetic attempts to avoid comment or, even worse, by their defense of Trump, Republican members of congress have shown themselves as being at best enablers and at worst fellow travelers.
5
@ Don-
Fascists- each and every one of them.
4
I’m waiting for this Editorial Board to go beyond telling us what we’ve known for a long time about this man: Tell us what you think should be done about him!
I’m reasonably certain there have been discussions about what the Congress should or shouldn’t do. Come to a consensus and share it with your readers and the world!
Speak up. Speak before your president does more than merely calls you the enemy of the people. Before him and his AG try to shut you up.
4
Before he was inaugurated, trump lashed out racially at the gold star family of a muslim soldier killed in action. I mean c'mon.
Before he was inaugurated he lashed out racially at the judge for the trump university case. He said a judge with a latino surname couldn't judge him, even though the judge was born in Florida. I mean c'mon. This is clearly about his fans, his racism is on full display.
7
Is he even fit to run for reelection as though he were a normal American incumbent President?
There is, after all, the Mueller report, which documents evidence of impeachable crimes. We've never faced the dilemma before of a President running for a second term with the background of a scathing Special Investigator report, which is neither pursued by Congress nor forgotten.
I'm just not willing to bet our democracy on the popularity contest that is our Presidential election. I believe Trump should be given the chance Mueller couldn't provide, to be able to fight for his exoneration and that has to be done by Congress, starting in the House. That's what our Constitution demands.
4
Last night I had an opportunity to listen to one of the 2020 Democratic candidates at a New Hampshire town hall meeting. It was very uplifting to hear from a candidate with a clear vision for the future. In effect, what we heard was the polar opposite of the hateful venom that spews out of Trump’s mouth at every chance he gets. The Democratic field of candidates gives me hope that one day my now three year old grandchild will learn about how the racist and corrupt Trump was driven from office at the ballot box in 2020. If that can be achieved America will stand a chance of getting back on track. If we fail in November 2020 we won’t recognize what is left of our country when the 250 year anniversary of our independence is celebrated.
4
Trump is only giving those people what they want. I don't know if he is using them or they are using him.
4
Surely this president is the most unique person to fill this office in my live time. And that, my fellow Americans and so many of you leaning to the left, is why he will be re-elected. Fly over America likes to see him stick his thumb in the eye of what they think is the folks that are destroying our country. They see their concept of the USA eroding into a country where words are more significant than deeds, where Christianity is vilified and patriotism is poo-pooed. Keep it up blue lefties...each day you push his re-election closer.
28
@Franklin So the people whose public policies lead to the worst health, education and economic outcomes despair that the prosperous and innovative economic engines are "destroying" the country.
In fact, in this telling it is words that are more significant than deeds. Although every time the policies they support lead to bad outcomes for the governed populations they insist that we take their word for it and only their word and no one else's word.
This sense of victimhood that Christianity is under siege and that to want different public policies means that you aren't a patriot.
Please point me a republican controlled state that is prosperous and whose children are doing well and their workers are doing well and there are good health outcomes.
68
The reality is that he is sticking his thumb in the eye of his own supporters. Notice how he has already blamed the people at his rally for the “send them back” chant? It’s one thing to shake up the establishment, quite another to destroy all of the civil norms created over hundreds of years, break numerous laws, lie all day and every day, and question the patriotism of others.
43
@Wordsonfire If you ask the average American are you better off than you were three years ago. The vast majority will say yes. More are employed, more have full time jobs. More have jobs with full benefits. America is better off.
6
"The presidency doesn't make who you are, it exposes who you are." - Michelle Obama
The more that trump is exposed, the uglier he looks.
22
And the less anyone seems to care!
2
That's the sad part: he went on to malign these women and call them un-American even after the chanting stopped.
He is not only a liar. He is a bald-faced liar. It's lying raised to the point of gas lighting. And yet seemingly intelligent people show up to cheer.
11
Trump's revolting hate speech and incitement to violence would soon see him sentenced to serve time in prison in many democracies of the Western world, Canada included.
8
I am chilled to the core by the rampant hatred flowing out of my fellow Americans.
16
OK, NYT, WP, AP and all the rest, we got it: Trump is a racist. We can stop parsing it all now. Unless you want to continue writing about Trump's garbage until 2025, I suggest you stop playing into his shameless hands. Every day from now until November 2020, you should:
Write about his quest to deny millions of Americans their healthcare coverage...
Write about Iran resuming it's pursuit of a bomb...
Write about the worsening climate...
Write about his Justice Department's callous attitude toward poor black and Hispanic men...
Write about how he's making the 1% even richer while the rest of us continue to struggle...
Keep on top of the issues that people in those disproportionately powerful swing states care about most and we may yet survive this nightmare.
17
Whether Trump is racist or not is a stupid argument, just as it was for George Wallace and Orval Faubus, both of whom might well not, themselves, have been. The point has always been whether or not, and to what extent, one uses racial animosity for political purposes. And this animosity is virtually never admitted--except in the ballot box. There it is completely clear that the Republican Party has used racism consistently since at least the middle 1960's when the Democratic party abandoned bigotry/racism and the Republican Party, led by Atwater, Manifort, and Stone, picked it up with Alacrity. Trump and the entire Republican Party now simply use it openly since they, like Wallace and Faubus pretty much know how many, many white Americans will vote--especially the despicable Evangelical "Christians."
11
As I saw written elsewhere:
"Donald Trump is a racist. His denials are entirely besides the point."
5
In addition to Trump's Slovenian-born wife, Mitch McConnell's wife, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, is a naturalized Taiwanese immigrant. In the Grand Old Party spirit of "One rule for them, another for us," McConnell dodged a CNN reporter's question earlier this week as to whether it would be racist to suggest his wife should “go back to where she came from.”
10
Trump is his father's son.
The same "America First!" rhetoric was employed by his father who was an isolationist, antisemitic, anti-catholic, and anti-immigrant. Between 1933 - 1941, "America First!" was chanted at rallies conducted by these people who referred to the immigrants fleeing persecution as an "infestation".
The immigration process was purposely slowed down, and more restrictions were introduced.
That is why some made it in, but thousands as well did not, only to go back to certain death.
Trump's father also marched with the KKK. We know that because he was pulled in the permit was issues banning the use of masks or any other item covering the face. Several people were pulled in to police headquarters for that and because a riot broke out.
Can you even imagine those KKK jerks marching down the streets of NY during that time? They were also claiming that Italian immigrants and anyone catholic weren't "true Americans" also. Most of the police force at the time were practicing catholics.
But Trump's father marched with the KKK, he shouted America First at rallies too.
And it had the same racist overtones that it has at Trump's rallies.
Face facts. With a father like that, Trump has probably been a racist ever since he learned to walk.
4
Great oped. So accurate.
3
"This is audacious gaslighting, even for this president."
This moron seems to be completely unaware of the invention of video.
3
when is someone, a reporter..., a politician..., anyone..., just going to say outright to Trump, "That's a lie and here is the proof."? or actually say to his face, "You're a liar!" and show him the proof! he even lies about his lies! it's time someone outright called him out instead of tripping around the subject with "terminology!" he relishes in it. he bathes is the obsequiousness surrounding it.
for that matter, when is one of the 20+ Dems "running" for president going to actually take a stand on it? if one... just one... stood up to him as the bully he is there would be skid marks in his shorts!
2
“The crisis at the southern border is directly the fault of a failed immigration policy while the Republican party and Trump held all the levers of power in Congress.”
President Obama sent back not a few people.
What about seeing further and point to the corruption, unaccountability, lack of jobs, miserable conditions for millions that force people to leave their home and walk North hoping to get a job?
We badly need a Marshall Plan for Central America.
As for the President’s words, he is getting “earned time” in the papers-front page free advertisement that will get him re-elected. He is on top of this game.
1
It may be important to point out some aspects of the Progressive movement; how ineffective they have been on producing winning coalitions. From the very beginning the fragmentation of their message was obvious. Black civil rights activists and Suffragettes could not work together enough to bring a unified and coherent message. The infighting within them (this dynamic is not exclusive to Progressives) was a product of not understanding the capacity for brutality and cruelty that humans are capable of producing. The reason is simple. If hate is the passion you posses, it does not matter what your goal of unity and inclusion wishes to make manifest, you will be a captive of that hate, not it's message of unity and inclusion. We have two modern examples of what works instead of hate. Gandhi in India, wanting to to end England's rule of India used what is called truth force; he said it is not true that Indians are slaves of England, it is not true that England is the aggressor here. Gandhi eliminated hate from his heart, and so the truth of Indians and England could join in what was right. And that is exactly what happened. Now there are Progressive academics who will express all of his faults, such that he can be discounted. But he can not be discounted in this way. In our own country King took this method of truth telling to free people of color, but as important, he freed also the white men who were as bound as the people of color. We go together or not at all. HateDoesNotWork.
2
"Flash forward to the era of Lyndon B. Johnson."
Isn't the expression "Fast forward"? I thought it borrows from the practice of orwarding a tape or DVD quickly to another point.
3
Unless, and until there are consequences beyond hand wringing and NYTimes editorial board commentary like this, the behavior will continue to ramp up. Where is the Democratically controlled House of Representatives? It's time for a real, full bore censure and a formal impeachment inquiry. It's time for the addition of specific language that repudiates the behavior and calls for the punishment of every bad actor in the Congress and the Trump administration into every legislative package passed by the House. Mitch and Donald can insist that such language be rejected, but it should come to shutting down the Federal government if necessary to bring home the destructiveness of this behavior.
1
The silence of congressional Republicans tends to indicate that their party is in fact America's official racist party.
9
I know that the NYT does not like comparisons to Hitler and the Nazis but I'm sorry watching that video of trump, the crowd chanting "Send her back" is all eerily reminiscent of any number of Hitler videos on YouTube where he addresses a crowd. This is truly frightening.
14
If America can not muzzle its white supremacists, then America is a clear and present danger to the rest of the world. We will lose our trading partners, our allies, and ultimately, we will go the way of the Third Reich.
10
Sorry but why is the Times always so mealy-mouthed in its denunciations of the president? Fellas, he has already dragged the presidency through the mud; you needn't any longer have compunctions about offending the majesty of the office! "He may not be a racist, but..."??? That's the best you can do?
7
"I'm not saying you're a racist, I'm saying racists believe you're a racist."
2
Aside from the racial bigotry, and almost as ominous or perhaps even more so, what he is saying is "If you disagree with me you hate America and you are a traitor."
5
QUOTE: Donald Trump "is looking to divide Americans along color lines, to conjure a zero-sum vision of America in which whites must contend against nonwhites for jobs, wealth, safety and citizenship." – The Real Meaning of ‘Send Her Back!’ – It’s become the message of Donald Trump’s presidency.
Sure, as if the sanctimonious and hypocritical mainstream media…including The New York Times …doesn’t THRIVE on “identity politics”, “group think" and inflammatory “racial politics” …day-in and day-out, 24/7. Forget about the importance and uniqueness of the individual. What matters most to these hopelessly biased “news” sources is stirring-up anger, bitterness, resentment and feelings of “victimization” & “entitlement” …against the evil, “white” boogeyman (whoever that is) who must FINALLY make amends and pay for our endless pain & suffering! [Of course, we mustn’t blame the DEMS who’ve been trying to keep you there in perpetuity to advance their own political agenda].
As Saul Alinsky said in his "Rules for Radicals" (1971), “Always accuse your enemy of doing exactly what you do best, as you are doing It to create confusion”.
And finally, there’s another famous quote that The New York Times is the absolute master of: “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it”. – Joseph Goebbels (high ranking officer under Adolf Hitler)
1
@Vcliburn Because it couldn't be the POLICIES that the GOP are instituting that demand that WE THE PEOPLE become riled up.
Has your body ever been "evidence of a felony?" My body was until I was six years old in 17 states of the US because of laws imposed on black bodies.
There are no laws being written against white people. Or against christians. Yet every day we hear complaints that you are being attacked. Meanwhile the majority of this very group ARE writing laws to harm people solely based on who they are. Immigrants. Transgender. LGBTQ+. Poor. Women. Every single day the GOP comes up with another law to limit equal access and opportunity to these people.
When we stand up and demand our civil rights then you accuse us of engaging in "identity politics." I would have to defend my civil rights if the GOP wasn't continually attempting to take them. And when being rebuffed from taking rights away from me they proclaim that they are the victims because they can't take my rights away I'm denying their right to practice their religion. And that it's not them but rather their religion that requires them to deny me access to having healthcare I need covered under my work provided health insurance or being able to use a bathroom or serve in the military.
2
@Wordsonfire
I’m sorry you feel that way. Such is life, right? Sadly…as is the case with such “politically charged” issues, people tend to believe what they WANT to believe, and see what they WANT to see. And oftentimes unbridled emotion takes overwhelming precedent over dispassionate, arm’s-length critical thinking and intellectual honesty.
I know it’s hard, but it doesn’t hurt to try!
1
This story mentions that Donald Trump "smeared [Rep. Omar] as trafficking in 'vicious anti-Semitic screeds.'"
Donald Trump has accepted, and has failed to repudiate, American neo-Nazi hatemongers who have given him the Hitler salute and chanted, "Heil Trump."
I'd call that fairly anti-Semitic.
When are his supporters going to stop hallucinating and realize that what they are directing at others could one day be turned on them and their children?
4
The awful irony is this:
America was truly great when it saved the world from Nazi
oppression--Aryan (white) supremacy, a holocaust of "ethnic cleansing", an egomaniacal dictator, his base base selling their souls to the Devil for the illusion of supremacy, and the collusion of scientists, engineers, academics and very wealthy corporatists following suit as well as the Christian Church.
And now the USA has as a president a White Supremacist, ethnic cleanser, wannabe egomaniacal dictator colluding with dictators, a liar of epic magnitude, a science denier, with wealthy corporatist allies, a base base selling their souls to the Devil for the illusion of supremacy, and the collusion of Evangelical "Christians".
And his marketing slogan is "Make America Great Again."
7
@Michael Kubara - America sent jewish people back to Germany to die and at the same time put Japanese Americans in concentration camps. America did some great things but we have always been deeply flawed.
2
@DR
All true.
USA without Lincoln, Roosevelts, Truman--ugly. Flawed even with them.
2
Ask older Black folks in this country, ask Jewish immigrants from Europe.... this very same chant is something they have heard 100 years ago, more than that possibly.
There is no ambiguity about any of this.
This is how Germans started their persecution of Jews.
This is how the South has inflicted pain upon generations of Black.
This is hateful racism all out in the open.
19
Yeah, Trump is too gruff. If we are to be truthful, the sentiment isn't racial. It has everything to do with the fact that the USA rescued Omar from Somalia, and now she is a subve3rsive influence. Don't bite the hand that feeds you.
If you want to talk "racist", I'm tired of being blamed for other people's inferiority complex, identity issues, and lack of success. No one has a foot on your neck.
2
America, land of the Free!
Yes right, as long as you agree with me, that is democracy, right ...sure..that make sense.
4
Trump and his party are national socialists. They are right wing fascist extremists. I read NYT and listen to NPR write and report on how he sounds and what he says and how shocking it all is. My great fear and concern is the very large portion of the country who agree with him. I agree with other comments, our country is becoming two countries. I fear what will happen. A civil war is on the horizon and Trump is fanning the flames.
7
I sure hope this editorial board felt the same moral indignation at the vulgar name-calling and anti-Semitism of one of these woman who is a “victim” of Trump.
2
Being against Israel’s policies toward Palestinians does not make one an antiSemite. My family is Jewish. We do not support Israel.
5
If I hear one more complaint about Democrats using identity politics to make whites feel guilty I’m gonna blow. How is recognizing that everyone should be treated equally but are not making people feel guilty? I’ve had it.
8
What do you expect from a total narcissist? Trump cares about only one thing, Trump. He is not the least bit concerned about the damage he causes society just so he comes out on top. That is classic Trump.
We have laws that prevent yelling "FIRE" in a theater. Trump is yelling fire everyday. He drives people into a frenzy at these rallies. He causes them to hate and then feeds them more hate. He lies constantly and then tells more lies to cover up the lies he just told. That is classic Trump.
Trump has found his target, these four representatives, all women of color. They are perfect for him to attack. They represent everything he hates and opposes and Trump hates anyone who opposes him.
We now have three factions to compete for votes. There is the white nationalist faction, the sensible, mostly suburban old school republicans, and the last mostly comprised of liberals, women and minorities. Let us hope the smallest group are the white nationalists. Let's hope.
9
Hillary should be proud. It took FOUR Congresswomen to replace her as bogey-woman.
7
For now, being considered a racist is unacceptable—but for how long?
3
What Trump and his crowd said is hateful and deserve all the negative reactions that it's getting. But labeling every horrible act and word as "racist" just because the target is not white makes the word meaningless and downplays the horrors of true racism.
The chant wouldn't be racist if it was "lock her up" instead of "send her back"... or would it?!
@Ellena No, that would be sexist.
2
@Ellena: Good point. In this case, racism was a component in a way that it wasn't when they were screaming about Hillary. That "component" part gets complicated.
Racism is certainly a specific historical, social and economic thing that should be recognized and thought about for what it is, but it is also deeply embedded in ordinary life: I think a road-rage episode is often going to feel different according to the races involved, even if the incident itself might have been race-neutral.
Maybe we need a theory of "making people outsiders" that would include racism as one major form, and also include anti-Semitism, anti-intellectualism and other forms of modern populism.
We would also have to take a look at the way Trump supporters are sometimes portrayed as ragged rustics with bad teeth...
1
When has President Trump denigrated African-Americans? LBJ seems to have been a closet racist who helped pass the Civil Rights legislation for political expediency. Fast forward to today and illegal immigration hurts the African-American community, yet the Democratic Party raises their collective hands in support of open borders and free healthcare for illegals. None of this makes sense. Trump will win in 2020.
3
A new thought occurred to me. Many or almost all black American’s ancestors have lived in the US longer than my ancestors have. I am of Polish, Irish and Scottish ancestry. Contemplate that for a moment!
3
This infamous chanting reminds me of “ Animal Farm ”.
5
What's in the president's bones doesn't concern me. What does, is what's sloshing around between his ears.
2
“Donald Trump insists he is not a racist.” So what? Why do people take his words seriously? Maybe we were fooled when he insisted that President Obama played too much golf, but we know him now. Of course he is a racist. Most in his position might avoid answering questions, or would give nuanced answers. Not Mr. Trump. No, he tells us, he is the least racist person you know and he doesn’t have a racist bone in his body. Ludicrous, of course. Yet this dishonest way of defending himself is entirely predictable. On other issues he swears up and down that he did not do something he was accused of and when caught in a lie explains it with a new lie. Then when finally confronted with overwhelming proof, he shrugs it off with no anxiety or shame. He will always act this way. He can’t help it. This is normal behavior for him. He is a sociopath.
8
Trump is almost right, he's not a racist, well, not just a racist--he's a misogynistic racist. He either hates, demeans or is afraid of women and people who are not white.
6
He may not even be stoking racism and division entirely for political gain. It just seems to be fun for him, and a way to see how he can provoke reactions and get attention.
4
America continues to pay the price for our original sin: slavery. While the North may have won the battlefield in the Civil War, they did not win the hearts and minds of the South. We continue to suffer from the deep racism that is embedded in the hearts and minds of so many, throughout the country but, it seems, especially concentrated in the South. After all this time this is deeply saddening and depressing - it seems there is no way to eradicate this pernicious disease. We have really always been two countries, and I see no way to resolve this.
7
The question arises regarding why anyone would feel that Trump is not a racist at heart, and is just "playing one on TV" out of cynical political considerations. This theory does not hold water. It is contradicted by facts on the record.
Donald Trump is on the record as a racist landlord dating back to the early 1970s. His father was a virulent racist, and the apple seldom falls far from the tree where racial prejudice is concerned. The only minorities he has hired as president, he has done so out of nepotism (in the case of Elaine Chao) or tokenism (like Ben Carson), individuals unfit by knowledge, philosophy or experience to hold the jobs to which they have been appointed.
I see no reason to accept Trump's word that he hasn't got "a racist bone in his body." All evidence points to Donald Trump being a racist in his very marrow.
7
We are also seeing the beginnings of an Imperial Presidency in which Lese Majeste, insulting the President, is Treason. If Trump is reelected, he will drop all pretense of a democracy, and follow his friends (Putin, Xi, Kim) as Emperor for life.
The stakes in this election could not be higher. Please stop playing games, we need a candidate and platform that will insure Trump's defeat. Everything, and I do mean Everything, else is secondary.
4
Is this it? Is this the final straw that brings progressives and centrist Democrats, Independents and maybe some Republicans together in a defining moment that says enough is enough? Is this the moment that the majority of our country – much of us who have watched in silence and despair not knowing which outrage to address first - come together and say regardless of who the Democratic nominee is we will vigorously work for and vote for her or him because we cannot abide this any longer? It cannot be clearer that the President of the United States cares only about himself and will use any tool in his ugly and destructive bid toward re-election. Those of us who care about this democracy that has lasted 200+ years, who care about the kind of country we are and can be and what we represent at our best, and believe in a country that is the opposite of the vision of Trump is providing, must gather all of our energies to vote out this administration. If we don’t, it will be at our own peril.
3
By the way: none of this will hurt him at the ballot box - not among his hardcore base, and not among decent, moral Republicans (sic) who claim to abhor his behavior but will put up with anything to get what they want on abortion/ immigration/ whatever, and certainly not among those whose primary loyalty is to money. The ONLY thing that will hurt him is voter turnout.
3
Democrats, please don’t buy into a (probably Luntz-created) concept of “Identity Politics”. The ideal of America is the opposite: inclusion of all comers who believe in the Founders’ dream for equality. Send us your tired and poor and they will build the American Dream together. Inclusion. Justice for All.
Slavery was our original sin, one that was eventually eroded away through brave politicians and lots of blood. Enslaved people worked harder than most to build this country yet their ancestors by law were denied ownership. Chinese immigrants were deported after building our railroads because some feared their work ethic and ambition, which still seem to surpass our own. Was their self-esteem greater than the native tribes or African captives that they wouldn’t settle for the low status assigned those groups? Or was it that the white immigrants were able to blend in after a generation or two and the other races couldn’t?
Why is it that immigrants can recognize opportunities that natives don’t? They are willing to start at the bottom with a much harder road to success. Many of us have mostly forgotten how to be poor, to pull together, to find pleasure in striving together toward a goal.
America is about including everybody; Identity is a concept of Exclusion. Democrats are the party of Inclusion. Stop falling for their semantic tricks.
5
Never forget: Words have feet.
"It is not just that he pursues policies aimed at exacerbating divisions, like banning migrants from majority-Muslim nations or building a wall on the United States-Mexico border."
Your words here are very misleading. The Muslim nations in the ban wish America harm. The wall is to discourage invaders. How many gated communities, business, and organizations have barriers to keep people out that do not belong. (millions) If your not crossing at a designated point of entry you are breaking the law and are an invader. If you are a US citizen commit a criminal offense and sent to jail you are separated from your children. Why are non-US citizens who are committing a crime treated differently than a US citizen?
Curiously, Trump never took issue with her gender, skin color, or DNA. He made pointed remarks about her political acumen, and the folks on the LEFT applied the label. This is yet another red herring. It speaks to a progressive ideology incapable of winning intellectually. All that remains is name calling.
But Trump is a name caller too! Of course, he’s not nice either. BUT ..... ‘The Squad’ is certainly anti-Semitic and economically naive, while Trump is certainly a friend to women and people of color from all nationalities. Both sides can be mean, but Trump happens to be calling it like it is, while the left once again recoils in self righteous indignation.
Trump’s policy prescriptions are clearly working. Progressive cheap shots are not. That’s why I keep thinking back to the Reagan-Mondale election and look forward with a smile to 2020.
1
This disgusting fascist rally was intended as counterprogramming to the reporting of Mueller's testimony, which was originally scheduled for yesterday. I shudder to think what trump will do next week, and deeply hope the media will fall for it.
3
political fight and political victory can be debated and won by civility and dignity wikthout showing the ugly face of bad mouth whether racist or not. those who excuse Mr. Trump are white racists of the past - white country for white people to be ruled by white only. such principle will have a devastating impact in future and we better get ready if Mr. Trump wins the second term.
1
Trump is catastrophic. He is simply a disaster for the US and for the world. I can't believe this creep is in the White House. He has incited mobs. He is fanning the flames of hate. He has a target on the backs of each and every American who isn't an obvious Trump supporter.
"E pluribus unum!" Out of many, one - that is our national motto. Yet here our president deliberately shreds that precious, unique unity, the US is being destroyed by our own president.
We must join hands and stand against this travesty.
And if you're one of the chanting mob, you're on video forever. We will not forgive your hate, your shame will endure for generations.
3
You end "The president is looking to ... conjure a zero-sum vision of America in which whites must contend against nonwhites for jobs, wealth, safety and citizenship." True, but aren't he and his followers losing that game? In 2016 Trump promised a wall built by Mexico, massive infrastructure and health care improvements, etc, etc. He hasn't delivered Meanwhile his aging "base" shrinks and the U.S becomes more diverse.
@PeterE As long as he continues to obviously hate and attempt to harm those his base hates they will give him a pass on the other issues.
Come next year, you guys will pick same president again. So may be you could stop this hypocrisy and get on with life.
@Ghari - "So may be you could stop this hypocrisy and get on with life."
But what if this is life?
We minimize these womens’ strength of character and charge to represent their constituents and live out Constitutional values when we label them as the media and some congress folk have done and it is sticking and it creates a negative aura.
STOP!
Please.
They are not a squad.
They are individuals with families and all highly educated and motivated to prevent fascism and Zionism to control America. We have our own value system to improve. We do not need Israeli dual citizens with billions dictating our Middle East policy with kushner et al.
So these four representatives are speaking truth to power and voters sans trump like what we hear from them.
1
"Send them back, send them back", "Crucify him, crucify him". Whats the big deal, it's just a bunch of folks getting together to love them some country, right North Carolina? Evangelicals? America?
2
Please remember this country interned Japanese Americans during WWII. Is that where we are headed, interning Americans who present a “danger” to America, say American Muslims?
I hate to break it to the NYT editorial board, but NOT everything is about race. If Ms. Omar were a Republican, she would be dining at the WH.
Ms. Omar is a faulty politician with a lot of baggage both personal (family and taxes filing issues) and political - her socialist views and her evident anti-semitism.
If your average Joe-Doe-white politicians were facing her problems, he would be forced to resign.
3
@RobertM — Two words for you: Duncan Hunter. With a boatload of baggage, a felony conviction for misappropriation of funds quite likely in his future, and his recent public boast of having knowingly murdered innocent women and children in cold blood during his stint in the military, ‘conservative Christian Republicans’ gladly re-elected him.
A Republican resign because of malfeasance? Not a chance. Not unless he’s been all but drop-kicked out the door first.
Color lines for sure. But what these two hateful slogans have in common is “her.”
3
So, let's see.
A man with four immigrant grand parents, an immigrant mother, and two immigrant wives, complains about immigrants.
Wow!
Need one say more?
5
Nor does it matter whether in their heart of hearts the people who vote for Trump are racists. Their votes enable and encourage racism; they are part of the problem, and they deserve just as much scorn and blame as those who openly disparage minorities and decorate themselves with swastikas and other symbols of hate.
"It’s become the message of Donald Trump’s presidency."
This is a false statement.
It is, only, wishful thinking on the part of the N Y Times Editorial Board, who have betrayed in entirety, the exhortation of Adolph Ochs:
''to give the news impartially, without fear or favor, regardless of party, sect, or interests involved'
It’s an editorial. Not a news piece.
1
@Tammy
It is impossible to tell the difference any more, which is a very big shift from when I read the N Y Times in the 1950's and 60's.
My assertion stands, with ample evidence in plain sight on the front page, every day, all the time.
1
Would challenge any of A, FB, or G to find a pattern of racism in the Big Guy's polemics...
No one more diverse or inclusive in slurring his fellow US residents...
Though – perhaps during the 2016 brawl for the GOP nod, he let slip a whiff of bigotry...
There, spent less than 7% of his vitriol on each of the black, women, Hispanic, and Indian identity-demographics...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Republican_Party_presidential_candidates
Rest of the time – all occupied with beating up on white guys...
Most of them old, unlikable – or both...
In toto, could’ve been mistaken for a Palm Beach County jury...
PS
What allegedly recently concerned him – a question Wilbur’d chalked in about how many folks in each household had been told to “go back where they came from” by His truly...
Knowing how his disdain has become badge of honor among the country’s progressive elite, he wanted this query on the survey to reach beyond his base – slamming as many potential 2020 balloters as possible...
Thereby making them feel right at home in their new home – that big GOP-created tent in the big-box store parking lot we call America...
After the debacle on the citizenship question, Trump was worried that Ross might get this question tossed, too...
PPS
Trump knows that if he relies on the NYT to convey his insults to the broader electorate, they might just leave half of them out...
And if it’s a cliff-hanger that goes to Roberts – that’s one 3 AM call he can do without...
Those who are "other" but still Trump supporters better keep their red MAGA hats and T-shirts on so that their white nationalistic "brothers" can distinguish them from other "others".
But don't think it will stop there. White Nationalism is not open to all whites either. The culling of liberal whites will begin.
3
Ilhan Omar's notoriously anti-Jewish rhetoric actually forced the House to vote on a resolution condemning 'hate'. So it's not a smear to call Ilhan Omar a bigot and a hater.
As far as the "send her back' rhetoric, it might be a tad over the top. But one has to wonder why a person like Ilhan who hates America so very, very much wants to stay in a country that she holds in such contempt.
1
"Send her back."
"Lock her up."
These two chants, popular with Trump and his supporters, are filled with hatred for women, a topic not mentioned in your editorial.
7
“Donald Trump insists he’s not a racist. This is, increasingly, a bit beside the point.” Why would it be so hard for you to write, “Donald Trump insists he’s not a racist. This is a lie. We’re his home town paper and there’s been no question he’s a racist since his reaction to the Central Park Five episode of 1989.”
I’m not asking you to take a side R v D. I’m asking you to take the side of truth. Set aside your journalistic pretend objectivity and BE OBJECTIVE. No, you can’t know what’s in his heart, but you’ve been reporting his actions for decades. He’s a racist. He lied. You know it. Say so.
4
The "Send her back" message is truly frightening. Unfortunately by now we've become used to such messages from Trump. We might be encouraged by a few Republicans pushing back, but hey are so few!!
What is truly discouraging is how the media has accepted such behavior as par for the political course. They don't talk about moral outrage but about "political strategy". "Will it help him" they ask. I don't remember people asking whether Hitler/Goebels' rants helped them. Obviously they did, just as Trump's helps with the base. I would have hoped that the media would point out that whether it helps or not, it is beyond the pale.
2
To paraphrase the "biblical" prophesy concocted for The Omen:
From the dark abyss he rises,
Creating dissension on every shore,
Turning man against his brother,
'Til the nation exists no more
5
Sharpen your dagger of words. Steel the good consciousness of the majority of Americans. Don't equivocate. Do what Joe Louis does to Max Schmeling in their 1938 bout. Knock out the pretender. Rip his anti-American repubican minions. Rid the nation of Don the con and his fawning acolytes.
3
Take VIDEO of these blatant, flagrant racists and send the video to their employers. Call them out for what they are. Companies DO NOT find racism a good public stunt.
3
Trump certainly deserves criticism but so do the members of the "squad" for their extreme statements and divisiveness . Omar has in fact made antisemitic statements and yet there is no outrage from the Times. AOC smears the people working for ICE and says that the detention centers are literally concentration camps, and progressives fall over themselves trying to justify her ridiculous statements. Republicans are tired of this game where they are constantly called on to denounce trump and meanwhile the mainstream press can't even be bothered to ask these congresswomen a single question about their extreme policies.
1
@R.P.
I'd call 45's policies extreme. Far more extreme than any of these congresswomen's.
I have posted a comment earlier saying that targeting women with lock-her-up and/or send-her-back choruses is misogynist and outrageous. That it is in this context also rasist is obvious.
Why has the comment not been published? Thank you.
1
In your brief recitation of presidents and racism you have forgotten a few very important things. When faced with a choice about the meaning of equality under the constitution, only Lincoln and Lyndon Johnson landed in the right place. When you focus only on the civil rights act of 1964, you ignore that President Johnson was also responsible for the voting rights act, the fair housing act and the immigration act of 1965. No president has done more to promote all forms of equality than he.
You also ignore FDR, who has an abysmal record on equality. He turned a Jewish refugee ship away after Hitler had started his purges; he refused to enter WWll against Hitler and Mussolini until Japan bombed Hawaii; he then put US citizens of Japanese heritage in camps for the duration of WWll. He refused to integrate the military only to have Truman do it after his death. FDR was no friend of equality. He was no Lincoln and no LBJ.
1
@James Ricciardi
FDR was forced to compromise with unchastened Confederate power and excluded blacks from much of the New Deal. That was the best we could do at the time. LBJ was brave enough to forfeit his position of power to correct that shortcoming. Truman was shamed into integrating the military after the black units fought so heroically when they were called. Lincoln was murdered for his heroic stand; now the Confederacy has captured his party and is trying to split us again.
@Alice Smith. I agree, but we must never forget Lincoln and LBJ in favor of the FDRs and the Reagans, etc.
Trump, bully in chief, supposedly the most powerful person on earth, looks so small when he attacks Congresswoman Omar. His campaign may think this is a good winning strategy, but it is most certainly is not. And the very notion that he tried to stop that chant by speaking very quickly is gaslighting 101. We saw the video. If Trump's lips are moving, he's lying. Vote them all out.
2
It’s always a “her” that is the preferred target of Trump-and-minions. Sending women back to some imagined submissive place is a key conservative goal.
2
Anyone remember Bob Grant, the late 70s to early 90s Talk-Radio host? Trump is channeling him with gross-out comments about non-whites and detestable mention of immigrants. Same stoking of white male anger that they’ve lost their privilege to act with impunity
2
As a 9/11 survivor, I applauded when President Bush went to a DC mosque and unequivocally renounced anti Muslim hysteria. He rose to the occasion as the President, in this instance, in order to forbid bigotry.
I concur with the editorial board that the Presidents are not perfect because as human beings, they are just as fallible like the rest of us. Notwithstanding the above notion, LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act in 1964 as it was appropriately cited in the Editorial. Truman also famously proclaimed: “The buck stops here” to emphasize the notion of accountability related to the Presidential Leadership.
Contrary to the above Presidents, Trump is not a leader. He lacks probity and comity. Trump is essentially an irresponsible “Shock Jock” provocateur masquerading as the President. Furthermore, he lowered the prestige of the “Office of Presidency” forever by his unforgivably vile demeanor.
My heart goes out to Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, AOC and Ayanna Pressley as I feel viscerally repulsed by Trump’s racist rants. Trump is inciting xenophobia in his rallies through his anti Muslim and anti immigrant histrionics by being totally oblivious of the fact that these irresponsible and reprehensible acts may result in disastrous hate crimes. He totally doesn’t understand the notion of accountability because he is an uber selfish, solipsistic and narcissistic psychopath.
As Americans, next year we should take our country back by collectively proclaiming to Trump: “You are FIRED”
2
“He seeks to demonize those who oppose his policies as dangerous extremists out to destroy America”
Oppose what Policies? More tax cut for corporations & the wealthy? Packing the courts to protect the interest of the ruling class? Oh right, that HE’s the true American, bone-spurs & all. All trump has is those extremists “socialist” , & more hate messaging. Once again the chanting. Now “send her back “ & “love it or leave it” - what he has is fear & sensationalism. Nothing more. He needs to undermine honest debate about struggling families trying to pay for the rising costs of healthcare & college. There is no real debate on issues that affect our country. Let’s be real. Trump & those that stand with him, they are the extremists, the ones out to destroy our democracy.
3
"Send her back" should include Melania Trump and her parents as well as Elaine Chou and her rich parents but why are the Democrats being so quiet and "politically correct?" The Democrats must not forget that they won the House and many other offices by abandoning that " politically correct" stigma that has haunted the Democratic Party for so long. These new and brash young politicians we have in the House now are the faces of new Democrats and we voters love it!!
1
Not 'taking the bait' is complicated because what exactly is the 'bait' about? Since the President's family (and ancestors) is made of immigrants to America, it must be about color, correct? And that is called? ____________ (fill in the blanks quiz question for Republicans).
1
Well said.
And if we don't wake up to the long term effects of this behaviour... just take a slight turn and look at WW-II Germany, take a more firm turn and look at our own Civil War... we are in real deep trouble.
When would a Trump supporter fully realize that DT has crossed the line finally...?
He was sadly, painfully and atrociously correct when he said he could murder someone and get away with it.
Seeing and hearing that chant meant, yes he can get away with it. Its a cult, its a blind allegiance, it is in their minds a revolt against the Dems, the liberals, the coastals... a lot of perceived and some of them, legit causes of grievance.
But this I know....
When you compromise on your core ethical values to support such a man, from then on, it is all a downhill slippery slope of accepting the ill, the wrong, and at times the outright evil.
I don't see any good in future unless Dems take back the WH and Senate.
5
More disgraceful behavior from Trump - so what? What did anyone expect? Civility? Intelligence? Compassion? Empathy? Class? He clearly incites violence and fans the flames of those who would do Ilhan Omar harm - is that his game plan? Trump's verbal depravity is yet to find it's floor...and the GOP sit in guilty silence. They know he will stop at nothing for a few column inches - but are spineless and lack the courage to shut him up and close him down. A vote for Trump is a vote against America - Congress has failed the nation, now, only through the ballot box can Americans remove this damaging feral presence from power.
2
I share many of the same sentiments I see here. One of the biggest surprises for me is that there are so many supporters of this blatant blowhard. I know people are not this ignorant. It is clear for everyone to see the devices Trump uses to separate his base from all others. I had spent a lot of time over the last few years trying to understand the pain and anxieties of the voters in other places that are so much less fortunate than I am. That part is real and I believe democrats and republicans alike have let these citizens down. But there is no excuse for this type of behavior in our country and from the president of the United States. My eyes are wide open and there is no doubt that Trump is a racist and he will do anything to win for himself.
3
I am a US citizen, though overseas.
I want all the black and brown people in America to know the world is watching and is appalled at how this President speaks.
To all the black and brown people, go and hug your kids, and don't let them go, in the full knowledge that there are people and countries watching who are with you, not only in spirit, but in the fight, in whatever way possible.
2
This war on civility must end or it is civil war.
3
So it begs the question- Where is OUR leader? The one who will talk to Americans, who actually care about all different types of Americans? Step forward! Start talking! Show yourself!
1
His tweets against the squad go much further than racist rants. He is undermining the foundation of our democratic-constitutional-republic.
Many Americans of different races voted for these women. By saying they should “go back”, he uses the bully pulpit to smear the wishes of those who elected these women as their representatives!
I see this as a high crime/misdemeanor.
At some point when the votes are in this episode should be in the articles of impeachment.
3
Trump's mantras that won him our presidency in 2016 -- "lock her up!" and "Build the Wall" -- are alive and well today. His white supremacist followers' mantra this week ("Send her back". referencing naturalized American Congresswoman Ilhan Omar and the other Congresswomen of color in The Squad") will live in the infamy of our coming 2020 presidential election.
Trump has told us he wants nothing more than sendxing women and men of color back to the countries of their forebears (their "oranges" he said in his remarkable ignorance). Racial hatred -- that claimed Europe and the world from 1933-45 -- is afoot in America today. Our American president is sending a horrifying dog whistle about white supremacy to his base and the world.
Donald Trump has split America into racial and ethnic divisions. We're on the lip of a second civil war. Our democracy is dying; we're all suffering rage and pain, fear and anxiety in trumpworld. The xenophobic chant of "send her back!" at Trump's NC rally will echo through these times until he is removed from office.
4
While the phrase "vicious anti-Semitic screeds” may be overkill, the fact is that Representative Ilhan Omar really is anti-Zionist and there is no easy way to draw the line between anti-Zionist and just plain anti-Jewish. The most surprising thing to me is that President Trump and his largely Evangelical supporters can see this while liberals, including liberal Jews, either do not see it or pretend not to see it.
Scherie Murray is on her way to the rescue.
Trump wants "The Squad" to hit the road.
He disagrees with their policies not their racial backgrounds as the NYT so proudly attests.
From the NYT:
"...casting them as un-American on the basis of their racial backgrounds."
And I thought it was their policies and words he disagreed with. Thank you for the clarity.
1
Donald Trump will go down in history as "The Great Divider". On a good day, I can only hope that this country can heal from the destructiveness of the Pandora's box of hatred that he has unleashed and fostered. On a bad day, of which there are way too many, it's apparent that the sheer magnitude of citizens who subscribe to his racist tropes make such healing impossible.
1
History will remember Trump and his Family as cruel to humans, cruel to the world.
2
We all know what it means as do Trump's rally goers. What scares me most is how many of his MAGA-hatted followers agree with his racist rants. This nation of immigrants has taken a very dangerous turn.
2
Trump's "Lock Her Up" has been replaced with "Send Her Back."
I will direct your attention to this article in the Atlantic, documenting Trump's long history of racism and intolerance. This is nothing new for him, his record was well known before the election, his voters knew exactly what they were getting. Let's all stop pretending they are not racist bullies.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/06/trump-racism-comments/588067/
3
"This is audacious gaslighting, even for this president. For those interested in the truth, video of the episode is a Google search away."
Just call it a lie
There is nothing racist about thinking that a person who was rescued as a child from a war-torn country by loving, generous people ought to exhibit a modicum of gratitude towards them, or at least a speck of humility.
1
@JW
She loves the country enough to run for office.
1
@LauraF Have you ever lived in another country? I have learned that the best way to insult people in another country is to criticize or ridicule the way things are done there. Nothing I know of will make you more unpopular than telling everyone abroad what is wrong with their country and how it should be changed to improve it. Responsible adults know this and are careful to avoid offending their hosts. It is simple, common courtesy. Rudeness can provoke unpleasant reactions.
1
“And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.”
Gospel of Matthew.
5
How have we gotten to the place that it’s ok for the President to use racist words and republicans don’t care? Hours later at a rally the mob repeats his words and scant republicans are now “concerned”. Seriously? The Republicans are spineless and will get what they deserve, going back to private citizens in 2020.
1
To say or believe in the notion of making anything great again implies a desire for improvement. The standard of the ‘send her back’ crowd is to equate dissatisfaction with hatred for the thing. Does a farmer hate his crops? Does an artist hate his canvas? Does a mother hate her baby? The desire towards improvement is universal. A genuine leader would try to unify based on universal themes not divide at every possible opportunity. The disunification of America is a goal of our enemies, reason enough to pass articles of impeachment. I don’t care a bit about the political fallout. Just do it, if you believe in the people, you will believe in process, and let the chips fall where they may.
1
“Damage will take years to undo.” Living through this nightmare as a “colored minority” in America, it is going to be hard to unring this bell. I don’t think I will really trust another white person, especially a white man, in my lifetime.
May I suggest that as a strong but silent protest, all black and brown people wear yellow Star of David armbands for the rest of Trump’s Presidency?
Call it what is is.
It is NOT "gaslighting"
It is a blatant LIE, and he feels completely empowered to tell ever more obvious ones because the deplorables that like him don't care.
It will be a shameful thing for the America of our ancestors if he gets a single vote.
1
I think it's possible Trump is not really a racist -- or a Republican -- or a politician -- or a billionaire -- or much of anything. It's likely he is an extremely power-hungry narcissist who wants to be the richest, most well-known, and most popular leader in the world.
To become those things, he will do, say, and believe anything that helps him achieve those ends. He is empty, except for what his massive ego needs to climb to the top of the world. And he is willing to sacrifice anyone -- a massive number of anyones, I believe -- in that climb.
Trump succeeds, in part, because people pour into him their fears, hopes, and angers -- and he stirs the pot and gives it back with an eager fury.
He's a demagogue with a twist of orange -- let's hope he vanishes before he and his followers destroy America.
3
I can't be the only one who (accidentally) watches news of Trump's latest campaign outrage and thinks: "paid actors," "scripted chants." C'mon real news media--it's all too perfect--the unlikely Trump "supporters," front and center, with their perfectly positioned signs and absurd hats, the half-empty arenas, coming from Mr. (Un)Reality Show Outrage of the Day programming.
Not to detract from the sheer awfulness of it, but he's been at it some time now. Are we really going to let him get away with it yet AGAIN?
We need some good investigative reporting to follow up on this: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/01/20/even-the-firm-that-hired-actors-to-cheer-trumps-campaign-launch-had-to-wait-to-be-paid/?utm_term=.8949f4912185
2
I am one of Rep. Omar's constituents. She returned today to Minneapolis to an enthusiastic throng of well wishers. She quoted Maya Angelou
You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.
Trump has guaranteed her reelection. She is three times the American than he is.
3
NYT and other media outlets have still not adequately captured the real meaning of the 'send her back' chants and Trump's inciting comments, and this is detrimental to any mission of informing the public or promoting democratic discourse surrounding this issue. The real meaning of 'go back to your country' and 'send her back'? Put simply, those slurs mean to suggest that: a) you are less of a citizen if your heritage as an american can be called into question; and b) that the only unquestioned 'american heritage' is that of a white person (also likely insinuating a christian 'heteronormative' individual). These comments are intentionally divisive, but they can also be defined as racist in because they separate americans based on their racial heritage and/or appearance, aka white vs 'other'. This is what every American must understand about why Trump's comments are so significant and malign -- his comments cut to the heart of what makes us all citizens, of who is 'more or less' of a citizen, and therefore what kind of rights and protections you might expect from your government. If you or anyone you know and love might be considered 'other' than Trump's white christian heteronormative 'real american', then your/their rights are under threat with this president.
3
“The damage he is doing will take years to undo.”
Trump — as well as anyone who has abetted him through their silence or apologetics — has pemanently changed this country. He has left an indelible stain.
2
My response is a song for America, celebrating the spirit of a Nation United, not Divided
THIS IS AMERICA
When you walk across this land
You will understand
We have all it takes to be one nation hand in hand
As you look at every face
Look beyond the race
Then you'll see we're all American
This is America
The dream for all to see
This is America
Our strength is you and me
We have come from near and far
To get to where we are
Some have had it easy and some have had it hard
But as different as we seem
We all share a dream
And we won't let that dream be torn apart
This is America
United we will stay
This is America
The dream lives on today
America, the dream lives on today
Written by Stevie Holland and Gary William Friedman, performed by Stevie Holland
Hope springs eternal...you can hear the music somewhere out there on the internet...
3
Seems pretty simple: Trump lost his bid to put a citizenship question on the census so he lashed out at a group of brown-skinned women who’ve attained success and power
Garden variety bully.
Im 50 years old. As far back as I could remember, every single Republican for President has been accused of being a racist. Every One. Yes, even John McCain and Romney were accused of being racist by Democrats and the media. Google it. That race card is the typical "go to" for Democrat campaigns for POTUS. As for Trump, you just got trolled. Hes an expert at this stuff. He needed to make those 4 congresswomen the face of the party, and knew leveling an attack at them would do it. The attack having a racial connotation would send Democrats and their media cohorts into a frenzy. It was like waving a needle in front of an addict, and you folks fell for it hook, line, and sinker. Im soprry to break this to you, but what he said wasnt racist, but he knew you folks would take it out of context. Only the first half of the sentence is being used to level the racist charge. The second half dissolves the racist connotation. A racist wouldnt then say, COME BACK and show us how its done. Many moderate Democrats have been stunned over some of the policy proposals put forth by the candidates. Decriminalizing border entry, ending private health insurance, deporting nobody, the Green New Deal. Making these 4 the face of the party just makes that worse. trump is an expert at branding. he also has the Democrats and the media pegged. Every Republican candidate gets called a racist. Trump is no different. The claim is getting real old.
1
So he’s not racist he’s just using it to get his base excited? So them chanting“send her back”, was that racist? So wait, if trump’s not racist, then it’s just his supporters & the republicans that have voted for candidates that have use this campaign tactic they are racist?
1
NYT and other media outlets have still not adequately captured the real meaning of the 'send her back' chants and Trump's inciting comments, and this is detrimental to any mission of informing the public or promoting democratic discourse surrounding this issue. The real meaning of 'go back to your country' and 'send her back'? Put simply, those slurs mean to suggest that: a) you are less of a citizen if your heritage as an american can be called into question; and b) that the only unquestioned 'american heritage' is that of a white person (also likely insinuating a christian 'heteronormative' individual). These comments are intentionally divisive, but they can also be defined as racist in because they separate americans based on their racial heritage and/or appearance, aka white vs 'other'. This is what every American must understand about why Trump's comments are so significant and malign -- his comments cut to the heart of what makes us all citizens, of who is 'more or less' of a citizen, and therefore what kind of rights and protections you might expect from your government. If you or anyone you know and love might be considered 'other' than Trump's white christian heteronormative 'real american', then your/their rights are under threat with this president.
He ridiculed her BDS stance. I would love to know where in the Constitution it states I am not allowed to not purchase products from a country whose government I find aberrant. I find netanyahu to be as evil as trump. They are both cut from the same cloth. Until the people of Israel stand up to their own monster I will not support any business from Israel. I have boycotted American businesses for their support of trump and certain states for their bigoted laws. Will this now be against some"law"? How dare I vote with my wallet. We acquiesce our freedom of speech and our Constitutional right to criticize our government at our peril.
Ben Franklin stated "Freedom of speech is a principal pillar of a free government; when this support is taken away, the constitution of a free society is dissolved, and tyranny is erected on its ruins. Republics and limited monarchies derive their strength and vigor from a popular examination into the action of the magistrates."
2
The press should stop covering Trump rallies as a matter of principle; the damage he is doing to our country is immeasurable. We criticize his cultish zealots but let's not forget that during the last presidential election, the press followed him around like little minions, giving him endless media, TV, and press time. He got a free ride from the press, which only served to catapult him as the frontrunner. You guys are duplicitous by promoting his brand of hatred and division. Get a grip!
To the people who don’t think Trump’s tweets were racist:
Bernie Sanders has said he is a Democratic Socialist. He is to the left of these four freshmen Congresswomen. In fact, he is the leader of their ideology. Why did Trump never tell him to “go back where he came from?”
4
How much is enough? Where is our soul?
1
Statue of Liberty: "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door."
Trump Rally: "Send Her Back! (repeat)"
Speaking of megaphones, Twitter appears to relish being a loudspeaker for race baiting from the White House. Any other user would be suspended or banned for his repeated TOS violations.
It would behoove the Times, and other papers of record, to not quote Trump's rally hate speeches verbatim. How about, "Trump made more false claims about the Representatives known as "the Squad,"... lied about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, and enjoyed the premier of his 2020 campaign rally chant..." etc.
This is just the beginning of a long election scandal season. As Trump gets more desperate, his lies, aka "gaslighting" will get more egregious and his targets more numerous. Please don't help disseminate propaganda for him, he has a cable channel for that. Or, you too become megaphones amplifying the reach of Trump's divisive, anti-American words.
3
Proposed Democratic response?
Four American Congresswomen, who care deeply about their country (all of it!), are going to keep your toes to the fire given the racist, feed the rich / starve the poor, lie at will, threaten war more regularly only than your hero Nit'nyahoo, and cuddle up to every bully at home and abroad, "philosophy" you preen about.
That's it.
They'll do it. He deserves it. Let's move on to matters that count. A racist president's racist statements and usual lies about denial, are no longer news. They're just what's expected. The only "news" would be if he did something different regarding his racism and his lying about it (and yes, it's not just that he feeds off racist anger, he is racist himself - a lifetime of his actions, as reinforced by his statements and actions in running for president and becoming president, prove it beyond any doubt).
1
The fact that she said plainly anti-Semitic things is not a smear. And yes, I recognise the difference between criticism of Israel’s policies and anti-semitism.
1
Trump voters, I am an immigrant (yes, legal). Before you send me back, I am working tirelessly applying my advanced degree from MIT on Robotic Automation. You will lose your jobs. Your children will starve. Yes, the feeling is mutual.
3
Trump is unfit to be president, or an American.
1
It is beyond reasonable or any other doubt that his allegation that Omar does indeed engage in “vicious anti-Semitic screeds” is, most unfortunately, accurate.
1
None of Trump’s racial hate- and fear-mongering would work if America were not a thoroughly racist country. It’s not just some yahoos in North Carolina or Alabama. The haters and bigots are everywhere and always have been. The only thing new with Trump is that he’s the first president shameless enough to openly court them. Why settle for veiled references to “welfare queens” when name-calling and threats of deportation get you cheering crowds and fawning support from Republican politicians everywhere? If this were not acceptable on some level in America, he would never have been elected.
1
In 2008, when a woman at a town hall meeting called Obama a Muslim, John McCain's immediate reaction was to stop her and disavow what she said. He didn't bask in her statement, he didn't wait days, he didn't pause one second.
4
I have submitted several comments in the past year that made overt comparisons between the age of Trump and the rise of Hitler. For whatever reason, they were not selected to be shown. But the comparisons are still real, and they still exist. Perhaps people are now willing to look at the truth, because I now see numerous comments here making that comparison.
Remember that Trump is not limited to race as an incitement to his crowds. (Neither was Hitler; Jews were not the only people called out.) The strategy - if you call it that - is to divide US from THEM. Any possible group of people can be the target. Those of different gender, religion, and color are the easiest for Trump to "make different", as it was for Hitler.
If he keeps it up, however, anyone could be the next target. Is red hair vs. black hair vs. brown hair next? Given the limelight to bask in he will use it to further his sick hatreds. Perhaps the media needs to not overreact to his behavior, as it only gives him more cause to continue. We know his insanity, yet no one does anything about it. Hear me, Nancy? The destruction of this country also lies squarely on McConnell, who has done nothing but support our tin-pot dictator.
Remember the genocides of Hutu vs. Tutsi in Africa, and remember that there was no difference - just the name of their tribal ancestors. Is that where we are headed?
7
The answer, send him back. I will Vote and never again for a gutless republican.
At least my Rep decided to show a bit of integrity and supported the censure of dt. Thx Brian Fitzpatrick.
1
When Trump was younger, he was busy evading taxes and the draft, keeping people of color from renting his family's properties, and making dehumanizing comments about women while hanging out with his buddy Epstein, the alleged child rapist.
These young women are serving their country.
Which is anti-American?
6
Trump lit this fire, but blame must also be shared by the starry-eyed, flag-waving, sign-carrying rally-goers who gleefully cheered this ugliness on. Trump is a symptom; the million of Americans who embrace xenophobia and bigotry -- or at least don't see it -- are the disease.
260
@S. Marie
There were a couple of people behind him who did not participate, but I wonder if the GOP realizes how close it is to creating lynch mobs and other mob violence. Death threats are now common from Trump supporters, and the Trump-supporting mail bomber would have massacred Democratic leaders and supporters if security forces had not been so alert.
Singling out four young congresswomen for attack -- women who are not opponents, who are doing their jobs, who are elected members of the government -- is not just mob rule, it is also the way a dictator delegitimizes representational government.
42
@SMB To be fair, there were a lot more than a couple of people behind him at the podium who did not join in that abominable, mean spirited, and un-American chant!
3
I wonder if the sign carrying people were hired actors! Trump campaign is known to use these tactics.
8
Reading about Trump in the Times on a daily basis is like watching the Jerry Springer Show where in each episode, Springer would present deplorable guests whose primary purpose was to say something outrageous and elicit disapproval and boos from the audience. It's the same with Trump. The only difference is that while the Times audience is booing Trump, the audience at Trump's rallies and the FOX NEWS audience are cheering him on. It's way past time for the Trumpman Show to be permanently cancelled.
4
President Trump no claims that he didn't like it when the enraptured crowd of his supporters chanted:
"Send her back, Send her back. Send her back...";
and he claims that he started talking right away to cut off the chant.
Watch the video.
He not only waited for dead silence, he moved his head left to right in perfect rhythm, not unlike a perverse dancer, with a smug visage, to boot.
Was is mere ego gratification? Methinks not.
I think he is sick.
I think he is deeply insecure; and he wants, more than anything, to be a puppeteer.
2
President Trump now claims that he didn't like it when the enraptured crowd of his supporters chanted:
"Send her back, Send her back. Send her back...";
and he claims that he started talking right away to cut off the chant.
Watch the video.
He not only waited for dead silence, he moved his head left to right in perfect rhythm, not unlike a perverse dancer, with a smug visage, to boot.
Was is mere ego gratification? Methinks not.
I think he is sick.
I think he is deeply insecure; and he wants, more than anything, to be a puppeteer.
If you are part of the group, you don’t see the racism.
If you are white middle class, you don’t see the wrong in Trump’s racism.
If you are Muslim, you don’t see the wrong in Omar’s comments about Jews.
So politically, calling Trump a racist does nothing.
Call Trump what he is:
An opportunist stoking people’s racism and xenophobia to gain power.
Which is definitely the real danger to our country.
4
I doubt Trump has any belief system at all, other than he will do anything, stab anyone in the back, cheat in any way possible, for his own selfish benefit. I think that principle extends to his widespread use of racism. What is deeply saddening is that there are so many insecure, befuddled white people willing to disregard any moral compass and accept his crude racism. Are we really as lost as it seems we are?
3
The concept of America and real America was always a contradiction - as a member of “other” class we always knew it. The elite liberal pop cultural tried to white wash this deep routed hatred by putting “other” faces in TV Ads, Hollywood movies and boardrooms, but it never changed the reality. White skin Hillbilly living all across the Appalachian Mountains were not different from the “others” in their struggle for American Dream except the skin color and this skin color has now become the battle cry for war in twenty first century America. In twenty first century world where Asia is reclaiming its global power and share of wealth, real America with all its strength of excellence and assimilation of intellectual powers of diverse cultures, chose to fight a tribal war internally - a sad choice for a great country. And we will fight this battle based on skin color in 2020 Presidential election. Trump has made it clear, the battle lines are not economics, healthcare or education, it is fight between skin color. This battle of skin color was always there in the deep level in America - in the country clubs, in the private dinners, in the family get together and in the political calculations. Now it is open and we must face it boldly in the American daily life -“send them back” against “you are welcome” as we saw in the Airport on arrival of Ms Omar. You can not put this genie back in the bottle.
1
Oh my, America, you sure are getting scary.
First it was "they're not sending the best people - sending rapists etc."
Then it was "lock her up" referring to a political opponent.
Then it was "build the wall" to keep undesirables out.
Then it was the media is "the enemy of the people" to make people doubt what they were seeing and hearing.
Then it was "send her home" and "go back to where you came from."
You truly are on a slippery slope, and if you think "it can't happen here" then you're fooling yourselves.
What's next? straight-arm salutes? Red-caps supplanting brown-shirts in the history books?
What will it take for you to understand that what happened in Europe in the 1930s didn't happen all of a sudden? It happened in tiny incremental steps. Ordinary people let things slide because they thought everyone else was going along with it, or that the situation wasn't too bad, or that they would benefit from the economic policies their leader was boasting about.
It sounds too familiar to the rest of the world. What will it take for you to wake up and see that you need to nip this in the bud now, instead of waiting for more evidence?
6
"Gaslighting?" No. He lied. He lies about everything - and anything. Such horror, that we can trust absolutely no statement our President makes. Not one. Ever.
3
I strongly suggest that they should empty the Guantanamo Bay prison of all the innocent Muslims who're languishing there without a trial.
Instead they should make room for one and only man :Donald J. Trump.
Someone suggested to me that "Gulag" in Siberia will be a better prison for this traitor since he colluded with the Russians as clearly explained in Part 1 of the Mueller Report, to win his election .
We must also remember what Mr. Mueller clearly stated in Part 2 of his report, " As per the Dept. of Justice's regulations, I could not charge a sitting president. Neither I could exonerate the president from 'obstruction of justice' charges.
Don't forget Americans, our Special Counsel Robert Mueller's famous words,"If I thought our president did not commit a crime, I would've said so."
1
Ms. Omar invited criticism by saying, publicly, that America doesn’t live it’s values. That is a generalization that says to the average American citizen that, “You are a racist, xenophobe.”. I, for one, resent that characterization and it makes me angry with the person who said it. If I, as a highly educated, moderate person (I have an MBA in technology) feel that way, imagine how someone less thoughtful reacts.
The current Democratic candidates must take this into account if they want to rid us of this menace. Extreme views, from either side, will not entice the average American voter.
2
@Richard E Fleishman
But America doesn't live its values.
If it did, there would be no chants of "send her back."
2
@Richard E Fleishman
If this is so, why can't the "less educated" voters see that the current occupant of the WH is definitely a racist as well as a sexist, not to mention a myriad of other undesirable things? He certainly spews enough hatred every time he opens his mouth.
Let's make a pact to stop agonizing over whether Trump believes the amorphous, corrosive goo that comes out of his mouth and from his thumbs. As much practice as he has lying to others, he has a thousand times more lying to himself. He no longer can tell what's true about himself. (No one knows less about Trump than Trump.)
That being the case, no one cares what's in his heart. Not even he cares, if he ever did. His words, and deeds, are racist. That's all that matters.
1
Saying people using racism are not necessarily racist seems like pointless pedantry.
2
The Republican Party and 45 persistently and consistently engage in covert, double entendre racially charged disparaging messaging. Call it what you will. The words alone speak volumes. 'Send Her Home' relays the unmistakably, incontrovertibly, irrefutably clear meaning that the Republicans/45 will racially marginalize, denigrate, diminish, and destroy racial and ethnic minorities, subjecting them to permanent second class, inferior class. Racial superiority and preferential skin classism are especially essential to maintain political survival. Fomenting racial backlash with the base is what GOP/45 desperately depend on to tenaciously cling to power. The incontrovertible fact that the increasing demographic change in America is relegating Caucasians ,especially those less educated, ill or non informed, and patently lacking comprehension of multiculturalism, multiracialism, and multiethnic influence believe the Republican party/45 are their last hope, i.e., 'The Great White Hop,' to protect and defend their way of life from the falsely perceived image of the so called increasing 'brown and black menace.' Resorting to code words from 'go back to where you came from' to 'you people don't belong here' is as American as apple pie. Extreme xenophobia and intense antiimmigrant resistance, not to mention the unwanted intrusion on the religious belief front, motivates these desperate supporters of GOP/45 to support race baiting. 45's words will haunt him and the GOP Yes.Race matters.
2
IF a hostile foreign power had implanted this freak we call 45 into the White House, we would rightly regard it as an act of war. Oh wait...that's pretty much what happened in 2016. And abhorrent torrents will contnue to flow from 45, perhaps longer than anyone dares anticipate, given Trump's arrogant assertions that he will remain in White House even if the mandate of the 2020 election says otherwise.
2
Let US rephrase:
If ''the people'' let ''a birther'' ran for US President - and chants like ''lock her up'' are tolerated - it's not far to chants of:
''Send her back''!
As this type of a candidate for a US Presidency has disqualified himself from the get go.
1
"Send her back," really means the GOP is now out of the racist closet. Code words and dog whistles are no longer necessary to solicit and satisfy GOP supporters. Well done, Trump. You have undone half a century of GOP political protocol in one rally.
They're all Americans, three are native born. What is he doing? Why are they cheering him on?
2
Three words we all must chant in 2020: "Vote him out!"
All our efforts must be devoted to realizing this goal. Everything else is a dangerous distraction. Take note, "woke ones," nothing else matters but to cleanse the Executive branch of Trump and his henchmen and henchwomen.
1
Yes 'the Squad' is comprised of women of color. But the only ones who are making that an iseue are themselves by constantly flashing the race card. If they were all WASP males their rhetoric and teir vocabulary would be no less abhorrent. The fact that their skin is darker should not render them immune criticism for the style or detestation for their substance.
1
@JJ Gross
Oh, my God. As if 45 weren't uttering racism, sexism, and xenophobia to whip up his followers every day, every time he opens his mouth.
Omar is anti-Semitic and denigrates the U.S. That behavior deserves condemnation which has nothing to do with her race, ethnicity, and religion.
2
@jck
Being able to speak out against government without reprisal is one of the foundations of a democracy.
There is no point debating this one trick pony`s xenophobic garbage. It is what it is; and let the fools in the G.O.P. try to spin it away in a pathetic attempt to change the topic anyway they can. "I am not a racist; they are the racists!" Yeah Right. The point is some sweet day this poison that Trump unleashes every day will have to be dealt with long after the evil wizard has left the stage. Will America survive Trump? The jury is still out on that one. Unless things change in terms of the fear and loathing he has unleashed; it would be hard for people like me to ever see how you reconcile California and New York with Alabama or any of the former Confederate States. If you think the echoes of your Civil War ever really went away; I think it is more than obvious those ghosts haunt you still. Trump may be the master arsonist; but the gasoline was sitting there for a very long time waiting for some fool to strike the match. There is obviously so much FEAR in Republicans these days; it is almost palpable. The very idea that the days of WASP power are nearly over is driving all this madness. So they cling to power be any means possible. Gerrymandering, voter suppression, whatever it takes to keep "those people" at bay. It is all so sad; and all so obvious to most of the world what is really going on here. "Send Her Back," is an almost desperate cry of a failed ideology of racism and paranoid delusions that Trump gives voice to every day.
1
If you sail under the skull and cross bones it doesn't matter whether in your heart, you are not a pirate.
It doesn't matter to those you plunder.
It doesn't matter to those on the ship you send to the bottom of the sea.
As David Webster (Band of Brothers) told the German who lived in the town just outside a concentration camp: "You had to be able to smell the place from here! Don't tell me you are innocent!"
Trump could hear, smell and taste the hate as he stood, chest puffed out, looking over his adoring fans for a full 13 seconds, an eternity which, hopefully, will come back to haunt him on the day he faces judgment.
2
Well, Mr. Trump, you reap what you sow. For the better part of a decade you have been spewing hatred. Your 2016 campaign even more so. And, since you have been elected, you been holding these rallies and you allowed anything goes.
Last night, the Frankenstein monster, you have created finally is out of your control. Like Dr. Frankenstein, you now have to helplessly watch as your monster goes on an rampage.
This rampage, you started with your wall, your targeting of Hispanics and Latinos, your targeting of illegal immigrants, your targeting of African Americans, your targeting of LGBTQ, and your targeting of US Citizen politicians.
You, Mr. Trump, created a personality cult. You, Mr. Trump, have awaken the worse that America has to offer. You, Mr. Trump went too far with MAGA, "lock her up", and now "send them home". You did this by yourself, with the help of FOX News, your party, you cabinet and your press secretary.
Mr. trump you made a tweet too many, and now it sisout of control. If your base start to take things into their own hands; it's on you.
Mr. Trump you need to man up and diffuse the ticking time bomb you have been building for the bast decade. Disavowing is not enough; you need to do much, much more.
Americans who really believe there is no place for bigotry, racism and fostering divisions, need to make their feelings known in next year's elections. There is no political place fro Trump, and his GOP allies, in the nation of immigrants.
4
"If you become aware of any individual degrading another, then show moral courage and take a stand against it. The standard you walk past is the standard you accept”. (Former Australian Chief of Army, Lt. Gen. David Morrison)
1
The message is dissolvable and extremely short-sighted. The Democratic Party must with one unified voice that all American proclaim that citizens are equal before the law and have a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 99 percent of DJT’s supporters are children of immigrants. The hyper wealthy play along because they fear that DJT will take their money. DJT is dangerous to us all because he sees life as a zero sum game and wants to win at any cost to society.
The chants at his rallies look like the fascist party meetings in Italy and Germany before the Second World War. Totally frightening...
1
Like the blitzkrieg of German forces rolling over Eastern Europe Trump and his legions of white nationalist supporters present a frightening sight as they spew forth their hate-infused chants and taunts against the press, liberals, religious and ethnic minorities - anyone who is not on the Trump caravan (fortunately most Americans). But the damage, divisiveness and harm he is causing has not been witnessed in this country perhaps not since those horrific dark days of slavery, Jim Crow and the civil rights movement in this country. Donald Trump may assert he is the least racist person on the face of the earth but actions speak louder than words - and as it is all to plain for most Americans to see, his words are nothing more than hollow meaningless lies.
2
The trash-talking POTUS whom a minority of voters elected could end up getting someone killed. Who can forget when he said in 2016 (also at a North Carolina rally) that "the Second Amendment people" could stop Hillary from being elected? Back then, people gave him some leeway about meaning something other than assassinating his opponent, but 10,000 lies later the public isn't buying it. Now Trump has set his sights on Rep. Ilhan Omar to stir up his most hateful supporters. They don't need much urging to attack a Somali woman who wears a head scarf. If one of them commits violence against her, this president will have blood on his hands. A sad statement about the head of the free world, whose vile behavior is ignored again and again by Republicans. Because of their willingness to let a Tasmanian devil whirl unimpeded, Ms. Ilhan and everyone else, for that matter, must fear the man who's supposed to be leading us.
1
There is only one biological DNA genetic evolutionary fit human race species that began in Africa 300, 000 years ago.
What we call race aka color is an evolutionary fit human pigmented response to varying levels of solar radiation at different altitudes and latitudes primarily related to producing Vitamin D and protecting genes from damaging mutations.
What we call race aka color is an evil malign socioeconomic political historical white supremacist American myth meant to morally and legally justify black African American enslavement and separate and unequal.
Neither black Africans nor brown Natives were immigrants to America. Africans were the enslaved property of the white European American Judeo-Christians who invaded and occupied colonized and conquered 500+ briwn Native American nations.
No Americans have ever worked harder for less return than enslaved and separate and unequal black Africans in America.
No Americans have ever had more of their lands, lives and natural resources stolen from them than brown Native American pioneers.
Despite my paper and genetic documented white European. Black African. brown Native and yellow Asian by American conventon and confined I am all and only black in America. While I don't run from this definition when asked my race I claim human and my national origin as Earth.
My white roots go back to 1640. My enslaved roots to 1830. Free- person of color to American Revolution. My Native roots to 13, 000 years. Melania is whiter.
3
Why don't we respond to him "then send Melania and her family back too"!
Melania and her family are immigrants. Immigrants from eastern (and southern) Europe at the beginning of this century were persona non grata and subject to the very same labels (criminals, prone to infest the racial stock of the USA, inferior, no skills to contribute, dirty, etc) that the immigrants of today are subjected to by the likes of Trump. Exclusionary immigration laws were applied to those"ethnic" groups too. He is reviving old ghosts from the past and projecting them to new racial and ethnic groups.Eastern Europeans were Slavs (descendants of enslavable and enslaved people in the past), Catholics, Jews, non Aryan people, etc. Is Trump and other Republicans aware that Trump's grandparents would have "sent those people back" too? NYT needs some in depth immigration history articles to raise awareness about these re-enactments.
2
Trump 2020 Strategy (evidently aimed at White Americans):
1. Spout racism for all to hear.
2. Spout racism to satisfy his base.
3. Spout racism so that white voters who do not openly support him will, when the voting booth curtain is pulled closed, quietly vote for him.
It's going to take some serious push-back to fight this hocus-pocus.
1
It's those people that you see at the rallies that should concern you most; they are so full of hate it's frightening. They are armed and ready to respond to his call for violence if he loses in 2020. You think that's hyperbole? Ask them...
1
Donald Trump IS an American original, but everything he does and says comes right out of the playbook of the great 20th Century fascists. So nothing really original, just hatred of "The Other" so please MAGA Americans remember how it all ended.
1
I can’t help but think Trump is taking direction from the Stephen Miller/Steve Brannon playbook. Frankly, I don't think Trump is smart enough to plan this all out on his own. His racist views needed a clearer target to be used to his political advantage. They hit pay dirt with “The Squad” they could target these 4 strong Congresswomen, (women of colour, even better), left-leaning progressive thinkers (socialists, of course) but best of all, Democrats! This is the perfect mix he needed to formally launch his hateful diatribe last night, encouraging the crowd to turn on these women, and, of course he loved it, as did they! Can he carry this through as his campaign strategy, time will tell.
My guess is the next rally will be complete with “SEND HER BACK” placards and T-shirts, while Trump conveniently looks the other way (with that familiar, all-knowing snide look on his face).
I immigrated to the US more than three decades ago, and I am still flummoxed by American's interpretation of race. Let me give two examples.
(i) I consistently see these four Congresswomen described as "women of color". One of them is of Palestinian ancestry - how is a Middle Eastern ancestry “non-white”? Where do you place the boundary? At the Bosphorus? At the Danube? At the Rhine? Do you see how ridiculous one can get in the name of “multiculturalism”?
(ii) My father was from Galicia (NW Spain) and my mother is French and Catalan. I grew up in Argentina, speaking Spanish at home. According to American usage, I would be “Hispanic”, yet I do not consider myself so and I have never checked that box on any form, as I would be lying. I have respect for the culture that is called “Hispanic” in the US, and affection for the vaguely defined “Hispanic” ethnicity as understood N of the Rio Grande, but neither of those describe me. I grew up in a Eurocentric milieu and was educated in a British school. My “ethnicity” is as European as those of, say, Christopher Columbus or Leifur Eiriksson.
The point here is that the liberal fixation with race and multiculturalism is not only simplistic and grossly uninformed but, more ominously, it serves to stoke the fire of the odious Trumpian rhetoric. I am far from the first one to point this out: Trump’s appeal is to a not insignificant degree a reaction to multiculturalism and ethnic sensitivities gone berserk.
Well in Trump's mind, isn't it "Send her back if you can't pay her off"?
Trump's mother and father in law have been in this country less than a year. Several commenters above really hit the spot, however. Democrats do not understand heterosexual men and their very basic nature. It's not at all complicated. Bread and Circus. Security and domestication through group bonding. Their enemy is anyone that is identified as not them. Trump's use of phrases like, “contemporary America — that’s you, that’s me, that’s all of us” — to be “garbage.” is brilliant. All these people care about is not being ignored or forgotten. They are not asking for much other than to not be blamed for being white, or judged for being lower and working class people, or simple sometimes stupid acting people without much education. That's who his supoerters are, along with the wealthy that use them as their troops. When the media starts covering campaign rallies and town halls of Democrats out talking directly with candidates we will stop the rapid rise of fascism and blatant racism by the GOP in this country. It would help if the Democrats could do something more entertaining as well. Bread and Circus. And that does not include a black woman jumping down Biden's throat about her racial pain as a bused child. That's just picking a scab that hasn't been treated since Lincoln recognized it when go back home meant something completely different than what Trump would like it to mean. The civil war is ongoing, but everyone is looking for an apology for how it ended.
He must be held to account. His presidency and administration, not to mention his party, should face defeat across the board in the next general election. He should face the court of justice for his many obvious transgressions from credible accusations of rape and sexual assault to conspiring to corrupt the electoral process. His and his associates businesses should be examined for the tax evasions and other manipulations that have occurred from the beginning of his career. And all moral people should shun their operations that gave the public from hotels and golf courses to office buildings and TV networks, especially all associated with the Murdoch bunch.
1
I suppose it doesn't matter to you that Trump has expressly distanced himself from the chant of send-her-back.
You also willfully misrepresent what he actually said a few days ago which was a clumsy version of "love it, or leave it." He made a great point. If America is the brutal racist dystopia that you portray, then why do so many people with black, brown and white skin want more than anything else to be part of it?
The answer is obvious -- it is flatly untrue that America is racist and sexist. But is a great way to win elections. As Mark Lilla has pointed out in these columns, if you see that white Americans will soon be in a minority, then one way of winning elections is by turning race against race for your own electoral profit. The Big Lie that white America is racist and the implacable enemy of the emerging majority is part of that strategy.
For much longer than Trump has been president, the Times has done what it says he is doing -- dividing Americans along color lines. You are doing this by devoting much of your newspaper to stories that any disparity -- between black and white, men and women -- can only be explained by racism or sexism.
The rage you have nurtured and the pain your lies have caused are all too real. I wonder if we can ever undo the damage you have done.
@Ian Maitland
Trump out and out lied about distancing himself.
Watch the video of him at the podium at his rally, when the chant of "send her back" starts. He claims he began speaking "very quickly" to shut it down. But in the video he stands there, looking from one side to the other, for about 15 seconds.
If he really wanted to shut it down, he would have told his rabid supporters to stop, that he did not share their sentiment. No, he basked in it. It was only the next day that he claimed he tried to shut it down, after a few Republicans told him the chant wouldn't play well in the re-election strategy.
1
@Ian Maitland
What a stellar example of White Male Privilege.
Please don’t forget that the subject pronoun in all of Trump supporters chants is feminine directed only at females.
“Her”
Nationalism and misogyny are two sides of the same coin.
1
Do we (do they) love America, or "a certain idea" we have of what America is?
Simple: “ The witch needs to learn her place “.
And the real word is NOT witch.
@Phyliss Dalmatian
Make no mistake: eventually, the tide turns against all but the very privileged few. Are you among them? Being a woman knocks off several points, right there.
Trump may not be a racist. Nixon may not have been a crook. But neither deserved the office.
1
You know what hate means? For Russians it means being critical of Putin can get you killed. Likewise Saudis critical of the MBS regime. And other Trump buddies.
I'm old enough to recognize the signs of Trump taking America down that road. Trust me, it's a world only the Republican swamp will like living in.
2
Please don't overlook the unrelenting misogyny by this administration, the entire GOP and religious organizations. Each one of them want women to be subjugated for reproduction and fulfilling the sexual needs of men.
1
Trumps message. If you are a naturalized citizen or your parents are, you can be deported if you disagree with your government.
1
Words have importance.
What does it really mean to be "progressist"? If progressist means fighting for social justice, good health coverage for any citizen, education, freedom, fighting against inequalities, racism, ignorance, sexism, then we agree.
Now if today "progressist" means fighting for its own identity, whatever that identity is... If "progressist" means.. representing one's community, whatever that community is…If "progressist" means fighting for Islam and taking sides in the Israeli – Palestinian conflict… That word should then raise questions.
I would be very much interested to understand Ilhan Omar's views on Jews or gays….Some " progressists" could be surprised.
I disagree. I think the real meaning is to undermine the Constitution to such an extent that laws no longer apply to him. Whether intentional or not, this will be the result.
Saying someone "hates America" undermines that person's right to protest & to freedom of speech, the core of the 1st Amendment. Saying someone should be "sent back" denies the power of the voters who put her in office, effectually saying their vote didn't count and that the representative they voted for is not allowed to serve. It demeans the value of their service - a commitment to their country that goes well above and beyond what most of us have agreed to do - and by doing so, lowers the perceived impact of Congress and its law-making ability.
Until now, there was a very small sense of hope that this idiot would soon be out of power, or impeached, and wiser heads would eventually prevail. Now that he's found this way to undermine the pillars of our country, I'm absolutely terrified for our country and my children.
2
The real meaning of Trump's presidency is
I'M LYING!
3
I think the real meaning is deflection..say anything that is hateful to keep Americans minds off what he is doing behind closed doors.
Putins playbook is to pit us against each other which trump seems to be doing with much success.
I am weary of the lovely editorials stating the obvious. Those who revel in foul playground slurs ("Lock her up", "Send her back") know precisely what they are doing and so do the rest of us.
The "main stream media" (not Fox) has a larger duty going largely ignored and neglected.
Post-2016 navel gazing by the NYT and other reputable new sources about how the election forecasts were so off and the role played by this paper and others mean nothing. The 2020 run up looks an awful lot like pre-2016 (minus Jeb, Ted, et al).
The reporting on this new instance of DJT hate-driven bunk is another opportunity missed. Instead of calling out atrocious conduct and getting down to informative reporting on what matters, this will be used to give DJT and the GOP a chance to further tar all Dems as unpatriotic liberals, communists, socialists.
If the NYT doesn't want to do another post-mortem in 2020, please stop printing headlines like "Trump's Going to Get Re-elected". Stop serving us the daily Dem schism bilge. Stop tearing down Dem candidates and turning what are political differences into food fights and infotainment.
Perhaps NYT news articles, op ed columns might align with the noble sentiments of this editorial. They might promote reasonable discussion of the alternatives to DJT -- and the Dems are offering them across the spectrum. Maybe divisive click bait is insulting to those of us eager to have an intelligent look at non-Trumpian options in a factual, nuanced way.
2
Sure seems to me that LBJ knew he couldn’t get anywhere on Jim Crow, so he played along and grew his political power. Then, when he could act, he did so … And did so unequivocally and magnificently. What exactly did he accomplish for the racists when he acted with them? Probably not much. And when he left them? Everything.
Back in 2016 I said to a fellow independent, “I don’t think Trump is a racist. He just uses racism.” My friend set me straight- “If he uses racism he is a racist.”
Upon reflection, I noted that is obviously true. To use racial hatred to meet your goals makes you a racist. Trump is a racist.
Trump--"an avid race warrior". Hardly. Obama was without question, though: "Trayvon could have been my son." So it was said, so it was written.
Where was the Editorial Board's condemnation then--nada and more nada? The real message here.
'Mr. Trump aimed his animosity at Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota. He smeared her as trafficking in 'vicious anti-Semitic screeds' ...as a left-wing radical who sympathizes with Al Qaeda, hates America etc.'
But if one is to judge by what has been repeatedly witnessed on television in statements by Ilhan Omar asserting these very things one has to enquire why is it a smear?
‘As the xenophobic chant engulfed him’, but surely the initial xenophobic anti Israel pro Palestine xenophobia emanated from the 'Squad' causing the knee jerk response of the Trump base. The lack of rigour in sentiments expressed in media makes one feel that a coming together in American politics lies in infinity and beyond. Who to blame? I say Education and the Professoriat, who tenured in their quasi religious ideological factories, have directed students in the path to follow over the last two decades culminating to a point where the less deceived have become virtually extinct.
.
“
Let's suppose these four Congresswomen were white male immigrants from Europe (or the children of immigrants from Europe). Would the crowd have shouted "Send them back"?
Actually, it's also "Shut her up."
The "ugly American" was in full force at the rally. The facial expressions of hatred, cheers against the women of color, and the creepiness of the whole rally is now the marker of the GOP. Trump hung it on their necks and the congress men who were on the floor and in the media who fake negated what we saw should be voted out. Those people at the rally were manipulated by Trump. And he blames them now. You would have thought they were American enough not to be "ugly". Guess not.
It is telling that that this would-be dictator picks women to target. Whether it is evaluating their sexual attractiveness or denigrating their comportment as "nasty" he is constantly disparaging women of all sorts. That he would find educated, articulate, successful women as people to be shunned and deported speaks directly to the fears and sense of inadequacy that plagues many white males. Uppity women deserve ....(fill in the blank). He knows exactly what he is doing. I fully expect him to continue to foster race hatred and misogyny. And of course he lied about trying to stop the chants. On the contrary. He revels in it. Lies...it's what he does. It's basically all he does.
It’s a fine message you state, but also ironic coming from a Board that includes Sarah Jeong, she of the enthusiastically, proudly racist and sexist tweet.
2
Just do what Americans always do - offer your immigrants, people of colour, women and minorities 'thoughts and prayers'. You yanks are brilliant at those.
3
If 90% of Republicans totally support whatever Trump does and the overwhelming evidence supports the inescapable fact that Trump is a racist, does that make Republicans racists?
I would say Yes. And I don't care what these weasels are saying privately among their Democratic colleagues or in the privacy of their cloakroom.
4
I am disappointed in my fellow citizens idolizing a bigot like trump. But I’m not going to leave this country. I’m an advocate for breaking our country up. Yes it’s time for a divorce. Let the red states wallow in their misery with poor education, limited healthcare, high opioid use, and climate change that will wreck havoc on their lives. It’s time for blue states to emancipate themselves and stop giving away our money to these racist, faux evangelicals. They do not deserve a penny. The conversation has started and that in itself is a victory. You may say it is far fetched but it’s where we are going. The sooner the better.
3
Let's not forget that trump is not the only one who has disgraced himself.
The same goes for his Republican apologists in the House who, before his latest rally, stood with him in their almost unanimous failure to condemn his racist tweets. Some must have felt shame once they had seem him preening himself during the ugly chant at his rally, though their public complaints were couched in very half-hearted language.
23:35 EDT, 7/18
3
The reality is this:
IF America was somehow made "white again", then there would suddenly be "shades" of white, "shades" of Christianity, "shades" of ancestry, etc
When haters win, they soon turn on each other. It's their nature.
5
Saddling-up to like-minded racists has always been Donald Trump's talent, whether to offer all-white housing or to sell pricey memberships to waspy clubs.
It's also a White Noise wavelength that Boss Trump projects for his managers to receive. In the Taj Mahal, black casino workers were sent from the floor before his arrival. At Mar-a-Lago, Temporary Foreign Worker Visas were used to hire Eastern European staff instead of Floridians. When asked, Trump lied and said that the locals couldn't fill the jobs in the "high season".
And yesterday, in Greenville, NC, Trump's KAG revelers responded with their own White Noise -- full-blow-Jim-Crow, "Send Her Back". Disgusting.
The question is no longer "Will The South rise again?"
But "How high will The South rise?"
When Lyin' Trump first raised the "Birther Controversy" he established racism as the basis of his campaign.
He has refreshed this racist attitude many, many times since including his latest rally where he egged the crowd to chant racist things like "send her back" and then lied about trying to stop them while, instead, he waited patiently for them to stop, and then later said "I disagree with it, by the way".
What a bald faced public lie!
It's time to send Lyin' Trump back to Queens, where A.O.C. will be his congressional representative and normal Americans will be relieved at last.
And BTW, I think this latest sad episode may, at last, be 'a bridge too far'. This time, Trump may have finally 'jumped the shark'.
2020: Send Trump Back!
2
Trump manages different codes when he talks to a specific person or group. It is not just how he talk with his aides or lawyers, at mafia stile, to persuaded them to do his dirty job without implying him. In case of his rallies is almost the same. He stabilized a code with his followers telling that what he says on the rallies is what he means and what is really believes. He tells what he says o way to being a formality to be presidential or even conservative. This is why his supporters never gets confused with is contrary speech. Because what the really get it is his bigotry no his condemnation. His real himself, no his political correctness. This is why how his supporters from anti Semitic groups, white supremacy and Nazi groups and fellows will still get his bigotry message and no his rebuttal and the will walk away from is original message. Trump is what he is in the rallies the test is his just distraction. I wonder if the Conservative party also shares with trump that message in secret to no upsets their most moderate voters. But that is the GOP right now.
How do we send him back?
2
The present resident of the White House, otherwise known as Individual One, is inciting the the extremists of the violent right. This will not end well. I fear for the lives of these young women and those like them. These are very dangerous and ugly times.
1
Representative Ilhan Omar is an elected official who is doing her job. Trump is an elected official who isn’t doing his job. Trump is bullying Omar in a sorry attempt to hide his ineptitude. In doing so, he’s laid bare his racism.
2
The Democrats need their own Frank Capra or John Ford to write the Democratic advertising and there is so much material to work with.
Goebbels wasn't the only one who understood how to bring emotion to the screen. Let's spin compelling, emotional stories that are strongly founded in truth, justice and humanity to counter the constant barrage of hate inducing propaganda that is being lobbed at us and then get it out.
While I don't agree with the way some of the messaging is taking place from the Squad, I believe they actually care.
This entire incident along with hundreds of others, including the connections with Epstein, Putin and many dictators are absolutely excellent examples of just one place to start.
Never forget, never again, never give up and never surrender to fascism!!!!!
1
We must answer "send her back" with "vote him out."
2
Too much Trump coverage and too much coverage of his minority base, just like the 2016 election. I read the comments sections and readers feel the same. Is the Times aware that articles can be written about the Trump Administrations failures in policies and governing ? That articles can be written about the number of bills the House has sent to the Senate and which Mitch McConnell has refused you act on even though Americans benefit from them? That informative news articles can be written about the profit the Republican Congressmen make by supporting questionable policies of the Trump Administration, which are detrimental to America? Articles can be written about the shredding of laws and weakening of the Constitution by this administration. Seventy percent of American voters are interested in what is going on in America and not the attention seeking president and his thirty percent minority minions which is nonsense.
The ancestors of each and every one of us came from overseas if you didn't come yourself. Even the ancestors of the indigenees, called Native Americans even though all of us born here are native.
So after you, Donald Trump. Lead the way back.
1
I decided to sign up for Trump re-election emails and I have to tell you, it’s all crazy propaganda stoking the fires of Republicans about a “liberal left wing state” that’s trying to force “unAmerican views on the populace”. Really it’s some amazing insight to other side. He also throws up silly things like if you donate 5 bucks, you, yes, you common man, may be lucky enough to sit with the man, the myth, the legend.
He is truly sowing the oats of a dictatorship and so many people are drinking his Kool-Aid.
Are the “women of color” of The Squad absolved from responsibility for their own racist, anti Semitic, antagonistic, and often simply false statements they have made over the past months because the President and some of his supporters have said some things?
The Times Ed-Board seems willing to grant them absolution and provide unlimited indulgence for their actions because of their sex, race, and ethnicity.
This also appears to be the new policy of Speaker Pelosi and the Democratic Party. They have now voted for it twice and America sees this.
This is not acceptable. They must own their words and actions. The Times must insist on it.
1
There’s a nice factcheck on El Trump’s claims vs. what Rep. Omar actually said and did in today’s paper.
I recommend reading it.
1
Paraphrasing biblical prophesy (as concocted for "The Omen"):
From perfidy he rises,
Creating dissension on every shore,
Turning man against his brother,
'Til this nation exists no more
It may well be that the guy who captured the hearts and minds of our evangelicals is actually the Antichrist himself!
(Just sayin'...)
1
I’d love to send Donald Trump back. Back to NYC where he’ll face state criminal charges. Cant happen soon enough.
2
What’s the presidency for? To Trump, power. And as much as he clearly is a racist, putting others down is secondary for him next to propping himself up. Dividing and conquering is his diabolical means to a cynical end.
It seems obvious to me that the president's supporters are more racist than he is. Despite this, all concerned are still irredeemably racist.
I expect the president's fans will chant this at the next rally, and the one after that.
We are WAY missing the case of The Donald. Trump is not a racist; Trump is not a Fascist; Trump is not a Populist; Trump is probably not even a Billionaire.
Trump is an addict - an empty vessel - a con.
He says and does whatever is necessary to get the next applause line. He is addicted to adulation; he panders to his MAGA Cult.
It just so happens that this cult tends to be xenophobic racists - so, that is what he feeds them.
Were his 37% Muslim; LBGTQ; Socialists, then that is the pablum that he would feed them.
The Donald has no ideology; no core convictions - he is just a sorry excuse for a human being who needs constant validation to keep on breathing.
Why does he hate Obama so? UTube the 2015 correspondents dinner and watch how Donald turns from Orange to Red as POTUS skewers the Reality Star in public.
Racist? Only if the audience calls for it.
This is just a hallow addict looking for his next fix, his next dopamine rush.
3
The NYT and the Democrats shout "bring them here" They do this literally everyday by not necessarily by their words, but clearly by their actions . Barack Obama said that we have immigration laws and the President has to enforce them. He said that he could not legally allow the so called "Dreamers" to remain in the country until he "DID". He vigorously enforced border controls and return to country of origin. But yet hundreds of thousands of undocumented aliens have continued to flood into the country on the "refugee" claim.
The Democrats and their allies in the media have opposed the "Wall". They have opposed cooperation with immigration authorities. They decried conditions of the border holding stations, while they held up funding to alleviate the problem. The Democrat run Sanctuary Cities are taking action to aid illegal aliens with final deportation orders in evading federal authorities. This is CRIMINAL and those who engage in this should be prosecuted. Trump is on the right side of this issue and the majority of Americans support his actions despite the biased and political reporting by the mainstream media. The Democrat party means to achieve permanent power by importing a class of individuals who will be dependent on the govt and the Party. They need a new class of voters as earlier minorities integrate into society and are lost to them.
The SQUAD hates much of America. Most Americans dislike them. I say send OAC back to the bar she came from.
1
Trump supporters love this circus. They love saying us liberals upset at his cruelty and shocking rants.
He knows what he is doing and it works.
His supporters applaud and are jubilant and await with glee his next show of ignominy and our offended reactions.
The clown show is growing and taking on roots.
Poor America.
1
So, the American carnage president, whose dystopian inaugural address painted a bleak picture of this country as completely awash in crime and misery, who spent the previous eight years criticizing everything Obama did including being born and playing golf, now cannot tolerate anyone with anything at all critical to say about the current state of affairs in this country. Somehow he believes that all the rules changed when he became president. No longer can people speak out against injustice or unfairness or greed or corruption. No longer can politicians ascribe to policy preferences different than the ruling party. No longer can the free press do its job. No longer can citizens of color who win elections advocate for their constituents. One and all he expects us to morph into Trump-worshipping automatons who mindlessly chant whatever drivel his thumbs have prompted on twitter. If anyone fights back, the full force of the highest office on the planet will be unleashed upon them.
These four freshman representatives may well be too extreme for many Americans. Kind of like the Tea Party guys were during Obama’s first term. But never in my lifetime has a president been such a complete failure at dealing with political opposition. Never has a president been such a racist misogynist. Never has a president been such a dangerous bully.
But even worse, never has the entire GOP membership in Congress been so craven and cowardly. Their silence disgraces our country. Shame on them.
3
Very well said!
Trump needs to stay in office in order to protect himself from his many dastardly deeds... He has only one option available, to secure the votes he needs — continue to gaslight, agitate and inflame the ever present hateful embers of White supremacy in our country. White racist sentiments are deeply rooted in American history and survive, passed through generations. Sadly, as the ugly chants “Send her back!” rang out at trump’s hatefest, I noticed a very young girl in a MAGA hat seated behind him, mouthing the words...”Send her back! Send her back!” It made me cry.
1
This is the new face of America: a crowd chanting "send her back", whipped into frenzy by a president whose signature position is bigotry and cruelty. Their target: a US Congresswoman who is a naturalized citizen. In their eyes, she is the demon who must be eradicated from white America. With Republicans controlling the White House, the Senate, the Supreme Court, this normalization of hate is cemented in our society.
Think for a minute about the young people watching this spectacle. They'll learn it's OK to hate, to act against anyone of a different ethnicity. That is the true measure of Trump's victory.
For a preview of our future, look to the words of Abraham Lincoln," A house divided against itself, cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free." Will we become slaves to our bigotry and xenophobic beliefs? America, it's up to you.
1
The three-word sentence “Send her back” manages to be racist, sexist, and xenophobic at the same time. My greatest fear is that Donald Trump, far from being a buffoonish narcissist, is actually extremely intelligent. Remember how Dick Cheney used to package unscientific and racist policies into slogans such as “intelligent design” and “patriot act” to get general buy-in? Trump appears to be doing just that, albeit in a cruder manner. And the fact that 51% of whites support him is a testament to how he’s managed to figure out what drives this particular set of people.
Let’s re-read Lord of the Flies - see the effect the chant “kill the pig” has on the crowd in creating a lust for blood.
I’m truly afraid that a similar lust for blood is being whipped up by Trump.
1
He has long ceased to be the point. The point is to print ceaseless drumbeats calling out every Republican coward whose silence casts their vote with him.
1
America is already divided along race lines with Democrats now pushing such notions as reparations and illegal immigration. For Trump or his supporters to encourage those who hate America to go back to where they came from is thus unexceptional. Unlike Democrats he isn't saying those of other races should be treated differently.
Racism, xenophobia, name calling, and general animus are all Donald Trump has in his quiver of arrows. He has nothing else to give; so expect nothing better.
Meanwhile, he continues to insult his supporters by assuming that all they need from him is more racism and xenophobia. Yes, some of them love it, but by now there are some supporters who are getting tired of his one-trick-pony show.
Sadly, "The Real Meaning of "Send Her Back!" is that we've seen this show before.
First, there was Trump's "locker room talk" which should have ended his 2016 presidential run. Instead it helped him. The morning after this rally Fox hosts on Fox and Friends called it a "football game chant."
After bragging about the "record numbers" of the crowd and how there were "lines out around the block," Jesse Watters said Trump "created a contrast" from the "Squad" by running down their "wicked rap sheet".
"Were you surprised by that?" Brian Kilmeade asked.
"No, I was not," Watters replied. "I mean, they telegraphed it. It was like Kamala (Harris) swinging a punch at Joe (Biden), you could see that coming a mile away."
Watters then said: "Now I don’t know about you guys, but have you guys ever been to a football game? They chant some pretty bad stuff at a football game. Politics is a tough sport. Some Republicans chanted some things. Some Democrats framed Trump for treason. I think you guys see the difference."
Some of us saw this coming when Democrats started tearing each other apart, knowing Trump would exploit it, and so he has.
How do you rightfully continue to define Trump as the racist he is if you degrade language by absurdly attacking everyone from Nancy Pelosi to President Barack Obama, and even the members of the Congressional Black Caucus, as racists little different than Trump and white Supremacists? The problem is you don't, and America will pay the price for it.
1
If ''the people'' tolerate a ''birther'' and even allow him to ran for President and then allow him to scream ''lock her up'' it is to late to stop such a President from holding rallies where the people chant:
''Send her back''!
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
1
Send her back, send the immigrants back, send the refugees back. Really, the violent rejections are all Trump knows.
These "rallies" are beginning to remind me of the beer hall "speeches" in Germany during the 1920s.
1
- and how true - the only way to fight a troll is to ignore him - but that has to be done BEFORE the troll get's a YUUUGE as Von Clownstick.
And then it also doesn't help (anymore) to ignore the trolls who troll Trump!
I thought he was talking about Melania, or her parents!
1
"It’s [send her back, racism, xenophobia] become the message ...?"
It's always been the message, however sly or coded. In 2016 his voters were principally motivated by racial resentment. And just last weekend he sent out tweets that are nothing less than white supremacy. Whenever things get rocky, he feeds his base racism and hate, and they adore him for it. Yesterday's Nuremberg rally is a case in point. Racism is how the demagogue manipulates the people, and racism is part of his fascist conflation of leader, race, nation, flag and cross.
1
Trump is simply following the playbook of division, fanning hatred, denigrating tie “other”. It’s an ancient approach with a huge success rate. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Fox give it a modern implementation, but appeal to the antediluvian reptile part of the brain has banished reason and brainwashed followers for millennia. This propaganda machine is all the “news” that almost half of voters are glued to, and a few bonkers billionaires are running it, and Trump, and the Senate, and most of the Supreme Court.
Trump is not confused. He is lying, as usual. He criticizes the congress not for hating the US, but for hating our dear leader’s despicable behavior. Any other politician would have resigned by now. The GOP oligarchy AKA the US Senate would have impeached any Democrat by now. But evil Trump is a tool for their evil agenda. They have sold our national soul to the Devil, in order to enrich themselves. Shame on them! I heard a Cuban-American Trump supporter interviewed on NPR in FL. He said he supported Trump because Trump is a real American. God help us all, Trump is @realDonaldTrump for sure, but he is not representative of the majority of America. Biggest loser of the popular vote ever, by some 2.87 million votes! We need to amend the obsolete US Constitution! to prevent Trumps from blighting US again!
1
By positing the headline as "The Real Meaning of Send Her Back" you suggest there are other meanings that perceptive members of your board have peered past in order to reveal a subtextual discovery. It's part of the delusion, the spell, that holds good people- and good newspapers- from speaking frankly and thinking clearly.
What other meaning do you imagine beyond the racist one?
There are so many dire problems with this President and the country that I feel like, for the moment, focusing on one that actually can change.
How can the administration of The New York Times not read the repeated calls in these comments to actually write and report with the vigor and urgency demanded by the situation?
“Mr. Trump appears to see the presidency as a giant megaphone for stoking racial and ethnic animus”...oh really? Ya’ think? You think he appears to see things that way?? We’re years into this dire, extreme situation and you’re still using inane comparisons to past presidents with flawed characters to describe the degenerate in the White House? You still haven’t arrived at a way of describing outright lies in a way that doesn’t make you sound like an Edwardian manservant biting his tongue in front of his master. And why do you employ the term “Trump Supporters” instead of Republicans? The President is a Republican. His supporters are Republicans- unless you know something I don’t. You’ve used the term, I’d wager, because you unconsciously assume there is some division between the crude people who attend the rallies and the old GOP you grew up with. Well, perhaps I’m wrong, but I bet you never called people at a Hilary Clinton event anything but Democrats.
You know, it just means the dems/left/center/whatever, HAVE to vote and get out the vote! Check your Democrat’s precincts; they might need help sending postcards to swing voting states ... I don’t have to worry about blue northern Cali but sign up for volunteering for purple/red swing states ....every action helps; these are very desperate times, indeed.
Right on the money.
And the Republican Party couldn’t be bothered to confront their Divider-in-Chief and they never will, short of some tragedy befalling the Dems.
Above all, it doesn’t serve the interests of their master aka Russia to deviate from the ‘master’ plan: Destabilize the country and keep it polarized along racial and ethnic lines.
Bravo, Republicans!
1
There was another cult leader in the 60s who tried to foment a race war. Lived out in the California desert and listened to the Beatles.
1
Donald Trump claimed he could "stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody" and not "lose any voters."
Did you think he was kidding?
Editorial Board of the New York Times, thank you for stating what needs to be said, so forthrightly.
This Send Her Back should start with the 2 Mrs. Trumps & Mrs. McConnell and anyone else who is married to a bigoted Republican! Start there and let us see how things progress.
1
Trump
A name that will live in infamy.
This will not take years to repair but decades. For the rest of my life anyone who tells me they are a Republican and supported Trump will be a racist in my book you can’t support a racist and not be one yourself.
I increasingly get the feeling that Trump’s empty vessel can be filled by anything, anything at all. If he got screaming, cheering acolytes by ranting about Caucasian fascists then he’d hold anti-Caucasian fascist rallies. There is no ideology, only the thing that gooses the crowd to delirium.
"He smeared her as trafficking in 'vicious anti-Semitic screeds'." I didn't like some of Rep. Omar's remarks a while back, but when a Republican complains of her supposed vicious anti-Semitism I smell a dog whistle to fundamentalist Christians, not a genuine concern for me and my fellow Jews. Republicans, take notice: your efforts to deflect attention from Trump's obvious racism are not working (and leave us Semites out of it, if you please).
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@Tamar R
Just because one disagrees with Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's right-wing conservative politics and its treatment of the Palestinians by annexing their lands doesn't make one an anti-Semite.
33
@N. Smith nothing to do with what Tamar R wrote.
6
The drama unfolding is the revelation of just how many Americans recognize and identify as immigrants and descendants of immigrants who treasure the dream of a nation based in laws and freedoms from oppression versus Americans who view themselves as owners of the country they inherited, with rights to shut the doors and oppress all dissenters.
Although I am cautiously optimistic that a majority will stand up for our true heritage as the former, I shudder at the reality of how many Americans identify with Trump.
When candidates ask the question, what kind of nation are we, the answer is that we are both. The question should be are we a nation willing to be oppressed by the minority or do we have the will to return the country to the rule of law and the aspirations of our heritage.
2
"This is how fascism comes to America, not with jackboots and salutes (although there have been salutes, and a whiff of violence) but with a television huckster, a phony billionaire, a textbook egomaniac “tapping into” popular resentments and insecurities, and with an entire national political party — out of ambition or blind party loyalty, or simply out of fear — falling into line behind him."
- Robert Kagan, Washington Post
"Send her back!" to Trump means "My way or the highway!" We need to vote this fascist out, as well as the McConnells and Grahams and all other GOP members that are abetting his criminal behavior and are supporting his racist, xenophobic agenda.
1
The damage that Trump is doing will indeed take years to undo; and while we're at it, we might as well undo the centuries of confusion, deception, and ignorance that have gripped humans since moving into fixed civilizations - causing all sorts of problems.
In the near future, we will program the human mind in the computer based on a "survival" algorithm, which will provide irrefutable proof as to how we trick the mind with our ridiculous beliefs about what is supposed to survive - producing minds programmed de facto for destruction. These minds see the survival of a particular belief as more important than the survival of us all. When we understandl this, we will begin the long trek back to reason and sanity.
See RevolutionOfReason.com
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In terms of the hurt and damage he does it is certainly irrelevant what his motives are. That said, IMO Trump's one and only goal in everything is Trump wins. His base has a brand of chest thumping patriotism, 'my country right or wrong,' which brooks no criticism of the country at all. His base is also xenophobic, provincial, and committed to the belief that this is and should remain a white, Christian country. Oh, they will allow other religions to be practiced and people of color to live here, but they are clear who should dominate.
At this point I have concluded that many in his base are also racists. Whether that is where Trump is - who knows. He is at least willing to use hatred and racial division in his life-long quest to get to "Trump wins."
What's described here is what Americans have to face up to and call out for what it is. The Trump administration has brought Fascism to 21st century America. A national challenge faces us like no other in American history. Do we as a nation refuse to recognize this reality and effectively enlist the tools to reject it, fight against it, or do we let it proceed in destroying all that has traditionally defined America as a nation? That's what now faces every American. Engagement in nothing less than a collective project to save our country.
Thanks for the fair and stinging criticism of Trump, without relying on a professed ability to see into his motivations so he can be called a racist. Whatever his motivations might be, he is hawking hatred with zeal; reason is just not part of Trump's tool kit. What is scary is how many people find this man's words and policies appealing.
The racism and bigotry is paramount of course, but one core Republican strategy is to label anyone who opposes the President and his policies as people who hate America. Its political bigotry. If you are progressive or a Democrat, you can't be a real, patriotic American. Look at what Senator Graham said about if an immigrant from Somalia was a Trump supporter. Again, this is not a new Republican strategy, but decades old.
When I was a child, in the fifties, in Québec (Canada), I cheered and shouted "welcome!", with my friends, to the cars who wore american plates. To our eyes, America was the beacon of happiness, freedom and success. My grandmother, a nurse born in Canada, worked in San Francisco and was naturalized American. She was a messenger of this great country when she visited us. John F. Kennedy... the odyssey of the first american astronauts...the Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech...the landing and walking on the Moon... that was America! Now, when I read about this agressive president who wants to divide Americans and stokes the embers of racism, I feel sorry for your great country. But, curiously, I keep faith in he future because, on the long run, goodness is mightier than hate.
"Mr. Trump appears to see the presidency as a giant megaphone for stoking racial and ethnic animus."
That makes it sound like Trump has some kind of agenda, an ideological desire to foment white supremacy. He has no ideology other than his own cheering (over-counted) crowds and his own re-election. None.
Too bad Donald Trump - bone spurs and all - didn't serve in combat in Vietnam. He would have quickly learned that all blood is red no matter the color of skin. He would have had his nose rubbed in the common experience of hard work, fear, pain and witnessing death.
I earnestly fear for my country. I thought I had seen it all when Nixon was President, but those memories fade as the current President makes bad news every single day.
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I don't understand why Trump supporters seem to think success of one person, particularly a person of color, takes away from the success of others.
I realize the going thing here is to pile on, but how is this all different really then what he did to get elected in the first place? As usual, his actions are repugnant ... business as usual. At the same time, there is an undertone to his message that in and of itself is not necessarily racist, and I believe is heard by many even while few care to identify this pretense. It is that it is objectionable to listen to a person with recent origins (they or their parents) from a place with weak governing institutions to come here and tell us how to fix our horribly flawed ways. I'm not arguing that anyone does not have a right to do so, just pointing out the plainly obvious fact that who you are matters as much as what you say. So while everyone is pointing to gender, skin color, or whatever, the point would remain to some extent (qualified because I'm not completely disagreeing with much of the racist labeling) if those things did not apply.
I can't wait for 2020, because I've got Rep. Omar's new re-election campaign slogan all set to go. Can you guess? It's call-and-response:
"SEND HER BACK! (to Congress!) SEND HER BACK! (to Congress!)"
Goes to show you how horrible the democrats have become for the citizens to decide Trump is better for the country than them.
Biden said it perfectly when speaking to Wall Street bankers.
If I'm elected nothing will fundamentally change.
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While the racism is barely hidden, his statement is most decidedly un-American. He says, essentially, 'if you don't like what we are doing, criticize what we are saying - IF YOU DISAGREE WITH ME - then you should leave.'
America and our democratic principles are based on disagreement. Blood has been shed to protect the freedom of people to disagree and to criticize. When Mr. Trump says if you don't agree with me you don't love our country so go home, he delivers the most un-American message possible.
Don't get caught up in the racism - everyone should be offended at the fundamental message that he and his view is correct and people shouldn't have the right to disagree with him. We should all be fearful of that rhetoric.
Not just people of color or women.
Trump’s rallies are White Supremacy events with few or no people of color. What I want to see is how many and which Republican candidates for Senate, the House and Governorships will endorse Trump and his policies by appearing at these hateful rallies.
1
There is now another meaning of "Send Her Back" for those of us in her home district. We will continue to send her back...to Washington....well into the future.
310
@Tom Q
Love it!
13
@Tom Q
BRAVO!!!!!!!!!!!!!
11
@Tom Q
I think your district had one of the most beautiful responses already -- the crowd at the airport who greeted Rep. Omar with "Welcome home, Ilhan!"
18
The embedded article on gaslighting was published two days after this president was inaugurated.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/here-there-and-everywhere/201701/11-warning-signs-gaslighting
It should come as no surprise that President Trump, whose true colors have been in display for years now, is leading a racist, white nationalist campaign. What is truly terrifying is how many people are willingly, even gleefully, following him down that hellish road.
2
I believe that the president does not have a single racist bone in his body. On the other, hand, every single pink and gray cell in the somewhat large organ underneath his skull is extremely racist. (Hey, it has to be at least somewhat large to hold all that egotism and narcissism.)
I know that he would denigrate me for saying the above, but in my defense, some of my friends are Republican.
I am sickened at the spectacle of the President of the United States "punching down" against four idealistic young Congresswomen who mean well but whose ideas have not ben thought through. But the charge of racism is one that does not stick. The NY Times tirelessly accuses anyone that they disagree with as being racist, just as reactionaries used to call their opponents Communists and Reds. Trump is provocative and obnoxious, but does anyone doubt that the NY Times would thunder chargers of racism at any Republican president? The Grey Lady has cheapened the term of "racism" to the point where it means virtually nothing.
I'm a lifelong democrat who voted for Obama twice but would never vote for Hillary
I hate this guy but CNN's panels of Republican strategists tell me that Kamala Harris, Obama, and Joe Biden are actually bigger racists, and you know ... I believe them !!
I'm definitely a Democrat though, not some fake account, but I won't vote for whatever racist Democrat steals the primary from Bernie Sanders ( who marched in the 1960's )
I will write in Hillary this time in protest
Come on Americans, Focus on the Big Picture!
While we're all talking about health care, debt limits, or Trump’s latest outrage like his attack on ”The Four,” we are ignoring the bigger picture.
Steve Bannon, the architect/coach of the International White Nationalists, who is in regular contact with Donald Trump, and Steven Miller, orchestrates strategy for the White House. Here’s his “Big Picture:”
Whatever the outcome in 2020, Trump will say the election was rigged. If the Democrats win, he will say that he was cheated. (Previewed in 2016.)
Trump's rallies in 2019-2020, will be designed to inspire street violence. His right wing radio and social media allies will promote fake news designed to incite more violence. They will be aided and abetted by Russian KGB social media. (Previewed in 2016.)
Right Wing radio talks of the coming race war in America. One of the loudest and most incendiary voices in this crowd is Michael Savage (aka Michael Wiener).
A good example of Savage’s screed from 8/4/17 on wnd.com: “If the left succeeds in its effort to remove President Trump from office or renders him virtually powerless, America’s working class – the “Eddies and Ediths....will resort to mob violence” when they “are finally aware of the fact that they’ve been tricked by their society, and that no matter how hard they work as middle class people” they are denied.”
Fellow Americans. Focus on the “Big Picture.”
Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib are scary because they bring Muslim ideology into the American debate. Ms Tlaib wore a traditional Palestinian dress to her swearing-in, while apparently accusing Jews of dual loyalty. Ms Omar is presenting a pro-BDS resolution. What do these actions have to do with the real problems of America and of the constituents that elected these representatives - unless the true agenda is global Islam?
1
Anybody can change their mind and redeem themselves, however, in Trump's case this rings quite hollow because he is a pathological liar.
Trump was, is, and will always be a racist.
1
Donald Trump is both a racist and a liar. So when he says he is not a racist, that is simply another of his lies. Actions speak louder than words, and his actions are turning America into a hate-fest for his followers, and a very scary place for the rest of us--even for whites who know their history.
1
Is Trump a political idiot savant or political genius?
At times he seems to be the former who can skewer his opponents with vile epithets that rile his base in the basest ways. He repeatedly throws barbs that both his targets and the news media cannot ignore. He seems to take gleeful pleasure in finding a new level to the American political sub-basement.
Other times he prompts the thought that the misogyny, racism, brutishness, and implied violence is a carefully planned and executed ploy to stir up his base, distract the press, and deflect attention while he taxes the poor and rewards the rich.
Is he following his gut or an evil intellect? Either way, he is revealing the narrow hostility to the “other” that runs through our history and permeates our society. He casts light on the unsavory parts of America we prefer to gloss over because, “Yes, we can.”
Trump represents part of America in so many ways, but not in its greatness. Elevating him to our highest elected office allows him to reflect and focus much that we wish to ignore. If he is an idiot savant, shame on us. If he is a political genius, we are in greater peril.
1
And again, the focus is on Trump, instead of the issues. Can we all just after this malignant narcissist is a despicable person whose moral compass has no magnetic field? There is nothing behind the curtain. Call this out over and over and over until we are as sick of it as we are of him.
1
The worst part about it all? He's such a tiny, tiny little coward he can't even own his own words. He runs America by Post-It -- throw some garbage on a wall, see if it sticks. In this case, it got condemned. He shrugs his shoulders, so what? Then denies it even happened. No, that wasn't me, he says. You must have misheard. No, I didn't say that. I actually disagree with it. And the GOP chorus of cowardly, complicit mice enters, right on cue. The small and mean begets the even smaller and meaner.
2
All one syllable words, all aimed at women.
Lock her up.
Send her back.
What will they think of next?
1
If our so-called genius president had studied physics, he would know that "for every action there is an opposite and powerful reaction." If he continues down this path with this racial division, he'll fulfill Charles Manson's desire to initiate a racial war. This will be a disaster for the republican party and the country.
Trump has proven that being a obvious racist will win you 30-35% of the vote in this country. To win the election all you have to do is throw in a tax cut, a couple of Supreme Court Justices and throw out some regulations and you can get another 15-20% who don’t mind your racist comments that much.
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Wasn’t the chant aimed at unAmerican values? Was he not saying if you don’t like America you can leave because it’s a free country? Didn’t he offer them to come back and “show us how it’s done”? How is it people who are white are not people of color? Last time I checked white was a color. How is it being a racist by say go back where you came from? Wouldn’t that be more of a Nationalist statement? Isn’t it the media who’s framing the race as one of hate and racism? How many times a day do you hear racism from the so called news media? These are questions that should be pondered before spouting off.
Good editorial. To the point.
The president is a multi-reason racist of the lowest order, and we are now past a point where there is much to be gained by devoting all our attention to that fact.
But, New York Times, characterizing him as an avid race warrior is to overlook the important fact that he is a multi-reason racist.
What do I mean by that? You might visit "The Freedom to Be Racist? - How the United States and Europe Struggle to Preserve Freedom and Combat Racism" to see how Professor Erik Bleich defines racism - simplified here to these reasons - to demean because of religion, skin color, nativity, language - and for the president whatever is readily at hand.
The president demeans Ilhan Omar for many reasons but I do not think he has ever stated directly that he sees her as genetically inferior to him.
Just look at the text I see to the left of this comment box - quite an array of reasons but nothing about "race".
You, Times Editors, must ask your own columnist Thomas Chatterton Williams for a pre-print copy of Self Portrait In Black and White - Unlearning Race.
Why? To see the president's hatreds in simple black-white American "race" terms is to fail to present in detail the reasons for his kinship with dictators past and present. Why not try that doing that? Name a dictator and show what the president shares with that dictator. He is only a step or two away from being one himself.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Citizen US SE
Trump's "Go back where you come from for criticizing America" is his warmup for "Go to jail for criticizing me."
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"Have you no decency, sir?" The words that took down McCarthy would have zero effect on Trump and all those who support him, like McConnell. These people do not have any decency, not any of them.
A sexual predator, a thief, a crook, a compulsive liar, a narcissist and yes, a white supremacist. POTUS. Those of us who watched him in NYC for decades knew who he was and mourned when Russia manipulated us into his "win."
I agree with the many who believe that Mr. Trump suffers from some very severe mental health issues. He says all his friends have left him. What friends? Other guys like Jeffrey Epstein -- a high quality individual? His sons who shoot magnificent animals for "fun?" I shudder to think what kind of person would want to be a friend to Mr. Trump.
How do you get rid of someone who has no decency? Even if we vote him out, his "unholy fragrance" will linger for decades.
Dividing along the color lines is still a viable strategy for a conman because there still is a majority along the color lines. More immigration will fix that. Trump knows that and that is why the anti-immigration is at the core of his platform. Fortunately, he is not going to succeed -- he is about 60 years too late and he won't be able to turn back the clock.
I can't wait till 2045 when the nation as whole will become one big CA.
The far right has prepared America for the Trump presidency by buying up radio stations throughout rural America and broadcasting a nonstop format of hatred for anyone who isn't a white, rural or suburban, U.S.-born, politically and behaviorally conservative Christian (preferably Evangelical Protestant).
For forty years, they have spun a fairy tale in which dark-skinned, city-dwelling, liberal, non-Evangelicals, especially those who are well-educated or union members or actors or feminists or GLBT or Democrats, are evil plotters against "real Americans."
The lies have been an easy sell in small towns, where people appear to think that the purposes of high school are to train people for jobs and to sponsor winning sports teams, and where history is the class that the football coach teaches. It is not uncommon to find people who have never traveled more than 50 miles from their hometown and are afraid to go to the city.
Back around 1990, I was teaching at a small-town college, and when the building where my office was located was being remodeled, the workmen listened to AM hate radio all day.
This form of propaganda, practically unknown to anyone who never ventured into rural areas, went public in 1996, with the advent of Fox News. In more recent years, far right websites like Breitbart have added to the far-right's total information environment.
I'm actually surprised that it has taken this long for a Trump-style demagogue to come along.
3
Sorry editors. Obama was the president who divided the country according to color. The current 20+ presidential hopefuls are using “race and racism” as their top themes. As much as the NYT and liberal media defend, and/or ignore, the hateful rhetoric of the so-called “squad,” they can not deny their anti-American, anti-capitalist agenda is real and a threat to our country.
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@Pvbeachbum
"Obama was the president who divided the country according to color." By which you mean he was the one who brought racists out of the closet. (In case you mean what it looks like you mean... well, Martin Luther King Jr was accused of the same thing because he stirred up trouble where everything was just fine.)
The real meaning is he doesn’t have to talk about Russia, or Epstein, or money laundering, or...
2
The left ignores or minimizes the hate from their side
Calling half the country irredeemable and deplorable is hate and was applauded.
Trump is a pig but the squad is also full of hate.
The killing has started with people using AOC's concentration camp language and social media was full of admiration for the "martyr" who died.
During an epidemic of older white working class men dying of suicide, overdose & liver disease - 500k corpses so far, a member of this editorial board tweeted
“Oh man it’s kind of sick how much joy I get out of being cruel to old white men,”
None of this excuses Trump's ugliness. It's disgusting. But it takes two to tango.
Trump is a Putin Agent is the flip side of Omar is an Al Qaeda agent.
2
Ask any person of color in America what 'Go back to your own country' or 'Send her back' means and they'll tell you they both mean the same thing.
Namely, 'You don't belong here'.
And there's no way to excuse it or get around its racist connotations no matter how you look at it or virulently he tries to deny it.
In fact, this is something most people of color in America have heard before at one point or another.
But what's new here is that it's coming from the President of the United States of America when addressing not only American citizens, but elected members of Congress as well.
Granted, anyone familiar with the history of Mr. Trump and his views on race knows very well where his true sympathies lie.
After all, he was publicly endorsed and embraced by the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist groups as a presidential candidate in 2016, and his comments after the tragic events at Charlottesville left no doubt about his sympathies towards neo-Nazis and white nationalists.
And while he may try to "marry" his contempt for Nancy Pelosi, Democrats and liberals in his scandalous remarks about the four freshman congresswomen, make no mistake about it when he says about them 'Send her back'.
Because we all know what he really means.
And this is something that will never make America great again.
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@N. Smith
Well said. Thank you.
3
"Mr. Trump appears to see the presidency as a giant megaphone for stoking racial and ethnic animus." He used his money prior to this to stoke racial and ethnic distortions. He put this in all caps in the NY Times and other local newspapers: “Bring back the death penalty and bring back our police!” What a way to inflame public sentiment and prevent an honest investigation into what happened.
The real meaning of "Send her back" is one man's prejudice, racism, misogyny, and yes, white privilege writ large. It speaks volumes that the GOP leadership refuses to condemn this. If it happened in another country we would be reading comparisons to Nazi Germany or the Salem Witch Trials, or even terrorism.
That Trump feels free to encourage this is terrifying. That the GOP tacitly supports it is worse. That there are enough Americans out there who will do this leaves me wondering when we'll experience Kristallnacht in America.
7/18/2019 8:28pm
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If he’s not stopped, we WILL become a fascist apartheid, inmune from the economic consequences South Africa faced given the size of our economy. And the ultimate result will be civil unrest that will make the civil rights era of the 60s seem like a nice dream.
And in Moscow and Beijing, Vladimir and Xi will happily raise their glasses to the new world order.
2
Both parties have been spewing hatred and contempt, just for different groups. When Omar gets up and disparages Jews she shouldn't be surprised when people react.
Others can spout hatred for whites or Christians or males and nobody turns a hair. They shouldn't be surprised when people react or don't vote for them.
2
Lock HER up!
Send them (all women) back!
Yes, it's racist. But it's also sexist and misogynistic. It's the intersection of racism and sexism.
I despise this man.
I despise his enablers like McConnell even more.
3
Everything Donald J. Trump touches has failed. He’s a failed businessman, bully, misogynist and racist. Those who can’t see it are the same as him. They’re proud of who they are and have no capacity for reflection and logical thought.
I can’t wait to send trump back to his failed real estate business.
2
Why did this editorial, in cataloging the sins of racial animosity committed against black people by former presidents, stop at LBJ? Why?
The father of today’s Republican Party was Richard Nixon who, in 1968, won the White House on the strength of his Southern Strategy, in which he siphoned off the votes of resentful and fearful whites, most of them Democrats—and most from outside the South—cashing in the rich chips of racial discord that the unfortunate LBJ left on the table because of his signature on the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts of 1964-65. And, lest the editorial board forget, it was Nixon’s appeal to racial strife (his “silent majority”) that was a mere code for the good (whites) against the evil (non-whites).
Nixon’s “benign neglect” for official indifference to urban dislocations and discord were blueprints for next, Ronald Reagan, and, at present, Donald Trump.
And this editorial allows Reagan to skate. The ex-California Governor was a race-baiter of the first water, long before he won the 1980 and 1984 elections. “Welfare queens” (1976) preceded “strapping young bucks eating porterhouse steaks” on food stamps. He began his 1980 run in Mississippi, running up the “states” rights” flag in Neshoba County, the site of three graves where three civil rights workers were killed in 1964. Why leave him out?
Space won’t allow for Pappy Bush and the Willie Horton ad; but so what? Donald Trump’s the president now. He read Nixon and Reagan and said, “This works!”
3
Ask any Asian American — aka a perpectual foreigner — about this one. It’s a standard in the otherizing playbook, along with “where are you really from?” and “your English is so good!” Disgraceful. Just like locking up Central Americans, most of whom are descebdents of the indigenous/first peoples of of this hemisphere. It’s all about upholding the discourse that naturalizes the unmarked “American” as the prerogative of those of European ethnicity. Everyone else is forever an immigrant, forever provisional, forever marginal im the United States.
2
The NYT editorial board consistently misses the misogyny in Trumps messaging. and why this chant is contagious with his base.
What does "Lock Her Up" and "Send Her Back" have in common, linguistically? The "Her" part!
Guys - you are missing the elephant in the room.
3
Trump incites to riot. He is the most overtly criminal individual in US politics since the Civil War.
2
America is, and always has been, racist....and like gay people who are born that way and have kept it under wraps because it was considered not socially acceptable, America’s racism is out of the closet.
3
Many Americans find themselves in a slowly warming pot that’s still just cool enough now to not fully comprehend where the boiling point is with the current administration. Their “send them back” stance and the unconscionable chant they’ve inspired, along with the GOP’s silent support of it, feels eerily similar to the months leading up to Austrian’s throwing flowers at the feet of nazis entering Vienna. Of course it’s not the same, until it is, and then it is the same, but you’ve said “never let it happen again.”
2
Should the President and the GOP publicly voice their racism?
Uh...pretty sure they have. Pretty loudly, too.
1
NYT, I'm ashamed of you. Your condemnation is tepid.
Call for an end to this abominable presidency. Mobilize all your considerable resources to end it. Otherwise, you are complicit.
Integrity is when ethical words and ethical action are in unison.
Like everything the mob-boss/president does, he throws gas on his victims and then lights them up. Then he reverses the story to cover his dinosaur tracks.
The real meaning of 'send her back' is enemy formation. Best known example is that of Nazi Germany. The Hitler regime achieved an extraordinary cohesiveness among the majority of Germans by whipping up hatred against a minority, the Jews. It's become "we against them" and the imaginary enemy it has created becomes a real one. We must stand for the good rather than against the bad.
1
Thank you for this thoughtful and timely editorial. Trump is a coward for this pathetic gaslighting attempt. There’s only one way to let this man know how we all feel.
VOTE DEMOCRAT 2020.
1
"Send her back [to Africa]" is code for "send them back [to Africa]", where the "them" are millions of Americans of African descent. If ever there were a call for massive voter registration and turn-out among minorities, this is it!
"Abraham Lincoln contended for years that the best way to deal with the legacy of slavery would be to ship African-Americans to a colony in Africa or Central America. Woodrow Wilson was an unapologetic racist whose administration expelled black workers from important jobs and infused the federal government with the spirit of white supremacy."
Yes, and before we "flash forward to the era of Lyndon B. Johnson..." let's not forget the ugly anti-Semitic actions of FDR when he turned away a ship of Jews trying to escape the Nazis, from the shores of Florida, to be rejected from a safe haven to the ovens of Hitler -- is this not racism of a stratospheric size?
PBS: "As the M.S. St. Louis cruised off the coast of Miami in June 1939, its passengers could see the lights of the city glimmering. But the United States hadn’t been on the ship’s original itinerary, and its passengers didn’t have permission to disembark in Florida. As the more than 900 Jewish passengers looked longingly at the twinkling lights, they hoped against hope that they could land.
"Those hopes would soon be dashed by immigration authorities, sending the ship back to Europe. And then, nearly a third of the passengers on the St. Louis were murdered. Most of the ship’s 937 passengers were Jews trying to escape Nazi Germany."
And friends, let's not be boondoggled when we see the term "immigration authorities" - a pathetic soft cover for FDR.
@Jeanette Colville you can't justify behaviour today because of behaviour in the past. AL lived 150 years ago. There were no votes for women then either - is that right today? The choices we make today our ours and ours alone.
1
No, let’s not be boondoggled by people who blow off the fact that whatever he was and whatever he thought, Johnson got behind the 1964 Civil Rights Acts and pushed.
Let’s not be boondoggled by right-wingers who think it’s clever to push the idea that leftists are just as bad by going over and over ugly events of the 1930s.
And above all, let’s not be boondoggled by Trumpists trying to spray squid ink all over, and hide children in cages, racist chants at Trump rallies, “good people on both sides,” murderous attacks on black churches and synagogues and mosques by people who cite Trump as a hero, and attacks on the Civil Rights Acts that Johnson, for all his faults, got passed.
1
To start, yes, Trump is a racist based primarily upon money. The wealthier one is the greater acceptance by Trump, except for those who are “really” wealthy, like all of those who are worth a lot more than Trump. Now, more bad news. His following is so familiar with the followers of Hitler and look what he did with almost the total acceptance by his followers. Finally, the really bad news. The followers of Hitler continued to support his beliefs even after he was gone following the total failure to which he led his nation. It is obvious that we cannot avoid following the same failure where those who are opposed to the Trump Regime will also suffer.
Thank you for assuming that the Trump damage can and will be undone.
Over my career in USA and time spent including one incident in a department store ended with me saying "Sure I will go home white boy if YOU go back to your country". Case closed.
His voters are worse than he is
2
Agreed that "Send her back" is outrageous and totally wrong. However where is the outrage when Ms. Omar said "It's all about the Benjamins baby" disparaging Jews and Jewish Americans? And where is the outrage about Ms. Omar's support of the Boycott, Divest and Sanction movement that that denigrates Jews, Jewish business as well as the State and people of Israel?
Boycotting of Jews and Jewish businesses was a tool employed by the Nazis just before they began the holocaust and the destruction of European Jewry.
Any representatives that use well known Nazi propaganda and tools to demean and do harm to Jews in America or Israel deserve to return to their home town and should not be in the Congress. This is not about freedom of speech. It is about freedom to live without fear of reprisal and sanctions because of our Jewish faith.
3
" 'Well, what the hell's the presidency for?' "
For Trump, the response to that question appears to be twofold: A means to focus attention upon himself in the hopeless quest of satisfying his unquenchable need for affirmation, and the possibility of enriching himself through the illicit use of the power of the office.
1
It's convenient of the Times and those of the liberal left distort the meaning of the presidents message. I find it strange that the Times, knowing full well that president clarified his statement, continues this distortion. Send them back means send them back to their communities to clean up the mess there. For once, why don't you people stick to the truth?
3
I dunno...maybe it’s because you lot never represent what actually got said.
Trump didn’t say take it home to Minnesota. He said, and said very clearly, take it home to Somalia. To a COUNTRY, not a community.
Honestly, I can’t figure it: are you guys so far gone in TDS that you cannot see the simplest things, or are you just lying because you figure we’ll fall for it?
2
The fact that 40% of Americans can support a president who racists identify as being one of them is scary. I’m sorry republicans but if you support a racist that makes you a racist too. I do not see this ending well for America.
3
I do not need the Editorial Board of the NY Times to interpret for me what " send her back " means.
2
White america has some very serious racial reckoning to do. Trump is a weather vane. He just channelling this ugly storm.
1
It is beyond the point to continue arguing how bad Trump is.
It is hopeless Democrats have not figured out convincing winning strategies after three years. Democrats knew three years ago how to lose, so why still repeat the same?
1
A large portion of Americans need to realize the hardships they are suffering (expensive health care, stagnant wages, the death of American manufacturing etc.) are due to poor governance, bad policies, a changing world and just plain greed. Not immigrants, which they themselves recently were. 1930s Germany was in a similar situation when Hitler found it easier to appeal to false nationalism and blame an ethnic minority rather than fixing the hard problems. Having just re-read William Shirer's 'The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich' I came across many chilling parallels, including the way political groups (GOP) fell into line rather than oppose Hitler. One interesting later quote from Shirer was, "Perhaps America will one day go fascist democratically..." I believe that day is fast approaching.
1
@MartinC
That day is here. A fascist democracy is one where corporate interests rule, not the people. The reason why we have "expensive health care, stagnant wages, the death of American manufacturing.." is because of income inequality and policies that are dictated by and benefit corporations, not We the People.
The Republican Party currently. and in its history. plus the old Democratic Party in the South, cared not one wit about Black Americans. The former still doesn't and the latter, thanfully, has evolved.
One need only look at the tapes of Trump's "rallies" to see a crowd that looks cloned. He only goes to red states or red areas of states to bask in the adulation of his "deplorables" who eat up all the lies, vitriol and more. Hitler's rallies were on a much larger scalce, but you can see the similarity.
Sadly, this is not a new situation in our history. From the "Know Nothings" to the KKK, America Firsters, Father Coughlin, Joseph McCarthy, we have a large class of of people who denigrated others be ti Catholics, Jews and, always, Blacks. It is up to the voters of this country to turn the current generation of malcontents, phonies and liars out of office thereby sending a message that the American dream is not dead.
Fascist Trump has no qualms about manipulating his ignorant base by ginning up racism while exploiting a member of Congress who happens to be a woman of color who doesn't share his beliefs. He shouldn't be in the White House; he should be in the Big House! Can't wait until this never-ending Trump-nightmare is over!
3
- Kamala called Joe a racist.
- AOC called Nancy a racist.
- Nancy called President Trump a racist.
Crying racism is the first refuge of a Democrat.
3
Trump is Bull Connor in the White House.
When Trump and his supporters say " Go back" which they mean every non-white American citizens and legal immigrants to leave America. They want Total White America. It is their dream! First step, Trump is making Zero Migrant America. Then his dream to send back 13 million illegal living here. Then.... ? It is scary!
Gaslighting. I have seen it referenced many times, but I was never really sure what it meant. I clicked on your link and read the definition.
Yes, Trump has been gaslighting (the term derived from the 1944 film with Ingrid Bergman's academy award for best actress) this entire time. I suspect he learned to gaslight when he first started grade school, to wit, he bullies until he makes his victims question their identity, sanity, and reality.
He's been gaslighting the entire country, and the world, because I've been questioning MY sanity and reality since he won the election.
7
Does one have to be racist to be nationalistic to a fault? No. But it helps.
Trump is a racist. I think there's enough evidence in his easily available statements. Also, imagine what he's like in private if this is the raging blunderbuss we hear and see in public...
4
Trump spreads hate and the GOP, his white supremacist followers and many corporations back him. Anyone but Trump 2020.
8
Boy, you really danced around calling Trump a racist yourself. What the heck is a racial warrior if not a racist? Have some guts, New York Times, and call Trump what he is, a racist, as well as a liar.
24
Shame on Trump! Shame on the Republican Party! But shaming the president and his party is not enough. Unless enough Democrats and Independents say no to the president and his party then we are going to get four more years of hatred, division, and intolerance and more nails in the coffin of American democracy.
5
As you say, it doesn't matter whether in his heart of hearts, Trump is a racist. It's what he says and does that matters. Similarly, it doesn't matter whether or not his supporters are racist, because they're supporting a man who says racist things and pursues racist policies. That's what matters.
242
My wife and were discussing how those who have studied for the citizenship exam have a far greater knowledge of American history and how our government works than so many (perhaps a majority?) of our native born. It might be that history and civics is cursorily or poorly taught; it might be that students think it unimportant.
I am beginning to wonder whether a similar exam should be given before a person is registered to vote. I do realize that this is pie-in-the-sky, and wouldn't happen with our current electorate. But imagine how much better a country this would be.
4
@VJBertolot - I’ve been having similar thoughts. Can we start with being able to run for the presidency!? Let’s have candidates take the citizenship exam.
Select the person below who was/is a racist:
A. George Wallace
B. Lester Maddox
C. David Duke
D. Donald Trump
E. All of the above
And the answer is......
6
@nzierler
This list is incomplete.
1
I think this is also about "sending women back" to an earlier age. Remember "Lock HER up". "Send them (four women) back". Are there any similar incidents concerning men? Can't think of one just now. Not to say that many Republicans, Trump and his ilk don't also hate and demean men of color, but it's not expressed quite the same way. Uppity women of color - a double whammy for them.
329
@Margaret
Exactly.
ELAINA PLOTT is the Atlantic lays it out:
• Trump Supporters Don’t Make Chants About Men •
Where the president’s fans once called for a female opponent’s imprisonment, now they are longing for another woman to be literally banished from the country.
http://on.theatln.tc/rhI5fUW?fbclid=IwAR33A4_9yCcZUdYsT5f_dnmjoWGQ2geXZgTYun8_-08KS3SCeua1m5Die5c
13
@Margaret
what about the birther movement that was about a man
10
@Margaret
Let's not forget Colin Kaepernick! Trump never said the same things about any white athlete who is not of his mindset.
5
Sad to see that girl behind him in the MAGA hat and cold shoulder top. She looks around to see what the adults are doing, then, slowly, and then with gradual enthusiasm, joins in because, uh, she's following their example.
3
Fear sells.
And, when you haven’t a single policy or hint as to what to do in the future, it’s your best friend.
217
Nicely done; not comprehensive enough in dotting all the i's and crossing all the t's of this most monstrous oration since his Inaugural Address, but the gist was not mislaid. Primarily the oversight was to have neglected his equation of criticism of himself with anti-Americanism, and the second was much like it: the equation of "loving one's country" with obligation, in which "love" compulsorily presents a Protestant face. Who asserted B, and even then stopped short of A, in the German language? Now I don't care if he hasn't built his Treblinka yet. He has his Dachau, up and running in 40 percent of the electorate.
1
Trump’s words were not racist. They were xenophobic. The difference may seem trivial but it is important. The same words were used against Jews, Irish, Chinese, Russians and other immigrants, regardless of their skin color. By insisting that Rashida Talib is a “woman of color” (which would surely come as a surprise to her Palestinian relatives), Democrats waste their best chance to show that Trump is as opposed to legal immigration as he is to illegal border-crossing. They paint the entire world in black and white. Immigrants like myself, on the other hand, know that the world comes in many different colors. Green, the color of radical Islam, and red, the color of socialism, play a much greater role in global politics than the no-color of whiteness. The drumbeat of “racism” will not deter the Trump base but it will alienate educated voters who understand the dangers of xenophobia, while not necessarily agreeing with the politics of “the Squad”.
1
Now every two bit bigot will feel empowered to demean, insult or attack any person of color, man, woman or child, in celebration of Trump’s white supremacy message. And still Republicans in Congress enable this monstrosity. America, in case you have failed to notice, is a multicultural country, built with the contributions of immigrants. Out of many one. It is the secret to this great nation.
But Putin’s asset in the Oval Office is undermining what has made America so successful. From within and in plain sight.
3
This, which Trump is doing in sowing national discord as president in order to remain in office, is, I think, what it looks like to be gripped as a nation by evil. As the last sentence of this editorial predicts, we as a nation are now seriously damaged; and this will much time, if not a miracle to undo. Not in kind but in substance, Trump has influenced his opposition in their response to him to be like him ... filled with hate ... all too often. We as a nation may have to “hit bottom,” which it seems well on our way to, before resurrection.
1
Unfortunately, it's not just race, but also misogyny. For a man with a truly immigrant wife, you'd think he'd think twice about singling out these women for his vicious remarks, but that doesn't even cross his mind. He feels free to use the same language about them as they have purportedly made about America. Yes, it certainly is a race thing, but I'm sure Trump would hesitate in his criticism if the "Squad" were four guys. His problem is that they had the guts to speak up so they're getting the same treatment as any other woman in his life who speaks up.
The Republican cult led by their chosen, Trump will be hard to break. It's a cult, a cult, a cult. The Democrats need to consult an expert on ending a cult. You can't fight a cult with political strategies. Forget politics. End the cult.
1
A distorted property rights concept is at this country's opposition to these women. They ask for a share, not a takeover. They ask for greater input as employees seeking fair wages and conditions. They ask for their own belonging as the laws allow, not allegiances they disagree with.
Those on the right wing, conservatives, or capitalistic fanatics(please note I said fanatics) want to retain the privilege to say who owns or has use of whatever. If this is tested, ipso, facto, it is unAmerican.
It takes on a racist quality when the criteria switch to the melanin skin color , minority religious beliefs, or a distortion of American history. It resembles the caste system in India that sustains itself to keep economic control.
Trump and his followers are emblematic of such thinking. They stand in fear that proper sharing means they will become lesser individuals. I have posited a theory here, and, of course, needs verification. The original words in the Declaration of Indepence, a time when ownership was not a shared concept, were Life, Liberty, and Property before the latter was changed to the Pursuit of Happiness.
My answer to this is this not my president as I did not vote for him. More importantly I will do everything in my power to register minorities and encourage them to vote in 2020 so that he will not be there or anyone’s President.
1
If "the best way to get rid of a bad law is to enforce it" then perhaps the best way to deal with this President is to win the next election. That works for me.
And if he wins again? Then we do know the heart of the USA. Sadly, we will know.
1
Like "lock her up," "send her back" is the quintessential Trumpism. Both are short, three words apparently being the attention span of both the president and his base. Both lock accountability: the implication is that someone else should do the sending or locking as the president and base are too busy doing something else. Personal responsibility is not a long suit of the GOP and its leader (did I say that? I think you'll find that I didn't say that). And of course, both include "her," uppity women who have to gall to excericise power and to criticize the president. Trump's overt racism continue to provide cover for his sexism. The reality is that it was still easier to elect a black man president than a woman of any color in America.
My prediction is that Trump will soon pivot to two word chants. The wonder is that he ever had the stamina to put four words on his hats.
1
In watching the video I noticed that all of the people in the background were not chanting. I'm wondering if the Trump campaign staff has people placed throughout the arena to the the chant going and Trump waited for the crescendo to build to the level he wanted. I believe that Trump wanted this to be one of the bedrock slogans in his campaign, similar to "lock her up". 13 seconds is a long time, longer that it sounds. Although, the disgusting sound of "send her back" for 13 seconds sounded like a lifetime of hate. It is a shame to say that it came from the party of Lincoln.
1
@Dan O I do think that people sitting in view of the cameras are reacting to cues. If you look carefully at them you can see that they are not looking at him but looking somewhere for their cues. (Notice how they hold up their signs and their expressions - not spontaneous.)
Trump combines a desire for less immigration with an attack on four congresswomen whose people were immigrants (except for the black woman whose people were involuntary immigrants aka slaves).
But these are two separate issues. The attack on these women could have been just for their policy preferences which would have been perfectly proper; but instead as usual Trump made it about origins and identity, which is racist for the most part. The desire for fewer immigrants and even for immigrants who are able and willing to assimilate into America's special foundation on constitutional ideas rather than Blut und Boden is perfectly proper. But Trump did not choose to pursue this in a civilized way, which surprises no one.
I am so grateful to the NYT and articulate, hard-working journalists who can keep the discourse grounded amidst Trump's undying attempts to manipulate the media to his advantage.
1
The author forgot to mention that the saintly George Washington's combustible anger towards the British was in part motivated by them offering freedom to slaves (in the form of a King's Warrant) when they crossed over to the British side. on effect, as he saw it, the colonists' 'property' was being stolen. Was there a crime ever as heinous as this?
Of course the Republican 'originists' - those who wish to return to the US Constitution of these years, would like a return to those days. And Trump would doubtless be delighted!
The base knows perfectly well that Trump doesn't really take issue with the chanting. We've seen him gently rebuke far worse behavior. This is a wink and a nod sort of thing.
To all those voters out there who say they will vote for Trump because the economy is good, I respond: Love of our country, our democracy, our ideals, and of just simple morality should be more important than a few extra dollars in your pocketbook. For God's sake, let's send Trump back to the Bronx and save our future!
I for one am not really sorry things have come to this point. It's like a load has been lifted. There's clarity now. All that brow-furrowing worry over the last two years about Democrats needing to try to understand Trump's base and how their needs were "ignored" in 2016 by "elitist" Democrats. Trying to win their future votes with more Townhalls and listening and reaching out and empathy. Whew! No more. You saw Trump's base at that NC rally. You saw their delight. They've not been separated from the main stream. They are intentionally separating from the main stream. Trump's not trying to divide - he's done it. Now, let them go. You can't change a mind that is not open to change, but you can change who's controlling the narrative in 2020. And you don't need those Duck Dynasty Trumpers to do it.
4
Watching this man wait while the crowd spouted their evil chant was chilling. As always, he smirked. And, as always he did nothing to quell their hate. Indeed he reveled in it.
I have to wonder how well Donald Trump would do in Germany today, if someone "sent him home."
Critics keep harping on the fact all 4 of The Squad are "women of colour", using that correlation to accuse Trump of racism.
But no one, even Trump, is using that correlation to accuse all people of colour of being hateful extremists like The Squad, they are accusing those 4 of being extremists and racists based on their public utterances.
They would be just as incensed if the group was constituted of 4 children of immigrants from, say, the old Soviet Bloc, making hateful, extremists criticisms of the country that took in their parents.
Accuse Trump and his supporters of being mild "nativists", i.e. holding recent immigrants or their children to a different standard than more established Americans, ok.
It is his opponents who are trying to make correlation into causation, not Trump.
The President has once again allowed us to peer into the abyss. But now the abyss has looked back. Racism is a foundational ethos of the United States. Few would argue that the white males who founded the country believed that white men of European heritage and Protestant religion were inherently superior in every way to every other people. And to this day that belief holds for many people. Understanding that “race” as a categorical description of human beings is malleable to the service of the power elite, we continue to suffer under its constraints. Racism serves Donald Trump because it is the only thing that legitimizes his presidency.
When this "presidential" charade is over, Trump must be sent to jail. Then Nancy will prove that she was prescient and determined in her resolve.
Kind of ironic that Trump is telling people trying to come here to stay home and fix their government while the people who are already here and want to fix our government he wants them to leave.
“Send her back” is no different from “they should go back to where they came from.” Don’t let Trump’s semantics game let him off the hook. The line, the hate, the frenzied crowd are all his.
1
This article is too kind of Donald Trump. It assumes he has some kind of agenda that leads him to foment chants and racism. The truth is that he will say or do anything that allows him to bask and feel in control, just like the boy at the back of the classroom who take enjoyment in stopping the lesson because he cannot get attention or recognition any other way. All Trump really cares about is attention.
NYT readers, given the paper's history, will especially hate this, but it's true. We have subversives in our government today, the same way we did in the 40s.
Every American should be concerned that we might have people within our government who do not support our nation, and wish to undermine it.
We should be asking real questions about who people bear allegiance to, instead of emotionally manipulating the voting populace into keeping quiet.
“... a zero-sum vision of America in which whites must contend against nonwhites for jobs, wealth, safety and citizenship.”
White America, your jobs are not disappearing because of non-whites, people of color. Your jobs are disappearing because of Corporate America. Corporations have sent, are sending, and will send, your job to a cheaper labor market.
It matters not what your skill set is. And if they can find a machine to do it, so much the better.
So, keep do what you’re doing, support the Corporate Machine. Enable your destroyer.
I understand make America great again...but I’ll settle for make America Research and Develop again.
3
Here's a case where the editorial board can't see the forest for the trees. The Republican Party has refined it's evilness behind the Nixon years. Like Nixon, Trump is on point flinging pasta against the walls to see what sticks. Meanwhile the Republican Party is doing it's evil deeds, gerrymandering and conservative judges etc. When Trump goes too far they walk him back. At some point should he go so far it can't be walked back they will throw him under the bus.
And as the comment:
''There will always be Donald Trumps. They are dime a dozen.
What is frightening is the number of people who proudly support his behavior'' -
was posted - and it gained the most amount of recommends.
''There shouldn't be ''always'' Donald Trumps as it actuallyy is pretty easy to stop when there are enough people who don't support him!
1
There is a difference between former racist Presidents and Trump. Trump is populist working on a scheme of a Second World Cold War, between Liberal Democracy and Populism, aiming to destroy America through, one of the tools is division:
"The president is looking to divide Americans along color lines"
The chant "Send Her Back" at the Trump rally felt timed and orchestrated. There was more going on there than just a crowd whose "passions" were out of control. It's almost impossible to get that level of coordination without some kind of rehearsal. It was a copy of the chant used against Hilary Clinton. Too much similarity going on.
Racism in this country always seems to be lying in wait for that one “special” leader or collective leaders to trigger another wave of of overt hatred and disgusting behavior before it is shoved back in its bottle and away from public viewing for another indefinite period. Jackson, Davis, Wilson, Wallace, Coughlin, the Dixiecrats, and now Trump. Add to that list the enablers and acolytes crawling out of their dark corners like the Conways, Millers, Bannons, Gorkas, the Trump MAGA crowds and the situation turns toxic very quickly. Why does it feel different this time? The answer is that possibly for the first time since The Civil War race and a hatred of the “other” is being used in the open as a political weapon to win the Presidency.
This will not end well. Politicians have always needed to keep a lid on this type of discourse. Today Trump says he does not encourage the chant. Soon he will have to distance himself from people who are ready to take it another step further. It’s coming and I know that because the sun will rise as it does everyday. There is chaos in the workplace coming as racist people will be emboldened to say what they want. Then the violence associated with racism will spike. Expect it! The sun rises everyday.
1
This is Trump's complete strategy in 4 points: provoke, lie, deny and repeat.
1
Trump plays a familiar tune in the genre of "If You Disagree, Get Out." For protesters of the Vietnam war, the lyrics were, "Love It, or Leave It."
I guess I am confused, but I believe I have heard Mr Trump criticize the U.S. many times, both before and after his election. Isn’t that what “make America great again implies?” I wonder why he feels he should stay and others should go. Is this what they call white privilege?
1
It’s the misogyny in the chant that scares me. The crowd came up with this themselves and used an aggressive threat by objectifying Rep Omar. I don’t see this as winning people to their cause. Republicans are looking at 2016 figures thinking a white woman majority will back Trump again. Last fall proved, that by ratcheting up the misogynist rhetoric, you may have lost most independent white women voters and moderate Republican moms. No one of any grace or class in 2019 wants to be associated with mob thought or violence.
Interesting closing comment about Trump causing irreparable damage. Racism is deep and pervasive in America. I marched in 60s integration rallies and was convinced that racial attitudes would be vastly different sixty years later. They are not. The hatred simply boiled beneath the surface. Trump hasn't created nor spread racism. He succeeds because he taps into the vile sentiment. Trump will pass, hopefully next election. Racism is here to stay.
Omar appeared to downplay the 9/11 attackers as "some people who did something," not as terrorists who committed mass murder. That told me all I needed to know.
If Trump is so unhappy with what he thinks he sees going on in this country, perhaps he should be sent back to his family's country of origin, Germany. I'd sure feel better about that.
Not only did he not discourage the chant, he basked in it and surfed the roiling hate, lying about what she has said and how she feels about the country.
It's important to acknowledge that "she" is Trump's chosen word here, as opposed to "they." Women, and particularly women of color, have always been singled out. Trump is not only following but also encouraging the racist and misogynist beliefs of his acolytes. Sadly, he shares those beliefs.
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“Send her back” and “lock her up” are perfect Trump expressions. They’re short, three words apparently being the attention span of both president and base. There is no accountability, no agency. It’s not “let’s do the sending or locking, it’s some unspoken “you.” Both president and vast are incapable of taking personal responsibility. And of course each focuses on a “her” and the audacity of a woman to achieve power, to speak with genuine authority, and to criticize the old world order that frankly never was.
I predict he will soon pivot to two word chants. It’s a wonder he ever have the stamina to put four words on his hat.
It’s amazing to me that GOP women and female Trump supporters are so eager to “lock HER up” and “send HER back”. Is this the world they have in mind for their daughters? Clipping the wings of their own mothers, sisters, and daughters? What comes around goes around.
There are 'Americans' and then there are 'hyphenated-Americans'. There are 'Americans' and then there are 'American citizens'. Trumpy and his band of deplorables aren't the only ones making these distinctions. While people of color are introduced as being of certain ancestry, white people are never introduced as being N-th generation English, or Scottish or Western European. So Trumpy is only exacerbating what exists across the entire European-American lexicon. This was most obvious when German-Scottish-American Trumpy slandered Judge Curiel, who's simply an American judge.
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Trump has nothing to offer to the people of the US and of the world other than hate and incompetence.
He came into the political arena by hating President Obama, then Mexicans, then all immigrants that were not European whites, then Angela Merkel and by extension Europe.
He has taken big decisions based on both hate and his inability to understand what was it that that he was deciding upon.
He cancelled the Paris Agreement because it was signed by Obama, and nothing else. Then cancelled the IrandNuclear Agreement for exactly the same reason. He did not care to understand the consequences of such actions.
Same can be said of his intentions to cancel Obamacare and all the anti pollution measures taken by Obama, like better mileage, clean energy initiatives, environmental protections and so forth. He does not care nor have the capacity to understand the effects of pollution on the planet. All he knows is that Obama liked those programs, so he hates them.
We need to put this man aside and out of our lives, literally, politically and other wise. Let then Justice do whatever it has to be done.
Is this all just a distraction from Epstein? Does Epstein (now facing a real likelihood of spending the rest of his life in prison) have a video that that would make even Republicans call for Trump's impeachment?
@gzodik
More likely he has dirt on Bill Clinton
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Rep. Omar voted for the bill to permanently fund care for 9/11 responders. Sen. Rand Paul (R. KY) voted against it due to alleged budgetary concerns, although he recently joined Trump for golf at a hefty price tag for taxpayers. Who’s the patriot?
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Mr. Trump's reveling in the violence of a mob screaming back to him his own words of hate is the latest instance of his fundamental MO. But everyone always knew that’s what we were getting with him. What’s most troubling is that the Republicans in Congress, virtually across the board and including their leadership, stand by as a U.S. president who represents their clan takes an “anything goes” approach to politics. I don't believe that people like Lindsey Graham and Mitch McConnell have no moral compass. Rather, I think their public approbation of Mr. Trump's political terrorism is a vile, calculated strategy to maintain party unity DESPITE knowing right from wrong. For today's Republicans, NOTHING is more important than unity. Unity… over decency! Unity, over country! Unity, über alles!
Really, who cares about Trump. I thought he was one of the least attractive people in America years before he ever ran for and somehow won the presidency. It's the millions of my fellow Americans who love him rabidly & unconditionally that concern and scare me. Once a Democrat is back in the White House what will the vast seething MAGA crowd do then to express their rage that they've been wronged.
Very well said. We are beyond the time of being appalled, of being offended, of appealing to their better nature. Trump and the GOP are loud and proud race baiters, and they're going to ride the white nationalism train all the way home.
It's time to grasping our peals. We're beyond censure. It's time to fight these people, fight back with the same fervor they're coming for us. I want to form a plan, and I want to take action.
You are right T is an opportunist. He shorted subcontractors by having a Roy Cohn as a lawyer, he couldn't get loans from American banks so went to Germany and then to the Oligarchs in Russia. He found the groundswell of backlash against an Obama presidency, and ruined the slow progress we may have made in our social fabric. He now sows hate and division, horrifying in the "United" States, in order to win another term as president of our great country. He is clueless about what damage he is doing, to the country, the people and to the Republican party. We will not end up better than when he took office. We will be without a treaty with Iran and Cuba. Relations with our partners will be weaker. China will be emboldened to work against us not with us. But our own people will still be divided, not on rational policy ideas, but on racial and ethnic ideas. And what will he say? "I won't be around, so who cares?"
There’s confusion in the comments. Race warriors are engaged in identity politics?—perhaps we could add that war is peace, hate is love, white is black? The year?—1984? It sure sounds like it.
The debate, if that is what it’s called, should be seen for what it is—claims to victimage and attitudes toward victims. Yes, the hatred of those who claim to be victims when, in fact, we’re all victims, should stop. Trump and the actors in his staged rallies—they’re called his audience, but they’re just unpaid actors—are all adept at manipulating hatred.
But claims to victimage need to stop, as well. It’s what identity politics is all about—and we’re all doing it. No human being should die without integrity. No human being should die due to undue injustice (we all live with some injustice, but it can be “undue”). No human being should die due to the lack of decent medical care or human needs such as food and clean water (an Xbox is another matter).
And reason, empathy, the understanding of complexity, and rage against injustice are all good things. Tribalism, gross ignorance, cruelty, and self-centered actions, called narcissism—and I’ll throw in oligarchy—are all bad things. Now that we agree on what we’re working for and against, let’s get down to work, and quit worrying about who is and isn’t a victim.
We’re all victims.
We have heard Trump's message of hate speech to his base, and his base's echoing the 2020 re-election mantra, "send her back!" The world (and America) waits for the sun to set on Donald Trump's presidency. We are a divided country now and will be for the foreseeable futre. Will democracy survive the xenophobia and gaslighting and tv reality show that America has become under this president?
This world is increasingly turning into the home of ever-thinner-skinned people.
What my generation used to shake-off without any frustration these days is causing the great pain to the younger ones.
I used to offer the friendly advices how to improve America. After several of them I was frankly told to go back if I didn’t like it here.
I am a white male immigrant and was told that by white male fellow American, so it has nothing to do with gender or race.
I construed it in a positive way.
If you knew how to solve the problems, why didn’t you fix your old country? Why did you come here, because it is a little bit patronizing to think that you know better...
If you know how to fix a problem, persuade some of your party colleagues to be a front person for the better solution!
Be a team player! You might learn something along the process.
The younger generations feel to be smarter than their parents.
Only a couple of decades later I realized how much I didn’t know…
And what then is the meaning of the near total acquiescence of the House and Senate Republicans?
Lest we all forget, none of this matters if we don't have a healthy planet. And he is at the helm of that one, and you know the rest of the story.
Yes, it does not matter what Trump feels about race, he is enabling racism. It is the same in Britain where it doesn't matter what Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn feels about Jews, he is enabling antisemitism. Trump's success is not just due to stirring up racial hatred. It also requires millions of evangelicals to support him even though every thing Trump represents is opposed in their religion. It also requires economic libertarians funded by the Koch brothers to support him purely to reduce their taxes so their money doesn't go to the less fortunate. And he also gets support from single issue voters on abortion and gun control. And he requires Republican politicians to care solely about their own careers rather than doing what is the right thing to do for their country which is to criticize a president whose is holding racist rallies to campaign for president.
When being interrogated by a lawyer, Jesus gave a compelling answer to the question, "Who is my neighbor?"
To support Donald Trump is to turn and walk away from one of the central tenets of Christianity.
Everyone, Jesus taught, even one's enemies, is our neighbor.
I have seen no evidence in his entire life that Donald Trump believes this.
Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts -- who he chooses to publicly vilify -- are his neighbors. They are our neighbors.
We are to treat them as we would want to be treated.
Golden rule? Trump's version is "He who has the gold, rules."
If you want to support him, fine. Just don't dare to call yourself a Christian.
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If Putin wanted to destabilize the West, he's on his way to accomplishing his goal.
Saying these are dangerous times is an understatement.
Call me over-dramatic, but I foresee "Send her back" turning into "Send them back", with an installment of martial law under the false notion that the country is being invaded by nonwhite people, followed by violent expulsion and/or extermination of American citizens of color.
There were children at that rally repeating the chant. There are white children in schools across the country telling children of color to "go back."
On top of that, Trump has invited race-based violence. Who knows how many of his supporters are more than willing to get their guns and start an unled war, thinking they are taking the spoils?
I fear America is done.
One image illustrates how the world views America these days: the way
Christine Lagarde looked at ivanka at the G8 meeting. Google it.
It seems hypocritical to pick on immigrants when you come from immigrant stock yourself. Trump’s family once claimed to be Swedish instead of German because they were afraid of how they’d be treated in the US. How ironic that he’d be projecting this on more recent immigrants now.
Seems to me the Editorial Board conflates racism with political argument. Trump is critical of what these “squad” members say, not the color of their skin.....and, they say some fairly outrageous stuff. Moreover, if one attacks what they have said, they term their attackers racist.
The Squad members seem incapable of honest, civil debate and disagreement, it’s their world view or the highway. and, Speaker Pelosi is clearly incapable or not desirous of instilling any civil discipline in her house.
"Mr. Trump appears to see the presidency as a giant megaphone for stoking racial and ethnic animus. ...He seeks to demonize those who oppose his policies as dangerous extremists out to destroy America."
What I find dangerous about this president is how quickly his false equivalencies escalate in intensity to become exaggerated absolutes.
In his mind, if anyone opposes X (a cabinet pick, some new foreign policy, cruel treatment of migrants at the border) they must de facto hate America.
This mangling of logic makes Trump's racist rhetoric even more dangerous than one thinks. First off, his main criterion for antipatriotism resides in how much anyone supports him. He's telling America, the only one who loves America purely is him, so if you critique him, voila, you're anti-American.
In the process, he's ripped off the scab of past racism and bigotry to advance his own self-righteous claim to ultimate patriotism.
Claiming you love America when everything you do undermines US laws, norms, and protocols is hypocrisy with a capital "H".
In defense of Lyndon Johnson: He, like Robert Kennedy later on, had an epiphany about racial injustice despite being a Southerner. RFK's was well-documented on video, as, troubled, he runs his hand through his longish hair at what hard truths Miriam Wright (Edelman) is showing him, first hand.
Johnson's was not so well-documented but it was there. And it was NOT simple opportunism, not for a Southern Senator in 1957. In fact, it could WELL be the 3rd Rail for him. Like Trump, he was dictatorial, abusive, coarse, and crude. But unlike Trump, he was supremely confident, not an insecure baby of a man. Trump tweets while sitting on the john in the morning. Johnson held meetings!
As tasteless and gross as that is, you gotta admire the man's confidence!
"Even the greatest leaders have fallen short of promoting the principle that all people are created equal."
But -
Do you really believe in a Creator, who created all men equal? Do you try fit that belief together somehow with what you understand
about the discoveries of science about the universe and about evolution and natural history on Earth?
Do you believe Donald Trump is the equal of Barack Obama? A drug dealer the equal of the doctor who volunteers to work in war zones? Uri Geller the equal of Richard Feynman? Adolf Eichmann the equal of Oscar Schindler? By what measure?
Surely a civilization based on groundless falsehoods that become increasingly hard to maintain must become increasingly unstable.
Might it not be better to see how new foundations could be built on beliefs we actually take to be true, rather than the perpetuation of old myths we don't really believe in anyway?
“contemporary America — that’s you, that’s me, that’s all of us” — to be “garbage.”
AOC got this completely right and I don't understand why more people don't seem to get this. The whole incident as it's played out through the week has been not just about racism, it's sexism, religious persecution and any other way a bully finds leverage to attack. Most important, it's about making clear to everyone that if you're not with us, you are against us and were going to come after you if you give us trouble.
It's about emboldening their base to persecute anyone they see fit. AOC is right. this is a dog whistle about anyone who is not one of them.
If I were Trump, a man who has no compunction at all about lying, and Ivwanted to refute the allegation that I’m a racist, every time I criticized members of the Squad or called for them to leave if they don’t like it here, I’d make sure to throw the socialist Bernie Sanders in there with them. The fact that he doesn’t is very telling.
At some point they're going to start chanting "string her up."
And at some later point, they're going to start doing this to people.
As the chant clip is shown over and over, I can't help watching the little girl behind Trump with the red cap and lime green cast on her arm joining in on the chant. I doubt she even knows who has to go back and to where. Sad to see more youngsters exposed to this racist attitudes.
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If you are wondering when the GOP will come to their senses and repudiate Trump's stoking of racial divide, don't hold your breath. Many of those Republicans in Congress and the Senate openly, or privately, share his views.
The party of Lincoln is dead. Trump's White Nationalist party killed it.
Trump's main focus is on 'winning'. His narcissism demands that he get the best of every argument (however small and petty), every exchange of insults, every schoolyard shoving match, and of course, every election. He doesn't care what damage he does to the nation---so long as he wins.
In his inaugural speech he spoke of American carnage. Well, here it is, folks. He's systematically fanning the flames of his voters' overheated imaginations and underdeveloped knowledge base. He has made it A-OK to say hateful and racist things in public, in polite company, and in good conscience. We can only hope that this hatred that he's made acceptable doesn't explode into American carnage.
I’m getting a clear sense of what it must have felt like in America circa 1860, a year before our civil war.
Gosh, by his utterance, "Send her back," I thought Trump was actually referring to all the women he's enjoyed through the night, but dismissed the next morning.
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Race-baiting is a sport with Trump, and he’s its MVP. We witnessed the same at Charlottesville, NC as well as his birther banter against Obama. His endgame hasn’t changed because his strategies work to his continued pleasure. He’s all kinds of wrong,