Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said Friday that President Donald Trump’s comments about African nations being “shithole countries” are “beneath the dignity of the presidency,” and if he can’t take his job seriously, he shouldn’t have it.
“If the president can’t control himself and lead this country with the authority, dignity and leadership it requires, then he shouldn’t be the president,” she said in a scathing statement. “There’s no room for racism in the Oval Office.”
“The president’s expressed desire to see more immigrants from countries like Norway must be called out for what it is: an effort to set this country back generations by promoting a homogenous, white society. We all need to stop pretending that there are no consequences when the most powerful person in the world espouses racist views and gives a wink and a nod to the darkest elements in our society."
If we do not take a stand now, when are we going to? We must save ourselves.
43
Agree totally.
Except maybe there is something hopeful, or at least useful, about recognizing that 35% of the US population is composed of Trump voter, like-minded bigots and idiots. Much like the feckless, amoral Germans that ushered Hitler into power, we have a similar group of morons and fellow travelers who share Trump's vile world view. Sad.
33
Trump is following the Hitler playbook. He is not attacking Jews, but is attacking people of color. This approach has drawn upon the racism that has been promoted by the Republicans since they turned the Blues States of the South Red with promises to fight against civil rights.
There is a clash across the country between those Americans who respect the Constitution and what it stands for, and those people who adore the vulgar, dishonest Trump because he is an outspoken racist. Tump sees himself as a dictator who can disregard the rule of law. It is a clear divide based hatred versus appreciation of the American values that many have fought and died for. These same values are defiled every minute of every day by Trump and his Republican anti-patriots. It is indeed a clash between decency and the evil arsing from those trying to destroy our democracy.
The only option for those who want to recover our nation from the likes of racist, sexual predator Trump and his Republican enablers is to work mightily to get out the vote. Volunteer, give money to the effort, make calls, protest in the streets, but, Get Out the Vote and say "We are madder than hell and we are not going to take it any more!!"
35
If Trump were allowed to fully have his way, he would be loading all Mexicans, Haitians, El Salvadorans, African-Americans, Africans, and any others he dislikes onto boats and railcars to an unknown fate. This is so close to what Hitler did in Germany--and those in Congress who are complicit by letting him continue toward this end are as guilty as the the Nazi party power elite.
WAKE UP--AMERICA. This is happening again!!
26
I agree with the viewpoint that moral outrage, or even reliance upon the legitimacy of truth and reason is totally pointless, in the face of Trump and the frustrated, unskilled, cowardly, boring, intellectually frightened and inferior movement that's propped him up. What I take exception to is the idea that a more appropriate response is to concede the day. Yeah, it's embarrassing that such a relatively large portion of our country is racist and stupid and accustomed to exhibiting hate as a virtue, and yeah, they're not going to be cured or convinced otherwise, any more than Trump is. So let's force this unabashed exhibition of humanity's worst impulses back into the closet. Cripple Trumpism by organizing voters (this should not be that hard; there are still a hell of a lot more of us than them) to vote out anyone spineless or small-minded enough to support his agenda. Stop with the outrage and fear; let's acknowledge that the stakes are too high to settle for the Pyrrhic victory of taking the high road. Take the Trump road. Call out racism and dishonesty and embarrass the perpetrator. If you have a racist employee, fire them. If you have a misogynistic friend ostracize them. Call out your GOP family members to defend Roy Moore in front of new colleagues. Toss your neighbor's Confederate flag in his trash can. There's a lot more talent opposing Trump than supporting him. Stop acting like there's nothing that can be done.
16
"Immigrants from shithole countries". Or SHC to be more delicate. Mr Trump isn't troubled by his immigrant mother from Scotland or his immigrant grandfather who came from Germany, or his immigrant wives. Germany is a fine, well governed country, the second most important country in the western hemisphere after the US. However, looking back to the first part of last century, Germany was an SHC - defeated in war, subject to low grade civil war, hyperinflation and asset destruction, then the election in 1933 of You-Know-Who, unprecedented crimes against humanity, catastrophic military defeat - basically a SHC until about 1950, or until about 1989 for part of the country. In, fact if you had to list the top ten SHCs that ever existed, Germany would be very close to the top. None of this seems to bother the orange-crowned buffoon. His ignorance and capacity for hypocrisy is breathtaking. But we knew that already.
15
Is a RACIST president finally impeachable? Can we get rid of him QUICKLY? Can we fine him his net worth for the HURT he has brought to the U.S.A.?
11
Evangelical christians and financial pirates overwhelming supported him and they don't care. they do deserve contempt and they will get from me forever. trump is human filth and they supported him.
20
Trump no longer shocks me. He is a racist, always has been. I expect anything to come out of his piehole. What I DO watch for are the responses of those who have been enabling him. I am speaking of the cowards in Congress, who cower before their tin god, afraid to speak against him. Enablers. They are worse than Trump, closet racists, and should be voted out of office. Remember in November.
35
Great column, Roxane...It is incredible that no one at the meeting had either the guts or gumption to say, "You're a fool and a disgrace, Mr. President" -- and walk out.
28
In 1990, Dr Haki R. Madhubuti begins his book, Black Men: Obsolete, Single, Dangerous? Mr. Madhubuti asked this question.
"Do I think all white people are racist, evil, bad and corrupt? No, but those who are, are clearly in the majority and are the ones who hold power and determine the future of my children and my neighbour’s children. The oppressed in the United States have the unusual quality of looking evil in the eye and denying its existence. This quality is not genetic, it is learned."
10
I wish that leftists would get it through their heads that shrieking at the top of your lungs does very little good, tends to be counterproductive, make you sound like a posturing Daffy Duck, and turns you into Donald Trump.
There're a lot of ways to fight, and anybody supportng the Civil Rights movement or Gandhi should know this.
10
Like Timothy Snyder of Yale, Professor Gay coldly and without mercy tells us the most uncomfortable truth of all: so many congressmen and senators are traitors (that's the word, though hardly anybody wants to speak it) that the very idea of treason doesn't mean anything. It's the new normal. Will anybody call Cotton and Perdue and all the others what they are? Pretty much, no. So it unfolds. The republic's dying and the American oligarchy, intend on authoritarian one-party rule, is glad to see it go. With Cotton and Perdue as cheerleaders, they're celebrating.
14
Tears. The shame and humiliation I feel as a result of the president's words is very sharp. I know the history of US/Haitian relations, and I cringed to hear the president's words yesterday. Today I phoned the Haitian Embassy in DC to record a voice mail apologizing for the president's hurtful, racist, disgusting words. Are we really at the point where open racism is tolerable in the Oval Office? I mourn to see it, and I wonder desperately if the Party of Lincoln is now the Party of George Lincoln Rockwell, who founded the US Nazi Party.
11
Yes, Roxane, you tell the hard truth. Of course, Trump is a racist. That's the primary reason why he is President. Because at least one-third of Americans are also racists.
I didn't know that until Trump was elected and I wish I could have gone to my grave without that knowledge. It is a painful admission and it makes me ashamed.
21
The best article yet on this sad moment. There is no one who coming to save us.... not just from Trumps racism but from Trump. Period.
Not Mueller. Not Obama. Not Biden. Not Oprah. Not Wonder Woman. Not Captain America.
Look in the mirror. That’s all we’ve got. There’s just us. The unmonied. The unpowerful. The unknown.
31
Just just a tiny correction: the author is not a first generation Haitian American; she is second generation. Her parents, born in Haiti, arriving in the US would be the first generation of her family to be Haitian American, which recognises that those born in other countries are as American as anyone born here.
4
Someone please, start audio or video recording every word this president utters.
5
Give me your most like, very smart and able,
your Aryans, Apprentices, Norwegians.
And meet my most stubborn one and stable,
after knocking at the toilet door.
No lamp will help there, except that of the Special Counsel,
shining his light, in scrutinized chores,
and from all corners a surge of the bright and determined,
trampling the rampant vote count fraud!
9
I lived in the south in the 80s as a surgical resident, moonlighted in back water bayou emergency rooms, dealt with police and the way they treated black people
I am so sad that nothing has changed...I saw thing then that shook me to the core of my humanity...I se the it even worse now!
I see what trump is, and the people who defend him..they are the same!
I remember to this day like high def video what I saw first hand
the rural south and much have america has not changed one bit.
the NYT should stop searching for reasons, its pure and simple racism...
its time for decent people to stand up and stop making excuses for the poor uneducated whites in the heartland
and stop calling it the heart land! It has no heart
now excuse me while i go throw up
That MLK's grandson even excused is despicable!
13
No shock from this white man, Ms. Gay. Not by now. Only disgust, despair and, though I did not vote for Trump and have never harbored a favorable thought about him, shame.
6
Donald J. Trump is a racist. Period. The republican party has become an enabler of this despicable person. In the process, Trump and his enablers have degrade the US constitution and weakened our democracy.
The fact that Trump and his enablers( by their silence) have disparaged persons of African and Hispanic descent comes as no surprise to anyone who paid attention to the policies advanced by this administration.
6
Why does the stable genius appear to dislike non-whites so much? If he's truly plain-spoken, maybe he could precisely explain and clarify his opinions for everyone. People have a right to know...consent of the governed.
www.thewaryouknow.com
1
I agree with you the writer of this article and I am white
3
Trump still plays the media like a fiddle & has them reporting that he didn't say it...when the real story is why not a single Republican lawmaker at that meeting had the backbone to call him out on his.
6
Who would have thought: in the year 2018, the United States of America would be ruled by a coarse, uninformed, ignorant King? And, unfortunately, a King with a frightened and spineless Court.
12
Voters in Alabama gave me hope when they showed Roy Moore the door.
6
Not a single person who is so offended by the 1 word would dare pay to take a 1 week vacation in Haiti.
Facts...not fairy tales.
4
I think the NYT is not willing to post an earlier comment I made where I used the language of our Dear Leader, so I will say it more euphemistically: Our Dear Leader has made this country into one fitting his description of Haiti and of African countries. I am sure there are many Norwegian parents advising their young ones right now not to go to this [what Trump said] country, not even for a vacation.
7
The shame is that the Democrats in the room did nothing.
6
I submitted this comment here, in December 2016, in response to an article by Prof David Pozen: In light of the evidence these past several months confirming Trump's racism, I feel vindicated.
"...I have two messages for my fellow Americans. First, to all of you who voted for Trump. I have no concern at all about you, and frankly don't care what you suffer under a Trump presidency. You brought this on yourselves. Now, to my fellow Democrats. We have a Democratic party that has shown little stomach for fighting on our behalf. We now have a President-elect whose own party members in Congress are terrified of him. Who will entirely ignore or dismantle our security apparatus (FBI, CIA, or whatever he creates in the image of the KGB). Who will appoint a toady to the Supreme Court, causing the loss of generations of civil rights gains. Who is now only limited by his imagination and the laws of physics.
So understand this -- No One Is Coming To Rescue You. You will need to do this for yourselves. A suggestion? Massive civil resistance. Peaceful, but massive. Millions of you in the streets weekly. This may not work. But from where I sit, I don't see that you have many other cards to play. Why do I say "you" and not "we"? Because my family
is of Middle Eastern ancestry, and we're leaving the U.S. The window of safety for us is closing fairly rapidly. We've heard enough of "registration" and "internment" bandied about.
Very sincerely, fellow Democrats, God speed to all of you."
9
I may be misunderstanding the author's heart and intent, but what I hear is a complaint that could be summarized as, "If you criticize my nation of origin, you are criticizing me."
As the son of immigrants, I don't subscribe to that. I strongly disagree with things I hear and read every day about the countries and ethnicities of my ancestors, but I do not take those things as criticisms or belittlements of me individually. I am an American, and Americans embrace anyone who wishes to be an American. The idiot chants at Charlottesville, and the idiot President's abhorrent response are nothing to me.
I know and cherish my ancestry, but I will not idealize the homes my ancestors left. If they had a grand life where they were, they would not have risked all to come to America. They wanted me to be an American.
4
White americans kill themselves with guns and opioids, deny their own kind access to affordable health care and education, let them sink into poverty and despair. The US is the only western nation where people suffer from hookworm parasites, but the men in power don't care about this. They create shitholes in their own country and despise the people living there. The only thing they give away freely is their hate and contempt.
Don't care what Trump think about other countries, just watch him fail his own citizen. One day it will be payback day, it will be done by his own people, and it will be epic.
9
Sometimes people ask me to be understanding of the Trump voter. I served in the Armed Forces under strong NCO of Commissioned Officers who (no matter what they may have felt in their hearts) let us know in no uncertain terms, that any kind of racial intolerance was simply not happening and that there would be swift retribution for any Marine who thought differently. This was in 1976. Racists are weak, easily frightened, have low self esteem and are--in short, ignorant. Don't ask me to be tolerant of those who would listen to this foul man spout his hateful rhetoric and snigger and smile. Hillary called them deplorable's/---she was being way too kind.
23
I was about to send Dick Durbin a thank you letter and then I thought, the time to speak up was in the meeting. I appreciate what he did today, but no one forcefully challenged Trump.
6
Dems need to call for censure. Doesn’t matter if it works. They just need to do it
7
Was his language crass and unbecoming of a president? Yes. Was it racist? No. Can it be tenuously inferred that there are racial implications? Yes. Does that make him racist or the person crying "racist"?
3
Dick Durban didn't just make this up. He's a long running and respected Democrat. If you are dumb enough to believe that someone made it all up, including the other remarks about Haitian's all having AIDS - you are either a Trump supporter or a racist.
Let's be honest. There is a difference between being an America and living in America. Being an American means you represent American values like freedom and democracy. Most Trump voters just live in America, but were left behind long ago. He appealed to the lowest common denominator to win.
The people Trump represents are not Americans. I don't care if you are as white as a welder's arc. You're not an American if you support someone like Trump. Trump does not represent American values.
11
Brutal. My eyes welled up reading this. What a horror show.
Sadly if someone saved us from Trump who is going to save us from the people who voted for him. Trump may have done race relations in America a good deed. Trump's blatant racism is going to force his party to put up of shut up. Those who push back on Trump will be remembered as well as those who sit in silence. The covert racism that tortured Obama for eight years is now overt. Trumps total lack of class my have brought things to a head. The Right has to be worried that they didn't keep a tighter Muzzle on Trump. Their Tax bill is off the front page only because people can't stop talking about what an embarrassment Trump is. Trump just made China the Big Dog in Africa.
9
Brava, Ms. Gay. More like this, please.
ssg
1
Let’s not get apoplectic about some vulgarity. LBJ,one of our greatest domestic affairs presidents, used profanity and insults all the time. Care about things that matter, not about crude language.
1
Actually not everyone heard him say that - only the Democrat. Do we really need more illiterates entering this country? Shouldn’t we give preference to those with a skill or education?
1
He is indeed a racist and a xenophobe and, yes, he has shamed and humiliated our country. I accept that. But I will not wrap myself in that shame and humiliation without making every effort to neutralize this regime and to rid our country of the evil he embodies. I will not stop advocating for the defeat of his party in November or for his defeat in 2020 and I urge every citizen to do the same.
7
Nothing surprise me when it comes to Donald Trump. There is no floor to how low he will go. What surprises me is my reaction to his vile racist speech. As a native New Yorker, I've known for most my adult life that DJT is a racist clown but this still cuts deep.
Roxanne Gay perfectly captures my feelings...." a painful uncomfortable moment" and "wrap ourselves in the sorrow, distress humiliation of it."
3
I'm not shocked by anything 45 says, but I continue to feel nausea and anxiety every time he utters another racist, ignorant comment. The junior senator from my state of Georgia, David Perdue, was at the meeting, and all he can say about 45's words are "no comment." It's horrible that I live in a state whose senators embrace the Trump racist agenda and do everything in their power to promote it.
So yes, I am sitting with these feelings of anxiety, grief, and nausea. There are no quick solutions to a problem that is widespread in the U.S.–people who are proud of their ignorance.
4
What republican came out to denounce the president's racist comments and policies? It seems that they are just as racist but know better then say it out loud.
3
Donald Trump is The logical culmination of Republican racism and misogyny. (Both political parties have said histories in terms of racism, but at least the Democratic party has, at least, tried to end that history.) Ever since Nixon's states rights strategy, the Republican party has embraced racism with enthusiasm. The party was happy to nominate both a racist and a sex abuser in Trump and continues to enable him. Trump is what the majority of Republican voters knowingly selected: an illiterate, racist, sex abuser, white male. They defend him as an enemy of political correctness and social justice warriors.
3
How about saving ourselves by organizing ourselves rather than expect the Democratic party to do anything. They are the do nothing party, they are the majority but Hillary didn't campaign in Pennsylvania, Michigan or Wisconsin, had she the bulbous one would not be president. So, the Demos sit while Rome burns. We deserve what we got and get. We talk the talk and don't walk the walk. I have no sympathy, and find our lack of action somewhat hilarious, largely because we're like drug addicts, instead of kicking the drug habit we take the next hit and then go into a self congratulation mode for thinking such "honorable" thoughts. We've become a nation of talkers not doers, and we're allowing thugs to rule us, and psychopaths, and sociopaths, and liars, and essentially killers and we sit and do nothing.
2
Racism and bigotry are the refuge of weak minds. Until we can rid the earth of stupidity - and we never will - this sort of thinking will remain with us. It has been around for as long as beings have been sentient. The best we can hope for is to disparage it and thereby contain it. Unfortunately, people like Trump come along and make it fashionable to be a dimwit, and out comes all the repressed hate. We can discourage this behavior in the voting booth. Let's do it.
2
How low can this country go? From being the country the world looked to for salvation, to this racist screed from the (possibly) elected president. Sickening. For the Republicans in Congress who act with treasonous intent, -- exalting party over country, power over human decency -- continuing to not do your Constitutionally-mandated duty will lead us into the only avenue left: Violence. Hold on, America; this is going to be a bumpy ride. And the question no one wants to confront: Will the world survive?
4
We have a criminal in the White House who has lived a life of privilege. A life where you can lie or deny any wrongdoing and never fear the consequences. As the old saying goes "every dog gets their day". That day may never come but if it does America will be a better place without him.
3
You are right that no one is coming to save us - we must save ourselves. VOTE!!!
3
This isn't about Donald Trump. America is a racist country and will remain so for decades to come. Trump merely represents the racist views of tens of millions of Americans. Let's stop pretending this is about one man.
5
Has anyone actually seen most of Alabama and Mississippi? We have no reason to talk about shitholes
5
There no awful thing that Trump can say or do that would be too disgusting to the Republican congress.
4
Trump is nothing more than a grown man that is a impudent child! He disgraces the country I swore 5 times to protect. When is this nightmare going to end?
2
She may not speak for everyone but I assure you that everyone she DOES speak for values democracy. If you truly do, you shd be concerned about the huge threats to democracy that Trump personafies!
2
The "shit-hole" comment by Trump is merely the fertilizer he believes he needs to feed and grow his base. His history shows he is and always has been a racist.
3
The bullying is as bad as the racism. Neither is surprising us as Trump has consistently demonstrated both. Haiti's untoward events: slavery, colonization, reparations and natural disasters all happened TO them; they were not their doing. Trump calling the country a shit hole is just another example his attempt to intimidate, wield power and demonstrate a complete lack of empathy.
2
Yea, Dick Durban is all over the news tonight, confirming that Trump made the shit hole remark, and also confirming that Lindsey Graham busted Trump on it. But why is no reporter holding Durbin ' s feet to the fire? Did he also address Trump directly? ?? If not, why?? This is not exactly a profile in courage here....
2
Many countries are hellholes, or sh**holes, indeed, that is why so many people want to escape from them, while people from countries like Norway have no reason to want to come to America, their own countries are much better.
But the missing link that needs to be spelled out is that these countries are hellholes for complex historical and geographic regions, not racial ones.
Trump is sloppy in his language, but so are most of his detractors in not making this distinction, between the countries and their inhabitants.
1
There are countries in the world that I could agree with the descriptor "shithole", but if you look at how such countries got that way it's usually because of a corrupt government, a lack of opportunity and poverty. With Trump instituting the most corrupt government we have ever seen, with graft and bribery running amok, and minority rulers who intend to remove all means of providing a leg-up to the less fortunate among us, and instead pulling out every leg of support while pillaging the commons, we are well on our way to becoming a shithole country ourselves.
5
From the Peace corps to the shithole - America's journey to greatness. Traveling with a US passport to any developing country soon ... Good luck!
3
Not even the Norwegians are coming to save us! Why would they do that? They have a GDP surplus, high taxes which provide rich & poor alike w/ excellent health care, excellent education, excellent housing opportunities, excellent public transportation, trains & roads. And their airports... even Mr. Trump would say are amazing! Why would any citizen in Norway want to move to a sh...... of our own creation!!!
5
It is worth noting that in many cases, the countries that Mr. Trump referred to as "shithole countries" have the problems they have because of actions by the United States.
Take Honduras for example: the current government there lacks legitimacy as it was put in place by a coup that overthrew a government elected by the people. And far from opposing that coup, the U.S., led by then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, supported the usurpers and assured them there would be no bad consequences for their actions.
Again and again, in poorer countries throughout the world, the U.S. has supported corrupt dictators who care little for the conditions their people live under. We should make no mistake: we are the problem here.
4
If I were a Trump supporter, I'd say I believe him when he says he used tough language but didn't use the word "shithole."
If I were a Trump supporter, I'd watch the president's immigration meeting and conclude he's a master of complicated policies who is doing everything he can to solve a problem and help the "Dreamers."
If I were a Trump supporter, I'd agree that the libel laws need to be strengthened so a man like Trump, a courageous truth-teller can speak his mind without being criticized in the media.
I I were a Trump supporter...
But I am not a Trump supporter and Trump is a mndless, ignorant racist who should be removed from office and in all probability thrown in jail.
5
When my U.S. Navy boat visited Port-au-Prince, Haiti, roughly 50 years ago for a 24 hour stay -- the ugliness I saw there left me depressed. I wasn't alone. I saw flock of tourist returning to their ship, one of whom was so upset he yelled out, for all the tourists around him to hear, "There can't be a God. No God would allow a place as ugly as this to exist." What depressed me was not so much the open gutters with feces in them running down unpaved streets between rows of shacks, but the ugliness in some of the interpersonal relationships I saw between Haitians -- like one hitting another and calling him an "ugly monkey" as they competed to be my tourist guide -- or another old man who kept repeating "Hey, Joe, want a blow".
"Shithole" is not a word I use, and I am sure Port-au-Prince has nice people and places within it, but compared to any place I had ever been before, it was a "hellhole".
The mainstream media's politically correct notion that all nations are equally nice places to live, and that all nations have the same percent of people with traits that would contribute to the well being of America are both obvious lies. Yet Trump is being treated as if he is inhuman for daring to point out these lies. Trump is stupid and crude, and the language and lack of precision he used in pointing out these lies is extremely disappointing, but the fact is that a much higher percent of the population of Norway could contribute to America's well being than that of Haiti.
2
Your op-ed made me extremely sad because it is so true. It's the powerlessness that's so painful. As a teacher, I did everything I could yesterday in class to illuminate the hideousness of what this man said. And, yes, I did the clichéd thing: I put up a poster of the Ghanian immigrant who gave his life in the recent terrible fire in the Bronx as he ran in to save a *fifth* person. But I knew that, though some kids in those classes learned more about Haiti and about what the 'president' had said, it wasn't that substantial. I think the power of your op-ed is that while it doesn't encourage us to be hopeless, it does encourage to just appreciate how absolutely horrible this moment in history is, to try to experience it to the hilt so that we know what we we are really up against and how hard it's going to be to get back at least to the 'default racism' of the pre-Trump era, much less make real progress in ending white privilege (I am a white man). But your essay reminded me that as awful as I feel, it's not as awful as others are feeling. One of my best students, in every sense of that word, is an African immigrant who told me yesterday that she and her family sat at home in shock and pain, completely not understanding why the President of the United States would say such awful things about them. It scares me how much hatred and pain this man has created and all I can think of is Bob Dylan: There's a hard rain that's gonna fall.
4
I'm sorry but this kind of self indulgent melodrama isn't going to get us anywhere. Stop whining, stop reacting to each daily travesty with fleeting outrage with meaningless and useless online articles and comments and get out and do something. For example, I am part of a group helping older and/or minority voters including registering, driving people to the polls and helping them get proper IDs in case the republicans try that nonsense again (and they will). What are you doing?
4
We have, of course broken several covenants with God which would have solved most of our problems. Those covenants may seemed long ago and hard to remember; the 10 commandments, the golden rule. In iIn more recent history we had the chance to hear new voices, which if we had listened would have solved our problems too; Lincoln, King, the promise of Obama. Perhaps it's time we listened more carefully to those who speak to the divine in us and show us what we could be. Trump is not such a voice.
3
After Trump's defence of the "fine people" demonstrating at Neonazi torchlight parades in Charlottesville, "shitholes" strikes me as almost polite discourse.
How much longer is the world going to put up with the indecency of the Trump presidency?
If American democracy cannot put a popularly elected candidate and Congress into office, isn't it time for the U.N. "black helicopters" to descend and restore representative government?
After all, the US never hesitated to send in the marines to overthrow "shithole" Latin American regimes (Grenada, Panama, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba, Honduras...).
4
Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the Western hemisphere and 80% of the people live in densely populated poverty. Why are many Haitians fighting to stay in the US when the reason for temporary status occurred in 2010? Haiti may have some pretty spots, lovely hardworking people but is there a reason to bring millions to the U.S.? We are no longer a farming agrarian culture or in the middle of the industrial revolution. These questions need to be asked.
2
Yesterdays New Yorker cover covers the location where this President is at. No one should be surprised, he has actually spent his whole life there. For those Evangelicals enamored with Trump spend some time listening to his Howard Stern interviews. His prejudicial real estate history against black tenants is well known and his racially charged statements through the years, before he decided to run for President, are well documented. The truth is that Trump has always been a bottom dweller and the American people by making him President have decided to join him. So sad.
3
Of course no one will save us from Trump´s racism or anyone else´s. If there is salvation to be had, we will accomplish it on our own. That said, we need to focus on the political intent of the filth coming out of the Gasbag in Chief´s mouth. Here, as always, there is a lack of consistency, the chaos of a disordered mind. By way of example, when he brought up Pocahontas at a White House ceremony intending to honor World War II Navajo code talkers, he was simply indulging in gratuitous bloody mindedness and putting on display for America and the world his unnatural stupidity.
The "shithole" follies are different, very different. In the wake of the publication of Michael Wollf´s FIRE AND FURY, everybody in DC and beyond was questioning the Gasbag´s sanity, so he put on a dog and pony show to demonstrate that he was on top of policy questions pertaining to immigration. Here, in full throated TV mode, he put on a show which in the eyes of his privileged commentator, himself, met with enthusiastic approval. In it, he talked of getting DACA done, of a love bill, and sweetness and light emanated from his countenance. The next day, the congressional ultra-right smacked him right back to their reality with a bill that only a howling reactionary could love. The "shithole" follies were his uncivil response to that warning shot, acknowledgement that he had received the message. He is who he is, but amidst the hooting and hollering, let´s not lose sight of his political intent.
3
That Cotton and Perdue say they can't remember what Trump said is unspeakable cowardice. Kudos to Durbin for reminding us about the racism of our president. Honorable mention to Graham for at least privately confirming what a Trump said.
5
"There is a lot of trite rambling about how the president isn’t really reflecting American values when, in fact, he is reflecting the values of many Americans."
That is the truth that we ignore at our peril. We are focusing all our angst and judgment on Trump's transgression and racism while we are ignoring the fact that 63 million voted for him. He is not president by accident. People went to the polls and purposefully voted for him, not because they liked him, but because they wanted to dismantle government.
Republicans have been waging a war on government "control" of our lives since Goldwater. But the problem is, government doesn't "control" our lives any more than Putin controlled 63 million people's willful vote for Trump. Government doesn't control us but millions of Americans think they need to own multiple guns to protect themselves from government control. Republicans have so turned 'conservatives' against government and in turn, against their fellow Americans, but worse, against our own children. Education, CHIP, infant mortality--any issue that affects children's health and future is targeted for Republican scorn in the interest of saving money, 'we can't afford it', 'it's inefficient and incompetent and unnecessary and corrupt and liberal and we can use any one of those reasons to rationalize our rejection of programs that will help people, especially children, and we do it with pride every day.'
4
Most Americans--even most people sitting in bars in WI--do not agree with Trump that our immigration policy should exclude people based on the color of their skin or their religion We can't let the Trump base get away with pretending they are in the majority on the issue of DACA or Immigration policy in general. We cannot allow Republican senators and representatives to pretend they did not hear the vulgar, racist comments of their president during an important official meeting on immigration policy.
All of the anecdotes in the comments of acquaintances who express their agreement with Trump should not seem to exaggerate the actual number of people who agree with him simply because it is shocking people admit to it publicly. Trump has made it acceptable--even popular--to express racist ideas that people used to be too embarrassed to admit to thinking. Now, like Trump, people say the words but deny those words are racist.
Too many current US citizens remember they come from families who were once immigrants--either voluntary or involuntary as slaves. When our parents, grandparents, great-grandparents came to the US, they came for better lives because the countries they left did not offer them the freedom to pursue their dreams of economic well-being, safety from violence, property and business ownership or religious freedom. These are the same reasons current immigrants want to become US citizens as well.
4
If this column resonated with you, you might also find value in a short book on a similar theme SO FAR FROM HOME: Lost and Found in Our Brave New World by Margaret Wheatley. It provides some prescription for what we can do when we find ourselves in such a demoralizing position.
http://margaretwheatley.com/books-products/books/far-home/
1
As a liberal, I’m getting truly worried that the cheerless and defeatist tone coming from commentators like Roxanne Gay and Ta-Nehisi Coates is actually damaging our prospects of winning in 2018 and 2020.
Defeatists risk making us low-level sinners feel we must own the crimes of epic offenders like Donald Trump. There are many places I don’t want to visit and am glad I am not from. I bet every Times reader has their own semi-private list of such places. Such lists are formed out of prejudice and ignorance, usually, but such lists are harmless and not particularly durable, either. All I need is one friend to tell me what a great time they had in Haiti for me to put it on my list of go-to locales. Should a liberal columnist who wants to get El Cheeto out of office risk making me feel like there’s a connection between my highly malleable and ill-informed prejudice and Trump’s unfitness for office? Defeatism always seems to lead to a spasm of morally outraged denunciation, and while that may be therapeutic it is not useful.
2
The Republicans know the clock is running out for them. They have a dolt who will sign anything they put before him. They have to exploit that before the mid-terms when they know they are done, as will be Trump.
The other aspect of this is that Tom Cotton and the rest are equally as bigoted and agree with Trump.
The Republicans have a lot in common with Melania Trump. She cannot leave Trump. She is a hostage, no matter how often he cheats on her or publically humiliates her and she won't leave. She won't leave and neither will the GOP because they signed a prenup. Melania knows Trump will tell the truth about her and use their child (the only thing she has left to care about) as a weapon in an ugly custody battle. The GOP is in the same position. Hostages to their own culpability and like Melania, they are just trying Anna Nicole Smith this thing out until the inevitable conclusion: either Trump has a massive heart attack or he is impeached. Whatever it is, they are gobbling up all they can until the finish line.
3
Progressives had better realize that the war has come to us, and that the choice is to fight or to curl up and die. We are in nothing less than a second war of independence. The enemy is the racists who admire Trump and the kleptocrats who own the Republican lawmakers.
Progressives had also better realize that fighting this war with guns and fire is not an option, so they will have to fight it with votes and legislation, and that will take decades, not one or two terms of a Democratic President or Legislature.
Fighting a prolonged war entails huge loss of life and lost opportunity. It saps one's strength and even humanity. If you fight with monsters, you become a monster yourself, said Nietzsche. A war also requires generals with vision, charisma, and stamina to inspire the troops -- a Gandhi, a Nelson Mandela, a Martin Luther King. I don't see anyone out there with that much wherewithal.
1
America is in crisis. We have two opposing views of what this country should be. Those of us on the left want a tolerant and diverse nation, engaged peacefully with the rest of the world, and blending a vibrant free economy with protective regulation and a strong social safety net. The other side wants a closed, nationalistic society, with minimal regulation or taxation of business, a strong police presence to maintain order, and an economy that ensures those who acquire wealth keep it and those without wealth are left to fend for themselves with minimal assistance.
These visions are completely incompatible and one will necessarily triumph over the other as long as the nation remains a union. As in 1860, there is no possible compromise. It was either slavery or no slavery, and a war was necessary to determine which view would triumph. The only alternative to war would have been to accept disunion and for each part of the nation to go its separate way.
I'm afraid today, we are faced with a similar choice. The majority leans more left than right, but our district-based electoral system empowers the minority and, for the foreseeable future, provides little hope of the majority getting its policies enacted. The blue majority is forced because of the inadequacies of our constitution—irreparable in today's atmosphere—to submit to a tyranny of the red minority.
I do not believe war is the answer. But an amicable divorce between red and blue is ever more appealing.
3
I disagree not with your diagnosis, but your decision to do nothing. Having taught American Government for 27 years I am well steeped in reciting all the historical events that have shaken our nation; and from each we have slowly, painfully emerged, slightly stronger and more likely to survive the next Big Shock.
Neither of us is so old to remember most of the Big Events, but I am certain that change did not occur because people took stock of how lousy things were as opposed to affecting progress. I most certainly am not telling my students to sit back and do nothing.
2
The notion that America is exceptional has always been built on hubris, one of the seven deadly sins for good reason. Trump simply reaffirmed the racism boiling under our collective teapot ready to wail. Decent people the world over should wail, especially Americans, and us our tears and contempt for every racist impulse to repolish the Statue of Liberty from the decay Trump and his Republican partisans have unleashed on our great country.
Trump trails a train of confliction
To veil every lame contradiction
But he can't fake the Press
Or Bob Mueller's redress
When exposed with just one true conviction.
17
This is not a new narrative. This is the story of what white men have done to indigenous people and people of color the world over. I think we need to start teaching world history again (as if we ever really did teach it). Yes, there will be some people who still bellieve in white supremacy, but when we study how colonists and others treated these people (including the Chinese, although Trump now wants to exclude these people of color because they are an exemplary race and now Jewish people too are to be included in this new racial supremacy) betraying even their trust and good will to steal from them, enslave them, rape and murder them, some people, most people today, will have a very different opinion. This story has never been told honestly in our public education system. It is a very important story about the exploitation of people, animals, the planet, and it needs to be told today.
18
We have met the enemy and the enemy is us. Right now 87% of Republicans still support Trump regardless of the racist bile he spews. Every Republican campaign since the civil rights movement has had undercurrents of race baiting. There are people who are genuinely unhappy that it's no longer acceptable to lynch and segregate and deny jobs to people of color.
Trump is embarrassing. No one is going to save us. We brought this on ourselves.
21
How come no word from Ivana, who bills herself on twitter as a progressive, on her father's latest racist slur? Whether or not one agreed with President Reagan, who by the way was not a vulgar, umprincipled person, his children, Patti Davis and Ron Reagan, Jr., spoke truth to power in their opposition to his political beliefs.
8
Well, now that trump has said what he has, maybe all the Santeros and Santeras in Haiti (and Florida) will step up and help us out of the mess we put ourselves in. God knows all my prayers have come to naught.
8
It is a sorry state of affairs when we in this country of ours cannot hold our leaders to keep their words or that the words they utter have consequences.
We have seen this movie before, don't you remember when he bragged about if he shoots someone on 5th Ave in NYC (http://bit.ly/2Dr11KL) he would face no consequences. Guess what he won the election on the Republican platform to be the President of the United States. His election doesn't speak very highly of the Republicans and generally of the White folks.
Why is it that the US Congress and particularly the controlling party the Republicans are not doing anything to put a leash on this man? VP Pence is also MIA altogether he claims to be a good Christian, are these the good Christian values that he abide by.
I never thought that the President of the United States would constantly, blatantly lie about everything that he touches? Such as the words he uses in front of the masses, the birther movement, and the recent utterance in the immigration bipartisan meetings with members of US Congress and denying it in the morning.
My question to the Republicans is simply this, when would it be enough for you that you would stop protecting him and stand up what is the right thing to do. IMPEACH TRUMP and save our country America.
13
roxanne gay and lindy west are the women of the hour. thank you for your candid writing. hang in there charles, they can joyfully hear your footsteps approaching.
5
Obama 2012: "vote"
That's it, really. One word. All the tribulations and outrages, all the columns and logic, nothing will work like a vote. The Democrats, or non-Republicans, have to get out in November and vote.
7
Agree entirely ... also exhausted with the daily deluge of childish, angry, racist lies from this man. Tired of the lack of courage and conviction from the GOP, the latest example is the "We do not recall" tweet from Cotton and Perdue.
But the answer is for myself and hopefully others for action: help with voter registration, take to the streets for sustained protests, and of course, VOTE!
Yes, high time to save ourselves.
12
Thank you for saying what needs to be said, instead of being "alarmed" as some headlines reported. Nothing about this is new; try as they might, his supporters have not succeeded in reigning him in or in re-interpreting his behavior. He is an avowed racist and burgeoning fascist who lately declared our beloved Constitution as an "unfair" document that is stalling his momentum! Since the election is too far away to give me hope, I'm fantasizing a White" House and government mutiny that would simply desert the sinking ship of state. "Abandon hope (all who would enter)".
4
Beautifully written! Thank you.
8
Even without video footage as proof, we all assume he said this because we know how vile he is, because he says something horrible daily, so why wouldn't he have said this?
8
You are a brilliant woman, Roxane, and Haiti is gorgeous.
I think a great many of us have been sitting with the daily thrum of this embarrassment and sorrow for over a year. There is no rescue, other than turning to what is before each of us to do, but even that imperative has suffered from the moral corrosion of this evil, obnoxious, corrupt and illegitimately elected "president."
5
Excellent column and spot on. Thank you.
4
Well, yes Roxane, you are absolutelly right. But there's more to it. I am a white guy from Argentina, a university graduate that commands 4 languages. Both my parents were also university graduates, and the same for all my siblings.
I opted to request the green card in the 70s, took 30 months and arrived. Then became a USA citizen.
It is very difficult to remember the number of times that I had to suffer an "American" jerk producing some demeaning sound or uttering racist expletives based on accent or name, usually a low life who could barely speak English.... w/o an accent.
Back in Argentina, anybody with an accent was automatically considered a "doctor", somebody important.....
Sure, not everybody is like that but .... Trump isn't alone. He belongs to that biped category that needs to push others down to feel superior.
Analize the word American. Argentina is in America, OK in South America. Canada and Mexico are in America, in North America. So why this arrogance of referring anthing or anybody from the USA as American?
Where is Haiti located? In America!
There was a nation in Europe that sometime during the last century attempted to smear its superiority over everybody else as the superior race.
You know what happened then .....
8
I think well-meaning folks have spent enough time in sorrow and mourning on the Trump topic. Enough, people! Rub some dirt in it. I am no more horrified now than when any other crazy old white guy has been in charge. The biggest difference I can see is that people are acting more helpless and victimized. I promise you it is not going to help. Be the change you want to see.
5
wanted and needed! thank you!!!
1
It’s True, Where was the full throated denunciation of what he was saying repeatedly? Was there a black man in the room?
Why didn’t SOMEBODY say “hey that’s not right you shouldn’t call them by those names” or was everybody just trying to get their own deal done. He needs to be called out in person on the spot or he will continue.
Somebody grow a backbone here.
9
Brilliant. Searing. If any good comes from our national shame of having this sad excuse of a man as our President it will be that, in his personification of the darker side of our society, he will force us to begin to cure the rot in our system. Racism is the curse of this country, hopefully we will bury it and the hatred this man embodies.
6
After reading through some of these comments, I really do despair for the future of America. I knew there were plenty of apologist for racism, but I didn't expect to find so many of them writing in the New York Times.
6
I’m “disghausted”, for lack of a real word that conveys how I feel.
3
Free vacation with two choices: Norway or South Africa?
Progressives are so hypocritical... Hillary calls half the country "deplorables" and that's OK because she was referencing those nasty White people. Trump calls something what it is -- (Haiti, #141 in per capita GDP, between the Repub of Congo and Rwanda) and it's racism.
So let me ask. If you had to relocate, and you had to pick between Haiti and Norway, which one? And if Ms. Gay thinks Haiti is so grand and she's of Haitian descent, why doesn't she move there? I'm guessing because there is little economic opportunity there.
And if you had to randomly pick someone from Haiti or Norway to immigrate here, which would be the better pick from an economic perspective? Sure, there are those who want cheap labor or voters (hint, that's you lefties) but the US needs to think in terms of who is going to add the most to our economy.
I'm sure Haiti is beautiful and the Haitian people are wonderful. But that doesn't make the country great or that we should not prefer people from countries where the education level is higher and that do better economically.
Immigration to the US isn't a right the rest of the world has. We get to pick who we let in. And why wouldn't we prefer those from developed countries over third world countries? Let's say we're going to admit 10 million new people over the next year or so. Would you really like the majority to come from underdeveloped countries? It isn't racist to say no you don't.
3
To be fair, when liberal Trump-haters say they are leaving the country because of Trump, they don't say they are going to countries like Haiti and Nigeria. They say they are going to countries like Norway. Just sayin'
Racism will always be a toxin in our system. To date, there've only been two means to minify its effects - the vote, and civil war. For the last thirty years, the bigots have waged monolithic assault on the vote. Consolidation of media and a relentless campaign of disinformation, gerrymandering, voter suppression - the cumulative weight of these tactics is working. Ms Gay is right. We best wake up to the scale of this new reality and learn to protect and propagate the vote. Or we face the alternative.
4
This is a great piece. It provides no comfort. And yes, we have to sit in the pain of what our president said, and continues to say.
And while sitting hear, I realize that our next step so to connect these words to his policy and platform. And only by doing so will we prove that these actions violate our constitution. It’s not illegal to be a jerk and racist. It is illegal to have policy hat violates the constitution. Time to hold him to that standards
1
Ms. Gay, I am astonished at how much this president has in common with the authoritarian president of your country of many years ago, the feared Francois Duvalier. "Papa Doc" ruled with an iron hand through fear and voodooism. He was supported by the violent Monton Macoute, who had his back the way the Republican party protects this president. How can the president deride Haiti when his conduct and disregard for the right of free speech is so much like Duvalier's? Papa Doc was a thug but is the US president really any different or better than Duvalier? The president may not have blood on his hands in the literal sense but he is just as terrifying and as cruel as was Duvalier.
1
An excellent article. The whole world reviles Trump, and the craven Republican enablers in Congress. We must vote this lying, racist, corrupt government out of office and try to work again to recreate an America that offers fair opportunities for all.
2
Trump represents the ancestors of those who lynched people of color and those who stood around amused and entertained by the spectacle. It's an ugly truth and Trump has brought us face to face with it in the 21st century.
3
Remember when Hillary Clinton was criticized for suggesting that many Trump supporters were "deplorables"? Anyone who continues to support a president who has proven himself a racist time and again deserves to be termed "deplorable."
8
Members of Congress and all others should have walked out.
9
I read this article three times. I’ve been sitting in this moment since the GOP nominated Sarah Palin. It was crystal clear to me (and Peggy Noonan - see hot mic moment ) that Sarah Palin was unqualified to be one heart beat from the Presidency. But the GOP, especially the base rallied to her and made her the main attraction in their rallies that summer. She dwarfed McCain as a GOP attraction.
Four years later Herman Cain (Pizza CEO and book seller ) and Newt Gingrich (ran out of congress by his own party) briefly led in the GOP primary.
We have a two party system. When one party is so jaded, allows unqualified people to rise to the top and is so consume by hate that the candidate that shocks or scares the other party the most is the winner of their primary process- this affects everyone!
I watched all the debates, I followed the GOP & DNC primaries. I watched the entirety of both conventions. Oh my GOD, do you remember the disorder, plagiarism and chaos of the GOP convention? Did it matter? Nope!
I have been lied to my entire life. I thought America had a standard when it came to picking a President. I was told “character” mattered. Obviously when White people get scared of “other people” nothing matters more than beating the others back into their second class roles.
The truth is I am more disappointed in myself. I allowed myself to believe current citizens had evolved and were better than those generations that made similar choices in the past.
3
Any member of Congress who is not a racist must refuse to attend the State of the Union address. This president has disgraced our country. Stop doing anything that treats him as legitimate.
8
"...a meeting that continued after his comments."
The bureaucracy rolls on. The meetings, the factories, the prisons, the schools... All of our institutions and economic sectors chugged on like the trains to Auschwitz. This is what Hannah Arendt meant by banality. On the week before MLK Day, on the eve of the earthquake... Everyone just went back to 'doing their job."
2
Ms.Gay, you are so right. No one, especially in the GOP is coming to explain what is going on. None of these Republican are condemning him. They act like they are afraid. Shame on them. I wrote to my Members of Congress yesterday. Two of them answered, decrying the comments made by this President but not offering any help to fix the situation. My simple question to all of them: How can you help the American people get rid of this man? We have to be rid of this person. They had no answer. This man is a cancer that he is spreading onto the country. The damage is getting bigger by the day. How can we repair this? How can we, as the people of the free world, with so many immigrants, and I am one of them, go on with this? I feel sorry for any journalist, any political pundit, or any American for that matter who needs to explain what happened yesterday to the rest of the world. I am a French citizen who became an American about 14 years ago and I have been living in this country over 35 years. I am disgusted, ashamed and stressed to see what is happening to this country. If Congress is not going to help us, who is? We need to get rid of this man as soon as possible. The American People need to stand up and revolt. This is not who we are. This is not the country I emigrated to. This is not the America I got to know over 35 years ago. I do not think we can wait till next November to change things. There is no time. We are losing our Democracy by the day...
2
Trumpism is now more defined.
Trumpism is the willingness to stoop to the worst lies, insults, threats, and unconstitutional behaviors in order to score a political/financial win. Trumpism is racist, has zero respect for democratic norms, and is proud of being uninformed. Trumpism is lining the pockets of the rich - The Trumps most of all- while convincing the working class that you’re helping them. Trumpism is the most degraded side of human nature, held up like a trophy.
3
Sorry sorry folks but I have met the enemy and he is us.
3
We need to sit with it because why? Because it should not be shocking given the number of Americans who share Trump's racism? Because that is how so many folks look at countries like Haiti? Because America is therefore not the "gilded idea" we mistakenly thought it was?
"No hope to offer" sounds too much like wide-eyed and silent passivity that failed us too many times during the 20th century. I call on sane, humane and reasonable Americans to never surrender to the ignorant, racist, fascist and pigheaded minority of us who now have the power to make and enforce policy commensurate with those values.
3
Thank you. Mr Trump has lied and been repulsive his whole life. He won't face any consequences for this, or anything else. That's the truth.
1
I don't know when we'll hit bottom with Comrade trump, but I'm guessing this incident wasn't it. As disheartened as most Americans are, I'm absolutely certain that we will vote in record numbers in November to send the republican party to the dustbin of history. Take the pledge: #RepublicansNeverAgain
6
We are now in dystopian America. Welcome to seething anger, wounds that don't heal, cultural cannibalism, and spiritual shortages. Great America is dead -- the landscape of our minds is barren, the terrain of our emotions is trampled, the rivers of our hope have run dry. Sure, I will sit here, wait, but what for? Sure, I'll embrace my discomfort -- embrace... haha...what does that word even mean in this mean and ugly America. Not my America. I am now nationless.
2
I lived for 15 years beside a reminder of the racist dehumanization of Haitians. My house was a block from one of several landscaped concrete barriers in my Miami neighborhood, splitting it from a community of Haitian immigrants. In the heart of my village of Miami Shores, its mostly-white Anglo residents didn't want it tainted by those of lesser fortune and darker skin. To them, black Haitians signaled creeping crime, lower property values and fear.
Miami is a city of immigrants and barricades. But where it intersects, it is blessed with mixed cultures, languages and economies. Why did I live in Miami Shores, with its eastern shore on glittering Biscayne Bay? Because I lived on the foreboding western edge, which defined diversity. I am the U.S.-born granddaughter of Eastern European Jews. Next door were an American-born black family and a gay Brazilian couple. There was a Ukrainian household, other U.S.- and Caribbean-born blacks, Latinos of numerous nations and Anglos. All of us immigrants, of course. When I moved there in 1992, my white realtor called me a "pioneer" -- code for a white in a mixed-race community. Garbage! Our homes tripled in value by the mid-2000s.
When I went to the town library for a card, they insisted my home wasn't within town limits. They wished. I forced them to get out the maps to prove them wrong.
What's the moral? Trump is ignorant by choice, as were the librarians, town fathers and barricade builders. Thanks, Roxane Gay, for the memories.
91
Ms. Gay is right. A year on in this "presidency", and we who detest this vile, unfit man are powerless, even though we are the majority.
Of course voting is important. But will voting save us in 2018? With the current electoral map, hardly. It would be amazing if the Democrats took back one chamber of Congress -- two is nearly a statistical impossibility.
Then what? Trump will have the wind at his back going into 2020. The Republican Congress, and the five Supreme Court votes in his pocket guarantee that he can continue to consolidate his power. America is unrecognizable now -- I shudder to think of what it will look like in 2020.
So vote, of course, in 2018. But why is there no massive level of protest now? Why aren't the streets in every major city filled right now, and every month, with those of us who detest this vicious, racist regime? Why aren't we all practicing civil disobedience on a massive scale? After all, that is what citizens in all other democracies would have done by now.
So why aren't we doing this? Because we are afraid. Individually, none of us wants to pay the price for standing up for our beliefs. We want to "go along to get along", doing nothing and hoping some miracle will happen in 2018. Guess what? It won't.
No one will fight this battle on our behalf. No one -- not the Congress, not the courts. A fascist regime has been installed, and it will be increasing difficult to topple with each passing day. This is now America, unless we stand up. Now.
6
You so articulately stated what I also feel and question, Mr. Pike. I, too, am wondering why there isn't a movement of civil disobedience on a massive scale. If these people are going to pass a travesty of a tax cut for the rich, why aren't we all refusing to pay our federal taxes until the two parties figure out a way to work TOGETHER and govern? WE are the majority and they can't put us all i jail. I do not believe the Founding Fathers ever intended for it to be "one party takes all." I believe both perspectives were intended to be integrated in the attempt to represent the greater whole. And this current Congress has utterly lost their moral compass. It is time for a civil non-violent revolution before this entire country becomes a "shit-hole."
Wow, well said sis! I happen to be French and my shirt is white but we do know about Toussaint Louverture (The black Napoleon) and his heroic stuggle about all colonial powers of his days. You forgot to mention that after freeing their country your ancestors helped liberate oppressed people in central America. Indeed dear friend you can be proud of Haiti, I know I am!
2
Our supposed leader cannot be educated out of his bigoted provincial profoundly ignorant status. For that one must be open to new ideas and to challenges to ones basic assumptions. The creature dominating our government is not open to facts or ideas that don't reaffirm his prejudices. He is uneducable and that is a character flaw as well as a severe intellectual disability.
2
Bill Clinton said, "there's more right with America than what's wrong with America."
We need to get the sane people to vote in 2018, and then Congress needs to impeach this monstrous President and put an end to the Trump Family Syndicate's reign of power.
2
For those who defend President Trump or do not speak out are racist and are dangerous to my well being.
3
Trump speaks as if he is always being victimized. Then, at other times, he whines and claims he's defending victims. The reality is .....
Children, from age 5 to about age 10, will forever remember Donald Trump as their "baseline president." They are victims.
Children of rabid Trump supporters, from age 5 to about age 18, will forever remember hatred as a "baseline emotion." They are victims, who are likely to forever hate their parents twenty years hence.
Our volunteer military, who joined to serve with honor, are being dishonored by an unstable, unpredictable, and unscrupulous commander-in-chief. They are victims.
We cannot sit and think about this for very long, since our youth are being victimized and ruined.
3
Trump was born into an "educated" white, privileged family;
He has five healthy children.
Instead of use his good fortune help humanity, he uses it as a bully club to push others down.
2
"...a meeting that continued, his comments UNCHALLENGED." UNCHALLENGED. That is key. Nobody in Congress (R or D) has genuinely taken the stance of defending "the other" from Trump's racist agenda. NOBODY.
3
With each lie, each racist comment, each business decision this administration takes, I'm starting to believe Trump when he said during his campaign that if he went out on Fifth Avenue and shoot someone, nothing would happen to him.
There is no hope for change. At least for the rest of this administration.
1
This is a clarifying moment for people who still continue to back Trump. It's like looking in the mirror and knowing that you no longer can hide behind plausible deniability. However, it also allows many Americans to revisit a few questions and issues from the recent past that they previously might have brushed off like a piece of lint on a jacket. Trump's blatant racism may add a new twist on old assumptions about Trump's talking points. In light of Trump's naked racism, who is still up for ridiculing Hillary for her 'deplorables' comment? Who is still up for ridiculing Black Lives Matter? Who is still up for ridiculing NFL players who take the knee during our national anthem? Who is still up for defending Trump's campaign mantra that 'everybody hates political correctness'? Who is still hot to trot for proving that President Obama's birth certificate is fake? Who in Arizona is still up for slapping Joe Arpaio on the back and promising him that they'll vote for him if he runs for Senator? These are just a few questions we might want to revisit. I'm sure you could add many more.
5
Every one has his/her match to meet. It may be a person or it may be some challenge. Trump has met his. He is not going to be able to act his way through this entire Presidency. For now his supporting cast is barely holding him up. His past life of scandal is starting to catch up with him. Melania is focusing on trees that need to be removed from the WH lawn. She hasn't found something to do in the interest of the American people in a year now (except modeling her expensive wardrobe). We can't blame her-- she least of all thought Trump would win since she knows how ill-prepared he is at everything while telling or presenting falsely that he's "got it."
When his supporting cast is voted out of office to the extent that there is no more of a majority in the Senate or the House later on this year, Trump will either be crying "Uncle," or he will resign himself to being a Democrat again as if he had never supposedly led the GOP anywhere.
The GOP in the meantime intends to squeeze everything they can out of the next remaining months of their ruining the nation for the vast majority of Americans. They can then leave office (voted out) to become lobbyist and start their s(word) all over again leading up to the 2020 elections. Trump will be abandoned if not impeached or having resigned in disgrace as a result of the Mueller investigations. He senses his demise. He can't remember s(word); can't keep his stories straight.
Will we suffer him as the worst ex-POTUS? Accomplice GOP?
1
Every day since the election, I have logged on to read the news to make certain that the world hasn't ended.
Yeah. It's that bad, and it's getting worse.
2
I’m not sure I agree with folks complaining that the Democrats present didn’t immediately walk out. I don’t want them to walk out. I want them to stay, odious as it is, and hear the whole of what the orange menace has to say. Otherwise, it’s clear from this incident, we will never know about it — Trump’s fellow Rs again put party before principle and are lying about what was said.
5
You could also write about how the country has been pauperized for three hundred years by colonial western powers since it had the effrontery to rebel successfully against them.
2
We all need to grow up a bit, yes, racism and other ugliness exist in the world, this is nothing new.
Waking up thinking about it, writing about it, talking about it all the time does nothing but drive you crazy, how much does this really affect your day-to-day life, I would submit, not much.
He has his opinion about the people he likes/people he doesn't like, most of us do, let him to it and vote him out next time.....
In the meantime, do eight out of 10 articles have to be about Trump on the front page of the newspaper, it's been like this for over year and it's getting to the point where it's not very enjoyable anymore.
I agree completely up to the very end: we know how to save ourselves from this travesty:
1-Recognize that this is not just a Trump issue, it is a Republican issue. Sure, stare at the dumpster fire for a moment, hard not to. But then broaden your gaze and scrutiny to Republican elected officials, appointees, and party officials and call them all to account.
2 - Bring this reality - that the R stands for racism - to your local and state politics.
3 - Get to work: Only 297 days until 11/6/18 when we must vote each and every one of these anti-American, craven, mendacious, racists out of government.
5
So. is this a winning play for him? I think so. People who think this is outrageous, their opinions have not changed. But the people who feel comforted by this will be even more firmly bolted into his base, and probably feel a bit prouder, walk a little bit taller, just knowing they are white people.
2
Beautifully written. Thank you.
1
This whole idea the Trump is a racist is so silly. He speaks frankly to everyone. He never sugar coats. He is blunt. Trump looks at a man and asks what have you done for me lately. He does not see color or gender. He see accomplishments. He became a multi billionaire by running a meritocracy. Merit has no color. Merit has no gender. The democrats see race and gender in everything. They are obsessed with race politics. They are obsessed with gender politics. Remember Access Hollywood? That didn't matter. Much ado about nothing. They play the race card well and often. But Americans are on to this game. It is old. Time to rework the play-book Dems. America voted on November 8. Trump won. Huge mandate. Race politics lost. Gender politics lost. Sorry.
2
The president should NOT be asking what have we done for him. He should be asking, what can he do that would best help the most Americans. Instead, he is catering to (and profiting from) mega-corporations by deregulating, lowering taxes,etc.
These policies do not help the average American. And by the way, he is not a good businessman. Ask any NY bank if they would lend to him.
1
I love the writing of Roxane Gay. It is sad....sad indeed. God bless America!
Conservative ideology is really Confederate ideology. It is expressed both politically and in evangelical christianity. This is the rebel cry of, "the south will rise again". And neo liberalism isn't much better.
1
I've been a reader of the NYT for more than forty years and I don't recall a single positive article about Haiti. Same with reporting on Africa: wars, famines, refugee crises, migrants drowning in the Mediterranean, rebels blowing up oil pipelines, etc.
To my mind, the only difference between Trump and the NYT editorial board is that one says loudly what the other surely think also. Trump is the least of it.
2
This vile man says whatever he wants and he likely gets the results he wants: his core supporters love him even more and the cable news channels get another 96 hours worth of gab.
2
You could also recall everything western colonial powers have been doing for three hundred years to pauperize Hiati for having had the effrontery of having rebelled sucessfully against them.
2
Trump applied the obscene adjective—which means “horrible places”—to Haiti, El Salvador and certain African countries, not to a racial or ethnic group. Like most people who resort to obscenities, Trump has a limited vocabulary; otherwise, he would have used the term “hellhole,” which means the same thing, but is less offensive. A hellhole is a place filled with squalor, misery, poverty and violence. Every immigrant has some fond members of their homeland—including Haitians—but many of the countries they left suffer from chronic poverty and chronic violence. The New York Times recently pointed out, that “Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere,” but sub-Sharan Africa is even poorer. According to the Economist, “in 1993 about 25% of the world’s poorest 5% lived in sub-Saharan Africa, by 2008 it was nearly 60%.” With more than 60 murders per 100,000 inhabitants, El Salvador has one of the highest murder rates in the world. It relies heavily on remittance payments sent from Salvadorans living in the U.S. to their family members back home. Most Americans agree with Trump these countries suffer from squalor, misery, poverty and violence.
Trump's racist attitudes are clear to anyone who is not as racist as is he, but he is not a true "white supremacist" in the sense of looking out for the white race. He's a rich guy who looks out for rich guys like himself, so he does not look out for white people who are not rich like himself. He is also an authoritarian who has no use for any political system which holds that all should equal before the law nor that asserts the principle that the government's authority is from the governed. In other words, he just is not suited to be a President of the U.S.
2
I want my voice to join those who do not stand with this president's hateful comments. Not in America, "its way past time" we stand for:
"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-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
1
OK, her family is from Haiti. Well, my mother's parents were from Norway. Yeah, Norway. I have met my large extended family there. They are very white, Mr. President, and very Socialist as were my grandparents, and very, very anti-racist. Which is to say, Don, they are not at all like you.
l am as proud of my ancestors, some of whom fought with the 1st Minn. at Gettysburg, as anyone could be. But I learned from them that it does not matter what country you or your family comes from. In America we define what kind of American you are by what you do here.
2
Ms. Gay, I applaud you. Thank you.
Excellent column, Ms. Gay. Americans, especially white ones like me, need to be made uncomfortable with admitting that many silently agree with the vile remarks of the short-fingered vulgarian in the White House. It is the only way many will learn and become better members of the human race.
1
I am with you Roxane. I despise this Man named Trump. I have time and again spoke up in the face of bigotry and have lost friends because I cannot abide anyone being dismissed for their race, sexuality, nationality, etc. Democrats need to speak up against this man in any meeting he espouses racist attitudes. Those who sit by are just as responsible. The Constitution has enshrined that no one can exclude based on race. This poor excuse for a man should be sued and thrown out of his job for his comments. I am ready to vote today with my hand, heart and money. We are better than this and no one should be made to feel that the President doesn’t have their back.
1
one article i read about this said that members of congress were mystified by his racist remarks. no one should be mystified by trump's racism. it was readily apparent during the election campaign that trump is heir to a multi generational strain of racism that is broad and deep. it is also well known that for decades the republicans have played the race card in their efforts to win elections. not all republicans are primary racists, but if you are a racist then you are more than likely a republican. therefore the all republicans are at least racist by association.
3
"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-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
This used to be the proud statement of the United States of America.
How fearful what so many in that country now represent.
1
I too have made the comment in conversation that Trump is an adequate representation of The United States. We citizens claim expansive love, graciousness, and generosity. But look at the history: government sanctioned genocide against the native population, slavery of Africans, civil war, fire bombing of WWII, dropping 2 atomic bombs, napalming and agent orangeing Vietnam, invading Iraq and Afghanistan without adequate plans for post war governance. The world sees what we do not: The Vile State of America.
1
Me, I'm waiting for the day the creature shoots Bannon at high noon on Fifth Avenue so we can all wring our hangs at the horror of it all till the next episode of this interminable charade is unveiled.
Cutting to the chase: Why do we need someone to save us?!? That NYT headline lament sounds like a line from a Star Trek movie. If "we" can't step up to the plate on this ... "we" deserve the consequences.
1
It's time to shed lil'Marco and stand up. I thought you were going to do it when pushing for the 2000 child tax credit for all low income families but you caved. It's time to stand up Senator Rubio.
"I don't have any hope to offer"
Racism is in our national DNA. It's a big part of why we can never hope to be anything remotely resembling a civilized country like Norway. It's a big part of why we insist on shaming the poor simply because they are poor by piling on draconian Medicaid requirements. I often wonder if our founding slave owners felt even a twinge of cognitive dissonance when they wrote those highfalutin lies about all men being created equal.
Thank you for not pretending.
1
Worse than the nakedly racist remarks in curse words by Trump, are the sycophants who expect us to believe: 1. They didn’t hear the remarks, 2. Couldn’t “recall,” the remarks, 3. Or heard otherwise. All Paul Ryan could say was the remarks in reference were “unhelpful.” What? To him, the other lying Republicans who go along with Trump’s despicable behavior, racism, sexism, remarks. They, esp. Ryan, Graham, McConnell are prostrate before him, not wanting to lose their seats, status and will vote to take health care from the kids, with CHIP, want to go after Medicaid and possibly force sick and crippled people to volunteer or have a job in orde to receive health care and aid. They greenlight his cabinet appointees who either have no experience, or are against the agencies they’ve been tapped to run. Offshore drilling, shrink National Parks, destroy the environment, roll back pollution controls. Leave the Paris Climate Accord, chastise our allies about not paying their fare share of NATO, Tear up the TPP, now go after NAFTA. The GOP has lost its moral compass. There will be a reckoning tsunami in the mid terms. For shame of today’s egregious racist lies.
1
Could we as a nation, red and blue, finally admit that "Make American Great Again" really does mean "Make America White Again"? And having done so, ban that phrase from the public square?
If you consume enough junk food, it corrupts your body. If you buy into enough GOP and Trumpian doublespeak, it corrupts your mind and soul.
2
As soon as Trump uttered his racist nonsense, Durbin should said that the meeting was over, gotten up, walked out, and gone right over to reporters in the Press Room or outside in the White House driveway, to tell them exactly, to the word, what our so called president had just said.
But of course, that implies that he possesses a spine, which as a member of the Folding Card Table Party, he does not. No wonder no one respects the Democratic Party: someone, perhaps Bernie Sanders, needs to explain to them that as an opposition party, they are supposed to OPPOSE.
What d.trump doesn't want you to know, and others as well, is that this country was founded by convicted felons exiled from England.
The only way to mitigate the fever of this country in its original sin of racism now openly being shown in this openly racist president is to deliver a beating to the Republican Party this November, casting them as an extremist political threat to our democratic institutions.
The best message the author can deliver: Show up at the polls in November.
3
Please vote the Republicans out of office. Trump needs to go too.
1
What a profoundly moving piece of writing, Ms. Gay. Thank you for explaining how I've been feeling. I do urge all thinking Americans to march next weekend--if nothing else to show we all are not racists and we do care about justice.
1
I live in Skokie Illinois, one of the most consistently diverse places to live in the country. There are over 100 different languages spoken in our Village, and 1/3 of our school students receive free and reduced lunch. After Trump was elected, understandably anxious children were greeted with handmade signs outside our schools that stated 'You are welcome here'. Within a month the community made and posted signs on every block that state 'Skokie Welcomes Everyone'. For the past nine years, community leaders have worked in partnership with our institutions to highlight and celebrate one cultural group that makes up our community through art, food, literature, and discussion groups. This year we are celebrating the Muslim Community -- itself quite diverse. It isn't always easy to live among people who are different from one another, and at times uncomfortable conversations ensue. I would not pretend it is otherwise. However, these conversations are undertook with the recognition that as a community we have a commitment to understanding each other and deepening our connection with our neighbors. Skokie provides a model of what the rest of this country could be like. This is my America.
8
Sadly, Roxane Gay is correct. We must live with this ugliness and wrap ourselves in it, because what the President said did not cause the meeting to end. The meeting's participants, law makers, stayed in that room to "negotiate," as if what the President said was negotiable.
2
What sad times for America. Where are the true leaders? I for one am tired and starting to lose hope....
2
Consequences for stating the obvious?
1
Thank you, Ms. Gay, for exposing the band-aid comment "This is not what America is," or "This is not what America is about," for what it is — just not true. America IS about this moment and this sorry excuse for a leader. Whether or not we voted for this racist, he is our racist and we have to acknowledge him.
1
Let this be the point at which we the people of color in this country vow to become exemplary citizens. We must learn to use the democracy to our full advantage and show by our example our white brothers and sisters how to work with us in a more fully formed participation in a government that belongs to us all. King was killed when he became more invested in this task, but we are strong and invested in our democracy as no other people are in this democracy. Let us show these United States how to make government of and by the people so that it might be clearly one that is completely and fervently for all the people.
1
I'll bet there is a bigger disconnect on this issue than anything else in the Trump administration between what the liberal media is saying and what most Americans are thinking.
I'm a Democrat. I didn't vote for Trump. But I'm not at all offended by his using a swear word to describe El Salvador, which has the highest homicide rate in the world by a large margin, and Haiti, which ... you know, I'm not even going to bother. If you think Haiti is great, vacation there. They need the money.
The Republicans used to be the most sanctimonious. Now it's the Democrats. It's hard to have a real conversation when a sanctimonious prig is in the room shutting everyone down to express shock, outrage and sadness over a swear word. So naughty! Almost like calling Americans "deplorable."
Get over it and get back to the issues.
1
I'm sorry, what issue is there that we should get back to? I mean, other than the collective treason of the Republican Party. "I'm a Democrat," you say. Really.
1
The GOP has shown themselves to be spineless Quislings so long as their agenda to kill government is allowed to proceed. They will stomach anything, even this, to get some money and some power. Serving their constituents, not so much. We must ask- why does the GOP pursue policies most Americans find unacceptable?
The only viable and honorable thing to do is rout the Quislings in November and make America a recognizable 'shining city on a hill' again.
1
There is a way out of this.
Show up at your local polling place on Tuesday, November 6th.
Vote for the Democrats.
Ryan and McConnell gave us Trump, and continue to keep him in the Oval Office.
Flip the House or the Senate or both.
D to go forward, R to continue careening backwards.
It's your choice, America.
3
It has bothered me for a very long time that the media wrings its hands over using basic language to describe obvious truths. It took them a long time to call him a liar. It has taken a long time to call him a racist, even though he has spent his entire adult life practicing racism. Eventually, the media will get around to calling him out for being both sexual predator and sociopath.
Though you are spot on about his base and their similar feelings about race, all is not lost. Elections are decided by the persuadable middle, at least some of whom are capable of shame and disgust.
Courage, Ms Gay. We need your voice.
2
January 14, 1963:
"Today I have stood, where once Jefferson Davis stood, and took an oath to my people. It is very appropriate then that from this Cradle of the Confederacy, this very Heart of the Great Anglo-Saxon Southland, that today we sound the drum for freedom as have our generations of forebears before us done, time and time again through history. Let us rise to the call of freedom- loving blood that is in us and send our answer to the tyranny that clanks its chains upon the South. In the name of the greatest people that have ever trod this earth, I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny . . . and I say . . . segregation today . . . segregation tomorrow . . . segregation forever. (Inaugural Speech of Gov. elect George Wallace)
We called him what he was; not imbalanced, not mentally ill. We called him an avowed racist (a category not included in the DSM of Mental Disorders).
Donald Trump is no different. Our 21st Century sensibilities search for a palpable rationale for Donald Trump; there isn't one.
1
I would submit we can save ourselves by voting out ALL of the republicans that have supported him all along, and then course correct. ( including impeachment proceedings )
This President and administration came to be because of our collective sloth.
1
We must not forget: This is the man who began a speech at a Boy Scout Jamboree with profanity that morphed into a gaudy tale of sexcapades aboard a big-beautiful-boat. Racism is but one more notch in the belt of indecencies that awaits us, from this man and his administration.
3
Ms. Gay's well-written article begs the question: Why did so many Haitians choose to come live in the US instead of the other way around?
I suggest you start by asking the same question of your family, Joe. Why did they come to America? Ask them even if they are not as good writers as Ms. Gay.
We're all immigrants here and many early immigrants were illiterate, perhaps including members of your own family.
1
"more invested in holding onto that power than working for the greater good of all Americans" the sad truth. The crux of the matter
The situation didn't start with trump
The situation won't end with trump
Generations appear destined to suffer American exceptionalism
Get the voters signed up, make sure they have the necessary ID's and paperwork. . Get them to the polls if you have to- and make sure the voting machines are hack-proof!
1
The only consequence would be to vote Republicans out in November. Through their pain they will realized they should have done some about he Child President.
1
Ms. Gay, as a member of an American collective that, constitutional flaws notwithstanding, elected such a vile figure to the presidency, I owe you an apology. My debt extends to your family, to all Haitians and to people who love them.
Despite my advanced years, I cannot recall ever having met another human being with absolutely no redeeming quality. Until now. The depth of our president's depravity dismays and disgusts me more than I ever thought it could.
Everybody has some quality that, when the chips are down, would sacrifice something for another loved person. Everybody, that is. but one -- and he is our president.
Ms. Gay, I am sorry.
2
My sister, a recovering conservative called me today distressed over Donald's vulgar words! She asked me, if there really is that much racism in this country? Yes, I said, there are many racists in our country.
Anyone really surprised not only by what Donald said but also by the reaction of Republicans like Tom Cotton and others who are trying to cover up or lie about what was said?! When Donald made the vile comment did anyone in the room speak up?! Doubt it!
Yes, racism is rampant in America, it's toxic. If you were paying attention during the eight years of the Obama administration you would have read countless comments on social media in some way disparaging either a Pres. Obama or his family! Beginning with the "birthers" .....which brought Donald so many supporters!
America, until we admit we have a racism problem, that many are racist, we will not change. The first step is to admit we have a serious problem.
2
Trump--and those Republicans who cower in silence--signal the death of the GOP.
1
The 3 branches of govt are supposed to balance and check each other. Who is not checking who?
1
really glad Ms. Gay brought up the prospect of 7 more years of this. Real Talk: as things stand now, no one is coming to save us from this man.
1
Well said and you provide good advice. Paying forward the tolerance that your ancestors received is a good tonic to apply to the wounds inflicted by our racist and embarrassing president. However, I am concerned that we must keep our attention on the real policy issue at stake. Converting our immigration system to a merit based entry system is wrong minded and contrary to the policies that made it possible for America to be great. If we only allow those with “merit” to be allowed entry, we will wrongly refuse admission to highly motivated, hard working and ethnically diverse populations. We must not let his incendiary and ignorant comments to take our eye off the ball.
1
Perfect response, as usual. Keep up the good work.
Uh - sorry to break up RG's narrative here, but his comments WERE challenged at the meeting, by both Democrats and Republicans.
We have to all stand up to this and that means demonstrations.
Re the poverty of Haiti, it's worth mentioning that after Haitians threw off the yoke of French colonial oppression and slavery, France extorted reparations from Haiti, to the modern equivalent of $21 billion. The last interest installment was paid in 1947!
see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/External_debt_of_Haiti
And that's just a tiny slice of the legacy of colonial era - how the developed European nations (and the U.S. also) exploited and damaged the countries and societies of black, brown and yellow peoples the world over.
3
For What you can do to all those Republican politicians who refuse to confront Trump on his racist and demeaning remarks and actions: send them an email with a picture of a backbone.
People vote with their feet - the temporary relocations to the USA for significant numbers of Haitians who would now rather commit a crime than be repatriated suggests that Haiti is everything and more of a pit of despair.
How much time does Ms. gay spend in her homeland?
From the CIA Yearbook:
"Haiti is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking; most of Haiti’s trafficking cases involve children in domestic servitude vulnerable to physical and sexual abuse; dismissed and runaway child domestic servants often end up in prostitution, begging, or street crime; other exploited populations included low-income Haitians, child laborers, and women and children living in IDP camps dating to the 2010 earthquake"
On the anniversary of date when 300,000 Haitians lost their lives in the earthquake, we especially condemn the heartlessness of Trump.
Shame on all who defend his comments.
1
I am terrified that no avenue seems to exist to take him down. I feel frantic that there is no one to represent the people who feel the way that I do. All the government officials who swear to protect us and to serve us are running for the exit sign or signing up for this new regime.
Please, those of you who know how to help us, please help us NOW!
2
HE is the original Birther. He doesn't even bother to hide his racism, because that's what his base likes, and demands. It will only get worse, unless his Collaborators peel away. And THAT only happens when Congress fears losing THEIR jobs. NOVEMBER. Get to work.
2
Electing Donald Trumps was an act of optimism. But now we know for sure that you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.
2
I'm kinda feeling like it's better that it is out in the open. Trump supporters may now be forced to own his racism, as an integral part of Trumpism, since he has laid it out there for all to see.
2
Sadly, Roxanne Gay is correct. We must live with this ugliness and wrap ourselves in it, because what the President said did not cause the meeting to end. The meeting's participants, law makers, stayed in that room to "negotiate," as if what the President said was negotiable.
While I understand completely Ms. Gay's despondence and her loss of faith, I am far from done. This year is what Ben Franklin meant when he said "We have given you a Republic - IF YOU CAN KEEP IT."
This is the test - The Year of IF. Find a way in your daily life to stand up, to march, to write, to strike, to campaign, to contribute, to volunteer to Reject and Repel this fundamental assault on America's best values and the Republic we've been given.
I've 'sat' all I need to, and probably too long. I'm old enough to worry about the legacy of my America. As it's been said - if not now, when? I'd add - what makes you think there'll be another shot at 'when?'
2
I agree with Roxanne: there's nothing more to say right now. It's not as if we should be surprised: we've all under house arrest under this president, including his base "base." But I've been so abjectly depressed ever since Nov., 2016 that if I sunk any lower I'd commit suicide--and believe me: I've considered it more than a couple times this past year. A former professor of English, I now teach in a maximum security prison for women. When #45 won, some of my incarcerated students told me that they felt safer in prison than on the outside! And this was coming from both whites and blacks. Think about it: blacks, who have been systematically pipelined from hood to school to prison, and have many a just cause to feel unjustly treated, telling me they'd rather be in prison! What I've been casting about for this past year and change is this: What can I teach these women about fair play, turning away from crime, finding the power in themselves to empower themselves? What can I say to them, I want to know, to give them a reason to change and, equally important, a reason to hope? These are the questions I continue to fight for the answers of, and these are the questions I will continue to ask. My heart is broken, but it still bleeds....
1
The Constitution will not stand.
1
The ongoing support of his "base" (less than 30% of the voting public) clearly shows that there was no need for Clinton to apologize for calling them deplorable.
3
The United States owes a debt of gratitude to the people of Haiti. They fought on behalf of the American Revolution at the Battle of Savanah, one of the bloodiest battles of the war.
Trump's racism draws attention to the racism of many in the Republican Party. They like to talk about the "soft bigotry of low expectations" (Gergen's phrase), but the very real, very evident bigotry of low characters such as Trump, his apologists, and his supporters once again brings to mind his praise for white supremacists, and long history of racism and bigotry in his business and other remarks (black athletes recently).
We went through all of this for years with his racist lie about Pres. Obama's fictional birth in Kenya. Republican leaders never denied the lie, never spoke out against it, but tacitly supported it although they knew full well it was false. They occasionally turned it into a joke such as Romney's reference to having his birth certificate. It was never funny and was always racist. Once you start that downhill slide, you quickly lose control. Between their Southern strategy and extreme right swing, the Republican Party has turned 180 degrees from the ideals of Abraham Lincoln and earlier, much finer Republicans.
What a disgrace the party is, including my senator David Perdue who pretends he didn't hear the comment.
1
Has anyone noticed that with each step forward (BLM, #metoo, #timesup), POTUS' statements are starkly aligned with those NOT a part of the movements? He is strategically speaking to a base, his base, that is not anywhere near where the rest of us are, perfectly content with inequality.
1
It is imperative that when elections come that each of us remember moments such as these when the GOP stood silent. The story here is that the GOP cannot be entrusted to protect our nation. The GOP has and is either silent or enables the president to attack the judiciary, the FBI, CIA, NSA, military, the black, brown, Muslim, and poor of our country and others. The GOP now attacks the very people trying to stop Russian meddling in our elections. If you care about our country vote all of them out of office and send a very strong message that you care about the USA.
2
History generally reveals the few who spoke up when tyrants arose. But they were either silenced, ignored or overwhelmed with propaganda. Most frightening to me is that after one year of President Trump, preceded by decades of racist and miscreant behavior, there are still so many Americans who embrace this president including a morally bankrupt Republican Party but in particular, minority groups including Blacks, Latinos, Asians and Jews. Not since the civil war, has ethnocentric nationalism and religious extremism risen to such prominence in this country.
1
No, no one will be coming to save us from ourselves.
We can only stand tall, admit what is and VOTE, vote again and again and yet again the next time.
1
Excellent piece. We need to sit with this and accept it as reality (for now). And maybe next time Durbin or someone else will walk out of the meeting.
1
This is a very thoughtful article which suggests bringing mindfulness to the reign of Donald Trump instead of constant outrage and denial that this is what to some extent America has always been. Racist and exploitive of immigrants.
I know that Donald Trump lives in a small part of me. I know that our collective inattention and apathy is what has led to Donald Trump. We have been asleep.
There are spiritual solutions to this dilemma. As the author suggest, deeply own this and sit with it. Acknowledge how deeply broken humans are. Grieve. Grieve for the country America could have been. Finally when you are peaceful and clear seeing move into action. Every time there is an act of hate, commit that you will perform an act of love. Watch how everything starts changing. Vow that you will be awake.
There is a famous quote, I've forgotten the author which goes something like this: " When you find everything wrong with the world and you want to change it, a good place to start would be with yourself"
22
Yes, we can sit with what's happened and what it has revealed, once again, about ourselves and this country. But that's not all we can do. Or all that can be done. No one IS coming to save us, that's true. (Certainly not the Republicans--stop asking each one of them, there or not there, what they think, what they did? who cares?) But then comes action, or actions.
8
Trump was voted in despite knowing his temperament and character flaws. The flaws were there for all to see and the nation got what it asked for. Society needs to look in the mirror; Trump is the reflection. A White House full of mirrors is the circus act.
9
Great article. And the advice to sit with this a while, to not revert to anger, is a good one.
And after that, we need to be kind to people, all people. It’s the best way to counter such ignorance. Trump does not speak for me.
16
As long as the majority Republican Congress don't see it fit to remove him from office he remains in office. If the electorate throws them out of the majority in November he'll be gone by Christmas.
9
The history of our country's involvement with Haiti is a troubling one, full of many of our worst misdeeds. Many of Haiti's current problems are inarguably the result of our own harmful policies, dating back to the Jefferson administration. Given that context, Trump's remarks (or alleged remarks, if one must insist) take-on an even fouler nature.
What a vile age we live in. What a vile people we've become.
9
This latest fiasco from Trump may be his real belief but it is more a favour to his base. Also a diversion from the Mueller investigation and request for an interview. This is typical Trump strategy: diversion and lead the media away from what is bothering him. And unfortunately, the media is going along.
6
Thank you. Indeed we should and must sit with this moment, and wrap ourselves in its sorrow, distress and humiliation.
5
Some things not considered:
Many people have decried Trump latest comments. Regardless of the inflammatory quality of the specific vulgarity, do any of those who are upset take vacations in these countries? Do they buy timeshares there? Do they buy stocks of their industries? Perhaps those rushing to defend these countries are sincere but are they consistent?
Maybe as a business man, Trump isn't looking at the color of their skin but the content and character of their governments and gross domestic product. It may seem shallow. But he may think of himself as a business man first, politician second. It doesn't pay to keep investing in a bad stock.
Ms. Gay, please look at the Haitian refugees in this country, assess what they, as a group, have contributed to the country, and then make your argument. I don't know what the result will be, but I suspect it will be a much more balanced article.
1
Thanks for your refreshing honesty. The pen is a mighty sword.
3
I hope there are enough Americans who realize they have to save themselves. Those that actually want to be saved.
I hope it is a large enough majority to overcome the gerrymandering.
4
For all his wealth, Trump has not taken advantage of his ability to travel. Nor has he taken advantage of the diversity of New York City. Our lives are richer when we make an effort to get to know the vast smorgasbord of people that make up the United States. At 71, he will not change but he needs to bite his tongue. At times, I have disagreed with a President's policies, but never have I felt so ashamed, so repulsed at THIS President's character. He deliberately seeks to be cruel and now as President his circle has widened.
6
The US prepared perfectly to find ourselves where we are. Our preparation in the past brought us Independence, Civil War, Indigenous Nations Conquest, NASA, Civil Rights, and now, as always, some are dismayed that the nation has once again arrived at the point in time for which it perfectly prepared itself.
2
>
About 45% agree with Trump wether they admit or not, and 45% is his winning number. That is all he'll need.
Millennials will cause multiple parties to make this so
Human folly rolls on
1
The issue at hand is whether conditions in Haiti are so horrible that the temporary suspension of immigration rules for refugees of the earthquake eight years ago can be removed and immigration rules for Haiti normalized, which would mean requiring the earthquake refugees to leave. From Dr Gays generally positive tone it sounds like Haiti is ok and the refugees can go home now.
"Daddy, if I was alive when brown people and white people were kept apart, I wouldn't follow those rules."
My first grade sons, in separate classes, both talked about racism and Martin Luther King in school yesterday, and I appreciate the critical assessment of our culture and thinking it has led to. But the reality is that a great part of this country wants to implement those rules again, especially with immigration. The reality is that while all the children don't want to be racist, and all the children's parents claim not to be, the voting statistics don't lie. Most of them are.
3
In my understanding of the Trump mind, I think that he sees countries as "winners" (Norway, Japan, Germany, etc.) and losers (Haiti, El Salvador, etc.). His comment reflected his elitist bias towards having "the best". While this notion is very much against the American ideal of accepting the world's poorest, it does reflect the international competition for the "best and the brightest" among rich nations. Elitist immigration policies that are already in place in Western Europe and Canada.
1
We shouldn't be waiting for "someone". It's going to take more of us, a huge group--especially those who have not shown up to vote. No more saviours, no more personalities, please, please...
1
"We have met the enemy and he is us."
Pogo (Walt Kelly).
(Pogo (Walt Kelly) who was known for mocking the Klan, the John Birch Society, and McCarthyism, among many other American institutions and political movements, created this line as a parody of a message embodying the idea of American Exceptionalism. It was sent in 1813 from U.S. Navy Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry to Army General William Henry Harrison after his victory in the Battle of Lake Erie and stated: "We have met the enemy, and they are ours." The Battle of Lake Erie was instrumental in destroying the Indian confederation of Tecumseh, a large, multi-tribal community, and also ended Tecumseh's dream of establishing an independent Indian nation in North America. Tecumseh was killed in 1813. With Tecumseh's death and the massive Indian losses in the War of 1812, the pan-Indian alliance collapsed. All remaining tribal lands in the Old Northwest were taken by the U.S. government and opened for new settlement while the American Indians were forcibly relocated west, across the Mississippi River.")
3
Don't lose hope people. It's all going to come back to him sooner or later. It always does. And when it does he's going to fall and it's going to be big and nasty and messy.
This too shall pass.
3
"I’m supposed to offer up words like “resist” and “fight” as if rebellious enthusiasm is enough to overcome federally, electorally sanctioned white supremacy."
the power of this sentence is breathtaking. i've often wondered, and debated with my friends and family, how this nation can continue to command respect despite the deliberate indifference of its leader to economic inequality and his treatment of every non-white person as an undesirable "other." my loved ones have begun trump cleanses - no newspapers, cable TV, or alerts - media detox efforts to shield themselves from the the powerless rage you describe in this line. i can't. i still read everything. i still wonder why this great country harbors such hatred against its own citizens. and i still wonder what we can do about it.
7
What I take from Roxane Gay's sobering words is that we must mourn the loss of "America"--i.e., the loss of the idea of "America." The Idea. The reality has always been a stupendously imperfect attempt at that idea.
Langston Hughes long ago expressed the experience of a person of color regarding this lauded but merely ideal "America" : "It never was America to me."
How truly humbling that we must learn this from someone as despicable as Donald Trump. How shameful it is to us, as Americans, that most of our public officials and politicians are so weak and power-hungry themselves that they remain silent. "Silence in the face of injustice is complicity." (Camus)
6
I watched a news program this evening about Acapulco's civic degeneration into violence and corruption that has spun out of control. And Haiti, despite generations of effort, has not yet succeeded in building a fair, democratic government.
Civilization is fragile, ,and it is discouraging to see that Trump does represent a significant segment of our population that is comfortable in seeing crude, greedy, selfish, hostile, uncaring, anti-science, racist conduct by our president. (As an aside, I note that it is inaccurate to call him the leader of the free world; he is no longer functioning in that role).
However, we can take heart from the fact that a clear majority of Americans voted for his opponent. We can still turn this around, gerrymandering and all, if we are energized to do so this fall, and in 2020. And we know there are Obama voters out there who have not voted since.
What is missing is a candidate who can restore civilized leadership to the White House. We will surely be unable to find someone who can match up with Obama, but we can come close enough to save our democracy.
4
In their hearts most Trump supporters know that he thinks the same of them. Many of them are from areas of the US just as, if not poorer than Haiti and Africa. However, they thrive on fool's dreams and fantasy worlds. Those who are tricked by the charlatan do so half willingly.
5
In the Orange Excrescence, we have finally elected the President we deserve. He embodies far too much of who we really are as a nation and how we got where we are. For those of us to whom he and his supporters are anathema, ‘tis had better be a wake-up call.
If we do NOT want this to be the real America, we should stop our shouting and protesting and sarcasm and ACT. Only if we seize power from the deplorables everywhere and in every way can we begin to forge a new legacy, a new vision, to create the A Erica we have collectively deluded ourselves into believing we are.
For the need to do that, we can thank this ugly Administration and it’s enablers for ripping off our rose-colored glasses. But only if we seize the day, quietly, grimly, using stealth tactics where necessary. We can only beat them in the shadows and at the ballot boxes, not in the superficial inanity of the Twitterverse and other social media. No matter how good it makes us feel to ridicule and attack them, because they crave and thrive on negative attention. We will win when they become marginalized and irrelevant. Not before, and not otherwise.
2
Towards the end of her excellent essay, Ms. Gay speaks of humiliation. Humiliation is what I feel, daily, at the thought that this nominally great nation has been reduced to obsessing, daily, about the vicious inanities of a man who believes that the people's business consists of kowtowing to his irresponsibility, his braggadocio, and his whims. No, Donald 2 Scoops, this country's business is not all about you, or about you at all. Every breath you draw is in violation of your oath of office.
3
It's really emabrrassing to be an American now. People are assuming Americans are all like Trump. Many of his supporters do agree with him, as Ms. Gay says. To them all people of color are lesser. It's frightening, because Trump has a lot of military power. He does not see all people as equal.
1
I am more hopeful. At bottom, we are consumingly engaged in a national conversation, bringing to the surface that which was buried at least since Goldwater, but especially since Reagan. The unprecedented popularity of the televangelists in the 60s and 70s legitimated God fearing Americans' identification with the GOP. That and the Southern Strategy allowed for a wink and a nod regarding the undercurrent which is now the elephant in the room. That that is out in the open bodes positively for future generations of Americans. Trump's message still chiefly resonates with older white men. Now that this message, which is consuming the news cycles, is front and center, hardly a voter from the suburbs, who is a millenial, who is a woman, can fail to pay attention. Apathy and lack of interest in politics is yesterday's news. That is a positive development for our country.
2
Just as upsetting are the weasel words and excuses coming from GOP members particularly after Trump is essentially calling Dick Durban a liar. When person is a pathological liar like Trump they assume everyone else is the same. Sen, Graham needs to call it publicly despite the chance of losing his fanboy/golfing sidekick status. Same with Ryan. Get a backbone!
9
Whew! The photo accompanying Ms. Gray's column makes Mr. Trump look like the devil's own. More eerie and chilling than anything I've seen on Halloween or imagined in an H.P. Lovecraft tale. Mt. Trump looks like someone posing as the undertaker -- but where is he taking the body politic (in this case)? Watch out, America! Danger ahead.
4
Yes Ann, an eerie visage.
2
I think it is vital to recall that Putin helped get him into power and someone hacked their way through tens of thousands of emails from the Democrats and put them out into cyberspace prior to the election -confusing the electorate. The election should never have gone ahead as it was unfair due to the electoral processes being interfered with. As the election was clearly unfair -I don't think Trump does represent the true US.
15
I figure we are at about the same stage as Germany was in 1934.
2
Comey's reference to Clinton e-mails very close to the election brought back 26 years of "crooked Hillary" GOP talking points. Those who voted for Trump have been left with either shuttered factories, or those run by robotics and engineers. Their Main Streets will close down; their kids will scatter looking for any available work. If some crooked pol tells them Obama set it up, they will probably believe that. After all he was a Muslim born in Kenya, right? They will be waiting for the wide load junk food eater to return on his private jet. Sort of like the old Cargo Cult people waiting for a plane loaded with good stuff.
1
I am amazed at those who want to separate poverty and economics from race, suggesting that the ugliness and vulgarity of Trump's remarks was an accurate metaphor of economies and conditions in Africa and Haiti.
In America's conversations, race and wealth, more specifically, racism and political economy, have always been two sides of the same coin. The purpose of racism is to limit economic opportunities. Blocking immigration does that, esp. when paired with a European preference!
Worse, Trump trades in and perpetuates stereotypes. Nigeria's natural resources, esp. oil, has made the country prosper and filled government's coffers. Haitians, by all reports, work hard here; racism has been the barrier to its development. US companies manufacture half a world away, blocking Haiti's development. Race has never been separated from economics and wealth in America. The pretense of those who make the claim avoids both history and facts.
Did Gov. Rick Scott speak out to defend the many fine Haitian citizens who are a bellwether labor force in his state? Why his silence? Time to choose: is he part of the problem or part of its solution?
Finally, consider the UN's statement: "these are shocking and shameful comments from the president of the United States; there is no other word for this but racist. You cannot dismiss entire countries and continents as ‘shitholes,’ whose entire populations, who are not white, are therefore not welcome."
41
Let's assume the President is correct, in principle, that there are places in the world that are "trashy real estate." Ok. Now, his reaction is to look at the people who live in, what he feels, is "trashy real estate" and, rather than think who to make their real estate accrue more value, rather than think that these are the type of people who might want a nice new home in America, rather than think about what other people feel at all, is to worry that they will come to America and lower the property values.
This metaphor, clearly, applies to immigration, but also to upward mobility in the United States, and to the plight of poor people here, which as you point out, Walter Rhett, is impossible to separate from race in America.
He sees everyone in terms of what they do for him, personally. He sees everything as property. And he is racist to the core.
2
White people look around America and see most of the successful people are white. They believe it must be that white people are superior. They refuse to see or admit that white people are more successful in America because of hundreds of years of institutional racism. None are so blind as those who refuse to see.
2
Anyone with cursory knowledge is aware of the huge U.S. footprint on the neck of Haiti and how our policies over 200 years destroyed Haiti starting with the Louisiana Purchase; our refusal to acknowledge Haiti independence; U.S. interference in Democratic elections to our destruction of its economic institutions and agricultural economy; particularly rice production [thanks to William Jefferson Clinton]. A crushed economy, continual foreign political manipulation and natural disasters is not an ideal circumstance for any nation. However- pouring gasoline and lighting the match of racism on top of Haitian people is unforgivable and wicked.
31
What about the other Senators in the room, Tom Cotton, for example. Didn't they hear what the President said? Or were they deaf? Or are they failing in their moral responsibility to say what needs to be said?
43
it is the latter; they deny hearing it; perhaps their attention span was not so great; or more likely--"they lie"
2
Mr. Cotton is a Republican. White Male Supremacy is a core Republican Value.
1
Tom Cotton never spoke the truth;he has no moral instincts and is just the parrot of the far right wing nuts; Of course he heard what 45 said, too gutless to stand up to trump or the Koch's and hey, Tom Cotton, like all GOP got a big tax break from their tax scam; Check out their health care while they throw people off of health care because they have no money after they gave their 1% donors, the corporations get "donations" from, and trump and his family who will get over a billion dollars in benefits from these cuts, while lying that this is a big beautiful tax cut, what he didn't say the big beautiful tax cuts are for him and all the criminal billionaires in trmp's cabinet;and they are all controlled by the Kochs and the phony 1% Evangelicals who insisted trump make Jerusalem capitol of Israel because of their crazy views they took from the fictional series "Left Behind". The disgrace of 45 and the GOP CONGRESS is they enrich themselves and destroy democracy every day. But fox fools are too arrogant to see they were duped and just accept all these lies.
1
Trump used to claim that political correctness was destroying this country. By politically correct, Trump meant decent and fair-minded. And what may be our undoing is divisive, hateful, bigoted sentiments like his.
33
Thank you for an excellent Opinion column, Ms Gay!!
I have read several of the comments and I has to say I find it so upsetting to see that anti- immigration comments . Unless you are an American Indian your family was once upon a time an immigrant to this country!!!
Discrimination against people because of the way they look (including color, handicaps, and sex), how they sound, and their religious beliefs has to STOP! This is the 21st century.
People come to this country for many reasons. It use to be because the United States was the land of opportunity.
14
Trump would perhaps favor a change on the Statue of Liberty's inscription: "Send us your merit-based white people...not too tired..."
The legal profession has a label for truly awful Supreme Court decisions: the anti-cannon. The guy in the White House is emblematic of the "anti-president."
My wife and I just came from the movie "The Post." Lines about Nixon's willingness to run over a free press made us cringe--they hit too close to home, sounded too familiar. There is a scene where Nixon, alone on the phone, is telling staff to never allow Washington Post reporters in the White House.
We'll see what happens in November this year, as people across the country go to the polls. The current Republican leadership deserves almost every verbal indictment it gets for supporting this troll--a cause and effect for some of what we see.
19
But what you don't mention is the fact that trump uses fake fox news as his information source; he repeats this as if it fox had real reporters and journalists;they don't,they are infotainment,yet the fox fools buy what fox/trump says because it suits their prejudice. There has to be a counterpoint to fox lies so those who love to hear other folks hate to justify their own finally get a wake up call.
Sandra,
In fairness to your comment, there isn't enough space to register all the complaints, all the offenses, all the lies, all the troll-like behavior. For me, getting to the subtleties of how his mind works is a waste of time and energy.
Even with serious efforts available for perusal, one can understandably glaze over scanning a list of but one of his offensive habits: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/06/23/opinion/trumps-lies.html .
Trump wants persons who live in countries with unsafe, unhealthy and shabby conditions to be barred from immigration, and those who were given humanitarian refuge from natural devastation to be kicked out and forced to return to their home countries where
multitudes continue to live in terrible conditions. He makes the great fallacy of all bigots: that people and the environments in which they reside are synonymous. That persons from undesirable places are themselves undesirable as potential neighbors and citizens. Or, looked at another way, that pale-skinned persons from affluent places like Scandinavia are inherently desirable as immigrants to the United States.
5
During Trump's campaign his racist leanings along with nationalistic utterances were dismissed and explained away. Time and again we have been hoodwinked by those in high places in Congress that though Trump says unpresidential things, he "says what many are thinking." Really?
There is no question now that our President is racist and has shamed our nation and he is despicable. It is one thing to say, Haiti and African nations are shitholes, but then to conclude this by saying we, however, should allow people from countries such as Norway to come here is the cinches it. Trump's battle cry of MAGA is actually code for MAWA (make America white again).
12
Walt Kelly is famous for "We have met the enemy and he is us." His words are still true, but there exists more than one set of "enemies." The first enemies are those who claim they love democracy while deciding that it exists only if it benefits people who are white and English speaking. Overt or covert, these people enabled an obstreperous Congress during the eight years of Obama's presidency.
The second set of enemies,"us," are the ones who didn't vote until 2008, and who then thought that we were sitting pretty after the election. The "uses" stayed home in 2010, and let the Congress sink further into obstruction. "We" came out again in 2012, and, despite the lessons of 2010 (and 2000) sat at home again.
Put on your steel-toed boots now; some toes are going to get stepped on. I can't tell anyone who to vote for, but I can dislike your choice. If you couldn't vote for "flawed Hillary" because of "dynasty" (remember Bushes I and II?) "dishonesty," "warmongering," being too centrist, or, "a capitalist," then you, along with the other side, brought us to this. I'm not tired of arguing with people who want to say that the country needed a shake-up. Honestly look at where we are now and tell me that we wouldn't be better with Hillary Clinton as President, a Cabinet where the secretaries actually know what they're doing, and policies that don't take the country apart piece by piece. Gay is right. In the words of another writer, we need to start being "our own best friends."
22
Those of us that can read and actually read world history can see the clear similarities to 1938. If Trump's base relish his actions they better become aware of what happened to those that could not prove their "purity" despite their color during that era.
11
Thank you, the missing element of trump's base is they don't read and don't want to be bothered with facts;its all about how they "feel";trump is and always has been a rip off artist and he clearly never reads, he can't even formulate a sentence that makes sense;its their ignorance and hate contributing to the destruction of democracy and the base is too dumb and too hateful and too lazy to think for themselves and get off the couch and read.
1
The "Southern Strategy' of the 'Dixiecrats', Barry Goldwater, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan continues through to the GOP of today. The Civil War has never ended for many in the Southern States. The Reason why Trump has been so successful in persuading many voters to continue to support him despite being criticised from within his own Party, the United States, the Vatican, World Governments and the United Nations for his latest outrageous racist comments.
The World continues to shake it's collective head!
7
It was Reagan who removed "the fairness doctrine" from the FCC which required news shows reporting something doubtful or something no one else knew, had to pay for equal time for another news station to respond;he did this because the legacy of The John Birch Society who hates democracy is the Koch network;their goal is to return to the pre-civil rights days, the pre-social security days, to go back to Robber Barron days when the wealthy paid no taxes;the Kochs, in their arrogance, think paying taxes is redistribution of their wealth, wealth they achieved by polluting the planet;and they hate for tax money to be used for social welfare programs;the Kochs hate democracy, as their father did and their father was one of the founders of the John Birch Society;and they hated JFK because he believed in equality for all;the GOP Congress obstructed Pres. Obama for 8 years;they lied about the ACA and those with limited minds and access to fox hated it to but didn't know why other than the President is black;the lie McConnel told about death panels was especially evil because he never read the ACA and what it said is IF you are elderly, and IF you are diagnosed with a terminal illness, you have the RIGHT to a FREE consultation with doctors knowledgeable about end of life situations, i.e., is it better to take treatment at 90 or better just live through it and be made comfortable. McConnell is the worst of the worst.
1
No one can come to save us from racism except ourselves, and that’s a lot of people. There are racists and dangerous people we have to protect ourselves from, but it’s not President Trump. It’s everyone who accepts him as the center of attention. If that stopped, most of his power would evaporate.
He’s using the Presidency to get even more attention. His policy pronouncements are almost all bombshells that, of course, attract attention. His sexist remarks have energized a passionate movement that failed for Hillary. His racist remarks inflame the press, which they make into headlines that boost his standing with his base.
Donald Trump is a showman and the media could do more for a lot of people to save us from the fake news of Trump’s tweets, by simply focusing on the real news. It’s even conceivable that if Donald Trump’s shenanigan (as scary as they appear to be) were no longer 24/7 headlines, he might have to work with the politicians to get the attention he seems to live for. Frankly, I’d like never to hear - “OMG do you know what he just said? – ever again.
7
Thank you Roxane. Thank you for pointing out that no one in the room pushed back, got up and left. That for all the news stories nothing is going to change. Thank you for giving voice to my fatigue.
25
Of course he's a racist. He was openly a racist on the campaign trail, and even before, and yet people voted for him anyway. Four decades ago, Jeff Sessions was considered too racist to be a federal judge, but that didn't stop him from having a successful political career in Congress, and now that very same Congress thinks there's no problem with the head of the DoJ being a racist.
Yes, our president is a racist - and it doesn't really seem to make a difference, because plenty of people will happily line up to vote for a racist and plenty more will close their eyes and pretend he's just misunderstood.
21
Most americans don’t even know the name of the state next to them. I am sitting with the humiliation that is this moment.
9
"No one is coming to save us."
But someone is coming. Robert Mueller walks on water, feeds the masses with a few fish and heals the lame. He's coming to save us. Just listen to the leadership of the Democratic Party, they'll tell you. No need for them to risk Trump's anger or, God forbid, their cred in the party. Just wait, Bobby's coming.
8
What appalls me is the number of those who have written letters here to state that they are not appalled.
12
Enough folks have dismissed this as locker-room talk, or kitchen table talk. This should alarm all of us that such sentiments are more deeply embedded into us than we care to admit.
4
Exactly. We should all be ashamed, humiliated and be uncomfortable, period.
12
Fear those who remain silent. Are the silent today different from the silent who watched children marching into concentration camps decades ago? Can we remember the screams of those children, or our own vow to be and "do better"? Can we hear the screams of children sold once as slaves? Can we hear children scream as parents are deported in 2018? Never again? When will we protest our own ignorance? Republican leaders shrug in silent approval of racism. They are complicit. They legislate in ways which support Trump's racist rhetoric. Their budget choices, immigration laws and weakening of voting rights are but a few examples. Perhaps the bigger problem is not the racist leader, but those who knowingly follow in silence. Fear those who remain silent in the face of injustice.
16
We cannot wait until November 2018. Our Republican legislators must yank Trump out now.
Here we are, the MLK holiday. What a slap in the face.
Besides the outrageous racism in the White House, we also learn that Trump has declined a planned visit to the UK. Of course he would not go--the uproar there will be deafening, as with other countries. As a result, we as Americans have lost our credibility, admiration, and influence with the civilized nations of the world. And it keeps on getting worse.
Republicans, you must pull the plug. 25th Amendment. Now.
8
Not gonna happen, so stop already. Not to mention that removng a jerk isn't what that Amendment is for.
Trump's just more vulgar than most Republicans. The rw party that's long used racism to get votes now dominates our 3 branches of govt and most states. Republican economic policies on taxes, jobs, health care, education, public services will intensify racism, and their voter base will respond to this manipulation.
America is schizophrenic---with rhetorical ideals of equality while our racist past has kept morphing into new forms---segregation in schools and neighborhoods, police brutality, biased and extremist criminal justice system, economic inequality.
The GOP public relations rationalizations for all this can sound non offensive, formal and legalistic, but maybe Trump's gross vulgarity is the underlying meaning.
A main blockage to progress is our economic winner take all system, where the corporate powers that fund our elections grab all our national productivity, forcing millions of all races/ethnic groups to fight for the crumbs left over.
The US ranks low compared to other democracies on the international Gini Index of equality, which Fareed Zakaria reported on CNN in December. This is a perfect recipe for racial resentments which our Tsar Trump the Deplorable exploits.
Trump's main trait is to constantly prove his superiority and dominace over others. He's just more vulgar than other Republicans. Now, Trump voters will try to defend their guy. But most Americans will see him for what he is, the shame of the US, which we will have to spend years reparing.
7
Resist.
Vote.
Repeal and Replace the entire GOP. They are a silent and supportive minority for Trump and Trumpism.
5
Sadly, it is a delusion to say the president doesn't reflect American values. Perhaps not the Enlightenment values to which the nation aspires, but it does reflect the values of its people.
His racism, misogyny and ignorance were on ample display before the election -- he won anyway.
Whether voters had "economic concerns", whether they were bamboozled doesn't matter. Tell me he lost the popular vote. Make whatever excuse you want. The American people elected someone obviously dishonest and clearly unfit.
Whatever the reason we cannot blame this loathsome man. He told us what he was. The media told us.
When Americans elected him anyway we told the world: this is what we are.
So tell yourselves these aren't are values. They apparently are.
18
I didn’t elect nor did the majority of the popular vote. Keep remembering that. He doesn’t reflect the majority. He reflects a rabid minority and it’s becoming increasingly clear that he is incapable of leading.
I am doing exactly what
you suggested: sitting with
these repulsive remarks;
thinking of the wrongness
of stereotyping people; replaying Anderson Cooper’s heartfelt words last night about Haitians; feeling horrified, embarrassed, mortified and fearful for our country.
Complimenting Senator
Durbin for speaking out and wondering if anyone else who was present will condemn these
hateful words. Qui tacet, consentire videtur.
2
“The Oval Office symbolizes…the Constitution, the hopes and dreams, and I’m going to say democracy. And when you have a dress code in the Supreme Court and a dress code on the floor of the Senate, floor of the House, I think it’s appropriate to have an expectation that there will be a dress code that respects the office of the President.”
This is what Andy Carl, GWB Chief of Staff, said in response to Obama taking off his coat in the oval office.
We are in dark times being lead by a gang of contemptables.
4
I hope that one outcome of this presidency is that we will all presidents in their proper place as just another government employee with a job defined by the constitution and no authority or powers or role beyond that. Certainly not the leader or the symbol of the nation.
Quite honestly, though there is little doubt DT speaks from prejudice and ignorance, if you actually are concerned with the plight of the people from underdeveloped nations, you should not be looking for a way to ease the path for the best and brightest of these nations to come to the US. This is precisely the problem and one of the greatest crimes committed by the developed nations against underdeveloped nations. Each year through immigration programs, developed nations steal the best and the brightest of these nations, those that have received the highest level of education, or those whose persistence and intelligence qualifies them for full academic scholarships, and calls it compassion rather than greed. Refugees should not be permanently admitted to any nation, they should be educated, perhaps armed, then asked to return to where they came in order to be part of the solution for their nation's future. This should be obvious to anyone with an education. There are 7.5 billion people in the world today and no chance the US or any developed nation can take them all. Our priority as a democratic nation, devoted to human rights, should be to foster democracy and sustainable development in these nations rather than obfuscate their resources human and material, for our own benefit. Quite honestly, the left just doesn't understand liberalism anymore.
2
Sadly this writer is bang on the money. The two historical and current main driving forces of our country are and always have been... Racism and greed. There is sadly nothing more to us than that. We’ve had some great moments. But those moments weren’t reflective of our truest nature. This country is a horrid cesspool of amorality.
5
This is beyond upsetting, despicable and disturbing THAT none except Durbin has stood up to him. I am ashamed this man is President every day. Help! And the fact that he is allowed to continue is beyond disturbing as well.
5
It’s a painful truth that this is the country we live in.
1
What a wonderful piece. I love Gay's advice:
"This is a painful, uncomfortable moment. Instead of trying to get past this moment, we should sit with it, wrap ourselves in the sorrow, distress and humiliation of it. We need to sit with the discomfort..."
This could apply to so many things. For instance, instead of plowing through our shock and reactions to the next mass shooting, perhaps we need to sit with the sorrow. We are a fast paced society, and we don't want to take the time for things to sink in. Maybe that is why so many are willing to look beyond the latest Trump outrage. They can brush it off and move on.
No one is coming to save us, as Gay says. Certainly not the GOP. Certainly not the GOP controlled House and Senate. How will we wrest back control of the country from the element that will always be there, the racist, nationalist element? The sector of our society that we have tried to make believe for too long, is long gone? We need time with the sorrow, and then perhaps, answers will come.
I read something today about how Americans love to talk about racism but not racists. The rightwing/white supermacists are snowflakes who hate being called out for being racists. Political correctness is not speaking the truth, that what Trump says means he is a racist. Because this upsets his snowflake backers, who fear being called racists themselves.
6
Having been to both Haiti and El Salvador several times - Trump’s comments were rude, crude and unnecessarily insensitive.
Having said that, if those countries weren’t horrible places to live, why are we having so much trouble sending Haitians back to Haiti, and Salvadorans back to El Salvador ?
Seems that if they were so great, folks would be ecstatic about returning to their homeland, and liberals would be highly supportive of that effort.
Commons sense - if only it were common.
4
You miss the point in your eagerness to dismiss liberalism. It is not the sentiment that these countries are bad places to live in that is the big problem here. It is the assumption that people who come from such places are bad themselves, and therefore incapable of contributing positively to the society that takes them in. That assumption is not common sense, it is prejudice and xenophobia, and it is particularly unfortunate for the leader of a country that has benefited greatly in the past from the hard work and talent of immigrants who came from impoverished places and bad circumstances.
1
Everyone is too busy enjoying the outrage trip to remember why they came to the party in the first place.
The problem is that his remark was really about the people, that he didn't want such people coming to this country, he preferred only white people.
No consequences?
trump has cancelled his trip to London.
The Mayor of London is delighted. "He finally got the message," he said.
Oh, yes. There are many consequences to being Fred's Number Two Son.
5
Thank you for this piece. I agree with you completely. After reading it and then reading it again one question ( one among many ) came to mind. Who on Trump's staff possesses the integrity and personal fortitude to take him aside and say: Enough. The answer seems to be no one. They are all part of a hive mentality. We generally like to think of ourselves as individuals and appreciate our unique qualities, but when thrown into a group we can become very different people. Ideas and actions can spread like viruses until your individuality is completely wiped away. This is called deindividuation. Apparently this has happened to Trump's staff. I cannot believe they came to their jobs as silent condoners of racism, bigotry and hate, but have, over the time they have served this bigot, lost their ability to speak. Shame on them.
13
As a citizen of a country that has compulsory voting I am grateful for this fact when thinking of your president. If everyone who was eligible had to vote, would he be in power now?
Seen from afar, there is so much to admire about the United States of America, and yet this man is your president, surrounded by people who are absolutely without the moral courage to call him out as he spouts lie after lie and poisonous remark after poisonous remark.
The corrupting influence of power is there in the complicity of all who surround this vile creature, in the silence of those of both parties.
Will this madness end?
8
I am grateful that so many people decide to disqualify themselves as voters. I think part of what put Trump over the top were people who usually don't vote.
1
Wrapping ourselves in the sorrow of this moment is terrible advice. It accomplishes absolutely nothing. I believe Trump knows exactly what he's doing. We reached a tipping point years before he entered the public arena. Trump's crassness isn't surprising, isn't accidental, it's intentional, it's carefully calculated & it's working quite well. It plays perfectly to his base & they love it, so he'll keep doing it as much as possible. From a strategic & tactical standpoint, it's brilliant. It's open season on liberals. There's no downside to attacking, & embarrassing them with relentless abandon. That's why Fox News ratings top all cable networks on a regular basis. The MSM press can rage & shout about these comments until there's ice on the equator...it won't change the mind of one person who voted for Trump. The more you complain the more he will do it.
What progressives & their co-dependents will never be able to see is that Trump supporters revel in the non-stop drama, are galvanized when he punches back. Far from being embarrassed by his antics, they're thrilled by it & in their heart of hearts can't get enough of it. So why stop? Because the press is offended? Not happening. Sadly Lib Baiting has become the new Great American Pastime. Here's a better idea. Dems should make the case why it's better for our nation to take in more low skilled workers from the Caribbean as opposed to high skilled workers from Scandinavian countries. Is there a defensible case for this?
3
Trump didn’t elect himself, or have poll numbers showing he is the most popular politician in the country.
The question rather is will the white male and female voters of America vote in good conscience?
Vote against hatred, racism and misogyny?
3
The time will come when even the most ignorant in this country will realize what we have done to destroy our place in the world. Being the light of the world through the hope we offered and the example we set, made us the leaders of the world. People looked at us and saw a land of opportunity, goodwill, integrity, big dreams and open arms. Out of admiration they clamored for our products and content, struggled for democracy, and their admiration made us rich. Many people immigrated here to join us. They worked hard, educated themselves, opened businesses, and helped to make our society great in the mid-to-late 20th century. But that dream is now eroding. The fearful, hateful, and isolationist among us felt they were given a voice by Donald Trump, and they are SO happy to have been given any voice at all, that they stupidly relish every vicious, haughty insult he makes as some kind of personal victory. This is infantile. It is destroying the admiration and confidence the world once had in America. The message is so ugly. There are billions of middle-class consumers in the world, many on the very continents that Trump trashes or attacks. They do not fail to notice our lack of good character. They are not stupid. We are turning off societies with burgeoning economies. They have options, you know. He's not such a great businessman or leader after all, but those who praise his nasty tactics are not quite bright enough to realize it. Yet. But the time will come.
4
And the less House and Senate Republicans say about Trump's racial slurs the more they appear to affirm that Racism is now an acceptable part of the official Republican Party platform. How could it not be? Silence in the face of overt bigotry and scornful racist remarks is tacit agreement if not endorsement.
8
Trump's comment reflect not only his visceral racism against people of color but, perhaps more importantly, his disgust of the lower classes. He values people who can make money, win the game, make the deal. He doesn't respect those who have no access to the game or have been bowed by circumstance. There are many in the US that feel the same way: their straightened circumstances are due to people of color cutting in front of them in the line to receive benefits. Their poverty is not their fault but rather is caused by big government or Nafta or Obama or whatever villian has struck a chord. Do not expect the Democrats to save us from this as there are no simple answers. Even if the left finds a standard bearer who can be elected, there are not simple answers. We are in the midst of economic and cultural upheaval that is being exploited to tear our country apart. All they are after are clicks and profits.
6
Even if Robert Mueller makes our dreams come true, saves the day, and helps bring about Trump's impeachment, the infrastructure that put him in the Oval Office would remain. Republican Trump enablers from McConnell and Ryan down to state and local Republican leaders must be voted out.
No more excuses for Trumpsters, Deplorables, or the League of Extraordinary Entitlement known as the "Alt-Right." No more "Hillbilly Elegy" hand-wringing over their "economic anxiety," when it has become quite clear that they voted with their hates, not their wallets.
8
MsC,
Very well said. Thank you for speaking out.
1
I wonder where President Trump lies on the "Racism Spectrum" which I think could be a more useful exercise than just labeling him a racist and all his supporters racists. Trump is certainly not Dr. King, but neither is he a Dylan Roof to be blunt. My guess Trump is about a four or five out of ten.
On a related subject perhaps Al Franken was a two on the sexiest spectrum while Harvey Weinstein was a nine let's say.
I'm not excusing or equating autism with racism or sexism, just trying for a more accurate labeling system so as not to alienate large sections of the public or unduly stigmatize lesser offenders.
And of course the need to heal the victims takes precedence, but these offenses occur on a scale, not in a binary universe.
1
That ship has sailed and the possibility that the term will ever recover any objectively specificity as an actual descriptor rather than just a debate ending pejorative label is nil. We are all racist now or so I have been told. That is settled. Now back to what to do about those "temporary" Haitian earthquake refugees...
1
"... we must endure it for another three or seven years, given that the Republicans have a stranglehold on power right now and are more invested in holding onto that power than working for the greater good of all Americans"
That's like announcing that a metastasizing disease with fatal consequences on the order of pancreatic cancer will be ravaging families, relatives, neighbors and friends and the best that can be done is wait it out because no one is going to help us. I, personally, do not want to go meekly into the night. Maybe it's time to start consulting the works of the world's greatest revolutionaries (Che, Mahatma, Karl, King, Paine, Mother Jones, Toussaint, Frantz, Meena Keshwar et. al) to get ready for the dystopian nightmare being unleashed. That's my working list. Not the best but definitely a working list. I owe it to my students.
2
The most outrageous and cowardly aspect of this - apart from Trump’s existence - is that “(the) meeting continued, his comments unchallenged”.
Why?
WHY?
Senator Durbin: Thank you for your courage to speak out afterwards.
Who is going to confront Trump?
(We aren’t talking about the President of the US are we).
2
There seems to be nothing trump can't do that the ever-dwindling numbers of his "poorly educated" but determined supporters don't cheer about. Lacking all decency, they accept boorish, white supremacist attitudes as replacement for truth and honesty.
I wonder what trump's approval rating is among congressional republicans in their private moments?
A racist President does not mean a racist government if the Congress and the Courts oppose racist policies. Racism which dominated American government, local and national, until the late 1960's was the product of a popular racism amongst the majority of Americans who were white. When the Civil Rights acts were implemented and the Courts imposed standards of equal treatment to undo racial discrimination, the systematic regime of racism was dissembled. However, the fact of racial stereotyping amongst a huge proportion of the people was not confronted, and the impact of the many generations of racist policies, public and private, were not erased by affirmative action because the economy stagnated, and racist attitudes in private enterprises was only addressed when they engaged in interstate commerce or in government contracts, so the legacy of racism is still with us. To make it all worse, the Republican Party deliberately welcomed racists in huge numbers with their Southern Strategy, and they have yet to see the end of racist preferences amongst their base constituents.
3
Agree completely. So tired of all the surprise and false horror about trumps latest racist reveal. Yes this is America and there are significant portions of this country that believe exactly what he is saying and some will say it out loud and others will say it at their kitchen table. To those who support trump and state they are not racist I say to you that you may not be racist but you sure have a lot in common with them. Know the man by the company he keeps. This will pass and his approval rating will increase back to the low 40’s as many in America allows themselves to develop selective amnesia regarding his true nature or they will quietly applaud his words at home among those who share his heart and beliefs. Quite frankly this is a large part of who America is and as a black person it is sad and hurtful but in the end I as well as so many others must face this fact and move forward. This is about what I expected when he won the election.
3
So, I'm supposed to go home and tell my kids to give up? (Well, maybe I should, because that will ingrain in them to resist even more...)
Donald Trump is the embodiment of the American Id and we owe him a debt of gratitude for putting the ugly underside of the American dream on full display. He is forcing white America to look at their country in a new way, to make us chose what kind of country we want, giving us the opportunity to have long overdue conversations about race, gender, poverty and class. It’s time for America to grow up and stop pretending that we live our ideals and instead find ways to implement them.
1
Small minds choose to hate that which they don't understand or fear. New Yorkers have always know Trump as a vile, racist and close-minded individual. Unfortunately, a few liberal TV producers turned a buck by casting Trump as a fictionalized corporate leader on television and 32% of americans bought into the persona. Trump's racism, his profound ignorance, is what we have become as a nation. His branded stupidity is consumed and celebrated in one moment and vomited out the next. Trump is not the real problem, that we participated in his creation in the first place is the real cause for concern.
3
No, voting remains the key. Sitting with and absorbing this horror - including the horror that the meeting continued even after such vile comments revealed the racism (again!) of the President - may indeed be important in psychological and substantive ways. But voting is what got us into this nightmare and voting is what will get us out.
If we want something to do in the meantime - before this fall and elections to follow - we can encourage people to register and to vote. Turnout decides close elections. It decided the presidential contest in 2016. It will decide close races this November. It will always decide close elections!
We are heartbroken. Grieving is important. And much of the damage (already inflicted and yet to come) will not be easily repaired. But improving our lot will happen at the ballot box. Encourage registration. Encourage not giving up. Encourage voting. And vote!
2
Another fine column by Ms. Gay. I said almost the same words chosen for the headline, "No One Is Coming to Save Us" in a comment to a related story in another forum. But I held out hope that we the people would save ourselves, and I am hoping you still have at least some faith left in activism. I don't think this is just "rebellious enthusiasm," as you say. In any event, if we don't try, we have no right to complain. We cannot give up. We have to take action, and no I don't mean call your senators and reps. They likely are just as corrupt as this administration. If not, would they be so complacent?
I'm less sure than you that Trump's "base" is as racist as you think. That element is certainly there, but I know rural people who voted for Obama and then voted for Trump. They wanted change and would vote for whoever promised it. But I imagine the Trump base has largely dissipated in the last year, leaving only the racists and others who lack the ability for critical thinking. Quite a few longtime Republicans, including close friends of mine, left the party over Trump's campaign and are unlikely to ever go back. That doesn't mean they became Democrats, but I don't blame them for that, given that I'm fairly appalled by own party these days. It is no longer the party of the people, and the GOP has never been that. The GOP has always been the party of the rich.
Resist, demonstrate, occupy buildings if you need to. But don't give up. Please.
1
Everyone's focusing on race. It's not only about race. These are poor countries. Trump has contempt for any person with less money than he does (or imagines he does). To Trump, these are countries full of losers, in addition to countries full of dark people. They exist to be exploited or rejected, and nothing more. The Haitians' history, culture, faith, work ethic and natural beauty have no value to the limited person our selected leader is.
2
"He didn’t reveal any new racism. He, once again, revealed racism that has been there all along."
That is the most important aspect of our present situation. Trump did not hide his true nature during the campaign---- or at any point in his very public life during the last three decades. He quite clearly revealed his true nature before the election and, yet, 60+ million Americans cast their ballots for him. They chose to put such a person in the highest office in the land knowing full well what he will say and do once in office.
14
Where are where are our former presidents when we need them most? We need defenders of the office of President. We need a bipartisan voice.
9
Yup, I'm with you on this, Ms. Gay. But now that I've had several hours to digest this latest nasty blast from our country's chief executive my own discomforts have divided into another almost equally disturbing branch.
Yes, what Trump said was vile, ignorant, and childishly mindless. But let's be frank; he didn't say anything we wouldn't expect to hear in nearly any neighborhood tavern or other working class gathering place in America. The fact is that a significant slice of the American public sees a big slice of the world in such terms, especially those places where they've never personally visited.
Conclusions: We probably had a "President Trump" coming to us sooner or later. And we'll very likely get another, perhaps even worse version, again. As nauseating as it may seem to many people, he reflects the attitudes of a significant portion of the American public, even those who do not politically support him.
4
Yes, because white Americans will not repent of there racism. The, Ms. Gay, said that Trump was simply reflecting the viewpoint that many Americans ascribe to themselves. America is filled to the core with racists people who support negative stereotypes of black Americans in their everyday lives. The solution needed is change in practice and in legislation and policy.
His name is Mike Pence.
Such a good piece, thank you Ms. Gay. One only has to look at a smattering of comments online to know that Trump is so not alone in saying and thinking these racist things. Many agree with him and are proud to say so. Our country is indeed in deep trouble and it will be a long time before these ills are behind us.
6
While I was fuming over the thumb twiddling Senators who refused to call out the vulgarian-in-chief, I saw many scenes in real life today where young people, from many countries interact, communicate, get along and genuinely respect one another -- there is no reality behind the fear itself and the hate that is being packaged for votes from aging fools- the only fear I hold is that the open-minded youth will continue to avoid the toxic political arena so carefully created by the right wing as cover for the unraveling of the ideal for which our forefathers and mothers fought .
5
I have huge respect for this column. It is intelligent, courageous and true. It is a wonderful antidote to all of the baloney routinely aired about America. Maybe that is the point of Trump: he is requiring those Americans capable of it to take a good look at themselves: the violence, racism, proud ignorance, savage inequality, skewed values, tacky ridiculous wealth, indefensible poverty. The United States contains many of the smartest, most generous and engaged people I have ever met. There is reason for hope. But there is not the slightest ground for complacency.
16
If the point of this is that we're stuck with Donald Trump until his term is ovefr, I don't accept that. Robert Mueller is a legitimate hope, as is the growing possibility that Congressional Republicans remember that they ARE accountable to their constituencies, even after they leave office, and become aware that they will be shunned and disgraced for sitting by and watching this abomination happen. But, failing those remedies, this abomination WILL NOT continue. Donald Trump WILL NOT finish even this term. We all know what our last resort is but none of us wants to say it. You ALL know what has to happen because, if it doesn't, this country will cease to exist. That random thought? The one that occasionally threatens to surface and make you face that level of ugliness? EMBRACE that thought. If that is our only option, it HAS TO HAPPEN. The only questions are when and whom.
4
Well, certainly the republicans, with racist tendencies themselves, won't come to save us from ourselves, we are living an institutionalized violence, in which racism is an integral part of our culture. There is an air of arrogance floating in the air we breath, and economically unjust, as 'we' sock it to the poor (which includes some 'whites' as well). Trump is entirely self-centered and does not seem to give a fig about whom he insults or lies to. There is only one remedy, his ousting, and the sooner the better, so sanity can be restored.
6
I meetings of AA, I have heard people say "I feel so much better now that I've given up hope." The first time I heard that I was shocked. Give up hope? The explanation given was that what was being given up was FALSE hope: the wholly-unsubstantiated hope that this problem would somehow, some day be different, better, all by itself. For those dealing with substance abuse, such hope has to end: recovery won't begin until, and unless, it does. This article correctly says as much.
To stretch the substance abuse example further, though, it is also to be noted that the person needing recovery is not just the alcoholic or addict: the whole family is involved. Everyone in the abuser's circle, and beyond, is also affected, and by correlation is also in need of, yes, recovery. So America today. If you want to call Mr. Trump's actions symptoms of the disease of racism (as I do), then the American family itself---you and I and the folks down the block--we all need to participate in recovery--even if Mr. Trump does not want to participate himself. That we can have little legitimate hope he will recover does not lessen our responsibility to begin doing so. Thank you, Ms. Gay, for your pointing us to this task.
5
Great column. Sit with the discomfort before reacting is a good lesson for many situations. I know that I have racist feelings and thoughts and I'm pretty sure everyone does if they're honest. I also think we're hard-wired to be tribal and have our own identity group, whether it's racial, cultural or socio-economic. What religion should teach us is how to overcome those separate identities and build bridges but in many cases, religion has failed at the task and in fact made matters worse. So it back to us as individuals.
3
You are correct Ms. Gay. Americans need to do some deep soul-searching because Trump is a symptom, not the cause. He is the mirror that many us are reluctant to look into. There are many good people in the United States who are appalled by what has been revealed to the world and to us. We could have done more. We should have done more to root out this festering sore of racism. My classes are full of students from many ethnic backgrounds. I tell them every year to look around the room and celebrate the diversity that has made this country great. Then along comes someone like Trump and his supporters to tear it all down.
5
I understand you feel helpless and weary in the face of yet another Trump spectacle. We can sit with this discomfort, as you suggest, but let's not sit too long. We will unite, we must write letters and make phone calls, we must share information on social media, we must educate our neighbors, and we must not only vote, but help get out the vote. In Alabama last month, we demonstrated with Doug Jones that we can succeed for the good of this country. Whatever you do, don't lose hope.
4
When we say that half of the voters agree with Trump I am beginning to remind myself that we are referring to those who voted not all the eligible voters in this country. Here's hoping that many of those eligible voters who did not vote will come to the polls in the future because they have learned an important lesson from this Presidency and this Republican ruled Congress. We cannot take our democracy for granted and racism is a problem for all of us not just minority voters.
3
Is our "stable genius" having difficulties with language or is he advancing the institutional racism that has existed in our nation since before its founding? The answer to both questions is "YES!" This represents more than an uncomfortable moment. We must do more than just "sit" in moments like this. We need to get angry. We need to write to our congressmen and tell them that they must take a stand against these kinds of travesties. Trump's Republican supporters should be castigated for their silence and voted out of office.
2
Yes, sitting with this, and the subsequent issues that are inevitably on the way down the pipe, is best.
As I do, I'll be reflecting on what I perceive has happened. An orchestrated campaign that likely involved foreign interests energized the 30-35% of America that can be energized with thinly veiled racial arguments.
In addition, the campaign was able to garner support from people who just seem to like the destruction of government, people who always vote for that party without much thought, those who vote against reproductive rights, those not ready for a female president, those who equate somewhat dubious reports of Trump's wealth with his having governing ability, those who for some reason are annoyed by the ill-defined label of "political correctness" and wanted to vote against that, those who confuse entertainment with governance, and those who fell for a silly "shake things up" argument.
In the end they eked out enough of the vote to allow the archaic electoral college system to declare the candidate the winner. By some accounts this was to the surprise and disappointment of the candidate himself, who actually was expecting to lose and then revel petulantly in the role of the unfairly rejected candidate, a whiny role that would suit him better than the role he has now, which has consequences.
Yes, that reflection is best, in fact until the midterms it's all I've got. It isn't pleasant.
3
@Niles:
I would like to think that only about 25% of our population are deplorable racists, and that the number is gradually declining. But only very gradually.
1
One of the most moving, and saddest, and truest pieces I've read in the past year and a half. Thank you so much, Roxane Gay. I fight the good fight every day but tonight I am just sickened. Will get up and fight the good fight again tomorrow, but for this moment, thanks for your simple honesty. It's right to feel terrible because this is a terrible reality.
4
Very well said, this is a distressing time that is not going to end soon. My Haitian-born adopted child just got her U.S. citizenship last month making her a dual Canadian/US citizen like me. We should have celebrated, but instead we felt sad and thankful to be living in Canada. Trump represents the true feelings of too many Americans, including some of my own US relatives. We need to face this very ugly truth about our country.
3
This president is a travesty, but I'm sorry, just "sitting with it" isn't enough. Our only hope is to get out the vote and November and flip the House and Senate. Then hold their feet to the fire to fight for the values of the vast majority of us who don't support Trump. That's not a comfortable lie. That's the uncomfortable truth.
1
I'm 56 years old. I don't need to sit, or ponder American life: I've been living it, and I recognized Donald Trump being a spokesman for a substantial portion of American thought. I knew that his perception of crime is that it had a black face. I knew that when he thought American, he thought a white male and maybe a male-adjacent female.
The good news is, and it is good news, that Trump is a creature of American thought that is less pervasive. Trump hasn't learned anything since 1970, in any area, and most of us have. Racism is to American culture like coal is to its energy supply; still there, still important, still has its fans, but in long term decline, a decline sufficiently dramatic that even Republicans feel the need to denounce racism and pretend that it's not woven into the fabric of their party.
And like coal, racism can be supported and propped up by bad leaders, so let's not have any more of them.
3
What an excellent essay, Ms. Gay is right. We should all reflect on, and sit with, how it feels to have a racist as president. He won't be removed or prosecuted for that attitude either; it will have to be for other reasons. What I notice is that many of his supporters are finding excuses, about fake news, or that other politicians made similar comments. It is truly a sad state of affairs.
Amen Ms. Gay. I cried on the subway coming home as i read the awful words. Sorrow and shame are the right emotions right now. But while we are sitting with that I hope we do figure out how to rid ourselves of this scourge.
1
I agree that nothing new was revealed about either Trump’s or America’s racism yesterday. But I strongly disagree that there’s no hope in voting. Voting IS the hope our founding fathers gave us for a moment like this. For decades now, too many on the left have insisted that the whole awful, racist, and corrupt system is so beyond repair, that my vote couldn’t possibly make a difference. Since low voter turnout benefits Republicans, such cynicism surely contributes as much, if not more, to the Republicans being able to win a minority rule as gerrymandering and voter suppresion. And let us not forget it IS a minority rule. They can be beaten!
Ms. Gay, not having any hope to offer is to let trump win.
Yes, we can "wrap ourselves in the sorrow, distress and humiliation of" trump's shameful disgrace.
But then we must stand up and take steps to defeat him. There are steps, and it will happen.
2
This is too bleak. This is giving in to evil. Baloney that voting won't make a difference. Every special election so far - VA, AL - shows that we can make progress to turn this around in 2018. This perspective is wrong. We need to keep fighting. Defeatism is not the answer, and it is dangerous and hurts us more.
When I think of racism, I think of the belief that those of another race are inferior. A lot of people who profess to be open-minded are racist by this measure.
I don't think a superiority complex is the main form or racism characterizing Trump and his followers. What the Republican middle class always complains of is favoritism toward non-whites. This, alone, is not racism. But it sparks a hateful attitude that most definitely is.
1
Best Op-Ed piece I have read in the NYT. It reminds us all that "we" imposed this malignant administration on ourselves by either voting for it or just not showing up. We need to experience the full range consequences in order to not let it happen again. Well said.
2
The election left me sickened- were there really MILLIONS of people deplorable enough to elect him? Since then we’ve endured repeated insults. This shouldn’t be a surprise.
But I’ve been waiting for a public backlash, for the ‘nice’ people of this country to get fed up, to defend their sense of decency.
Instead, all I see is gleeful loyalty from his avid supporters.
America used to hold a high standard and believe in ideals. Didn’t we? Guess that myth is dead now, too.
1
You make many strong points in tis essay, Roxanne - thank you. And thanks to Senator Durbin for reporting the words of Donald Trump to all of us. But why, Senator Durbin, didn't you refute Trump's remarks right then and there? We need people to stand up to this bigot. Take a stand. Be brave and courageous. Reporters report. It takes politicians with some power to change things to - change things!
1
It is a good time (and when is it not?) to (re)read Octavia Butler's "Kindred." In it, she sends her protagonist back and forth in time between "modern" times (circa 1976) and the antebellum south, 150 years earlier. She does so in a way that is analogous to what one would do with needle and thread to mend a torn cloth. What she is attempting to do is sew back together a cloth that has mistakenly been torn apart. More to the point, what she was hoping to do with "Kindred" was to mend the fabric of U.S. history. She is saying, "We can't keep tearing away these things in our past that make us so uncomfortable, because they are as true now as they were terrible then."
The hope within "Kindred" is that we become as whole as possible by embracing what is right, AND wrong, about ourselves, collectively as a nation and individually as citizens of this nation. And the reason she wanted this for her country? Because she knew that until we could accept and measure the whole truth then those parts we rejected would continue to haunt us.
Personally, I think this was done on purpose to divert attention from all the shell organizations buying Trump condos and elsewhere for above market prices. Dirty laundry ?
None-the-less . . . we have the vote, and we must exercise it with greater focus and determination than those who acquiesce or even celebrate this horrific deterioration in public discourse, excellence, or empathy. We have to overcome gerrymandering, dirty tricks, apathy, and public gaslighting. We have to. Our country is better than this.
Trump's statement reflects Trump's vulgar immigration beliefs.
In the opinion of a large number of Americans (what percentage? who knows), immigrants from lower educated, lower income countries such as Haiti and those in Africa are valued as less than those from developed, educated, higher income countries. And Trump simply made the 'mistake' of voicing this opinion and belief.
And this belief of many Americans is shameful.....
This is an uncomfortable moment for the legions of White people who chose to deny racism during Trump's campaign. He was put there by White people who either feel similarly or didn't think it was a deal breaker and voted for him accordingly. The only question that needs to be answered is - What are White people going to do? This has long been the unanswered question in this country but it gets louder and louder with the passage of time.
2
That no one challenged him in the meeting shows just how bad this all is. I'm not going to say I would have stood up to him in that meeting and called him out. This is a disgrace, a humiliation, all around, for what it is I used to think America stood for.
Okay, I get that we need to own the totality of this country and all the embedded racism and homophobia, misogyny, and xenophobia that surfaces so easily and persistently. But I've read the column twice and I'm disappointed that the author seems to dismiss efforts to fight "electorally sanctioned white supremacy." We may not be a virtuous people, but if Dr. King's beautiful metaphor stands for something, we need to help bend the arc toward justice however we can. So I say, resist, get involved, start by turning the House and fight back. We can only aim at being and living our best selves.
Sadly President Jefferson and President Trump share the ignominious distinction of sticking a dagger in Haiti’s democratic aspirations. Jefferson didn’t actually support Haiti’s Slave rebellion as he and his founding cohort supported holding a debt over Haiti that required compensation to France for every freed slave.
Trump carried that same dagger and used it again against Haiti.
2
"No one is coming to save us." This should be the rallying cry for anyone opposed to the horrific behaviors, policies, etc of Trump and crew. The only way we can defeat Trumpism is by ourselves, no one is going to do it for us and nobody is coming to save us.
Thank you, Ms. Gay.
I suppose it is respect for the Office which causes listeners to tip toe,at best, around the outlandish behavior and words of Trump. I can’t help but put myself in his presence and imagine a more appropriate response of confrontation and rejection. A fantasy. We give our Presidents much too deference even when they deserve our respect. Now we have a sui generus, repulsive Trump whose appalling behavior simply overwhelms. A deeply depressing time.
Trump is merely the Racist in Chief. Don't think that most members of the GOP don't agree with him. After all, it was the GOP who used Willie Horton to defeat Michael Dukakis. It was Ronald Reagan who dreamed up welfare queens driving Cadillacs on every street in America. And it was only 10 years ago come this November that the GOP decided that they wouldn't work with President-Elect Barack Obama. Racism is deeply embedded in the fiber of the GOP. It became more prominent once they took in the Dixiecrats in 1964. Trump is merely the latest manifestation of this. One hopes that it will end soon.
10
"No One Is Coming to Save Us From Trump’s Racism".....
.....or from his class warfare.
But its easy to figure out how to save ourselves. All we have to do is show up this November. Bigly.
4
And yet those who are effected the most won't.
The United States has become a country where a hospital can dump an ill woman, wearing only socks and a hospital gown, at a bus stop at midnight when the temperatures are in the thirties. Trump needs to look at the reality of his own country before he calls any other country a "shithole."
66
Regarding the comments that Trump made yesterday, I can't imagine that he won't ultimately express his sorrow- i.e., for his having forgotten that there was a Democrat in the room.
9
Anyone in any doubt about the Republican party's deep immersion in racism only has to see the reaction from their press office aka Fox News.
59
Perhaps you can explain why the other networks repeat it over and over.
I also agree completely with Ms. Gay, which is why I wrote to my federal representative, a Republican, and both senators from my state, a Republican and a Democrat, calling upon the Congress to censure the President for uttering these remarks. It is beneath the dignity of a great nation for its leader to speak in this tone and in these terms about co-sovereigns. To preserve our dignity and integrity at what seems like a very late hour, Congress should act to assure a world increasingly convinced that this great nation has abandoned it, that Mr. Trump's language does not represent the views of America or Americans.
41
Mick, there is an America that Trump's toxic comments represents. We saw, and still see, those who welcome and encourage the behavior of the "president"-his supporters, and it would appear, some GOP politicians.
Trump's America is not what I want, but sadly, it is what we have.
1
Yes, it does. That's Ms. Gay's point. She's correct.
I doubt that is the first time he has used that language to refer to places he feels are lesser. Irony is that many of Trump's own voters and supporters come from states and regions that Trump himself, sitting high in his gilded palace or 757, would and probably has refereed to in the same language when compared to surroundings of wealth he is accustomed.
35
Bravo. I couldn't agree more.
The time for shock is past. The time for comfort may, I hope, be in the future.
But now is the time to accept what so many want to avoid admitting - that our government is in the hands of white supremacists, working for themselves and their interests only. Donald Trump, the Republican Party, their media propaganda machine and their allies represent a part of America that has always existed, but which has been growing wider and deeper for decades; more able to poison our political discourse, our democracy, our domestic and foreign policies, with each passing year.
Yes, we must rescue our country ourselves.
But I will not give up on democracy, and liberal values, on common decency and integrity, no matter how flawed or compromised, or ridiculed they may be or become.
To rescue ourselves, we must first rescue our moral compass, our ideals, our insistence on the truth, our compassion, and our reason. We must believe that America, the majority, is better than Trump and his minority, that we can prevail, not by easy fixes or fighting fire with fire, but by committing to standing up for what is right in words and actions over the long haul.
It won't be easy. It won't be fun. But it's the only way to succeed.
Donald Trump and the Republicans who support you - know this:
Your base is smaller than you think. And I, and many others like me, are going to prove it.
127
There is only one way that we can prevail, since there's not going to be a coup d'etat, and the Republicans won't impeach The Donald or use the 25th amendment to remove him. We all must vote and get every one we know to vote also. Arguably Trump won the election because many people were so confident of the result that they didn't bother to go to the polls. We're all paying for that overconfidence. It would be, literally, a tragedy to repeat it.
2
Very doubtful.
“Instead of trying to get past this moment, we should sit with it, wrap ourselves in the sorrow, distress and humiliation of it.” I agree, and because of the long weekend commemorating Martin Luther King, we have a little more time to really digest what is going on in our country. It’s not good.
46
I would agree that if there is to be any movement that counters the deep and vile racism that has always been part of tis country, ethical people need to sit with the reality of what exists right now and reflect deeply both within ourselves and then with other diverse communities about our values.
On this weekend celebrating the legacy of Dr. King, The secular community which dominates current thinking forgets that the power of King's movement was rooted in the Christian framework of redemption, justice and reconciliation. He could not have done his work without absolute dependence on a loving God that empowered him to overcome the hatred, abuse, and threats to his life. King was an imperfect human and the burden of his task sometimes caused him to falter.
Even though I have never voted for a Republican in my life, like the author, i do not place alot of value on expending all my energy on voting for Democrats as a strategy for restoring a moral compass. I would hope that the religious community that has not sold its soul to the devil and the Republican party would use this time to frame a spiritual message that is rooted in humility, compassion, courage, grit, and yes biblical authority to both denounce the language of this president but more importantly to anchor a movement that can truly change the hearts and minds of AMericans.
Maybe the professor should spend some time contemplating the reasons why so many want to leave her parents' native country.
You are asking us all to sit, quietly and vulnerably, to let the full force of racism confront our reflex tendency to deny that which most frightens us. This is truly the beginning of wisdom and courage. The courage to let the truth stand before us. Thank you. For then action is possible -- and compelling us to stand up and then speak truth to power, no matter the personal cost.
42
We may not like it but Trump is speaking truthfully for the values of too much of America. Given the silence of lawmakers, he has the tacit support of congress. I may strongly disagree but Trump does represent American views about the rest of the world. We can't resolve this by simply getting rid of Trump. We need to change as wll.
41
We are the ones we have been waiting for. If not us, then who? That is the question. The answer will define America for generations to come.
26
Trump's behavior is an almost exact match, even if his idioms are different, as William Jennings Bryan. So Bannon is right, he's just described a person who is completely obsessed with his own status, which is one of seven distinct motivational types the have been identified through careful analysis of the behavior of politicians, the others being mission (ideology), program (wonks), adulation (probably Bill Clinton, maybe LBJ), obligation (rare and typically short-lived, game (Bill Bradley), and conviviality (frat boys). The really dangerous ones are mission, status, and adulation because they are the most likely to violate norms, create conflict (for different reasons), and generate poor policy decisions.
The best book on this, which includes a very keen description of William Jennings Bryan, is The Motivation of Politicians, by James L. Payne and Oliver H. Woshinsky (1984). There are several other books that outline the theory and evidence for this kind of analysis and the kind of politics that result from different mixtures of politicians with various movitational types
It is unfortunate that so few people pay attention to the academic literature on this topic, even among academics, and thus we are reduced to having the discussion led by those who are ignorant of systematic research on exactly this topic.
8
I sympathize wholeheartedly with you, and I am sorry that you and others from these countries had to suffer this offense from the President. I disagree, though, that there won't be any political consequences for him. His base is a minority of the voters who actually voted in 2016, and it is shrinking. I am personally committed to generating political consequences for both him and the GOP in this year's elections, by working to get more voters registered and working to get registered voters to the polls. If similarly focused people raise the turnout of voters opposed to him, his bigotry, his cruelty, and his disregard for our laws and government, there will be severe political consequences, for him and his craven enablers. Ready, set, go.
48
In addition to activism, there is another way to act against such depravity even though, like me, one doesn't live in the USA - Let such nastiness spur us on to be kinder, more compassionate. Let us all reflect on our own actions and thoughts and determine to be more appreciative of the blessing we do have. You don't have to tell anyone... just do it quietly and constantly and that is where we can find the courage and strength to counteract such actions in the world without.
31
"The meeting continued unchallenged..." It's all about speaking up. Yes, I would have spoken up in that meeting and objected to the policy intent and to the language used even if I risked my job. If we don't challenge, right then and there, in front of our colleagues we tacitly agree to be dominated by objectionable ideas and language. I am grateful to those who released Trump's words to the press, the press who reported them, uncensored, and to writers, such as Roxane Gay who bluntly obliterated the naive notion that someone is going to "Save Us from Trump's Racism.
23
Actually, I think I prefer Sen Durban to be a witness to it all, rather than speaking up or walking out. Clearly, the Rs will lie to cover up — well, anything. I’m glad Sen Durban was there, I’m glad he stayed to hear it all, I’m glad he then told us.
1
You may be sure that some day, Trump will make one enemy too many and cross a red line from which there can be no retreat. This may be the day; if not, that day is not far off. And when Trump does go that one step too far, there are forces ready and waiting to take advantage of his mistake. (BTW, they will show him no mercy.)
You may rest assured that most of us do not share Trump’s opinion that Haiti is a bad place, and we also do not share the peculiar notion that there is anything superior about having white skin.
One note to Republicans: Trump’s current (and very revealing) gaffe is basically an off-ramp for you, a convenient point to desert Trumpworld before it implodes. If I were you, I would take advantage of the opportunity to disown Trump and to hitch your wagon to another star, and do it NOW. You might not get too many more chances for a clean getaway.
49
As someone who has trouble sitting quietly and absorbing misery, or shrouding herself in despair (or whatever, exactly, Ms. Gay says we're supposed to be doing in the face of Traitor Don and his all-too-base base), I was wondering what part pure, focused, crystalline fury will play in this world. Ms. Warner, I believe you've given me an answer.
If we still had a real Congress, they would issue a unanimous Joint Resolution of of Censure, and strongly rebuke him. But we don't, so they won't.
45
I believe there are brilliant and hardworking people from all corners of the globe - regardless of the color of their skin. However we have some huge and ugly problems in this country that most people don’t want to face. The entitlement system for the elderly in the US has been on shaky ground for the past two decades and is made even worse due to recent tax reforms, declining birth rates, the massive debt, and increasing costs for health care. The number of people drawing on social security and Medicare versus the number of workers continues to decline - and rising interest rates threaten to blow a hole in the deficit due to increased debt service costs. This is the crux of the immigration problem because it would be heartless to accept young and healthy immigrants minus their parents and family - yet the price tag to tax payers for their care is substantial. The world in 2018 is not the same as it was in 1890 - industry was hungry for cheap labor to build out America - this is not the case today - there are not enough jobs to go around and many immigrants arriving without skills will remain on welfare, place burdens on schools and the health care system as many immigrants arrive from places that lack pre-natal care, etc. given the strains that many communities across the nation face - is it smart to heap on additional pressure? This is not racism but practical fiscal responsibility.
7
Your assumptions may not stand up to scrutiny. I've read that immigrants contribute more than they take in economic terms. They pay taxes. In many instances they are paid off the books and don't rack up work years to qualify for much or any Social Security benefits. Culturally, they add a lot to what otherwise would be a bland and boring, and unhealthy restaurant scene. I've spent a lot of time in medical care facilities, and immigrants are taking care of the elderly and the sick at all levels from physicians to orderlies, nurses to aides. Hospitals, rehabilitation facilities, assisted living facilities, retirement facilities and long-term care facilities couldn't function without immigrants, in my observational opinion. Who will care for your aged relatives. Who will care for you. Who will pick your vegetables and fruits in the hot sun of California's Central Valley. The quality of life you care much about may to a significant extent depend on a continual flow of immigrants.
1
You might want to become better informed about the lack of prenatal care in the U.S. and how that's impacting not only infant mortality but also maternal deaths before you criticize other countries' health care systems.
I used to admire the United States...how there always seemed to be a "coming together" and a groundswell of assistance for each other after natural disasters. Not any more. I don't think there is a more selfish, dog-eat-dog, every man or woman for himself or herself mentality to be found anywhere else in the world than in our southern neighbour.
The U.S. would do well to learn from the Haitian people who truly do look after each other, a natural state of human beings. But I don't imagine that will happen anytime soon...there is such a hatred of the "other" and Donald Trump's presidency seems to have exposed this very ugly side of America.
Sadly, I don't think that's going away anytime soon either.
2
"The entitlement program for the elderly"? Social Security is paid for by hardworking Americans. If Medicare is in trouble it is because the Republicans are not willing to make it better!
2
The article "No One Is Coming to Save Us from Trump's Racism" is one of the best ones I have read about racism in this country. Of course racism has existed before the election of Donald Trump and I fear it will continue to exist. But under Trump it is thriving, and I am astounded once again that the man who calls himself our president has absolutely no shame to let his true character be known and calls some countries "shitholes". I would not put ANYTHING beyond this man, but where is the outrage among ALL Republicans and among people who expected better? Or maybe they didn't and are in agreement? That would put the whole country to shame. It seems Roxanne is right, nobody is coming to save us...
Roxanne tells about Haiti in a fascinating way new to me - I indeed had only heard about the poverty, AIDS, the misery, the disasters, like so many of us had. I had not heard about the pride, the music and the arts, the beauty of the island and its landscape, the resilience of its people. Thank you, Roxanne, for enlightening my perception of your home country...
17
Thank you for this beautiful piece, Ms. Gay. I would love to hear you describe what you think the immigration policies of the US, Europe, Japan and Australia should be.
3
I'm thinking we need to get a list of the people who were present to include Mr Durban and hold them to account for why they did not interrupt and stop the president the first time he said it.
I don't expect them to admit it but I would guess the DEMs present figured it was him hurting himself so they'd just let him do it.
The republicans?
I don't read minds and I am not going to repeat what has been said so well in the article, but I have an idea for a new holiday, "Punch a republican in the face day".
13
@magicisnotreal:
Your proposal for new holiday may disturb some gentle people, even if is only a metaphor. It is worthy, however, since it addresses a reality. Those people are not going to be brought around by reason or empathy to join hands and sing Kumbaya. Some GOPers are thoughtful and genuinely concerned for our country. Others (maybe half of them?) are incorrigible and simply must be stifled. One would hope that this can be done by political and other nonviolent means. Sad to say, this was not possible in 1861, when secession was not allowed and more than a punch in the nose was required. Let us hope for better this time.
1
Several senators spoke up. I don't know whether what they did was sufficient, but it's important not to embellish the truth.
I’m glad Sen Durban was there, and didn’t walk out or try to shush him. He’s our only witness, the only person willing to tell the truth about what he heard.
1
Ms. Gay,
Thank you for so boldly tell the truth. As a 61 year-old white woman who has needed a whole a lifetime to unlearn the racism that I inherited by virtue of my skin color, I can speak to the difficulty of getting folks to really challenge themselves by engaging in a process that is inherently painful when their privilege protects them from having that pain forced on them. Clearly, this is not an option that folks of color have in this country, who experience ongoing racial micro-aggressions.
I disagree with you on one point - voter registration/activism that creates voting blocks is effective. Look at Alabama.
I do think that the only advantage to having Trump in office is that he is making it very difficult for white progressives to continue to deny the racism that is fully woven into the warp and weft of this county. I hold out hope that Trump will be a tipping point for a crucial minority of white folks to do the work that you are asking us to do.
I work in a large urban health department that has been working for many years on equity for patients and staff with only moderate success. Trump's election has created urgency around this work and has galvanized my colleagues to make it a priority. At my section's management meetings now, those of us sitting at the table who are white represent only about 25% of those present. Our system has a ways to go but we are doing finally giving equity more than lip service. I hold hope for others, as well.
17
It's pretty clear why we have, and need, checks and balances. So, it's up to the other two branches to check and balance this President.
9
Thank you Ms. Gay. No group of people deserve to be referred to in this way. Trump even demeans Norwegians by referring to them in his racist comments. And why should anyone need to address them or defend themselves against the debased language and attitude of trump. Trump likes to think that America is exceptional, but without immigrants from every corner of the world America would be nothing. According to our declaration of Independence every person has inalienable value and one man no matter his power can take that away from anyone.
Yes we should sit with this insult to humanity as Trump is a reflection of a large part of our country until we can truly live up to the Declaration of Independence and the dream of Martin Luther King Jr.
13
This column and Charles Blow’s yesterday pretty much sum up the state of affairs in America. This country’s lofty ideals have been tainted by racism, manifested by slavery, genocide, nativism, and segregation since the very beginning. We are all affected by racism to some degree, whether or not we admit it; and a significant minority are energized enough by fear and hatred to carry torches and join Trump’s base. Their energy has yet to be matched by the opposition, many of whom are too comfortable or self-absorbed and haven’t the stomach for a fight. But fight we must, at the polls and in our daily activities. Remember that the haters hate all of the rest of us, too. That is the state of affairs.
16
Hear Hear! Nicely written and well thought out.
It is a pleasure to read and not listen to the shouting and screaming.
I look forward to future pieces from you.
7
I feel the author’s despair. And to see the WH and Fox News and Paul Ryan try to mitigate the awful reality of it all, only makes it worse.
15
Future historians will use the United States under Trump and the GOP as a case study in how a great nation can rapidly and irretrievably decline.
15
This is a good example of when the depression and anxiety experienced by someone who seeks therapy is not caused by distortions of reality. Most cognitive therapists would have you believe that your psychological suffering is caused by inaccurate thinking, but the Trump presidency and the people and factors that support it are real (not that all of us are equally depressed by it). Ms. Gay didn’t mention it, but therapy is another option to deal with the daily depression, including mindfulness-based therapy which does indeed ask you in some form to sit with the reality of the moment.
2
All roads of leading this malevolent, ignorant and dangerous man out of the White House run through the voting booth. Take nothing for granted.
43
The moment that Trump was elected I realized something that I should have long before--that America is not the place I thought it was.
Oh, I always knew there were plenty of people around like Trump and ever since Father Coughlin they've been grabbing the microphone at every opportunity.
What I did not realize was that there were so many people who just didn't give a damn. They were the ones who made Trump possible because they couldn't be bothered to get up off their sorry tuckuses and vote.
It's said that all that is necessary for evil men to triumph is for good men to do nothing. I'm sorry, people who do nothing do not deserve to be called good.
59
Notably, the conclusion that many others were reaching when Trump was elected was that Trump could not be as bad as he seemed.....after all, America is a great country, we wouldn't select someone who is as bad as Trump seemed to be president, so he can't be as bad as he seemed. It must be an act, or he'll pivot, or he'll grow into the office, or Congress will at least rein him in.
Silly hopes. Trump is exactly the guy we saw since 1970, different only in that he's losing such faculties that he once had with age.
1
"They were the ones who made Trump possible because they couldn't be bothered to get up off their sorry tuckuses and vote."
Or couldn't overcome their misogyny to vote for a highly experienced woman...
1
We can only hope that McDonald's and KFC, will keeps supplying chump with high-calorie high-fat food. With his inability for self-control, hopefully he will die of a heart attack, and save the American people, Democracy and the world from his vindictive, cruel, and destructive misrule.
30
Mike Pence is scarcely an improvement.
They need to use some of that voodoo on chump 45 and take him out.
9
The Daily Stormer, a neo-Nazi website, welcomed the Birther-Liar-In-Chief's latest racism with open arms:
“This is encouraging and refreshing, as it indicates Trump is more or less on the same page as us with regards to race and immigration,” the neo-Nazi website said.
Register and vote on November 6 2018
https://www.rockthevote.org/register-to-vote/
77
Thank you Ms. Gay. Thank you for your soul.
16
Shayamuni could not have said it better.
4
Trump's comments are worse than simple racism. They reflect his belligerent ignorance and - perhaps - his increasing inability to edit his worst thoughts. We may confuse this as an intentional pandering to snide white supremacists base or to some folks crudest private comments- those sweeping stereotypes and slurs one would never voice in public.
But Trump does voice them in public. Is it the beginning of frontotemporal dementia, the loosening of impulse control, a gradual decay of cognitive competence ?
If it is an intentional ignorant obscenity - designed to distract & provoke...has he no dignity, let alone decency ?
15
He is not a racist. He is whatever gets him what he wants, which is usually cheap and gaudy. The people that support him are racists or bigots or fascists or people without identifiable souls.
6
I agree that Trump is a racist jerk. I'll even agree that there are a lot of racist jerks in America. But I am getting very tried of hearing that everyone in America is a racist. That is just wrong. That is a self-serving lie. That is foolish and bad politics.
Stop saying it.
12
well we know we have 60 million of them,they voted for him
Please try rereading this piece again. It does not say that every individual in America is racist, it says that the country is a "federally, electorally sanctioned white supremacy." Which it is.
Indeed, he knew his remarks would be leaked and his remarks would appease his base. He knows in order tame his base he must feed them a steady diet of red meat consisting of hate, bigotry, and racism. For the moment he stops they will eats them alive. Its one thing to preach to the choir, its another thing to preach to the KKK, white supremacists, and hardliners among your base.
6
I get that the statements may have been calculated, but then why deny them? Using the same language that ousted Scaramucci? In front of a world stage? In front of US senators? Even the most calculating idiot would know that the collateral domino effect from this wasn't worth the statement.
The time for sitting has past. A long, long time ago. They are now reporting the efforts to steal the 2018 elections are full-steam ahead.
The time now if for all good citizens to come to the aid of their country before it is lost. We need massive occupation of D.C., millions strong and permanent occupation. We need to look them in the whites of their eyes. We have come to an impasse. We can not back down now. We need as much courage as it will tale to oust the usurper, the illegitimate occupant of the white house and his entire illegitimate administration, by the roots. Yank them out. It's that serious, folks.
19
Ms. Gay is right!We are always looking for a Superman or woman to rescue us from ourselves. There is no superman,it is only us and we have to come to terms with who we are,what we want and how we will do it. We have met the enemy and it is us. Trump is just and embodiment of us and this sad U,S.
23
Every time I talk to a conservative about politics, they always (with varying degrees of respectfulness) express wonder and disdain about how much I know about whatever recent exploits have occurred in the White House. "Why are liberals so obsessed with Trump?" The unspoken message here, of course, is "Don't ask me to defend whatever he did now, because it's not important enough for me to care about; the only reason you care is the media has whipped you into a frenzy."
The wounded heart beating under these layers of defenses is never particularly subtle. They know perfectly well he's a hate-filled, demented fool. They know perfectly well they supported him anyway, to make abortion illegal or to shrink the government, and they'll vote for him again. Why can't we liberals be decent enough to not keep bringing him up, to not keep finding reasons why only the stupid or immoral would support this man?
Gay is right. What would change this country is if all Trump voters truly sat with the humiliation their president causes. And they never, never will.
18
Vote and do so thoughtfully; please never ever ever ever think voting for the likes of a Hillary Clinton is the same as voting for the likes of a dangerous ignorant fool. Do not get so enraptured by a Sanders-type that you do not see the reality. We have an ignorant dangerous fool in part due to those too enamored by Sanders and those who voted for anyone else. Please, let's shoot for wisdom, just too much too lose. Think what Hillary would be doing now, with Korea, with California, with the planet, everything. There would be wisdom and kindness and skill from the top down. I am so sad and so angry, like millions of others, and I cannot fathom how angry and sad I would be if my parents came from Haiti. What an insane and terrible time to be an American. We must do better. We must change course.
45
Spot-on---a psychological missile to the abdomen of Americana--all its illusions and delusions stripped bare--nothing but cold, hardened tears remain.
7
It has gotten to the point of people like Roxane Gay have to come out and say, to the world, that we live with all this garbage and we better wake up and take
on the responsibility of cleaning it up. There is something to get outraged about every day coming from the White House. This has been going on for over a year.
There is something wrong with us all if we let it continue.
18
"Yes, we are on the move and no wave of racism can stop us. We are on the move now. The burning of our churches will not deter us. The bombing of our homes will not dissuade us. We are on the move now. The beating and killing of our clergymen and young people will not divert us. We are on the move now. The wanton release of their known murderers would not discourage us. We are on the move now. Like an idea whose time has come, not even the marching of mighty armies can halt us.We are moving to the land of freedom.
Let us therefore continue our triumphant march to the realization of the American dream. Let us march on segregated housing until every ghetto or social and economic depression dissolves, and Negroes and whites live side by side in decent, safe, and sanitary housing. Let us march on segregated schools until every vestige of segregated and inferior education becomes a thing of the past, and Negroes and whites study side-by-side in the socially-healing context of the classroom.
Let us march on poverty until no American parent has to skip a meal so that their children may eat. March on poverty (Let us march) until no starved man walks the streets of our cities and towns in search of jobs that do not exist. Let us march on poverty until wrinkled stomachs in Mississippi are filled, (That's right) and the idle industries of Appalachia are realized and revitalized, and broken lives in sweltering ghettos are mended and remolded."- Dr. M.L. King, Jr. 25 Mar 1965
20
65% of White America just doesn't care. Their vote for this monster of a human being underpins this fact. Nothing will be done because the Republican base of voters are unmoved by his continued assault on people of color and his embrace of white supremacists hate groups. America was never that city on the Hill for people of color, only for whites.
21
I hope the Haitian staff at Mar-a-Lago urinates in the chocolate cake before serving it to Trump. He is not my president, nor the president of a majority of this country.
35
Trump gets immigrants from Eastern European countries for his place. And helps with their visas.
Amen to that.
3
I agree Ms. Gay. It is time for Americans to sit and listen to this over and over. To acknowledge the guilt of him and his supporters. To acknowledge and indeed fear what has happened to the USA. To reject this president and these deplorable people. He needs to go. Fox TV needs to be muzzled perhaps by looking into the illegal acts which permitted Rupert Murdoch to get US citizenship and therefore launch his disgusting media in the USA. None of this is acceptable if there is going to be any future for the USA.
1
I am amazed at those who say that one must listen to Trump’s statement over and over to wake up and realize who he is. Really? You didn’t get to know him from just catching one or two of his appearances on TV? Once again, the media declares that Trump has reached a new low. Until tomorrow. The reached-a-new-low phrase should be retired.
At the same time, Hillary Clinton was so obnoxiously self-righteous, calculating and Stepford-wife soulless that many of us just could not bring ourselves to vote for her even with Trump as her opponent. And frankly, Trump looked like the Energizer bunny compared to Clinton’s lackadaisical style of campaigning. He out hustled her.
1
Trump didn't out-hustle anyone. He just told bigger lies than she did. Americans loved to be seduced, duped, lied to, and stroked. Trump cashed in on the self-centeredness that is the heart of America. See: Libertarians.
1
One of the most thoughtful and elegant commentaries on the state of our country. Our country is in a political and cultural crisis. This president is incompetent, racist, dangerous and most of will likely be proven to be illegitimate elected through collusion with a hostile nation!
12
Ironic and moronic that Trump signed the MLK proclamation today without any sort of apology.
And it is so shameful that so few Republicans have criticized him and that some even defended him.
10
Glad you wrote this column. So much has been made of people who were going to save us from Trump. First, it was Ivanka, the so-called smart and reasonable one (who is completely self-serving and described by some as dumb as a brick), then it was Congress (how is that working), then it was John Kelly who turned out to be disgusting racist trash much like his boss. Does the media wish to anoint anyone else as savior? Sorry. Ultimately we have to stop being oh so shocked and save ourselves and the nation from Trump if we hope to survive.
20
Thank you.
We do not need ANY more lame excuses for this rancid man. It was apparent from Day One of the Birther lies. Sane people knew that lie said everything about Trump’s twisted insides.
Basta.
5
I fear that the longer our baby president is in office, the USA is doomed to become the type of "hole" he declared other countries to be.
8
Roughly 1/3 of the country approves of this wretched president. His racism is old news. Forty years ago he was sued for it. That he can now display it with impunity in the White House is a cross we must bear. You are right - let's just spend MLK weekend sitting in this sludge of disgrace and reflecting.
Let's peel away our delusions about race in America. Let's think hard about who and what America has become until the next putrid Trump tweet or abhorrent behavior showers revulsion across the land once again. We are like boxers in a brutal heavyweight bout with him, bearing blow after blow, staggering, down but climbing back up, saved by the bell, coming out for round after round.
2/3 of us disapprove of him. Sadly, that doesn't mean everyone in that 2/3 is not racist, but it means that 2/3 have, at least, a sense that decent people have a "bottom" and recognize when we have hit it. Trump's evil is bottomless.
There are many Haitian people in my city. Trump is not worthy to even comment on their work ethic, their warm vibrant families and their many contributions to our economy. African legal immigrants are extremely well vetted, and many are highly educated and working in medicine, healthcare, science, teaching and research.
Trump talks of vetting and merit. If only there was such a requirement for the office of president. If only there was a minimum score and points were deducted for bankruptcies, racist actions, lies, grabbing women's genitals and ignorance.
12
Pathetic as these comments from Trump are, I've heard similar, even worse, statements from colleagues and friends. And they weren't even referring to Haiti or African countries. They were talking about some neighborhoods right here in Houston.
Sadly, white supremacy is alive and well in America.
5
Everyone who is white who reads this excellent piece by Roxane Gay, agrees with it, and acknowledges that our humiliation and racist issues go beyond DJT and his base should immediately go out and rent, buy or borrow a copy of "I Am Not Your Negro" so as to begin to absorb just a smidgeon of what it means to be black in America. It's not a pretty picture or a pretty history--but it's the reality, and the reality is what brought us to where we are today.
3
Amen.
What incites me the most are the Trump supporters who consider themselves Christians.How could you possibly believe that Christ is within in you and that you are following the teachings of Christ and remain loyal to a President who spews vile and hate every time he speaks. You can rationalize,justify,use magical thinking,whatever but there is no way you can be a true Christian and condone Trump’s thinking,words,and actions.
As you believe, we mortals can not judge you-only God can judge you-good luck.
13
Wait -- It's not time to give up on voting, yet, is it, Roxanne?!
2
'I could write a passionate rebuttal extolling all the virtues of Haiti, the island my parents are from, the first free black nation in the Western Hemisphere."
You could, but only an idiot would believe it. Haiti really is a lousy country. Keep slathering the lipstick on if you like, though. When all you have left is an appeal to emotion....you have nothing.
1
Then feel comfortable when people see America's crime statistics, and the number of women, children and men who get shot and killed everyday in the US somewhere, and call America one "shi--y psychopathic country". That is exactly what they say behind your back...all over Europe and many other places. Do you accept that, "What's good for the goose is good for the gander"? There are many kinds of sh--holes, and US has certainly been for many minorities. Do you know how many Europeans, Canadians and Australians remain legal residents without becoming citizens in the US, or do so only after many decades of legal residency. Your own Texas Senator gave up his Canadian citizenship only when he was called on it. This idea that you have one rule for Caucasian countries' attitudes versus non Caucasian countries attitudes speaks volumes for many people's racism. It is amazing what the Brits living in the US can say and get away with. And you'll stretch your smile at that like an old colonial slave, but if someone from Asia makes some truthful critical comment then they, according to you, "are not assimilating" and should go back. No wonder some just don't leave California. Anglos in the South do have to take a look at themselves critically.
I've never been one to watch much television programming, and I don't read the tabloids, but my understanding is that for decades Donald Trump made a name for himself by cultivating a persona: the boorish, sexist, loudmouthed, bullying jerk.
He gained notoriety by relentlessly pursuing a racist attack on the legitimacy of the Obama presidency.
He used that notoriety to launch a presidential campaign with a racist, xenophobic, nativist signature line condemning Mexican immigrants as murderers and rapists.
The lynchpin of his inaugural address was 'America First' - the very same slogan adopted by anti-Semitic Nazi sympathizers who vowed to bar immigration of Jewish refugees fleeing the Holocaust. And not coincidentally, Mr. Trump's father was a second generation German immigrant, a Klan sympathizer and an 'America First' advocate, whose real estate business was tagged more than once for its overtly racist practices.
Let's cut to the chase: this man was elected precisely because he is a loudmouthed racist and all-around jerk. His best buddies, like Joe Arpaio, are loudmouthed racists and all-around jerks. And his greatest appeal is to a hardcore 'base' of loudmouthed racist jerks who are old enough to vote, most of whom are poorly educated, underemployed white folks in states with a long history of hardcore racism, anti-Semitism and xenophobia.
So then, are we surprised that what you see is what you get?
Trump, Trumpism and Trumpists must be defeated; and we must move on.
10
The original inhabitants of Haiti, the Arawak people, said at one time to number around 4 million, were systematically exterminated by European slavers. These same slavers were responsible for kidnapping the Africans who subsequently established the country of Haiti. The white slaver mentality persists in the "mind" of our traitor "president".
1
Donald Trump's long list of revolting racist insults is a disgraceful attack against people throughout the world. The Republican support he continues to receive is an equally intolerable disgrace.
America is losing!
1
It will surprise no one that a college prof – steeped in socialism and dedicated to the proposition that all groups (except “white” males) are created horribly oppressed – sees a racial angle behind everything. You’re not alone; the Times and the left have collectively lost their minds. When all you’ve got are identity and envy, it’s not surprising that you think that everyone else is racially obsessive, too.
Progressive depends upon belief in certain unshakable truths, primary amongst which is that racism is endemic. This is demonstrably false. Racism is spectacular rare. But anyone who actually speaks that indisputable truth stands convicted of heresy and must be – of course – a racist.
Trump is in no reasonable sense of that word a racist. (Never mind the fact that Hispanics are not a “race”.) But if we take Leonhard’s (faulty) definition, a racist “... is someone who treats some people better than others because of their race.” EVERY leftist stands accused of precisely that. They treat “minorities” better than "whites". They treat women better than men. Openly. Proudly.
J’accuse!!
Incidentally, leave aside the alleged scatological language. Haiti may be a very beautiful country. The people thereof are invited to stay there. Not because they’re Black. But because we don’t need them. The same standard should apply to Ireland.
When you’re obsessed with race and identity, you simply assume that everyone else is, too. You should seek help for that.
7
You start out with a statement about college professors. What does this have to do with the positions Ms. Gay has spoken? Then you declare that Trump is not a racist then go on to say that others have prejudices as well, but do not show us how his words and actions are not racist. And who are you to say that the next Einstein may not spring from Haiti or any where else Trump smears? Often racism hides behind nice words and not foul language.
Trump has often used distraction to make people forget his despicable actions. We need to focus on the substance or lack of substance in his remarks which to me declare that he is unfit to be president.
5
"EVERY leftist stands accused . . . They treat “minorities” better than "whites". They treat women better than men. Openly. Proudly."
Now you've made the accusation, would you care to provide some evidence to support it?
The time to try to reason or debate with Trump and his racist Deplorables has come to an end. Time to VOTE, VOTE VOTE
17
Indeed, vote!
Do you want a third-world shithole down the street from your house? Vote Democrat, by all means.
Otherwise, you currently have one alternative.
2
Your last paragraph was so powerful and true. Today I have been sitting with that moment, wrapping myself in the sorrow, distress and humiliation of it. Not to mention rage. And I feel hopeless, too. That the Republican party can sit and silently watch this happen fills me with terror. I am going to be known as the commenter who always seems to bring it back to Hitler, but unspeakably horrific history is so clearly repeating itself so I will shout it on the hills until this nightmare plays itself out. Every Republican in Congress, every Trump supporter and apologist who have cheered and defended him along the way, even you otherwise "normal" ones -- if you didn't speak out about this heinous moment in U.S. history, then Nazi! Nazi! Nazi! Each and every one of you.
14
I have a dream.
In my dream, Trump, Pence, Kellyanne Conway, Stephen Miller, Sarah Huckabee-Sanders, Steve Bannon, the Mooch, Steve Mnuchin, Louise Linton and all the other cockroaches in the current administration are flying back from Davos on Air Force One when it crash lands on a desert island. They are forced to try to survive using their wits. Donald Trump declares it to be the best desert island of all time and insists on taking charge, to which everyone nods their heads, but things quickly go downhill. Unable to find anyone to vent their hatred against, they fall to squabbling among themselves. In the end, they focus their bigotry against Dr. Ben Carson, a black man who brought this all upon them, and pursue him in a bloodfest reminiscent of Lord of the Flies.
In my dream, unlike William Golding's novel, nobody comes to rescue them.
16
My dream?
Davos will shun them all!
Ms. Gay is completely right.
Trump reflects who we are at this moment. No posse is going to ride to save us. About one-third of us are unrepentantly ignorant racist fools. Combine that deplorable 1/3 with the disaffected, those of bad faith and other fellow travelers (for one reason or another) and you have enough electoral mass to usher in the age of Trump and his republican epigones.
It is common wisdom that the excesses of the Dummy Don will propel a Democratic juggernaut this November. I am not so certain about that however neither am I sanguine that Dems will be all that much better should they regain control of this train wreck.
America is two states lost in a new civil war. We need a Lincoln, we have a Trump. How do you think that is going to go?
8
Roxane is right on the money with her eloquent description of our nation and our president. As horrified as we are about the racist statements from our ignorant MIC (Moron in Chief), the truth is that a good number of US citizens voted to put this guy in office. They most likely share his beliefs and cheer him on.
What a heartbreaking moment for a great and proud nation. What a heartbreaking moment for those among us who aspire to a better, more equal world among all peoples and all nations.
As Roxane entreats us in her closing comments, we must "sit with it, wrap ourselves in the sorrow,...
3
Word.
1
Regardless of what pundits say, the US is a country full of racists. They are everywhere, it's just that in the south they are proud to be racist.
10
How to fix Trump AND America: Make Obama President, Again.
Thanks, GOP. November, Bigly.
6
Hillary Clinton, on her very worst day, would have been 1,000% better a President than Trump on his very best day.
Her supposed "flaws" were molehills. Trump's flaws are the Himalayas.
This might sound twisted but do you know when I realized that this immigration 'issue' has more to do with race than most wanted to admit? After the Boston Bombing!! A lot of us pointed at Islam but far fewer complained about immigration then. I practically lost it when I had to hear more than a few people mention how 'cute' the surviving terrorist was. Why? Because he might have been an Islamic immigrant terrorist but at least he was Caucasian.
Sorry America. We have been like this long before Trump became president!
4
Amen, sister.
2
Would you shake his hand?
So, why are Democrats meeting with him?
Why didn't they walk out when he blurted out his vulgar racism?
7
The very definition of racism and ignorance: to take human individuals and label them only according to some randomly-developed assumptions about their origin or color. Because to see them as individuals, some perhaps desperate in their circumstances but with the ability to make unique contributions to American society as immigrants have done for hundreds of years, would require more brain cells than the “stable genius” can muster.
And yes, get used to it, because the GOP, the Party of Hatred and Greed, will use tongs if necessary to manipulate the creature-president’s hand into a signature on a bill, long after the rot in his brain has run all the way down through his body. Hope is lost because Republicans have Gerrymandered themselves into permanence and the filthy rich will prop them up to avoid even a single dollar escaping their slimy grasp. Individually, they are slurping at the trough. Collectively, history may judge the GOP more harshly than the Nazis for turning a blind eye to this end to American decency and democracy.
4
If you want to get smart, understand the playbook. Troll with a thin veneer of plausible deniability and then gaslight those that call you out for the obvious.
6
Why the shock now?
This narcissist has been a racist for many years...from stopping African Americans rent his apartments in the 70’s to leading the lies about President Obama’s place of birth to his comments about Africans side he took residence in the White House
11
This essay is so sad and so right-thank you Roxane Gay. One thing this rotten presidency has given us (and unfortunately, has given our enemies abroad) is a clear look at the enormous numbers of us that live in a dark place, and are so easily manipulated. This hideous manipulation of truth -- this easy, evil answer that feeds our insecurites and fears--is where racism begins.
4
Trump is an equal opportunity racist offending African Americans, Latinos, Muslims, Jews, and anyone who is not a white conservative. What is even more egregious is that he lies and denies he said those racist, despicable comments. And then his enablers try to spin it saying he was misconstrued. Have these people like Sarah Sanders have no conscience. Trump has been and will always be one just like his father. He will not apologize and in his sickening tweets projects the blame on the media. We need to hold him accountable and not let this pass. The most dangerous part is that his words and actions are escalating to the point of having very serious consequences for us and the world. Impeachment cannot come too soon. He's a very sick, cowardly, selfish, racist, dumb hater.
8
So sad and so true: the truth hurts.
Well said, Roxanne Gay.
3
Yes. Just yes.
1
Sad commentary, but true. We need to save ourselves from this hateful regime by refusing to accept this moron's racism as the norm. GOP, where are you in this debate if you don't speak out against this now.
3
Thank you Roxane Gay. People are looking for a savior and there is no one coming.
3
Ms. Gay is right about one thing there are no consequences for this jerk of a president, but one must have hope that this madness will come to an end, sooner than later. His enabling Republican politicians, who can't even speak up in protest are equally responsible and just as bad.
4
Whoah. The comments. Trump does reflect the country's racism.
2
I strongly disliked Nixon as well as George W. but I never wished that they would just drop dead. And yet here I am retired and appreciating every day that I wake up to see a new day and hoping that today will be the day this moron who is our president simply drops dead.
19
There is no justification for all those elected officials who were there in that room when Trump, as he has repeatedly done made racist and xenophobic comments. To not have called him on it and terminated the meeting there and then and walked out, makes those officials guilty of condoning those words. To have taken his vial comments without rebutting them makes them as guilty of blatant racism as Trump is himself.
It’s time our elected officials stand up and say enough is enough. It’s becoming embarrassing to be called an American when our so called president is allowed to speak and act the way he does seemingly with the encouragement of those who we have elected to tepresent us.
It’s time for action to stop Trumps continued racially charged talk and tweets, he’s single handedly tearing down the years of gains of “all men are created equal” and instead promoting and condoning the Hitler like values that so many fought and died for to eliminate.
Right on the money, Ms. Gay. If anything good comes out of this truly sickening spectacle of a presidency, it will be that the United States finally had to publicly reckon with its ugly, racist underbelly. Let the chips fall where they may.
1
The ugly, ugly ugly truth is that Trump's America is what America has always been. Racism and xenophobia have been a part of American life since the country's founding. The only difference now is that the racists and xenophobes feel that they do not need to hide their beliefs. This is not some new phenomenon that has reared its ugly head with the election of Donald Trump. The Fox news talking heads are right. Trump says and believes what many Americans believe and are now able to say without shame. This article's author is just telling the truth about our divided and very sick nation.
6
Trump is a mirror reflection of that large but still minority group of Americans who voted him into office.
Impeachment doesn't stand a chance until 2019, but Senate conviction will never get the 67 votes.
The Trump Cabinet of Loonies is unlikely to invoke the 25th Amendment and again the House and Senate will never provide the required 67% removal vote.
That leaves turning at least the House of Representatives over to the Democrats in 2018. The Senate is a Bridge Too Far to expect.
If the Democrats cant win one of the Houses in 2018, then it all comes down to 2020.
But between now and 2020, I am not confident that the voting system wont be thoroughly undermined by Trump and DHS, the campaign propaganda completely controlled by the Koch Donor Network, the NSA and CIA in the Blackmail business, the FBI with an NRA informant network acting like a Secret Police and silencer equipped militias taking out regime opponents in the dead of night KKK style.
So it looks like it comes down to 2018 or bust for American Democracy.
1
Trump's racism is not, in itself the least bit disturbing- all of us have encountered racists in our daily lives. What is disturbing is he was clearly a racist long before he was elected. He couldn't have communicated the fact any clearer if he had campaigned in a white hooded sheet.
What is disturbing is that, in spite of this, he received enough votes to become president. Trump is not the disease, he is only a disgusting symptom.
9
Look at the language boys and men use on social media, or YouTube, and you see jerks, foul language, intimidation, cruelty, violence, vulgarity and intolerance everywhere...from fifteen to fifty. And it is reinforced by their political tribe. There is no "American"...there is only Republican and "them Liberals, Libtards, California cu__"...and other kinds of nasty statements made about anyone who disagrees with them. Who are they? That too becomes difficult to find out. People like me who use our full names in some of these forums do worry. They are the jerks...and there are abundance of them. This is why I am constantly advised not to write, engage and even look in that direction.
In many ways Democracy must already be dead...if engagement is not possible because educated smart people are saying, "Don't engage! They will argue, attack, harass and get violent like the Taliban. You walk away and let them just live and struggle in their cesspool".
Racism at the top is now easier to see, and write about. But racism at the bottom and the middle is much harder to confront. I live in the South...and it is scary where it exists and where it comes from: even among some Anglo women, Anglo children, Anglo gays and transgender...It is everywhere. As an articulate woman who is not even Black, but Brown, it is amazing what I see and what I encounter. Everybody is brought to the level of coping, management and survival...This some consider to be a victory. Imagine that!
2
I too have thoughtlessly pitied Haiti (and others) out of ignorance. Much to think about here. You make me proud to be a Boilermaker!
I believe that a fellow contributor to the Times, David Leonhardt, explained this situation in a few, exact and accurate words: Trump is a JERK ! I would add a few more words, such as racist, ignorant, and loudmouth. But JERK is the latest and most priceless........ description.......
2
Amen. I might be able to understand why people in our country felt helpless, left behind, and held their nose voting for this idiot. I do NOT understand why people continue to support this behavior. He is more than a disgrace to our county, he is a disgrace to humanity. Continued support makes one complicit in racism.
Maybe they chose to be left behind.
I will sit in humiliation and disgust over this blatant,racist,who I didn’t think had a chance To win the Presidency.He won because racism is alive and well in our
Democracy ,and with it the parent of racism ,grinding ignorance,and hatred.
The refusal of old white men in our congress to stand in public and denounce Trumps in your face discrimination,screams they feel the same and represent the filth who said the same by voting for this self agrandizeing vile human.
We will defeat him in many ways,as he works to destroy our government wlth
Help of Republicans who have no more courage then cockroaches afraid of the
Light.Let us impeach him and then take him to criminal court accused of treason.
I knew Roxane Gay was up writing last night! So many of us were, but she so often says it early and best. The first RG story I ever read and published, was a love story set in Haiti, and set in leaving it, the story’s tragic and erotic climax. Her early collection of short stories, “Ayiti,” is unforgettable, and for those interested in the Haitian diaspora, you’ll cherish it. Thanks, Roxane. This is a helluva “sit,” a stew, a feeling of being nailed to a chair you want to destroy.
3
Racist? Never in a million. He let Uncle Ben Carson speak at the MLK event today. And that jockey uniform he was wearing was fetching. And that large ring he was holding out looked like real silver.
1
To say that a country is culturally underdeveloped is not to say that the cause for that is due to the race, or some sort of genetic commonality, of the people who live there. It is not a racist thing to say.
So if you observe, as Wikipedia does, that Haiti "is one of the world's poorest countries and the poorest in the Americas region, with poverty, corruption, poor infrastructure, lack of health care and lack of education cited as the main sources" (in other words, a "sh*thole"), are you being racist, or just making a comment on the state of affairs in Haiti? (Answer, for those who need help: just making a comment on state of affairs in Haiti; not being racist.)
6
@Malcolm Beifong, I appreciate the mental gymnastics, but Trump was clearly being racist, just as he was when he said that everyone from Haiti had AIDS and everyone from Nigeria lives in huts. Sorry, there's just no way to justify these remarks.
Just because our president is uncouth and racist does not mean we should have open borders. It's time for the developing world to get a grip on its extravagant fertility rates.
5
Trump was actually stupid enough to let it all out. He is basically a crude rich wheeler dealer who shoots off his mouth unfiltered. No surprise there - only that he was dumb enough to let loose in a forum with Democrats present. The Republicans won't say anything - none of them are profiles in sense much less courage.
2
I for one am tired of immigrants from other countries refusing to become a part of the American fabric by remaining nationalistic about their home countries and forever saying how wonderful or better it is where they came from. If this is the case, why then did they leave? And if the best and brightest leave, where does that leave their countrymen? I believe that possibly Ms. Gay advanced here because her parents 'assimilated'. This is apparently a bad or non-PC word. Yes, we know T is a racist idiot. Now move on and try not to get too angry or prevent it from advancing yourself or our society.
Surely tomorrow he'll be on some other rant about something else.
2
Assimilate implies leaving behind the past. No one can completely leave behind their ancestry, that includes Americans whose families came to this country since the first settler.
Ms Gay was trying to juxtapose Haiti's joys with Trump's comments. It seems some Americans still fail to get the message. Many of us still have a lot of prejudices to overcome. Native Americans might be exempt, but don't the rest of us, you included, too often classify ourselves as the descendants of whatever country our ancestors left to become Americans? Bad-mouthing Ms Gay and thinking that spouting racist ideas is better than being PC gives me pause, at least.
1
The time has arrived to choose a nickname for our Racist-In-Chief. I'm sure many of these have been heard before but i felt the time is right for a new reckoning after this past week's rhetorical explosions from Hair Fuhrer.
If you have any to contribute please do. I'm sure there is a backlog of appropriate nicknames yet to be aanounced. A few of the ones i like. Trumpty Dumpty, Forest Trump, Donald Gump, Adolf Tweetler, Boss Tweet, Prima Donald, The Lyin King, POTUS Donald T. Bannon, Donald Das Gropenfuhrer, Dubious Caeser........
2
My mistake: Lieberman, not Leonhardt. My bad........
Thank you for your comments. I agree completely.
I have been looking for a moniker for this president that would sink to the level of his name calling and illustrate exactly the type of man and president I find him to be.
Thank you for finally providing me with one: President Shithole
3
An impassioned letter towards ignorance and vile racism. Keep up the good work Mrs Gay!
1
True the don did not reveal a new racism,
but to give the old German his due,
Grand Wizard Trump revealed his deep seated genetic nazi roots once again.
Only when our grand old wizard is released from the Oval office to cheer white supremacist rallies in Charlotte or Alabama,
will our states be united.
2
Please fix the typo in the first paragraph. it was Jan. 10, 2018.
Breaking News! The Statue of Liberty to Receive New Pedestal
The New Colossus - Trump Revision, 2018
Give me your toned, your pure, Your Caucasian lasses yearning to please me, The red-head bounty of your dreamy hordes. Send these, your blonde, breast-blessed to me, I throw open wide the golden door!
9
Time to sit and think? No. It’s time to act. Time to stop talking about “intersectionality”, and start talking about solidarity.
As Winston Churchill put it: If you’re going through hell. KEEP GOING.
20
“We are the ones we are waiting for.”
I’m a white old lady (almost 73) and to me the problem Trump has caused is not just related to immigrants. It strikes at the heart of our society. It exposes racism as a festering sore, an open infected wound, in the body politic. It is dangerous and incites Trump supporters to more openly behave in racist and hateful ways.
It affects all of us. Whether white or black. Because it is a blot on this nation that stretches back to slavery. Everyone who some shade of black has African ancestors. So to label African nations or nations, like Haiti, that are of mostly African heritage, using expletives, is also to label black, maybe even some brown, American citizens - as excrement.
And this strikes at white people, like myself. For stirring up this hatred makes me, a white old lady, a member of group of haters, when I’m not! By that I mean that when I do errands, any black person might think I’m a Trump supporter. Simply because of my skin color.
I’m not suggesting here that I would blame someone for thinking that. But it poisons society. It makes some people distrust all white people. Just as it makes some distrust all of a different skin color.
We need to take a lesson from the MeToo Movement, which asks that men and other bystanders speak up.
Let us who are white promise ourselves both to speak up if we see racism. But also to reach out, to do our part to close these gaps. To assure black strangers: I stand with you!
36
Truer words were never spoken. How do we endure years of this? I can't even summon outrage anymore, not really. I'm frankly spent. His daily ability to be a racist, sexist, ignorant, vulgar stain on our national character has finally managed to outlast my ability to be shocked. I still read the newspapers every morning, but never without wondering what fresh hell I'll find there today. This man is the face of America to the rest of the world, and I doubt we will ever recover from that.
9
A whole hell of a lot of us are coming to save you. https://www.flickr.com/photos/8703833@N08/sets/72157680466425534
3
In order to get tax cuts for the rich and slashing of social programs [Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP etc] gutting of environmental and financial regulations the GOP is willing to tolerate and accept a racist bigot who advocates assaulting women [hands up skirts and feeling privates and barging in on undressed beauty contestants.
Trump is a sick person.
But Ryan, McConnell and rest of GOP what is your excuse.
11
Well, neither Cotton nor Graham were willing to speak up. That tells you who they are.
1
We are getting closer and closer to someone saying that there is no legal means of dislodging a minority party from its complete control of the government against the will of the majority. Think about it: a minority ruling the majority! Whatever the founders thought, am sure they didn’t have that in mind. A minority party led by an amoral, self-absorbed devil is a structural fact, a permanent perversion of democracy caused by republicans through carefully planned and well-financed gerrymandering, an arcane and anachronistic constitutional scheme for allocation of senators, and the ill-conceived electoral college, all of which has been intersected tragically by demographic shifts. This writer is completely correct to say she can offer no words of hope or comfort because the reality is that there aren’t any. We’ve had our revolution and we aren’t going to have another one. You only get one shot at what the founders envisioned, and they didn’t foresee our current plight or have any solution to it. We don’t have any solution either. Even if Democrats retake the house in 2018, it will not be able to roll back anything Trump and the republicans have done or pass any legislation. The subpoena power will not peel back the source of Trump’s illicit finances or bring him to account. There will be no impeachment without a supermajority in the senate. We’ve bought a one-way ticket to hell. She is basically saying “Come to terms with your plight and think about it.” She’s right
610
So if the Dems were to gain control of the two houses and the presidency you are saying it does not matter, that they could not roll back much of what Trump puts in place? You are saying that it is impossible to unwind gerrymandering like what the federal judge in North Carolina is forcing the state to do? That the reversing of "whites only" on buses and schools and drinking fountains never happened? Not quite the history lessons I have had.
4
Robert, technically you mean "there will be no CONVICTION without a supermajority of the Senate". The House impeaches--analogous to a grand-jury indictment--and the Senate tries the case, with a 2/3 majority required to convict on the charges.
3
Yes, it bothers me greatly that over half of the voters did not vote for Trump and presumably support Democratic positions for the most part over Republican and yet we have no power at the federal level. How can this be right in a democracy? (And I'd like to think I'd be saying the same if the parties were reversed in power) There is something fundamentally wrong here and our country will continue to tear itself apart until it's fixed. I remain optimistic though with a fundamental belief in the goodness of most Americans. We WILL start by taking back at least one house of congress - which will stop many of the Trumpublicans worst policies and eventually, we will roll them all back. The pendulum always swings...
6
Just thank you. So well written, so true, so sad for us.
15
I have read most of the comments watched the TV scripts and everything else. What's funny is Mr.Trump says the way it is. People who are asking for equal opportunities; where is it. Trump is not racist he just says the way it is. I would even welcome segregation. Any freedom without economic freedom is useless. Its a lip service. Can anyone say African Americans are better off than 50 years ago. Racism exists well and vibrant. Thank you Mr.Trump now that I know my limits, I will try to get of it. Oh wait that's not possible, economic freedom no way. Continued slavery in different form is what we practice. "Welcome to America the land of lies"
1
Apparently Lindsay Graham did at the time....."forcefully". No mention of what he said yet. He's really a mixed bag......sometimes he makes good sense and then he loses me with something like the criminal referral. Today I like him.
"mytwocents". With that comment, you should be getting some change.
1
I can say that yeah, African-Americans are bettr off now than when I was a kid.
This is because I know what I am talking about.
And given the ugly nature of your comment, I had best leave it right there.
2
Did anyone say anything during the meeting? Did anyone object at the time he said these things?
9
Yes, that's my question as well. Why didn't anyone just get up, explain their disgust, and walk out?
we should be beyond shocked -or more correctly - accept the fact that no one spoke up in the room at the time, to tell this man that what he said would be unacceptable, even in a preschool/kindergarten playground- much less the seat of power of united states of america!!! this is what they say/feel, when no one is looking/listening. he simply is less capable of hiding it.
6
My question to Mr. Durbin - is if the President used such vulgar language in his presence - What did he say about the language in the meeting? Why save his outrage for the public space as a reaction to a story someone else released? Allowing such words to be said without comment implies agreement or at least non-opposition. Not speaking out at once - is more the former than the latter.
2
My understanding is that several senators spoke out. I assume Sen. Durbin was one of them.
Beautiful. But not entirely true. Someone IS coming to save us, if only they can be roused: You, reading this.
Enough! with "blue state firewalls." Enough! with "three million more votes." Enough! with conceding the inevitability of "red states." Enough! with a Democratic party platform that is greeted with thunderous applause in NYC and LA, but silence in St. Louis and Phoenix.
And Enough! with grousing on Facebook while NOT holding weekly organisational meetings and fund drives and coffee klatches and phone banks and street rallies, and on and on. Starting now. Starting THIS week. This crisis. This insult. This mayhem. This assault on the rule of reason, reality and sanity.
Enough! sitting on the couch and the sidelines. Trump has brought the barricades from the streets into your living room.
It is time to fight like your life depended on it. It does.
14
Yes, it is frustrating, isn't it? The entire nation, millions people, are forced to live with Trump's presidency by the willful decision of 304 people in the electoral college. Now we are powerless to get rid of him.
You have indirectly cited what is a deeper problem in America than even Trump. Namely, the laws are defective, in such a way that the POTUS is not a democratically elected position, and there is no way for the citizens to recall or otherwise remove a president. We the citizens can't save ourselves from Trump, not even, ultimately, by voting.
But the law enables other politicians to save us. Congress can impeach Trump and remove him from office. They can also censure Trump, which would be particularly appropriate today. For a variety of reasons that have little to do with what most citizens want, neither of those is going to happen.
Yet to take your advice and just sit here is unsatisfying and uncomfortable. To be forced to follow rules that are put in place by politicians that you don't want, trust or respect is hard enough when you lose a fair decision. But it's infuriating when the vast majority are coerced by a minuscule minority. Resentment is one result. And rebellious enthusiasm is building, no need for you to offer it up.
4
Martin Luther King and millions of others, black, white, Hispanic, Asian and Jews, sang "We Shall Overcome". This might have been only a sweet little hymn that people without full realization of the deep, abiding vitality of racism in America sung, but it wasn't. We did overcome. Not in some grand crescendo of happy, national moment of joy, but bit by bit, little by little.
The rising generations, except for perhaps some parts of the hatred infected southern states, have no interest or need for racist attitudes. Full participation in all parts of American society is not assured for people with darker skin, but the gates are open, if not crashed down.
A little secret about the New York metropolitan area: still, circa 2018, it is a hotbed of racism. These attitudes were formed long ago as various national and ethic groups poured in and competed with each other for a step up the ladder. The "melting pot" was actually a separating spin where various groups went their various ways, nurturing distaste and hated for "the others", whomever they might be.
Trump is from Queens. In the era he grew up in if a non-racist white man could be found, bands played. The idea of black people being inferior was generalized, almost inescapable.
Trump can claim he is not a racist because he likely views EVERYONE without money as inferior. That is a hazard of the mega-bucks class, exemplified when one of his son's said, "I don't even consider them people", those who don't support his father.
4
The Republican legislators are standing up for Trump in his lie about his racist remarks. This presidency is going to enable such pain, discrimination and suffering. The Republicans have proved that nothing in this country is worth a thing if it interferes with the accumulation of money. That's it, that's all that matters. Our ideals are dust.
5
Totally. I would add that Haitians and other immigrants did not give a criminal record to 70 millions Americans preempting their full participation in the economy. The US Justice Department did because of the lack of compassion of this "very rich country".
2
Thank you, Ms. Gay, for an excellent op-ed.
The honesty in your writing is a welcome reprise to the barrage of Faux-resistance columns claiming that everything was just swell before Trump, and if only those darn Russkies hadn't meddled in the 2016 election we'd be riding off into the kumbaya sunset with Queen Hillary.
"This is a painful, uncomfortable moment. Instead of trying to get past this moment, we should sit with it, wrap ourselves in the sorrow, distress and humiliation of it."
Precisely.
But that isn't going to happen because the Obama/Clinton cabal and the Dem establishment (Pelosi, Hoyer, Schiff et.al.), who were complicit in creating the circumstances that let to Trump's ascend to the White House, chose to blame outside forces like Russia rather than engage in much-needed self-reflection.
One only needs to look at the Dems' support for warrantless spying to realize that "No One Is Coming to Save Us", not from Trump's racism or any other aspects of Trump's disastrous policies.
After denouncing Trump as a lawless, treasonous authoritarian, why would they grant him vast warrantless spying powers other than for the fact that their "resistance" is nothing but a smoke-screen to hide their complicity in advancing the corporate kleptocracy agenda?
The corporatist Dems like Pelosi and Feinstein have been right there with Repubs all along siphoning of civilian wealth into the pockets of "defense" contractors, the financial services industry and oppressive foreign regimes.
5
What was Jill Stein doing at that RT dinner, please?,i keep asking, and none of you wacky kids can seem to answer.
2
This sounds like spin right out of RT television.
Those on the right, like Putin, would like us to believe that the situation is hopeless, that there is no difference between the parties. They throw out meaningless bumper-sticker words like "corporatist", etc. They claim the resistance is fake. The clear intent is discourage anyone on the left from voting.
This is propaganda meant to play on emotions without engaging reason. We need our critical thinking skills more than ever so that we can make intelligent choices, because there are big differences between the two parties. One party wants to decimate the social safety net, like Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security; the other wants to strengthen and expand it. One party believes that its purpose is to pass corporate tax cuts that benefit the wealthy at the expense of the middle and working classes; the other votes unanimously against these cuts. One party believes in dismantling Wall Street regulations and enabling a second recession/depression; the other party wants to strengthen those regulations. One party denies climate change; the other wants to address it. One party would like to destroy unions and suppress voting; the other supports unions and one-person one-vote.
3
@ SandraH.
This sounds like the musings of someone completely unaware of reality.
Nope, US is not a shining city on the hill any more. It's a slummy, grey suburb with strip malls. Gilded McMansions are now up on that hill behind the gates. Population desperately wants to feel superior, exceptional.
8
By their continual support of Donald Trump, the Republican Party has given up whatever moral high ground they ever inhabited. They are not the party of family values or fiscal responsibility. They are certainly not the party of truth. The fact that they can listen daily to the barrage of lies coming from Trump, each lie getting more blatant and vile, and react as if this were normal is reason enough to turn all of them out in 2018 and 2020. Republicans can no longer stand silently and pretend that they are not bound together with this man and his lies. You are either with him and the hateful things he stands for or you are against him and you speak out. Especially disgraceful falling on the MLK weekend are "the good people who remain silent"; theirs is certainly the greater sin.
"The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people." Martin Luther King
4
In 2018, there is no reason to trust that the Trump states will do the right thing. This opinion piece is depressing, but also realistic. There is something fundamentally rotten about any state that voted for Trump. Nothing has changed. The Trump states have gotten what they voted for. In November, the Trump states will be the same places that they were when they failed America in 2016.
4
There still may be hope. It was by a relatively small voting margin in a handful of states that swung the electoral college to Trump. if Alabama can do it, so can Ohio.
According to opinion polls, Trump and Republicans are underwater in Midwest states that he narrowly won in 2016. Trump is also underwater in states like Iowa, and the margin of GOP popularity has narrowed in every congressional race since 2016, even when the GOP candidate won the race. We need to work hard, but I'm more hopeful than you.
Ms. Gay points out that Trump's comments were unchallenged. Was there no person at that meeting who had the courage to stand up to the President? He needs to be told when he makes those type of comments that they are totally unacceptable. By sitting there hearing the racist comments and not saying a word of disagreement, means to him that his audience agrees with the words spoken. That is totally unacceptable.
5
No, she doesn't say that. My understanding is that several senators spoke out, including at least one Republican (Graham).
He is not worth anything and yet he occupies an enormous position of power that we pay him so much attention. Yeah, we sit in this moment, but Democrats should officially censure him with speeches in Senate and House of Representatives. The Jan 20th March should openly and vehemently address his anti-immigrant and racist ideology. Not enough to address women’s issues—now the march must address racial issues. Trump’s Presidency is about racism. Not about the economy, jobs, trade blah blah blah. It’s about making insecure whites feel like they are the in-charge majority as America turns brown.
1
I would REALLY like to think that even (at least most of) Trump's base has some sense of decency, and more respect for the Presidency than to tolerate this behavior.
1
This type of behavior is clearly not acceptable. The damage Trump is doing to this countries international reputation will be felt for decades. There are all unforced errors. It is simply outrageous that the Republican party does not do something. Leadership requires integrity--not just looking out for your personal interests. A elected official pledges loyalty to the Constitution and this country and not to his party. SAD!
1
I think that saying we have to endure Trump/Pence (both of them) until there's an election is just wrong. It was not solely on the basis of Congressional mechanisms that Nixon was driven from office. We need to get into the streets and stay there until this pair are driven out. Both of them. Remember that Agnew got blind-sided by a petty corruption charge and had to leave office, then Nixon got brought down. Agnew later wrote that he knew he would never be allowed to be President. The pretext was corruption, but the real reason was the road to dumping Nixon ran through Agnew. We need to do this again.
2
The comforting lie of a post-racial America has been exposed. The systemic advances of the Civil Rights Movement pushed racism underground, perhaps, but did not eradicate it from the soul of the nation and it has now re-emerged - overt and in danger of becoming normalized under Trump and his apologists. I agree with Professor Gay - we must resist the temptation to rationalize and explain the discomfort away. The first step to recovery is always rising above denial - after that we must face the consequences of our actions, accepting personal responsibility for how we got here. Racism in America today is not an aberration or exception to the rule - it is a feature of our national character and the consequence of our history. I sincerely hope we can move beyond it - but that will demand that individuals have the courage to face their own, personal racist thinking and attitudes.
2
Thank you for speaking the unvarnished truth. There are so few who do anymore
As with many crises, men create the problems and strong women fix them. But Ms Gay is not obligated to find any silver lining in this dark cloud. It is up to the rest of us to enfold our fellow humans in the strength of our care for them, to reassure them that evil will never triumph in the end, and more if us voted against this racist than for him. We believe in equality, yes, we still do. We will take back the power. Sadly, not anytime soon. But the Grand Exodus of all the wonderful people Trump alienates will contribute to the diminishing of the US, and eventually the racists will pay for this. Corporations will lose their competitive edge on the world stage, the market will crash, the GOP will turn on him. I just hope we can turn it before the country is destroyed.
While I agree with Ms. Gay, I refuse to give up. I too need to 'sit with it' because I honestly do not know what must be done. Voting, sure, but even that is no longer a guarantee that the will of the majority will be honored.
America is truly in a bad situation. I can only hope that when all people in America who live with respect for human decency and dignity, with respect for diversity, inclusion and equality come together and start working together. I hope that we will come up with solutions to our national fall from democracy.
Until such time, resistance is not futile. You can not ignore hatred and evil.
I have always approached problems by looking for a solution before placing blame, even on myself. The ballot box is the only solution and all of us have to do what we can to rid ourselves of the Trumps, Ryans and O'Connells that govern today. Then we can sit down and wrap ourselves up in shame, humiliation, etc. for letting this happen to our country and start looking for ways to keep it from happening again.
Roxane, thank you so much for this. I am so sick of all the discussion right now. All the trite stuff. That stuff doesn’t take away my tears, doesn’t make it go away. Millions of us (including us white folks) are truly and extremely sad right now. Just sad. And we don’t have answers any more than you do. And I thank you for not sugar-coating or pretending. We need honestly. You are honest. We need that right now. This won’t go away, my sadness won’t end...it’s not just sound bites. It’s devasting hurt.
2
It would be nice if the media stopped focusing on Trump and instead turned their attention to his enablers (the voters).
Blaming the politician is easy, that’s the low-hanging fruit. But it’s the voters who make things happen in the first place. Trump didn’t get to the White House by coup or illegal takeover.
Blame the puppeteer, not the puppet.
1
"There is a lot of trite rambling about how the president isn’t really reflecting American values when, in fact, he is reflecting the values of many Americans."
When we elected President Obama I foolishly suggested to my college students that perhaps I was wrong in thinking that a huge proportion of Americans were informed by and mired in racism. I thought maybe we are the country I had always hoped we would become. Boy was I wrong.
Trump's language and beliefs aren't shocking. We already know this about him. What is shocking and discouraging is that an enormous percentage of Americans are perfectly fine with his attitudes, his choice of language, and his intentions to demonize anyone who doesn't look like him or his off-spring.
There is an ongoing claim of "American Exceptionalism". What make America exceptional appears to be its stubborn refusal to enter the twenty-first century and its ritual embrace of nineteenth century hate.
It's pathetic and I see little reason to hope for a change.
2
Fox News will defend any Trump comment. I'm not so sure Trump was intentionally playing to his base though. Why would you televise a meeting trying prove bipartisanship and professionalism on immigration only to turn around and make racists comments that appeal to your base in private? If the real intent was to fire up the white supremacy contingent with zero consequence, Trump would have made the comments under maximum exposure. He would made the comments in the TV interview.
I think what we witnessed was another slip. Trump vocalized his true thoughts and feelings without thinking of the audience or the consequences. There are other examples. Think about it. Bragging to the Russians about firing James Comey is the first one that comes to mind. There are many more.
Trump's base might eat up the resulting outrage but let's not pretend the President was taking some bold strategic action. He made a mistake again.
Please find at least some hope in knowing that the majority of the people in the USA did not vote for this despicable man: he was appointed by the electoral college, a system regrettably instituted to keep democracy at a distance.
Ms. Gay conveys the distress most good Americans feel at this time. Trump's behavior is disgusting and not only beneath the Presidency, but beneath the common decency of any typical American community. But we have to lift people like Ms. Gay back into the fight by sharing our feelings with her, and by reminding her that most Americans did not want this person as President. And that we will vote and donate and work toward repairing the damage that he is doing. It starts in 2018, when Republicans will regret that they compromised their integrity, character and humanity--to get a tax cut.
"... in fact, he is reflecting the values of many Americans."
Tens of millions of them, in fact. And that this is still exists in my country in 2018, dismays and angers me. Every. Day.
2
Thank you for rubbing our noses in this. We are like soldiers refusing to participate while witnessing an atrocity. We cannot but look for the moment.
Yes, those around him enable him. This would seem to be the entire Republican Party, so it continues. They are doubling down on racism, just as the fossil fuel industry, which bankrolls them, is doubling down on global warming.
1
Thank you, Ms. Gay.
Floundering in a news stream which has become a torrent, we are too quick with our efforts to say something which will make this alright; fit it back into a workable narrative of America.
Only, this narrative isn't working. Not any longer. We can be outraged, and then run Trump out on a rail, but we cannot be 'outraged' and then leave him where he sits.
A mother who spies a snake under her child's bed cannot claim to be alarmed by the snake, and then do nothing to remove it. Alarm, outrage, disgust are feelings we have for a reason. They compel us to action. If we do not act, we are only pretending to be disgusted, outraged, when in fact we are only made a little uncomfortable by vitriolic racist statements we have no intention of confronting, and may indeed harbor ourselves.
Do what you can to root this snake out from under the bed, or feel free to sit smugly in you racist beliefs. But please stop saying you're outraged if some form of action really isn't going to follow. You are misusing the word.
1
This is a "we the people..." moment. Each of us needs to examine our deepest beliefs and ask "are we going to let this happen?" Think of the multitude of Republican legislators who are not running for re-election. They are fleeing their association with a racist President - and I bet at least some will run again once Trump is out of office. Let us speak up, step up, and by all means, support and vote for candidates who are willing to do just that. "We the people" can do it!
1
In addition, Joe Biden stepped up today on Twitter "It’s not how a president should speak. It’s not how a president should behave. Most of all, it’s not what a president should believe. We’re better than this."
And here's how "we the people" responded:
8,232 replies; 97,388 retweets; 322,563 likes.
We can and will save ourselves.
1
yep, the real problem is that nobody walked out.
2
Republican leadership is complicit. This is what our nation has come to. I was embarrassed and now I'm ashamed. I wish leadership felt that shame, or at least understood it, and began to do something about it. If not, Ryan, McConnell et al will not fare well when the history of this time is written.
1
Is it any wonder that Trump idolizes Andrew Jackson? A President who was responsible for forcing thousands of Native Americans form their land to walk the "trail of tears" to Oklahoma?
I did not vote for Trump but I am ashamed to have him as President nonetheless.
1
I hear you, and I'm glad to hear this coming from someone at the NYT. Nothing is more frustrating than the "Did he really say that?" "What does it mean?" "Of course Mr. Trump has a habit of saying . . . " that gets regurgitated by reporters every time he or someone in his administration says something like this. Like we don't already know it. He did say it. He's a racist. And his administration and policy is steered by nothing but self-dealing and greed. There isn't a way out till he's gone and then we still have to contend with the fact that a certain percentage of our electorate elected him, Russian intervention or not. And the GOP makes excuses for him and let him get away with it. God knows why because it's not even like it's good for their own preservation.
1
Thanks to Roxanne Gay for an eloquent response to this outrage.
Oval Office Occupant 45 is not the first American president to have used - um - unpalatable language. LBJ was a prominent example, just for one. But at least he did it in private; at least he was aware enough to care about what the rest of America (and the world) thought.
How I wish we could all say: "Time's up, Mr President; you're fired".
If LBJ were president now, even his bathroom meetings would probably be leaked. Oops.
1