Like it or hate it, white males still own most of the capital of the United States. And they certainly control it by their domination of corporate boards. Like it or not, white males still dominate the legislative bodies that purportedly govern the land. If one does not like these inescapable facts that make the phenomenon of 45 inevitable, then may I suggest doing something about them? Start with voting and looking at your investment portfolio choices.
15
I am not usually a Trump defender ... BUT, it is fairly obvious that Trump uses ALL of these Native American references not to demean or offend Native Americans, but rather to highlight Warren's fraud in pretending to be Native American to advance her career. The "Pocahontas" slang says nothing about Pocahontas and everything about Warren. I don't even think this is debatable.
5
@Econ101
Nothing is debateable to a closed mind.
3
@Econ101 A Fox News pundit called Senator Warren Chief Talking Bull, perhaps to keep Pocahontas from being de-famed.
4
@Econ101
Nice of you to tell us all what is Trump's head, what his true intent REALLY is.
The only obvious part is that some or few Native American are actually offended with what this President says, and that should be enough for all of us, as True Americans. But, seems to me his base likes that he riles up the other side - makes good drama. The problem is that this is no TV show.
2
Trump's racism, bullying, cruelty, and his gaslighting the entire country with his lies (e.g., skepticism about vaccines or about climate change) are part of his political strategy. They work well for him, and very badly for society.
Many speakers and writers that loathe Trump (as I do) also help him inadvertently by making racist statements that are often not justified and serve to drive some people who identify "white" towards white supremacist views (as Stephen Bannon has openly acknowledged).
When you write "... preserve hierarchies of race..." you are doing exactly that: feeding racist victimhood *and* pushing people towards hate. Please don't. You're helping Trump, and you're reducing our future chances of voting for a visionary as great as Barack Obama.
15
@Astrochimp
It's not about "racist victimhood," It's about acknowledging reality. If you think racial hierarchies aren't a real thing, that's only because they haven't hurt YOU. If overly defensive people in the majority feel uncomfortable discussing it, that's no reason to ignore it.
16
@Eric Sorry, I don't feel uncomfortable discussing it, and I'm not the person you want me to be, so don't try to put me there.
If someone (or a law, or an overt policy) targets you for your "race" (skin color, religion, etc.) then you are a victim of an attack and that's not right. Much more likely, you're just imagining it, and if you want to see the racist, look in the mirror.
See, imagining or inventing your racist victimhood is just another form of racism, and racism always begets more racism. Your racist victimhood means that you want special consideration, special rights, or maybe even money based on your skin color. That's not harmless and non-actionable nonsense, it divides the good people of the USA against each other and helps Trump and the politics of hate and division I wrote about.
BTW, I mentioned Barack Obama because (although nobody's perfect) he is a hero to me especially in the age of Trump. We need more like him: he's smart, a powerful leader, and NOT racist, except when the BLM movement forced him to be.
4
The bottomless contempt displayed in the tweets of the U.S. president are one more stark reminder of the depths to which American society has fallen. My home is British Columbia, Canada. I, like billions of non-Americans, have been forced to surrender my admiration for the United States. Your country used to stand, however imperfectly, for fundamental rights and a safer, more prosperous world. Those days are gone. Understand, it isn't just that Donald Trump is so desperately unsuited to the presidency. What burns is the vociferous support he enjoys from some 40% of your people.
The onslaught of Trumpian awfulness that is disgorged daily from Washington can be mesmerizing. I imagine that many Americans are so focused on their own internal problems that sparing a thought for citizens of other countries is a luxury they cannot afford themselves. Take my word for it - we are paying attention, we are disillusioned, and we are horrified.
137
@Rob; When minorities don't get what they want they relabel majority rule, white racist majoritarian oppression. I call that spin.
1
Dear Mr. Bouie,
I really admire your work. I am wondering, though, if this time we are all giving the President too much credit for knowing his American history. (It's not that I think he's above that level of racism. I am sure he is not. I just doubt that he has ever bothered to learn much about Wounded Knee or the Trail of Tears. That he recognizes those names as in some way associated with Native Americans is probably the extent of his knowledge. If his tweets have demonstrated any more knowledge, someone else wrote them.)
18
@Meg
Meg, are you taking a page from Fox New's Brit Hume who said Trump was too ignorant to know about such things? Please don't. Whoever wrote the tweet did- and Trump used it: That's all that matters.
4
Trump is neither Hitler nor the KKK. His many racist statements fall short of threats of racial violence. Instead, his typical racial invective consists of mockery and/or tasteless insults. His references to Pocahontas and the Trail of Tears are clearly in bad taste. But bad taste needs to be distinguished from concentration camps, slavery, Indian massacres and sexual abuse. Trump is a hateful man. But he has not engaged in violence against minorities. And those who argue otherwise cross the line.
3
White genocide exterminated 95% of native American people's between 1492 and 1900 in North and South America. Western styled democracies here in the USA and throughout European colonial strongholds articulated and financed a practice that systematically erased generations. The trail of tears was but an exclamation point on the greatest holocaust history has ever experienced.
2
The one chance Trump and his kooky supporters have is that extremist positions will flank rational views that recognize a politician who is unfit mentally, morally and temperamentally, causing good people to give him a chance.
Extremist dogma, which attempts to make every action racist and enlarge the pool of racists is not helpful. At some point views like this are fodder for claims of fake news.
With all due respect, not everything this man does is with racist intent. Suggesting that it does creates traction for his claims of bias and fake news.
1
Between wars, inflicted disease, enslavement and forced removal, it is estimated that 100 Million Native Americans were killed between the first encroachment of the Whites and the end of the 19th Century. Today this genocide is marked on Columbus Day as "The National Day of Mourning" by their descendants and those who sympathize.
Given it's now generally accepted that Columbus was not in fact the first explorer to "discover" America, (that distinction likely belongs to Leif Eriksson, who arrived centuries earlier), we ought to consider following Hawaii, Oregon and South Dakota in observing Native American Day instead. It would seem the least we can do to mark the holocaust of the First People rather than celebrating a piece of misinformation in our country's history.
2
What I learned about President Andrew Jackson in a college history class is that he was widely known to be a drunk and he put forward legislation that was passed by Congress that ended married women's legal right to own what they inherited from their relatives which became instead their husband's property!!! Being against women's independence is another big reason why Trump likes Jackson.
4
And let's not forget Trump's defense of his favorite president, Andrew Jackson, on the twenty dollar bill (instead of replacing him with Harriet Tubman), and his proposal that Benedict Arnold now replace Benjamin Franklin ("fake science") on the one hundred dollar bill:
https://silverberg-on-meltdown-economics.blogspot.com/2018/07/trump-to-pardon-benedict-arnold-on-eve.html
A false witness will not go unpunished, and whoever pours out lies will perish. (Proverbs 19:9)
3
May I say how ashamed I am of this person, Trump. He defiles everything. His racism is fathomless, his coarseness as a person is offensive beyond measure. It seems everything he touches dies an agonizing death - and for his pleasure, for the self-stroking of his perverse ego. America is despised around the world because of his twisted personality, his buffoonery, his insulting behavior, and his fundamental incompetence. His election was a tragic mistake which we will regret for many years to come.
6
Speaking of Andrew Jackson, his leading opponent was the northerner, John Quincy Adams. JQA was known to ally himself with Jackson at times if he thought it was in the interests of the country. He saved Jackson's bacon when the rest of Monroe's cabinet wanted him fired for roughing up Elizabeth Warren's ancestors, the Indians.
Later in life JQA became a noted abolitionist. He opposed slavery primarily because the issue was tearing America apart. If he were alive today would he have opposed illegal immigration because the issue was dividing the country?
1
Perhaps, indeed, Mr small T is not just stupid, as we may sometimes be led to think by his words and acts: he is apparently also a bigot, convinced of his own superiority and untouchable status. While he probably knows very little about American history's more shameful moments, his talent for putting his pinky in other people's wounds seems to be inborn.
The tragic element in Trump's election and continued support among many fellow Americans is that so many seem to regard him as a great man...
1
After all the centuries we still are a backwood country with all we have done to negate people because of race, color or a different religion.
HISTORY again is forgotton.
When will there be a time when all peoples are considered Human.
This is one of the finest peelings of the onion that is the Donald Trump presidency.
This president is walking in the footsteps of perhaps the most racist president in American history. He combined the anti-Christian removal of Native peoples with the anti-Christian hegemony of slavery. MAGA nation today agrees with their president's limited capacity for empathy and compassion. Indeed, his ignorance of matters historical and religious merely reinforce his contempt for those who are not white. Evangelical "Christians," who hold with the president, have been strangely silent on this topic since his candidacy. It's as if they walked down a street and watched a man abuse a child; fearing to do anything to save the poor waif, they turned around and piously invoked whatever god they pray to.
America has grown accustomed to Trump's depravity and cruelty. They make excuses for him. They privately bemoan how low a fellow he is. But they side with him nevertheless because he promises the criminalization of abortion and the tax-free promises of a state that regulates religion along with a state-run propaganda organ (Fox, Clear Channel, etc.) that will cement white supremacy as a national meaning and right.
We did more than elect Donald Trump president in 2016. We shouldered opened a door that was closing ever so slowly (civil rights; gender equality, e.g.) to reinforced the cruelties and evils of America's unsightly past.
A past that was prologue to our present. And future?
2
I imagine Trump keeps identifying Elizabeth Warren in his tweets as the one he calls Pocahontas because he is aware that many of his followers would not know or remember who she is.
I despise Trump, think he undoubtedly doesn’t think much more of American Indians than black people or Mexicans, and think his repeated use of juvenile nicknames is one of the numerous reasons why he doesn’t belong in public office. Nonetheless, it seems to me that his jabs at “Pocahontas” or even an allusion to the Trail of Tears, are meant to mock Warren’s dubious family history claims, not others. I think the terms are crass and insensitive, but if some apparently non-bigoted person made similar references I’m not sure I would conclude that the person had some animus against anyone besides the immediate target of the insults.
4
I doubt if a president who hates to read really knows anything about Andrew Jackson. I suspect Jackson was the first bust Trump saw when he walked into the room. A trick question to Trump would be to ask him whose picture is on the 20 dollar bill. This farce pushed by the Trumpets that Jackson is Trump’s here is just that a farce. The only person who could ever be a hero to self centered Trump is Trump. When ¥ou think your the greatest in every thing you do you have no room for a hero.
An interesting column but I think you give the man too much credit. He simply reacted the way he always does to a little competition—by going straight to name calling and trying to belittle. Really, this is just another entry into the log of Times Trump Resorted to Childish Name Calling.
Trump lives in his own world, a world that has very little connection to objective reality, he only connects to the imaginary world in his head. This is what happens when a mentally abberant person reacts with the world, and it leaves a trail of chaos. This chaos can not be resolved in this person by explanations or reason. It impossible to change the wiring of and the brain chemicals in a persons brain by reason and explanation. Trump will not change, except to perhaps become more chaotic.
Do not expect anything but more of the same, or worse.
Davy Crockett's political career depended on the Jackson machine. When Crockett, who had been on friendly terms with Indians since boyhood, opposed the Indian Removal Act, Jackson withdrew his support and Crockett was defeated in his next election. He was, truly, an American hero, but not for the reasons the movies show.
21
I would add an often forgotten caveat to Mr. Bouie's description of the genocide of Native Americans from both continents.
Namely that disease wiped out 30-40% of all American Natives in the first 100-150 years. Enslavement by the Spanish took away another 10% or so.
So when the Europeans showed up with firearms, the Native populations were already decimated and weakened.
That is genocide on a level never duplicated before or after.
11
@Texexnv
Spaniards (16th century) armed with smallpox pretty much destroyed the Aztecs and friends--but then they were cutting hearts out of their fellow humans for religious and sun-god worship reasons.
1
Some times it is said, a cigar is just a cigar. To imply Mr. Trump inferred the Trail Of Tears in his tweet to Senator Warren is confirmation bias in the worst punditry way. The president likely understands the trail of tears as being a line outside an onion vendor. His interest in Jackson: he probably thinks he is a relative of Reggie Jackson. Imputing deeper thoughts to him is like using a fire hose to fill a kiddie pool: bad idea.
Hate him or mistrust him, but really this piece is absurd.
17
@Michael You ignore his deliberate use of capitals and his use of the word "trail", in a context where he is denigrating Warren, who he has called "Pocahontas' repeatedly. One of his advisers could have explained the Trail of Tears history to him. Plus the Cherokee tribe was one of the tribes forced to march to Oklahoma (then called Indian territory). Warren has mentioned that tribe specifically in her family lore.
You are right that he has no deep thoughts. Mr. Boule is not attributing deep thoughts to Trump, just the opposite.
30
@David Shapireau
I agree, there is nothing deep about Mr. Trump's familiarity with history. His interest in President Jackson is odd. Where does that come from? There was an old movie with lots of people riding around on horses about Jackson where his wife dies dramatically of an illness as he is being elected. It is not an accurate portrayal, but maybe this was something Trump watched in childhood?
I get the idea that Trump's connection to American history, or any history, is through movies with a grand theme, not movies that grapple with difficult topics.
Trump has held discriminatory views and a fictitious connection to history for decades. He is not likely to change his mind. His views need to be called out as a warning to others of the pitfalls and serious harms of such a shallow take on our past.
1
@Michael
You might be right: we might be looking too deeply into a very shallow pool. What "trail" means to Trump, though, is a secondary concern for the country. The issue is how others seize on his remarks to justify despicable attitudes, or even worse, despicable behavior. Unlike Trump, those others might be educable. It's worth trying.
We all should repurpose Trumpian manure as fertilizer for beneficial things.
1
I find Trump's insults nothing more than "Trump being Trump". But what he relies upon the megaphone of "mainstream" media, who have never allowed women to push back publicly against powerful white men. The media continues to claim to be the "voice of the people" all the while being Trump's subservient foil, never going much past reactions to his latest outrageous statements.
14
A perfect comeback from Warren when Trump uses the phrase "See you on the TRAIL" next time would be, "And I'll see you at the TRIAL" Mr. President.
63
@Yakker
The "metathesis" or transposition of letters you suggest would sail right over his head. He would simply mock Warren for forgetting to spellcheck her tweet.
This character considers himself literate but uses the phrase "a waist of time." That's how people spell when they don't read much.
Of course many people struggle with spelling and word order recognition. Trump is one of them. But he is one of them who is also personally odious, incurious, and bigoted.
I would wager he congratulated himself on his verbal agility for playing on the word "trail" (which he vaguely recalled had "some connection to Indians"). See how he capitalized it? Just so we would "get" it. Now he is hurt and puzzled at being called out for mocking a human tragedy. He wonders what they are talking about.
@Yakker
clever. very good!
"TRAIL"
Enough said.
9
All the fine neo-Nazi tiki torch marchers and soon to be indicted offspring like Don Jr. get the racial animus that dribbles from the President's twitter account. Putin not only bought himself a loyal, dumb puppy but quite a twisted one too. Impeach, defeat, resist and purge, and/or all of the above.
12
Trump is to Jackson as a leech is to a bear.
3
Trump is an ignorant racist. So it should not come as a surprise when an ignorant racist makes ignorant and racist statements. It's a 'dog bites man' story. It would be a 'man bites dog' story if he were at all tolerant and inclusive.
I am not holding my breath.
7
Jackson is supposed to have said "John Marshall has made his decision: now let him enforce ti." Perhaps this supposed contempt of the Supreme Court is what appeals to Trump.
7
I think you may be giving Trump too much credit for knowing anything about Jackson or even much about American history. Maybe he likes Jackson only because he is on the $20 bill, the standard issuance at ATMs. He may not know there are higher denominations with the faces of more admirable people.
13
So when will the Republicans have had enough. Do many have such hate in their heart and still call themselves God fearing? I feel like the God has to fear the Republican party. Compassion is necessary to be a strong democracy. We cannot make ourselves great by hating everyone who looks and thinks differently. Choice is pretty simple. No matter the policy position of this administration, the supports will bear the burden of the history.
11
You are giving Trump too much credit to think Trump knows much about the "trail of tears" or was referencing native American genocide. His usage of the word "trail" more likely comes from movie westerns he grew up with. You project far too much racism into everything Trump says. At most he's racially insensitive. It is all starting to wear very thin and starting to backfire...which might explain why his poll numbers are rising.
16
@rpe123
OK. Fine. I hope that your attitude allows you to sleep peacefully at night; and, will allow you to look at your children and grandchildren in their eyes.
8
Thank you for this insightful, powerhouse column. I have studied Jackson, and you are right. It is telling that amidst his indifference and ignorance of our history, Trump focuses on that awful man.
The Cherokees took their case for their rights to their land all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. And they won! Jackson ignored that and abetted their loss of so much to some very greedy whites. A terrible crime and genocide that seems largely forgotten. Not, apparently, by Trump.
Chilling.
33
Thanks for another excellent column. This man we call the president probably knows nothing of these tragic historic events he seems to be referencing. However, his blatant racism is simply unacceptable to most of us and his enablers, that being most of the Republican party don't seem to care! These are indeed tragically regressive times for our country.
22
Trump views other human beings as most people view ants on an anthill. Large numbers of small and often inconvenient things scurrying around with little meaning or personal consequence . Is it any wonder then that he feels no compunction when it comes to belittling pretty much anyone ? Black people, brown people, old associates, or anyone who dares to express disapproval. They're all the same to our President Trump.
8
Like Donald the false billionaire. Jackson was a false winner over the British, he won the encounter, but was falsely credited with winning the War. They had already surrendered.
10
@John
And in that false win, he used Indians to fight the British. Indians her turned on later.
The Trump Administration will be remembered for tearing immigrant children from their parents arms and in some cases to never be reunited with them again.
He is giving Jackson a run for his money.
37
@C Lee...Obama's border guards did the same thing,and MORE OFTEN... Defend that,or accept it as necessary to combat an immigrant invasion,but don't lay it unilaterally on Trump.
When Warren claimed to be part Indian and we discovered you had to go six generations back to substantiate that claim, it was labeled an embarrassment
When Trump had Indian tribal chiefs visit the White House and had them stand in front of a portrait of Andrew Jackson, who was nicknamed the "Indian Killer", hardly any voices were raised against the obvious symbolism Trump wished to portray.
Now Trump is in El Paso displaying his obvious racism against brown people. And then there was the march in Charlottesville and his positive comments on the torch march.
This President does these things openly in the public and oh the holy outrage by Fox New when he and his supporters are labeled racist. We know that is not true. Wink Wink.
21
I always wanted to meet an American Indian. Finally I did when I asked my internist what nationality he was. I thought maybe he was Hawaiin but he said he was American Indian. He was one of the smartest dr.s I ever had. This land was their land first and we should respect that. It is harder and harder to listen to trump. He has "Diminished Mental Capacity" and we have to endure this sad presidency as we watch his staff and cabinet members have to be removed for corruption or be indicted. WE HAVE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THIS. There are 150 billionaires in Calif and they got a big tax cut and the rest of Californians are impoverished. Trump took care of the rest of billionaires across the country. And now he gives jobs to whoever is rooming in at Mar-a-lago. He is giving them ambassador jobs. It doesn't matter what their background is.
13
Quite right in denouncing Trump as a despicable discriminator, a big-mouth savage almost salivating when mentioning the brutal plundering of native indian land and the murdering of it's people 'a la Andrew Jackson', all in the name of avarice. But, given that this vulgar bully is shameless, no repentance, and even less a chance of an apology, can be expected. Quite frankly, if there were an ounce of decency...after a real look at the awful history of 'white' colonists invading and exploiting them, we should be paying reparations for the huge harm caused, and still being felt. History itself is dubious here, given that history is usually weitten by the victors, however partial and unjust. Do we need to ask Stormy Daniels to control Trump's insulting pattern, given she is immune to Trump's innuendos?
5
Trump may wish to emulate Jackson, but as always, context is everything. In Jackson's time, the population of the USA was roughly 23 million. It is now that plus over 300 million. Jackson's policies may have helped the white population to grow by clearing natives from their ancestral lands. Perhaps Trump thinks he can help the white population to grow by minimizing competition from brown and black people. If so, he is woefully mistaken, because America and the world have passed the era of easy growth. However, Trump's motivation may be more visceral and even more deluded. It's possible that his motivation is that of the dog in the manger: if he and his family can't have it, no one will inherit a peaceful and prosperous America.
6
Trump could not be Trump in the White House were it not for McConnell. And McConnell could not be majority leader in the Senate but for the GOP senators. And GOP senators could not be there to support the whole pyramid of nastiness were it not for voters--helped by various voter-suppression measures and dirty tricks. This nasty racism is a sad reality with broad support across America. Love conquers all? Not yet. I listen in vain for a voice from a Catholic pulpit that will offer a real Christ-like example of reconciliation.
10
Don't get me wrong I agree with Mr. Bouie's point. But in the sense of "Trump being Trump", I have my doubts that he has ever so much as heard of the Trail of Tears. Let's not forget he has been hearing a lot about Frederick Douglass lately and thinks he's doing a great job. While Trump is obviously a malicious character, he is also an ignoramus and he might be conflating some "Indian Trail" association with the campaign trail. I expect when he wrote it he chuckled to hims self and thought "I made a funny!" That is not to say he would not say something so horrible as what everyone thinks he meant. After all he has said many terrible things in the past and I expect we will hear more from him before he exits the stage. But in the case of anything he says as far as I am concerned when the possible motives are viciousness and stupidity I figure its a toss up.
9
Once upon a time we were dealing with Republican politicians who dog-whistled racism. Trump blew through that, and just started shouting, "Here, racism! That's a good boy. C'mere and I'll give you a treat."
Now he's (barely) dog-whistling massacres and mass ethnic cleansings. We are in deep, deep trouble.
7
Make America great again is a slogan used by Clinton and Regan. It is just a political slogan, trying to give it somehow a racist motive is an over analysis by black pundits to establish their credibility with folks like Al Sharpton and it won't help to form a perfect union. Trump calls Elizabeth Warren Pocahontas as a humor and she who claimed to have Indian heritage to advance her career deserve to be joked about it. I don't take it as an offence. I don't think Trump says it because he is a racist and he hates American Indians. Far from it. Accusing Trump of such a motive is a fringe analysis. To me it is just an unPC talk.
2
Jackson got his twenty.
Here's hoping Trump gets his.
11
Does Bouie or anyone on here know what a parody is? A parody is a spoof, a humorously exaggerated imitation of another.
Trump might be a generally offensive person, but his Warren comments are called parody. Warren pretended to be an Indian for about 3 decades to advance her career (including submitting a fake Cherokee recipe "Pow Wow Chow" for a faculty cookbook). Now Trump is parodying her by imagining what she should do next.
I think the Trump comments are generally un-presidential, but they are nonetheless quite funny, and not the least offensive to anyone but Warren and a whole bunch of liberal commentators with apparently no sense of wit.
6
Jamelle Boule is essentially telling Americans that their entire historical narrative is false. That may nor may not be true. But it's not a very effective political strategy.
3
@Mike Livingston Political strategy? I didn't know that a history lesson -- which, it seems, is needed more by the president and his delusional followers than most of the rest of us -- is a "political strategy." You really need to look at the definition of that term.
12
@Mike Livingston Did these things happen? Is he lying about the Trail of Tears or Wounded Knee? Of course not. If telling the truth about America's history -- that the country was founded on the twin pillars of genocide and slavery -- is somehow bad politics, then I'd argue the country is doomed to suffer vile buffoons like Trump until it's an irrelevant backwater again.
4
@Mike Livingston It's part and parcel of slavery, Jim Crow, , asian exclusion acts, Japanese internment, turning away ships of Jewish refugees during the 1930s, post-war redlining of community investment, and more Jim Crow on the people side, and the rape and reformat of the land on the physical side of the ledger. Europeans have been experimenting with racial engineering using live subjects since the first explorers set foot on this continent. They taught that when I went to high school, although one might have had to connect some of the dots on one's own.
4
Mr. Bouie, thank you for this beautifully written column.
Trump's snarky, unfunny reference to America's greatest shame is not surprising. Trump is a cancer that has metastasized throughout the Republican Party.
Instead of condemning him, Republicans mimic him. They embrace his xenophobia, his crudeness. His followers love his classlessness and stupidity. Trump is acting the way they wish they could.
23
@Blue in Green
Trump is a paper tiger.
He'll never accept that but the intelligent and sane people of the world have to visualize him that way and we'll laugh and keep our sanity.
Tigers are orange too, right? Even paper ones.
3
Trail of Tears ?
Is that the title of the book Mueller is expected to write ?
6
@New World: "America's Tears" is the name of Mueller's book that he will write only through his indictments.
3
How much longer will the American people be subjected to the racist rants of the ignoramus who happens to be President of the United States ? The contemporary " Trail of Tears" is the assault on the dignity, credibility, and competence, of the Oval Office by Donald Trump. The " Massacre at Wounded Knee " is the perfect metaphor for the slaughter of the truth that occurs every day of the Trump presidency. Andrew Jackson was a blatant racist and Native American genocidist. How fitting for his portrait to be in close propinquity to Donald Trump every day.
9
"He's the least racist person he knows". Wow, think about those friends.
6
Donald has gotten a lot of mileage out of the "Pocahontas" stuff so I look for that to continue. I don't understand his reason for broadening it with a reference to the trail of tears though. He may have some vague idea what the trail of tears was, but obviously gives no consideration to what it represents to Native Americans or anyone with an empathy gene. That particular Tweet may have come from Stephen Miller, who knows? He doesn't know when to quit though. I don't know that the same routine of name-calling and insults will continue to work for him. His base doesn't care, but the mid-terms should've shown him that it's wearing thin among many others.
7
I'm expecting that letter from Congressional GOP leaders to come any day condemning Trump's words and demanding he apologize to Senator Warren.
9
@Candlewick I hope you have gallons of wine to keep you company while you wait.
2
In spite of all his critics and 90% negative press the Rasmussen poll just was released after the State of the Union and shutdown and it showed Trump with 52% favorability - up 9% points from before the SOTU. Explain that?
4
@OldTimer
It’s Rasmussen. No credibility.
5
@OldTimer...could it be he does have the support of more than mindless,knuckle dragging,rabble?
@OldTimer
And...your point is what; that 52% who were polled like a Racist-In-Chief?
3
Some day we will have a person in the Oval Office who is worthy of being addressed as Mr. President or Ms. President.
18
@Tigerman... We have such a person NOW. Trump IS your President for the next 6 Years. Be Grateful.
@Tigerman
And one day the Presidency will return to one of respect and professionalism.
2
@CountyCorked. No, we do not. Not by any stretch of the imagination has Trump proven himself worthy of the office.
1
The quick answer is No.
Trump has no shame.
17
Chances are that the only things Trump knows about Jackson is that he's on the twenty and that in 1814 someone took a little trip along with Colonel Jackson down the mighty Mississip. It is entertaining to ponder what Jackson would have done to someone to said his father was an assassin and his wife was ugly. I don't believe that Trump was referring to the Trail of Tears because it is extremely unlikely that Trump has ever heard of the Trail of Tears.
6
I don't think we need to read too deeply into Trump's relationship with Elizabeth Warren. Standing in front of an Andrew Jackson portrait with Native American war veterans wasn't his idea. If anyone thought out that idea, it wasn't Donald Trump. More likely, the administration embraced the mistake once they realized racists were cheering.
Of course, Trump advocates would have cheered anyway. You could pose Trump in front of a Hannibal Lecter portrait and they are still going to cheer. "Look at that guy. He's so smart. He hasn't been made into a suit yet" or so Fox & Friends would "report." The bar is subterranean.
If not "Pocahontas," Trump would have just used something else. To borrow from a history teacher I once knew: "Trump can't be racist; he'll bigot anyone." Referencing the Trail of Tears is specifically genocidal and white supremacist. However, Trump also decided to associate a white Hispanic evangelical with the assassination of JKF.
Searching for meaning and forethought with Trump is something of an El Dorado. You can try but you won't find anything but misfortune. Better to accept him as a fake and a fraud and then move on. We don't want to overthink Donald J. Trump.
7
I'm running out of all available epithets to describe this hideous vulgarian on Oval Office.
Could it be the price our country is paying for pretty sinful history, that I'm learning more everyday, by watching great documentary that reveal this country past, that relentlessly hunting all of us...and in a way to guide us to start cleaning all mental underbelly of country's future vision, reverse the curse, start anew.
9
@faivel1. It's pretty much the price we're paying for 8 years of liberal nonsense under Obama! America is not the evil entity that revisionist historians would have you believe. An awful lot of decent,hard working Americans do support the current President. Going through life in blinders makes you blind to half the story.
Perhaps you can explain something to me. No matter what his policy positions are how could anyone cast their ballot for a man who claimed for years that President Obama wasn’t born in the United States? Who claimed to have seen Muslims celebrating in Jersey City on 9/11 despite the fact he never left Manhattan that day. Almost every single thing he said during the campaign was a bald faced lie. What reasonable person could imagine he was qualified to take on the most challenging job in the world. Even if Hillary Clinton was as crooked as a dogs hind leg ( and she certainly was not) at least she isn’t a barking lunatic.
Trump fully expresses the wishes of the Republican party of the last 50 years. Nothing shows it better than the view of old white men on the GOP side of the isle during the State of The Union. Whether it's blacks, native Americans. south of the border illegal immigrants, there is always some group that we are supposed to hate. Trump is just a more honest version of Nixon, Reagan, and Bush father and son. All who suggested "Those people" are destroying our country. Fortunately, the next generation is walking away from the GOP because at last, they have gone too far.
6
@terryg...You need to read more before you claim somebody has gone to far. Democrats cover the front pages and it isn't pretty.
1
General Jackson did a lot of horrific ruthless things of course but to put the entire blame on him for Americans awful treatment of native people that had been going on for a hundred or so years already and would for a hundred more sort of ridiculous. No mention he hated the British more and by crushing them outside of New Orleans guaranteed they wouldn't be back.
9
Trump is not worth it. He's a jerk, a liar, and incompetent. If he claims any credit for the shape of the economy he's deluding himself. Obama saved the country from disaster. Trump had zero to do with it.
23
@Nb...REAL economic figures would put your comments to the test. You are blinded by hatred and are failing to analyze FACTS.
1
It's important to put the scale of the betrayal that the Trail of Tears represented in its proper context.
The Cherokees who were displaced by Andrew Jackson had completely assimilated to southern culture; they lived in houses, spoke English, wore the same clothing as any householder or farmer of the period, and some even owned slaves. They had fulfilled every requirement that Thomas Jefferson had set out for the assimilation of the native peoples of North America a generation earlier.
That anyone would make illusions to this shameful act merely demonstrates their bestial nature.
Now, it is theoretically possible that Trump's use of the word TRAIL in his witless tweet was not a references to this genocidal incident; it could just be his way of again revealing his abominably low character and sensibilities.
I look forward to that moment in January 2021 when either Elizabeth or some other Democrat takes the Oath of Office, and Trump is forced to fully contemplate his monumental exposure to prosecution on both the state and federal level, and the strongly likelihood that he will end his miserable, worthless life both incarcerated and broke.
14
Matthew -- Don't be thick. Of course Trump meant to allude to the Trail of Tears. But of course he wasn't making fun of the Native Americans with that allusion. He was parodying Warren by imagining what egregious misappropriation she would engage in next, after having already pretended to be an Indian to advance her career for about 3 decades.
Funny, do you find Trump's parody offensive, but find Warren's actual submittal of a fake Cherokee recipe she called "Pow-wow Chow" to a faculty cookbook no big deal?
1
@Econ101
Don't be dense. It should be obvious by now that Warren more identified with the Native American heritage that she was assured by family that that she shared than that of a traditional white Anglo-Saxon Oklahoman.
She wouldn't have taken the DNA test unless she authentically believed she had Native American blood.
As for Trump, every New Yorker with a brain knows what a low life this man is, and has learned to expect the worst from him. I invite you Texans to take him once his prison sentences are ended, inasmuch as the vast majority of us want nothing whatsoever to do with him.
3
For sure, Mr. Bouie, well said and lots of good facts in your column. I keep thinking about Senator Warren and her Cherokee ancestry. I know lots of people who relish that part of themselves, even though the ancestry is in the distant past, the genes are pretty dilute, and their knowledge of native culture sketchy. Who cares, there’s romance, and heroism, and more than just plain old vanilla identity. If she thought her checking that box in any of her applications would get her anything significant, I’m sure she would have been pretty disappointed. Most of them I would guess involve face-to-face interviews, and any minority status would be questionable at that time, just looking at her and listening to her speak. Ethnic identity is an elective response in most applications and I would guess that in putting down Native American as a response she was not being particularly serious, given the discomfort many of us feel in answering the question. I wish Sen. Warren would point that out.
5
JB, what is it, with you? Everything Trump does, he does as a White Nationalist or White Supremacist. I would agree with you if you called him an American Supremacist or an American Nationalist. And you could count me in that group.
As for the President hitting Elizabeth Warren, for her earlier claims of being an American Indian, you say he is insensitive to the history of American Indians. Might Senator Warren be as insensitive, when she practiced her "cultural misappropriation" on those same people? Did it lead to her being an Affirmative Action hire? And, if Blackface in a year book is just an insult, Senator Warren's recipe to a cookbook, "Pow-wow Chow", used as proof of her Indian heritage, is just a bad joke without a punchline.
"https://elizabethwarrenwiki.org/pow-wow-chow-cookbook/"
4
@Mike A failed attempt to downgrade Trump's unAmerican views into nothing more than some "insensitive" comments.
Trump instinctively makes the mass expulsion and resulting murder of American civilians into a punch line for his own enjoyment, and it isn't because he's a socially inept doofus. It's because he doesn't see those American Indians as actual Americans, or the Trail of Tears as a tragic lesson for us.
There isn't any space between an "American Supremacist" and a "White Supremacist" when the world view doesn't include non whites except as problems or jokes. For that matter, when a death march is turned into an issue of "sensitivity".
1
@Mike
her family does have a historical connection to the trail of tears. Her ancestor was a member of the TN militia that rounded people up and put them on it. Then went to Florida to fight the Seminoles.
https://newsmaven.io/indiancountrytoday/archive/elizabeth-warren-s-genealogical-challenge-d6CwvV21j0i5Ctvuo6p_XQ/
An informational piece for the tone deaf. Anyone with a sliver of sensitivity and historical awareness can see through Trump's white supremacist linguistic morsels.
9
Trump isn't using "Pocohontas" or Trail of Tears or Wounded Knee as a racial slur against Native Americans Quite the opposite. He is saying that Warren is a socially and biologically white woman who has fraudulently appropriated the Native American history of victimization so she could benefit from affirmative action, or at least from some kind of racial cachet.
That being said, I am sure that Trump regards the Euro-American conquest of North America, a/k/a the Winning of the West, as a gloriously unblemished achievement. Bouie appears to have gone to the opposite extreme and regards all of American history before approximately 1965, not just the Confederacy, as being one step above the Nazis.
1
@JackCerf
From the standpoint of native Americans, it was as a bad as the holocaust and more deadly.
15
@JackCerf
Do you believe what you just wrote? Read it again, carefully, and ask yourself that question.
3
Native Americans and kidnapped Africans are the only ethnic groups in the US stripped of their cultures, families, minds (denied literacy), and capital for close to 400 years. Even the Holocaust over its 12 years and incineration of virtually all of European Jewry couldn't as thoroughly destroy Jewish culture. Remember that the colonization and economic foundation of US wealth was built on these indisputable facts. Reparations are not possible, but a society that's built on social obligations to one another is. The shallow libertarianism that underlies the Trumpian revolution denies all of this.
5
I suppose all of that mumbo jumbo made sense to the author, when he was typing it.
2
The bottom line is this: the president should be tackling more difficult issues our nation is facing (not enough space here to list them all), and instead he's either engaged in some ridiculous Twitter name-calling game, meeting with innumerable lawyers to keep him from being impeached or thrown into prison, holding campaign rallies off in some other state, lying about a crisis on the border or just watching TV. The American public is being shortchanged even if he isn't accepting a salary. He's being housed, fed, transported and protected with taxpayer money. Presumably some of it comes from the groups he ignores, heckles or disparages.
I don't want to know what his latest nickname for Elizabeth Warren, Jeb Bush or Jeff Bezos is. I want him to quit insulting my fellow Americans, and I want him to lead our country in a positive direction and not to this metaphorical cliff he's determined to go over. Is this too much to ask?
15
Si.
3
@furnmtz
You mean... you want a President with a shred of dignity? It's very odd. I was growing used to them.
It's tempting to ascribe motivation to others for what they have said or done. The reality is that motivation is largely a projection on someone else based on our own internal motivation. Does "Trail" mean "Trail of Tears"? Could it also evoke "Indian trails" common in New England,] or "Happy trails to you" ala Roy Rogers to those growing up in the 50s for many who have never had a comprehensive American history class that discussed the Trail of Tears. (It was common to teach American history in the 50s-70s only from the perspective of accomplishments and not cover anything (or to minimize) that detracted from American greatness.)
Trump's situation is more complicated. He probably is not well enough educated to know about the Trail of Tears, but has some inherent sense that "trail" is somehow a negative term. So he says it and figures that he can justify it as "Indian trail" vs "Trail of Tears" if anyone calls him on it before the next big news feed.
4
@Jao Trump put it in all caps to make sure you saw the word and couldn't be confused about his meaning.
Isn't it a little late to give Trump the benefit of an unreasonable doubt as if he were a normal president?
2
'hierarchies of race, gender and national origin even as they degrade life for most Americans, including many who think they benefit from them'
yes - reminds me of reading about inequality and the super-rich - or yesterday about the Saudi princess trapped in her mansion surrounded by servants and bodyguards.
Research found that inequality is not good for the rich - as it tends to mean they can't stroll down a public street and enjoy interacting with anyone - and actually limits their freedom to a gilded cage.
A friend once invited me to play golf with his friend from one of the richest families in the country. When I arrived in my old car I saw them exchange a few words, and my friend came over and said 'sorry - you can't play with us because my friend doesn't know you'.
Fear - when you are rich you can think others just want to take from you - that can limit your life.
6
I despise Trump, but I despise this column more.
Trump's popularity hovers around 50% because of hysteria like this column. When Trump mentioned the word "trail" in his tweet he clearly referred to the campaign trail. The decision to get hysterical and allude to an historical event I doubt Trump has ever heard of just makes Americans stop listening to the screeching background noise.
When Trump referred to countries like Haiti and Nigeria as s-holes he was clearly referring to how they are governed. Rather than being overtly racist it wasn't racist at all. Besides, aren't Presidents allowed to say things in private? Have you heard the Nixon tapes or what HRC has said about Jews in private? Do you know what LBJ did in office meetings?
When a Trump hating white supremacist shoots up a Synagogue and you blame it on Trump you cheapen the terms anti-Semitism and hate crime. White supremacists shot up the Holocaust Museum and a JCC in Kansas City after Obama humiliated Natanyahu and viciously criticized a democratic election in Israel because he didn't like the result. No one blamed Obama nor should they have.
There is much to criticize Trump for, but comparing the treatment of immigrants in detention centers where they're fed and provided medical care while their cases are being processed to Nazi selection at Auschwitz cheapens the Holocaust.
Trump never admired Andrew Jackson because of his crimes against Native Americans. Your hysteria is making Trump stronger.
8
@jkemp
Well first, The President's approval rating is near historic lows (37%) and his disapproval ratings near record highs (59%). ( or do you not follow Galup ? )
To characterize any editorials or any voices against the what the President has consistently done as ''hysteria'' is sort of proving the point the other way. Healthy debate is always welcomed in any Democracy. (especially one with guaranteed free speech within its Constitution)
This President has used his ''bully pulpit'' to literally bully people in every possible way, as well as being so divisive to so many groups of people.
A majority of Americans want him to stop.
57
@jkemp
Well first, The President's approval rating is near historic lows and his disapproval ratings near record highs. ( or do you not follow Galup ? )
https://news.gallup.com/poll/203207/trump-job-approval-weekly.aspx
To characterize any editorials or any voices against the what the President has consistently done as ''hysteria'' is sort of proving the point the other way. Healthy debate is always welcomed in any Democracy. (especially one with guaranteed free speech within its Constitution)
This President has used his ''bully pulpit'' to literally bully people in every possible way, as well as being so divisive to so many groups of people.
A majority of Americans want him to stop.
3
@jkemp 1) the TRAIL comment has been making the rounds in right-wing circles in reference to the trail of tears and that's why Trump used it an capitalized it. He 100% wanted his base to understand it as such a reference. See also, Don Jr.'s reply of "Savage". 2) The reference to s-hole countries was clearly not about their governance, but about the people. Otherwise, he wouldn't object to people migrating from there. See also, his comment that everyone in Haiti has AIDS. 3) No one says that the detention centers are literally like concentration camps. That said, the gov now says we won't be able to reunites 1000s of kids with their parents making the Trump admin literal kidnappers and this was all deliberate cruelty. 4) No one in 2019 with an even remote undeestanding of US history should claim to admire Jackson. Trump picked him to admire for that very reason.
10
Like the winter weather of the northern Great Plains and upper Midwest, Trump's constant verbal abuse of people--both individuals and groups--is oppressive and exhausting. It inspires an almost irrational rage in me because so much of his punching is downward at people with far less power.
I said out loud at the dinner table last night something that I never thought I'd voice: I am pessimistic about our future. I don't worry about policies or laws--they can be rewritten--but I am deeply concerned about our culture...about the way that Trump promotes hate and has destigmatized cruelty and abuse of all sorts. Yes, it motivates activists and creates some energy for coalitions, but those groups could be working on other important issues if they weren't constantly trying to hold (or retake) ground that was won at great cost over the past 30 to 50 years. And yes, I am using "battle" terminology because (unfortunately) I feel like those who I ally myself with (POC, the poor, children, people with disabilities, working people, Indigenous people, the LGBTQ community) are under constant attack from the very person charged with the great responsibility of promoting their welfare through the just and effective administration of the federal government.
38
I usually write disapproving comments of most of the pieces attacking Trump in the Times, on the grounds that the pitch of complaints here is so sustained and constant, that it becomes like white noise- it all sounds the same and lacks impact. I urge the Times to use restraint, reserve its big guns for big game, and wait patiently in the thicket for the right moment to fire, rather than making a non-stop barrage morning noon and night.
But this article is an exception. The genocide of Native Americans is a great, shameful and evil crime, and every American, including myself, continues to benefit from it. We all therefore bear responsibility for it. Anyone with the callousness to joke about it is in grave
moral peril. That a President should do
so at this point in history, when we know the truth about what happened is grievous shame to him and to our country, which elected him. We can not, on pain of retribution from Justice, allow such discourse to air unchallenged.
This is not political posturing about Elizabeth Warren. It is about an attitude towards the atrocities on which our present prosperity is based, and our responsibility to conduct ourselves with great consciousness of the truth that what we did to others may one day be done to us.
44
@Mr. Little: Well said, up to a point. Perhaps you've visited a S. Dakota or New Mexico reservation recently? But more to the point: save big guns for big game? Trump is surrounded by an army of small vermin who amplify his message of greed and his nasty racism. They deserve no mercy from commentators. Trump's daily dose of rottenness should no longer be normalized, or as C.P. Snow put it, domesticated.
9
Trump is a nasty bully who makes it okay for nasty bullies to vocalize their true feelings. I can't wait until he and his cronies get their just desserts.
21
@EMiller The upside, you didn't have to wait 35 years to see it in a yearbook.
How low can Trump go with his Make America White Again ? Turns out he’s a bottomless pit.
15
@Dr K
He might be, but simple demographics are taking over, so that the United States will be a majority minority country within just a few election cycles. There is nothing that the President or his base can do about that.
What will finally be the breaking point (to the fever) will be when Democrats are firmly in control with super majorities so that they can implement policies that benefit all, (and not just all of one kind)
Then people will see what things truly can be like.
13
@FunkyIrishman...is that what you want? A minority white America where the Democrats are in strict control? Doesn't sound too Democratic to me ! Read the news! The ideas and policies of Obama's party are socialist nonsense heavily tainted with racial and anti-semetic overtones. Wouldn't co-operation toward mutual goals be a better solution? Yours is a recipe for civil war. A civil war that the left cannot ever win.
@CC
I can appreciate you want to put words in me mouth or aspire to know exactly what I believe and are thinking, but let me correct your comment.
I want there to finally be a trying out of actual Liberal policies (not nonsense) where all benefit in the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness. The United States is already a Socialistic country. (VA socialized health care, Social Security and Progressive taxation - albeit with loopholes)
I am obviously against racism, and anti-semetic views (wherever they come from) and am not for any armed conflict.
You describe a civil war, but what many would call standing up for the human rights would be standing up for equality and what the founding father had in mind.
It is not about who ''wins'' but rather that all live in a society that has the potential for anyone to succeed.
Regards.
3
Everything Bouie cites in his column as some Trump atrocity is actually ... funny. And quite devastating to Warren.
Each and every statement is not belittling or offensive to Native Americans ... it makes fun of Warren's masquerade as a Native American. Every comment is a projection onto Warren of what Trump imagines Warren doing or saying ... as an extension of a fraud she already committed.
In case this explanation isn't clear enough, let me really spell it out: Warren made up a Cherokee recipe, called "Pow Wow Chow," and submitted it to a faculty cookbook while pretending to be Native American herself. In doing so, she belittled the plight of every Native American and made a mockery of affirmative action programs meant to correct past wrongs. It is THIS OFFENSE, OF WARREN'S, that Trump is mocking.
If Dick Blumenthal ran for president, Trump would mock him by calling him Colonel Blumenthal or Major Dick, or the like. Does anyone seriously believe that would be offensive to our military?? Of course not, it would merely mock Blumenthal's stolen valor.
It is actually amusing to read these serious sounding critiques, which totally miss the point (or humor) of Trump's anti-Warren missives.
5
Fascinating projection, but no Trump does not think as you suggest, although he'd gladly appropriate these ideas if needed. His statements never have more than surface irony that he will repeat and remind listeners of, in his meta references to himself as authority. He uses them because he gets a reaction from the crowd, never really understanding any deeper meaning.
10
Sorry, but Trump is the least humorous president ever. Nothing he ever says is even slightly funny. Nothing...Sad!!!
6
@Econ101,WOW! You either didn't read the article very closely or you can only read through a right wing filter. The fact that you found anything humorous in this article says a lot. Trump is a big fan of Andrew Jackson who persecuted native Americans and stole their land, forcing them on a death march. Deplorable!
9
You’re writing for the New York Times now; you don’t have to do the cheap sensationalism to attract readers.
2
Our National Imbecile will not let go of this "nickname." Of course he won't. He's childish, and "nicknames" like this work with his childish, embittered, racist, cretinous supporters. All of this is an insult to Native Americans. But get used to it: this idiot's gonna employ this tactic big time in '20. If he doesn't resign in disgrace first.
15
I find the notion of European-American supremacy or white nationalism, if you will, quaint and destined for the dustbin of history.
One need only to take a look at how America's demographic landscape has changed in the last 25 years to know this. For the first time in our history we have many women of color elected to Congress.
In the face of nativism and xenophobia immigrants will find their way to this nation leading to an America that will no longer be majority European-American.
The projected Latino population of the United States for 2050 is 132.8 million people, or 30.2% of the nation's total population.
We are well on our way to a much more ethnically and culturally diverse nation.
12
@Ricardo Chavira..ever been to Mexico? Puerto Rico?,Republica Dominicana ? How is bringing a culture of lawlessness and poverty going to enhance ours?
So sick of this dumb brute, who with his vicious lies continue to divide the county, without considering the lives and safety of american citizens.
His everyday drumbeat of evil nonsense never stops, and people who listen and trust him also read National Enquirer and all this trash that AMI selling.
Start reading books, plenty of libraries around the country, believe me they're pack with real treasures, that could definitely make all of us a better people.
Don't buy rubbish at the news stand, save your brains.
15
Donald Trump has held up a mirror to our collective selves and fortunately, based on his poll numbers, and the midterm elections, and in spite of a booming economy, the majority of Americans have turned away in disgust.
As appalling as DT is, we have made lemonade from some of his lemons:
1. We are reminded of our bloody history of enslavement and genocide which we should not forget. Americans love the John Wayne honorable cowboy myth when the truth is closer to Cormac McCarthy's "Blood Meridian". Remembering history can help us stop repeating it.
2. DT has invigorated the Left and more people are paying attention to policy and politics than in the past.
3. It is eye-opening to realize how many friends support him and their reasons for doing so. Obama was the first polarizing figure, but Democrats didn't realize how much, until 63 million people thought it was okay to elect a shameless, indecent, bigot, racist and pathological liar as our president and make him the most POWERFUL man in the world. It illustrates how far we have to go to live up to our stated American values but knowing how far we have to go is the first step.
67
@Michelle
What a brilliant comment. Bravo. So many did indeed vote out of tribe and out of self for a perceived tax cut.
So many now are disillusioned with still a lack of health care, a loss of their income/way of life through republican trade wars and policies, and a meager tax cut that sunsets for them with the permanent bulk going to rich and corporations.
Progressives showed we can win big and win anywhere. All we have to do is hold up that mirror to all. (as you say) We do have work to do.
Rolling up sleeves...
25
@Michelle
What a brilliant comment. Bravo. So many did indeed vote out of tribe and out of selfishness for a perceived tax cut.
So many now are disillusioned with still a lack of health care, a loss of their income/way of life through ridiculous trade wars and policies, and a meager tax cut that sunsets for them with the permanent bulk going to rich and corporations.
Progressives showed we can win big and win anywhere. All we have to do is hold up that mirror to all. (as you say) We do have work to do.
*rolling up sleeves...
1
@Michelle well said, bravo!
1
First of all to use the genocide of the Trail as Tears as something to be proud of in our history as Trump does is beneath contempt. It is equivalent to being proud of our racist slavery past and to Germans being proud of death camps as some far right Germans seem to be.
Secondly, this account leaves out certain facts. The Cherokee Nation had made every attempt to integrate themselves into American society and were relatively wealthy. The theft of their property was done through choosing 'Cherokees' that did not represent any part of the group called the Cherokee Nation. The Trail of Tears was the use of racism to steal property from legitimate owners and it resulted in the death of untold thousands of people betrayed and marched across the nation without food or water. It is hard to look at the face of Andrew Jackson on our bills with this in mind and that Trump venerates him is not surprising, but supremely disgusting.
33
Donald Trump has descended almost to the level of a mass shooter killing a large group of African Americans or Jewish people hoping to start a "race war" that will make the whites rise up and take their country back. He truly believes that the 30% of America, the low intelligence, ignorant racists that are his true believers will rise up and save America. The next two years will decide if America will heal itself and return to it's status as a world leader or be dragged backwards into the 1850's world of Jackson. I believe the 70% of us who believe Trump is a last gasp aspiration of a dying ideology will prevail and we'll cast these throwbacks onto the trashpile of history.
14
@markd...Your 70% figure is over inflated. Many Trump supporters do not fit into the mold you would cast them in. Many business owners,small or large, are among his supporters ,as well as those blue collar workers that keep this country running. Know your enemy or be defeated!
"We don’t need further evidence of Trump’s cruelty or racism. "
Sorry, Jamelle, you sure do, because what you described is neither.
What you described, is Trump - in his typically snappish way - making political hay of a claim that Elizabeth Warren made about native American heritage that turned out to be false, and nothing more.
Just because you say something is racist doesn't make it so.
Especially when you have a documented history of exxageration and distortion in order to furtherthe progressive left agenda.
And if you get in the habit of spinning false narratives about race you're going to lose what little credibility you have left after this ridiculous piece.
3
@Objectivist
Educate us as to what is false about the narrative, please.
1
Jackson has the excuse of being a creature of his time; Trump is just a bigot. Also, if not for Jackson we would all be British. Perhaps you'd prefer that.
2
Re: "...The president, channeling his hero Andrew Jackson, continues to champion a particularly virulent form of reactionary white majoritarianism..."
Andrew Jackson is NOT a 'hero' in the eyes of this U.S. citizen_voter!
Although I am NOT a member of any Native American tribe, I frequently, wear a t-shirt displaying Geronimo, Cochise, and 1 other Native American hero, (who's name escapes me, presently...), with the slogan: "Homeland_Security, since 1492!", under it!
As an American citizen-voter, Trump's / Pence's never, ending, ('religiously, excused')...racism, sexism, and bigotry are an unsurpassed, (one, of 100's, of...), scandal(s)!
When I hear this presidential_usurper refer to Sen. Warren as 'Pocahontas', I'm reminded: the historic individual known, as 'Pocahontas' would've been ridiculed, in exactly the same way, by Amerika's, (Neo_Nazi_admiring), imbecile-president!
While I won't put words in her mouth, I CAN imagine the historic Pocahontas, (...reincarnated), standing with Sen. Cortez, (D-NY), demanding Trump be impeached / removed / prosecuted, were she enabled to trade places with Sen. Warren!
7
@R.G. Frano It is clear that Trump is a racist. Why else would he want to build a wall on our southern border, but to stop new peoples from sharing their culture with us. It's a good thing for America and the world Trump wasn't the leader of the native American tribes, when the English and Dutch landed on the East coast in the 1600's.
"Stop. Hold it right there. Get back on your boats. Nobody is staying. We can't just let you people start roaming around."
"We have come to these shores, to bring diversity to the New World."
"Nope. No thank you. We have plenty of diversity here. We have the Mohawks, Cheyenne, Creek, Algonquins. We have them all. Wonderful tribes. So, no, we don't need anymore diversity. Thank you. Buh bye."
I'm surprised Trump didn't express admiration for Jackson's "luxurious" slave quarters. Davy Crockett left Tennessee for Texas because of Jackson's treatment and eviction of the Native Americans in Tennessee and the Southeast.
Lisa Johnson Billy, a Chickasaw woman who served 12 years in the Oklahoma House of Representatives, the first woman, the first Native American and the first Republican to do so from the district she lives in and represented. She has made a number of videos that relate the trials, the tribulations, and the triumphs of her native ancestors. Republican, she may be, but I do not see her as a supporter of Donald Trump. Her video on Crockett and his stand against Jackson's forcible removal of Native Americans to Oklahoma is found here:
https://www.chickasaw.tv/episodes/our-history-is-world-history-season-4-episode-1-davy-crockett-an-early-supporter-of-tribal-sovereignty
That Trump has Twitter followers expressing admiration for the very real genocide that eradicated many tribes entirely and reduced hundreds of others to a mere handful souls says volumes about the racism that rages in his base.
11
Dissecting the terrible few letters of a Tweet is part of the problem because the issue isn't so much that trump capitalized "TRAIL" but more so because we all are responding to it.
He no doubt is the first president to have a Twitter writer because this proves most certainly one thing, that what trump is thinking gets pre-washed into something really Twitter worthy.
I doubt for a moment that Trump has at his sleeve any actual understanding or knowledge of American Indian history. To presume so is a wild step. At best he remembers the Disney film Pocahontas. So clearly, perhaps more than any other Tweet, someone is writing this stuff for him.
And that is the really big story here. We presume that trump is the author of all his Tweets and Twits. But what if that simply isn't true. What if behind each and every blast there is some Dick Cheney like person modifying the message. Sure they'll run it by their boss as to not get blamed, but I doubt for a moment that an all capitals word TRAIL written by someone with agenda would have been scrubbed by 45 without an iota as to why those five letters were capitalized.
The real investigative reporting from here on should be about who is actually drafting the trump Tweets.
4
Having always been a petty elitist grifter who would preach anything to sell anything (but never put any of his money where his foul mouth is), Trump is a white opportunistic racist. He knows that if he can capture what is the present white majority vote he can win an election - or a TV rating like he did on that offensive reality show. He doesn’t care about the issues, only how they will put more money in his pocket and scam his following. He is as far from being a president as anyone can be in his hate- and fear-mongering divisive infantile narcissistic politics.
We ALL know this. What I cannot understand is why about 36% of the voting population is willing to forego any or all values they might have (“might” being the operative word here) for an amoral grifter running a criminal enterprise out of the White House. How will they explain this to their children and how do they justify this to their deity, if they have one?
9
The new Trump "Trail of Tears" has nothing to do with Elizabeth Warren, but everything to do with Hispanic immigrants seeking refuge here from drug-gang rape, murder, and other acts of violence. For Trump to instill fear of those criminals while hypocritically attacking their victims with "zero tolerance" that kidnaps their children and incarcerates them in detention facilities that are more like inhumane concentration camps is a "crime against humanity." His misplaced hero-worship of a cruel and callous president and his policy of ethnic cleansing nearly two centuries ago has only Made America Gruesome Again.
8
Pretty soon, Trump will have chickens living in the White House just like Jackson did.
1
Why a whole op-Ed when you could’ve said what is commonly known in four words? “Donald Trump is racist.”
6
Trump is a twitching nerve. Stimulus-response. He simply craves that endorphin hit and will say and do anything to get it. And like any addict, the more he does it, the more he needs it.
Forget about parsing his words too closely. He has no idea what he's talking about or any conception of history, democracy, human rights or any other high level concepts, just...stimulus-response.
4
@Clyde...you underestimate the man who sits in the Oval Office AND is a multi-millionaire. He will be your President for the next 6 years. Would you seriously choose Elizabeth Warren or Kamala Harris over him?
I guess Trump admires Jackson, but I'm willing to bet he has never read a single biography of the man, or a single book of American history. Or the presidency. Maybe not even Dick and Jane.
10
@PubliusMaximus
He never even read “The Art of the Deal”
3
Loving your voice in these pages--an additional note about Jackson is that he relied on the Cherokees to defeat the Crees and save his own life during the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1814 ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Horseshoe_Bend_(1814) ), promising the Cherokees they'd be spared once the so-called fruits of Manifest Destiny were 'delivered'---and of course, Jackson wasted no time reneging on that promise--enacting the Indian Removal Act when he became the 'Great White Chief,' while also seeing to it their camps were destroyed and looted when they returned from the battle.
10
Trump is worse than a racist. He is trying to inflame racism from all sides, just as the Russian bots have with such success.
If he can’t divide the country or engage it in a military or race war as cover before he gets indicted, Putin will cut him loose and feed him to the dogs.
6
Times Mr. Bouie has established himself as quite the tiresome Johnny One Note. We get it - white people, especially of the old, straight, male variety - are and always have been inherently evil. But how about touching on another topic just once to show you can? Perhaps a piece about the virulent anti-Semitism in some quarters of the black community. Maybe something about Louis Farrakhan or Ilhan Omar? I suppose you could knock me over with a feather if that ever happened - but I am certainly not holding my breath waiting for it.
2
Had Jackson lived and acted as he did in the 20th century, he would have been dragged to The Hague and tried for genocide
3
I'm not so sure that the Trail of Tears even registers as a blip in Donnie's thinking. It's only more of his pathetic school yard bully nonsense.
2
Trump has no clue what the "trail of tears" was. He is a total cretin when it comes to history.
3
My Grandmother, born 1885 to a farm family, recalled to me watching an “Indian” family, a Native American man, with wife & baby riding on horseback, walking to his designated reservation. I recall her describing their look of poverty & grim expression. Fast forward to the end of the 20th Century. The good factory jobs in Southern Wisconsin, in Western Illinois are gone. Factory workers never recovered.
If Trump’s factory people could relate to down & out minorities, instead of looking down on them and wanting them out, would our America would be better off?
But Dems can’t seem to make that connection either.
2
One day, we hope, there will be no more forgotten men (or women) in our country, although turning trump into the last forgotten "man" would be okay with me.
6
The writer glosses past the fact that Jackson lost the right to resettle First Nation's Citizens in a Supreme Court decision that he simply, illegally, ignored and refused to enforce. That's the sort of thing his successor, #45, is likely to do; ignore any laws or court decisions he doesn't wish to comply with. The displaced citizens were not 'coerced' onto the Trail of Tears. They were FORCED. Illegally.
13
@Amber "... ignore any laws or court decisions he doesn't wish to comply with..." You just described most of the Republican Party.
1
Several years ago, a Wisconsin public radio show had a guest who was discussing his book about Pres. Jackson.
A conservative caller started ranting about how we don't hear much about the Battle of New Orleans these days, out of an excess of political correctness, etc. etc. Unfortunately the program ended before anybody could explain that it's because that battle was irrelevant, being fought after the war ended.
It's probable that Mr. Trump is most familiar with the names of his predecessors who are on U.S. currency; he may assume that distinction means they're the ones who matter. Moreover, a mind that has spent 50 years focusing on real estate winners and losers, is unlikely to empathize with the victims of the enormous land swindle(s) that became the geography of the U.S.
But racism is racism, whether from ignorance, deliberate malice, or any other motivation. Once Mr. Trump tossed "Pocahontas" into the dialogue, he forfeited any presumption of innocence based on his historical illiteracy.
Being hurtful is one of his weapons, and he's never yet voluntarily relinquished one.
9
@Grennan...The Battle of New Orleans was NOT irrelevant ! The War of 1812 was decided before it was fought,but the British Army was so badly beaten in that battle,that they decided to NEVER take on the young American nation again.
When Democrats have to harken back to events almost 200 years ago to support their assertions of majoritarian oppression it's more proof (if more were needed) that they have no new ideas and just keep beating the same old war drums to excite their followers; they certainly don't convince anyone else or make new converts to their cause.
1
@Ronald B. Duke
Sorry, Ronald, but i think you have it in reverse; it is the Republicans who keep trying to live in the past.
They do not seem able to embrace the diversity of contemporary America or to accept any responsibility whatsoever for the omnipresent effects of the sins of America's forefathers. Many families and lives were 'broken' by slavery and our native American policies in the past, just as they are now - yet the Republican party that is constantly claiming the moral & ethical high ground with regard to Christian family values refuses to live up to even the most fundamental obligations of human decency according to the Golden Rule: do for others what you would have them do for you and yours. Why is that such a difficult proposition for the GOP? Surely, Jesus would think of something much less mean-spirited and lacking in faith than to build concrete walls and lock children in prisons away from their parents. Is America really so lacking in imagination and so paralyzed by phobias of the unknown? Have we become that diminished? Are we not now prosperous enough to embrace magnanimity of heart, mind, and soul - especially considering where much of that wealth has come from.
7
@Ronald B. Duke
We interrupt this alternative reality for a news bulletin: Sorry, but Trump went there first. You don't get to invoke the name of a infamously genocidal general without owning an affinity for his most infamous acts.
2
Trail = campaign trail. I doubt Trump has the intellectual depth for it to mean something connected to a relatively obscure historical event.
3
@GC
That's what he hired Stephen Miller for. Likewise the winking reference in the State of the Union to a "crusade," an even more loaded and obvious allusion.
1
I suspect that discriminatory landlord Trump sees Native Americans as undesirable tenants who needed to be evicted from their homes.
4
The largest mass execution in US history was the simultaneous hanging of 38 Dakota warriors in Mankato, MN, on the day after Christmas, 1862. President Lincoln had reduced that number from 303. By the next day, some bodies had been surreptitiously exhumed and at least one was used for anatomical studies by doctors whose last name was Mayo.
5
Funny how Trump has a nickname or something derogatory to say about almost anyone who doesn’t share his knighted heritage. Because, of course, his ancestors came over on the Mayflower, or descended from heaven.
6
Although I was born in Minneapolis, I was raised from the age of 2 in Montana, near the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, on the eastern front. When my two children, a year apart, aged 5 & 6, on one of our many trips to camp, and fish, in that part of Montana, I gave them their first history lesson, in 1978, that our government took this land away from the Indians, as they observed the children riding bareback on their ponies, right near them, as we sat on the banks of a fishing pot hole, at Heart Butte. At about the same time in history, Fred and Donald Trump were sued in New York, because they refused to rent apartments to blacks. Even though the government won, and they had to pay fines, they continued this behavior, and were sued again, but one of their onsite landlords, had joined the government because he had been fired after he dared to rent to an African American couple. It is only through the education of our children about any issue that will change the attitudes, and practice, in this country!
4
Kudos to mr Jamelle Bouie for his courageous stand ,calling the president's views for what they are ,and not mincing words. The damage president Trump is inflicting upon America and more importantly upon Americans, will only start becoming apparent in all its calamitous dimensions in the years ahead,in the same way that we are presently benefitting from the tremendous economic recovery planned and implemented by president Obama ,under the lazy ,self agrandizing careless watch of his successor.
So ,eventhough it may be interesting from a Historian's perspective to draw a parallel between Jackson and Trump,it is doing too much credit to the latter ,and he would probably in his usual perverted way find the comparison flattering.
It seems to me that mr Bouie's major contribution with this op-ed is to focus our attention on the fact that such a president can continue to find supporters in this ,the greatest democracy of the planet. The disturbing question raised by this op-ed is:who the H...l are these million of American citizens who manage to remain so thrilled by a leader ,whose main accomplishments have been being bailed out repeatedly by his dad,cheated his multiple wives shamelessly,and installed the most unstable executive branch in the History of the country????????
The answer my friends is blowing in the wind.
4
Trump's love of Andrew Jackson seems about right. Both are low-empathy individuals, we know that Trump has Narcissistic Personality Disorder, and it's not a huge stretch to think that certain historical figures like Jackson or Mussolini did as well.
The question is: Why do so many people get duped by these sorts of so-called leaders? What is in it for them?
Trump is merely the imbecilic leader of his 63 million-strong army of brainwashed and xenophobic fellow citizens. It's they that should really concern us.
4
The assumption that Native Americans deserve ownership of the USA simply because they were here "first" is a bit odd to me. Ownership of anything is rarely decided by expedience alone. You own something once you have the capacity to defend it, either through laws (i.e. patents) or physical defense (i.e. security cameras). "So, Johnny, what you're saying is that someone could just stroll into America today and take it?" Absolutely! and that's precisely why we maintain such a strong military. When you have something precious that everyone wants (i.e. freedom, capital, etc) it must be closely guarded or it will not survive.
9
@Johnny
Fair enough, but what if treaties that were signed (in good faith) are just disregarded ? What if policies in lieu of those treaties (for compensation) are further just ignored? What if (on top of all of that) there is systematic discrimination in every single way ?
I suppose I (and many others) would just like some semblance of fairness in relation to all of the above . (let alone stop using an entire people for code words, and still trying to divide)
Especially from the leader for us all.
(not just all of one kind)
30
@Johnny
If I understand your reasoning, Hitler was fully justified in brutally taking ownership of Europe. The Wehrmacht was stronger than the military forces that resisted, so Nazi Germany would have been above reproach had it been able to retain control.
34
@Johnny
So, are you saying Native Americans deserved to be turfed out, to make room for invaders against whom Natives had, at first, no firearms?
"Survival of the best armed", huh? Sounds like the law of the jungle, which, I grant you, has been in force for much of human history. Still, that sort of law has come to seem a bit primitive to some among us ...
Is there really no other way human beings can solve their differences, slake their acquisitive lust? How about negotiation, cooperation, agreement to learn to live side-by-side, without one side blowing the other to bits, then forcibly resettling the survivors?
Note that the European settlement of N America, Australia, New Zealand, etc., is an issue quite distinct from that of a modern nation state maintaining muscle so as not to be pushed around by those they see as international bogey-people.
Europeans arrived on land that was already settled, just not by (a) nation state(s). Those europeans proceeded, rapaciously, to DE- then RE-settle it themselves. There was no question of the original occupiers of the land all longing for anything even vaguely resembling the ideals of the white invaders -- "freedom, capital," etc. They simply wished life to continue, as they had known it -- the option, in other words, not to be slaughtered or forcibly resettled to unfamiliar, inhospitable environments.
Have you ever heard of the 'right' to something -- life, for example -- and how that might differ from 'might'?
14
Trump wants to create an atmosphere of chaos and panic that allows him to act more forcefully (sending troops), speak more rashly (terrorists are coming!), and present himself as the country’s savior (apres moi, le deluge). He’s a grandstanding nationalist who has finally found his calling: to preserve white dominance in the United States and prevent the country from becoming part of a multicultural world.
It’s also a patently racist strategy, though Trump himself doesn’t care what color you are as long as you show absolute loyalty to him. It’s racist not only because of the anti-minority animus that it generates. It’s racist because the only way Trump and the GOP can win is through racial gerrymandering and voter suppression in non-white communities.
The Trump administration’s game plan is clear for the next two years. Trump has found the one issue that can unify his domestic and foreign policies. These slurs are only the latest example of the president’s efforts to use fear and racism to galvanize his base. By 2020, voters will be deciding not just who occupies the White House. They’ll be voting on what it means to be an American.
18
Trump may be a racist but I can't help but think that he is just too ignorant to have even been aware of the "Trails of Tears" and the forced relocation in the 1830's of Native American tribes to what became northeastern Oklahoma. It's equally unlikely that any of his twitter fans were aware of that either.
My guess is that Trump, or whoever writes his tweets, was making a pun, using the word "trail" in "campaign trail" to also refer to his opinion that Elizabeth Warren has no chance of beating him and that she will "trail" him or the other Democratic Presidential candidates during the campaign, as in "trailing" in the polls. Then again, even that pun may be over his head.
6
@Jay Orchard
Or more simply, Trump associates the word "trail" with "Indian trail" not the Trail of Tears
2
@Jay Orchard
I share you thoughts. He is just too ignorant and dense to make a purposeful connection. My hunch is that American history was not his best subject.....nor English, nor civics, nor economics......
2
@Jay Orchard
Right about now, Stephen Miller is shaking his head and laughing - at your expense. Gotta say, that guy earns his paycheck.
I continue to give thanks for the turn towards scholarly and objective in the Times' hiring of Jamelle Bouie. I also greatly enjoy Thomas Edsall for the same reason.
5
Every time I find myself thinking that the man has no redeeming characteristics, that there is no one less deserving of respect, that he hasn’t a shred of decency, and that he has the maturity of a four-year-old, I have to repeat to myself: he’s mentally ill, he’s mentally ill, he has a brain disease, he isn’t entirely at fault.....and the anger and disgust subsides a little.
4
Another total nonsense editorial - a false narrative that is being echoed, amplified and broadcast among "progressives" starting with MSNBC, democrat politician and left wing political group solicitation spam and mindless social media . Use occam's razor in your logical process - you are more likely to be correct that way. These types of editorials generate a huge amount of divisiveness. Anyone non-ideological and reasonable will reject them, but too many at not that way.
@sh
Trump himself chooses to glorify Jackson. You can't gaslight that away.
2
@sh: What do you mean?
@Davide
irrelevant - and overplayed with regards jackson - more MSNBC, and democrat donation solicitation spam - they are probably making lots of money off this. As many others have noted in this comment section, trump was unlikely to have the knowledge of trail of tears before he tweeted. the most parsimonious logic is always best He most likely meant campaign trail, nothing more - to spell it out for those who do not get it. Perhaps he also pushed the upper case button on his phone inadvertently - I do it regularly.
Like Jackson has his detractors vis a vis Native Americans (I am one) our other great populist President, F.D.R., has suffered insinuation of antisemitism for turning a relatively blind eye to Jewish needs for immigration during the Holocaust. His wife Elanor was probably antisemitic according to some eminent writers.
Great leaders with big imperfections take it on the chin. However, critics can take their message of "meta-textual reference" to northern Michigan or Wisconsin and see if they can gather a crowd that is not just there to drag them off the podium and throw them into Canada, where their political correctness counts for more than laughs. Ironically I am sure this author opposes Sanders, and it has nothing to do with the fact that he's an elderly Jew, oh no that has no import.
This author has his job because he buys into the post modern schlock that allows identity to overrule individualism and political correctness to overrule common sense. You can't win elections with that. Btw I'm a Democrat.
1
@CK
Btw I'm a Martian. Take me to your Leader. . . on second thought. . . .
1
Bouie's historical imagination is running away with him. Their is absolutely no way that President Trump thinks about what he is tweeting at any given moment. If anybody believes what Bouie is referring to about Trump's tweets/thoughts then I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.
2
@Donald
That's why Trump hired Steve Bannon and Stephen Miller. All three must be grinning and laughing at such naivete. Even Trump's own supporters are proudly touting Saturday's reference. Your assertion is indefensible. Would you also claim that his emphatic enunciation of "crusade" in the State of the Union was a coincidence?
President Trump is known to loathe reading - anything. To suddenly credit him with knowledgeable venom would suggest greater competence than he has demonstrated these past two years. He speaks with the savoir-faire of a 5th grade bully. To wit, I think many are looking through their eyes as opposed to the President's limited vision when crediting him with historically based racist venom. Not that the President isn't up to it - if only he liked to read.
4
@Anita
Take peek through Stephen Miller's eyes. Clearer now?
You give him too much credit, Jamel. I sincerely doubt that the President knows what the Trail of Tears is.
7
@Kate
No need. Stephen Miller has that base covered.
well said. the cherokee tried their hardest to get along with the white population, but there was gold in their lands, and so they were driven out.
2
Great points in this article, but I think it misses two aspects of Trump that have a lot to do with the despicable things he says in approval of Native American suppression and genocide.
First, we must always keep in mind that Trump is very unintelligent. He never thinks before he speaks, he never considers the impact of his tweets, he seems barely to have a concept of past or future, everything is just his vast self-infatuation in the present.
Second, he doesn't care about anyone except himself. He's cheated on all three wives, he spends no time at all with three of his children, and as soon as any "friend" is inconvenient he pretends he never met them.
So I think Trump is saying some really horrible things here, but he really doesn't have much of a clue as to what he's saying. Genocide means nothing to him, it's just people who aren't him getting killed. History means nothing to him, as he's got only a very foggy idea of everything that's happened so far.
I don't mean to excuse Trump by any of this, but to provide some comfort. People have claimed he's like Hitler, but this is going way too far. He is like Hitler in that he's German and completely self-infatuated. But he's not determined, crafty, or a strong leader. He won't get around to any major destruction of democracy because he's too lazy and he has no attention span. So have hope, less than two years to go and we can look back on this fool and laugh.
2
@Dan ('owdy mate)
I like the positive message and you always put things into context. The idea being that he is neutered and cannot just run over the Congress as he has for the last 2 years. it was also shown that a true Progressive message is getting and will get through. (with an historic swing to the Democratic party in the House)
All we have to do is stick together, be true and show up to vote. He does not get a second term.
Keep that faith.
5
Right on, my brother from an Irish mother :) We'll get through this Trump time yet!
3
@Dan Stackhouse "But he's not determined, crafty, or a strong leader. He won't get around to any major destruction of democracy because he's too lazy and he has no attention span."
He beat the smartest, most experienced woman in the world. And, he didn't need a get-a-way van. He did 3 or 4 rallies a day. He was able to get the Russians to help him and not leave any evidence. He got Jeff Bezos' brother-in-law to release the Bezos-Sanchez sexts.
I'd call that crafty.
I look forward to the day our imposter president is removed from office. The American people will be dancing in the streets like it's the 4th of July! Perhaps we can turn the exact date into a national holiday for Presidential elections.
6
There is something curiously interesting about Donald Trump reaching back nearly two centuries to embrace Andrew Jackson, who built most of his national reputation on his bullying and abuse of Native Americans. Given Trump's enthusiasm for attacking the weak and marginalized his enthusiasm for Jackson is understandable as he was cut from the same cloth. Presumably Jackson enjoyed the plunder and the opportunity to strut as a hero among the vanquished. In Trump's case at least in part it seems to be due to the cowardice he has demonstrated since a boy. He has dressed it up in mock patriotism and advocacy for "hardworking Americans" even as he imports foreign labor for his businesses and has products made abroad.
But while Donald Trump looks back 2 centuries to find an American hero he seems to draw blanks among his contemporaries, foreign authoritarians excepted. A slavish embrace of Vladimir Putin but a total rejection of any Americans. Even his own family. Rather than hold out his paternal grandfather as an immigrant who prospered in the United States he never mentions him, perhaps because he is afraid people will recall he reportedly was banished from his native Germany for dodging military service. There may be references to his father's wealth but not to his reported associations with the Ku Klux Klan or suits for violating fair housing. And today we see Donald Trump struggling to hide suspicions of criminality that run from money laundering to treason. Lots to fear.
9
Ms. Warren needs to find her an intelligent / wittier twitter writer friend/fighter. In fact the democrats will have to fight this battle with the republican nominee on twitter. It is the new war zone. How come NO democrat is talking about his bone spurs when he is going to Vietnam. He is right...Dems don't know how to go for the jugular.
23
Well, there was a newly elected Progressive representative that uttered that: '' we are going to impeach the ...''
How is that for ''going for the jugular '' ?- certainly there are grounds and grounds (let alone a conclusion to the Mueller investigations) to do exactly that - impeach, which is a mechanism for the Congress and the American people to hold the Executive accountable to the laws of the land and within the Constitution.
We have already elected a plethora of Progressive candidates (many women and minorities) that were true to a positive message of inclusion. I would submit that republicans and even independents are irrelevant. There are more than enough of voters on the Democratic side (especially the 100,000,000 that sit on the sideline any given election)
They just have to show up.
4
There's no doubt that Trump will play ANY race card to gain support with his base. I think the racism is as funny to Trump and his base as the 'how do you like this poke in the eye' bullying is.
Don, Jr. has clearly learned at his master's knee.
But I also think that the most Trump (our laziest president ever) has read about history could be summed up in ten bullet points. Very early in his presidency, some WH aide attempted to flatter Trump by comparing him to Andrew Jackson. And Trump took the bait. Now Jackson is his "favorite." Of course the two men have a couple of things in common.
6
Just want to say how glad I am that you are now writing for the NYT. I've loved your writing for years.
4
"majoritarianism" ... dictionary.com says: noun. rule by a majority, especially the belief that those constituting a simple majority should make the rules for all members of a group, nation, etc.
That is a predominant argument of the left. This is their favorite justification of why Mrs. Clinton should be president. Even more puzzling: how supposed Russian interference resulted in her landslide of ballots.
Once again, liberal thinking is in conflict with itself, and hence collapses.
8
@Edwin and thank you for this excellent demonstration of false equivalency, the go-to thinking of the right. Why unpack complex issues when you can weakly compare them to serve your argument?
54
@Edwin what do you propose to take the place of majority rule? and don't start telling me we should just follow the constitution, which explicitly rests the whole structure on voting, a process in which, you know, the majority rules.
7
@Edwin - you make little to no sense. The "rules" made by a majority don't include abusing minorities to your heart's content. You're also confusing minority rights with the electoral college - an entirely separate issue.
How about this?: Without an educated and thoughtful electorate our democracy is doomed.
28
Thank you for reminding us of our awful history and treatment of native people.
But don't forget that Trump does not write a significant portion of his tweets, so it would be interesting to learn more about who is actually behind them (not that Trump doesn't willingly go along).
15
@Bassman: an interesting point. American politicians often say "we", referring to themselves and their constituents, or realistically, themselves and their team. When we say "Trump", we should be aware that we are talking about that team product, Trump persona, or about the Trump administration, or sometimes about the whole Republican party. And maybe sometimes about some lonely 400 pound guy in his pajamas who nobody really knows...
4
I had always supposed that MAGA referred to the 1950's. You have argued, I think correctly, that our President wishes for the 1850's. It makes me even more sad.
29
@wa - wrong by a century. MAGA refers to the 1750s, when the right to vote was reserved to white, Christian, men owning real property.
2
Genocide, slavery and pillaging the land: the three essential building blocks of the American nation. The good news about the trump era is that we are being reminded of the history every day and how the history still lives. The hope is we might then take steps to right the wrongs in some small way and redirect our path to a better future. The largest step will be voting trump out in a landslide in 2020.
92
@Bailey - And so ask, Why? It is the Christian Mission that conquered America, and The Old Testament that justified slavery in the South. Faith in the supernatural is the root of all totalitarianism. You won't dare mention that, it's not PC.
14
@CK Yes, agree 100%. Glad you mentioned it.
5
@CK
Odd anti-religious turn you took CK, and also totally ignorant. Totalitarians are far more frequently atheistic, at least in modern times. Communism has been explicitly atheist, outlawing all religion (other than the Party) and persecuting it as a threat to communist ideology and rule. Nazism likewise was atheistic.
Sure, slavery was a great wrong committed by Christians and defended (in some cases) with Bible passages. But don't confuse a justification for a cause. The Quakers and other religious-rooted abolitionists always had the better argument and ultimately won out.
1
Thank you for an insightful analysis. I wonder if Trumposo's depravity will in fact accelerate the reckoning on racism we so desperately need, and,if we survive as a nation, emerge a better version of ourselves.
The upcoming election will likely shed some light on this question. I can only hope that a stark contrast is played out for voters to choose what sort of country we want to be.
30
I seriously doubt Trump knows ANYTHING regarding Native history let alone American and Presidential history. He is the poster child for historical illiteracy in this country. In my opinion.... he thinks Natives follow TRAILS so he referred to Sen. Warren that way. I don’t think Trump could describe any Native genocide from the Trail of Tears, the Washita River, the Chivjngton massacre to name just a few. I’d like to see the press directly ask him why he capitalized TRAIL and hear his answer. Saying he was referring to the Trail of Tears gives him much more historical credibility knowing than he deserves. I find his Pocahontas references to be arrogant and childish..... but then that’s Trump’s MO that his supporters and Congress just look the other way.
51
@Steve G he knows what he is saying in dec he also said something about wounded knee. I am tired of people making exuses for this monster ur not native american it does not affect u but it affects me since i am native american matter of fact must mexicans are native americans
3
Re: "...Saying he was referring to the Trail of Tears gives him much more historical credibility knowing than he deserves..." {@Steve G}
Trump's racism, ('Native_American_sub-set'), reminds me of people, visiting Auschwitz / other 'original - flavor' nazi crime_sites, and takin', selfies, for a lark, next to the gas_chambers, etc.
I watched a director's cut of 'Mississippi, Burning' last night, and I was AGAIN reminded of the Trump Administration...in a NEGATIVE sense!
BTW: My use of 'original_flavor' refers to the 1,000 year German Reich, (1933-'45), vs. those folks Trump spoke, so, admiringly, of post Charlottesville...
The Tikki-torch antisemities remind me of that Southpark episode where military_reenactors get drunk on peppermint schnapps, and forget they'e reenacting the civil war, vs. actually, occupying surrounding hamlets!
1
I am sure that the Native Americans wish that in 1492 they had built a big, beautiful wall along the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico.
All humor aside, recent estimates are that over 60 million people lived in the Americas before the Europeans landed, and the vast majority of them died from disease and war in what might well have been the largest genocide in history. Andrew Jackson wrote several chapters in that tale.
But to the President who must not be named, he is an obvious hero.
30
“See you on the campaign TRAIL, Liz”
The above is clearly a reference to the Trail of Tears suffered by the Cherokees under Andrew Jackson.
Trump should be removed from office for many more compelling reasons but this one is the straw that broke the CAMELS back.
28
@RjW i feel the same how can the repulican congress stand by him when he keeps ofending people not good not good at all
3
Where is the outcry from Congress?
Mr. Trump, how dare you?
Have you no decency whatsoever?
30
@Adam
The man's never had a shred of decency, which is a big part of why his election was such a travesty.
2
Trump is the President of all Americans. Both first and second class.
3
He reminds me of the band of white guys in McCarthy's 'Blood Meridian'. White supremacy at its finest. He embodies the whole group of them. One scalp at a time in the pursuit of getting cash.
10
Trump loves his trick of nicknaming people pejoratively. No one has. I prefer Lord Dampnut, an anagram of "Donald Trump." But the term that the plains Indians used for white people, Wasi'chu, meaning "the one who steals the fat," would be fine coming from Elizabeth Warren. Or from anybody below the 1%.
President Wasi'chu. Has an accurate ring to it . . .
35
@Mark - You better find the 3 million votes Clinton lost by in the 30 states Trump won, or you will be crying like a baby in 2020. You can win millions more in NY and Cal and it won't mean a thing to the Electoral College.
1
So you take from Trumps use of the word Trail to be his agenda of White Majoritarianism? That is fantastic! It never ceases to amaze me how mainstream it is now to focus on race over anything, even a non racially charged word, as some form of racism perpetrated by whites. I dont see how you can combat racism by constantly focusing on race and accusing others of racism. You can't combat racism with more racism, which us exactly what you're doing here with this assertion that the word Trail has some inflected meaning from what isnt said...as evidence of racism. This is a hyperbolic, hysterical, racist view, and it all came from your opinion piece, no one elses.
4
@RD
Are you saying that it is racist for Mr. Bouie to infer that Mr. Trump uses racist imagery? Or that the phrasing Mr, Trump chooses can't be racist because he's too ignorant to realize what he's saying?
Once again, those who offend other groups of people don't get to decide whether what they say is offensive or not.
Trump’s years of birther insults against Obama... his insults against other brown people ... yes, his words are indeed race-driven.
1
@RD Trump himself serves up the context of racism by constantly using the Racist term Pocohantas to refer to Senator Warren as he does here. So it's not a big leap to conclude that his capitalized word TRAIL would refer to another racist gibe. Get it?
1
Trump is skilled at being ambiguously insulting. Remember "blood coming out of her whatever"?
Lee Atwater wrote the playbook about not saying "n****r", but couching political racism in sneakier ways. Roger Stone carries that torch, and probably schooled Trump in this dark art.
Part of the reason he can get away with talking about Native Americans so contemptuously is that Americans generally have never been greatly troubled by what the European majority did to them. We have never shown them anything like the care or concern that we give to the memory of the sufferings of, e.g., African Americans, or European Jews.
13
In the UK this argument is a non starter. we may not have been the best friends of indigenous Indians, but they fought on our side when the US went for Canada. We may have been bad to peoples in other lands but not in our own country - it's like attacking Yorkshire men for their accent -or Scots for wearing kilts
6
@Richard Well, there's that sticky bit about the Irish, who lived in what the Brits apparently thought was part of Britain. But, never mind -- it was only for a few hundred years.
I love the image of the British as so benevolent that the Native Americans flocked to their side. The history of alliances with Natives between 1750 and 1800 is enormously complex; though their strategies ultimately failed, the Native Americans delayed the inevitable for a long, long time.
18
@Richard How about the UK's relationship with aboriginal people in Australia and New Zealand? Aren't they part of the UK? Or is it just England you're talking about. Okay, so how do you feel about sending people who have been living in England for years back to where their parents came from in the Caribbean? That's okay?
2
@Richard
Sadly, in this country it's all for grabs, due to poorly educated. Civic education is a must, don't let students graduate without learning about history and grave consequences of this ignorance.
Pay teachers the living wage for god sake!
They shouldn't work three jobs just to survive in this money-grabbing society.
The future of our children depends on it.
1
Forty five percent of Americans are solidly behind white nationalism to one extent or another, it is a vote bank that Trump owns quite outright. That leaves 55% of the rest.
The solution to Trump is clear, but democrats seem too scattered.
The solution is a mix of voter registration, door-to-door campaigning, arrangements to transport voters (start today to prevent republicans from preventing any democrat from voting), organization and tough lawyers.
Turning straight up socialist - like the democrats are doing - is likely to backfire. I am a bleeding heart liberal, but I have zero interest in socialist approaches of soaking the wealthy, free education or free healthcare. Solutions exist; we have the technology to produce the outcomes we want without running toward socialism.
Also, I urge thinking people to get real to the fact that hearts that had to be changed, have changed. The 45% of Americans who wear Trump on their sleeve cannot be moved by MLK-type "better angels of your soul" appeals. They are too far gone. What we have left is the 55% who don't vote, and those who don't vote democrat to make some point or another.
18
Really, you’re a “bleeding heart liberal?” I doubt it. Progressive taxation, universal healthcare and free education up at least to college is the essence of the label you’ve given yourself. The super rich have been robbing American workers and taxpayers since at least the 70s. Americans need to get their money back and taxation is one feasible means. American healthcare is an international joke. You may more for your private sector health care than any modern industrial nation. And what do you get - declining life expectancy and healthcare bankruptcy. As for free education other some modern nations have done it and others are moving in that direction. Hey but that’s all too much socialism for you.
5
Mr. Bouise writes about T "making a strange, meta-textual reference to his previous tweets" and "another oddly self-referential tweet." Character being king in htis case I find it neither strange or odd. The man is incapable of seeing anyone expect in his own distorted and refracted light.
26
But this is "Trump being Trump." In everything he does and says he embodies the axiomatic assumption of eurocentric superiority, that white makes right. In his policy decisions he shows an unswerving devotion to the mercantile attitudes that characterized colonial dominions over the millennia. Above all his preference for military might over diplomacy reveals a contempt for meeting outside the sphere of dominance.
What is alarming is the response he achieves with these attitudes. I wonder, is there really so much fear rampant in our society, or has he somehow given permission for us to identify with our most atavistic impulses and lend them political legitimacy. If so, are we doomed to become the "creatures of the id" portrayed in the old movie, Forbidden Planet.
The temptation, I think, exists in all of us to take this easy road, when it ceases to be proscribed by societal norms. And therein lies the danger of the Trump phenomenon. We can survive his policies, but can we survive the unleashing of our darkest impulses?
23
As ugly as a tit-for-tat twitter war might become, I suggest some possible responses:
"Don, hope your BONE SPURS don't keep you from traveling to Vietnam this time!"
"See you at your TRIAL!"
"Trump running as our first BILLIONAIRE president, as soon as the check from Moscow clears"
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@Dee S, ahhh but we need to sprinkle in some double-entendres and cleverly capitalized words.
Here's one:
"I hope the GOLDEN sun stays out and doesn't give way to clouds and SHOWERS at one of your campaign rallies"
65
Trump has uncovered, indeed revealed, just how racist America continues to be. He has allowed the dark whispers and winks out into the light of day.
BTW - I do not buy into the idea that he or Junior are using dog whistle terms to key the base to their intentions. Neither Jr or Senior is clever enough to use dog whistles.
These are just flat out terrible people with limited vocabularies who have found applause lines that keep the base frothing at the mouth.
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@bobbybow He is an agent of our enemy. Every action is now designed to divide us, so we become weak and easy to intimidate.
1
I agree with you. But I also think that Trump is doing something more complicated (strange to write those words) than just venting racism & rewriting history. He's playing a part, as he always does, a part designed to bait you & the media & Elizabeth Warren & all the rest of us into fights that Fox & the right wing media will spin as about "political correctness" & self-righteous liberals.
And as long as we're fighting about identifying the racism in Trump's heart, about symbols and history, about who wore blackface 40 years ago and who didn't, instead of talking about the concrete, cruel & dishonest actions & policies that Trump & the Republicans do every day, then for much of the country we lose the debate.
I agree that it's important to be honest about history. But the best way to honor the suffering of past victims of injustice is to fight for today's victims. I mean the immigrant families separated & denied asylum, the people who lose their homes or health insurance, those who work double jobs but have to live on debt, etc. are all more important than your & my sense of offense, no matter how justified, over Trump's idiotic words.
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@Martin
Nobody knows what's in the privacy of anyone's heart. Including Trump's. Best to drop that baloney and focus on what we absolutely know: Trump's words and actions. They tell us who he really is: a racist through and through.
1
Of course Trump plays on the fears of his base. He knows that these racist rants are his key to reelection.
Trump supporters are white, Christian, mostly male. They will never be targeted for their skin color or religion. And yet this "president" tells them that they are somehow the "victims". What Trump is doing is no less than setting up the circumstances that will unleash ethnic cleansing in this country. And as we draw closer to the 2020 election, we will see how desperate he becomes. He has already stated that if he doesn't win, it will be because the election is rigged.
If he loses, this nation will face a very ugly chapter of violence by his rabid, armed supporters. But only darker skinned Americans will be their victims.
For whites who feel "left behind", Trump will point to brown-skinned Americans as the people his base should really "punish". His voters cannot accept that they might not have good jobs or good educational opportunities because of their own lack of effort. Instead, they want to think that these opportunities were "taken" from them by their browner skinned neighbors.
Trump will stoke this hatred for as long as he is in office. And with each passing day, citizens in this country who are of Hispanic, African American, Middle Eastern or Asian ancestry will be the targets. And his base is just waiting for his signal to begin this type of blood letting.
Get ready.
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@Charles Dodgson
We have National Guard troops; we also have a standing military, if needed. The armed wingnuts who stood outside a venue where Obama was appearing were unaware they were surrounded by the Secret Service whose job it is to protect the President of both Parties. I knew some when I worked in D.C.; they take their job very seriously. The military and Guard units also. Trump's "base" is a gaggle of geese.
13
@Charles Dodgson Excellent Points...but your comments -> "Trump will stoke this hatred for as long as he is in office". I believe he will be even worse AFTER he has left the White House...because he will be a private citizen and somewhat less constrained by the boundaries of political correctness. The comments by Linda Miilu has me concerned because there are 'deplorables' within the national guard, Military, Police, Secret Service, CIA & other government agencies...I think the Ku Klux Clan membership will grow as a result...they are certainly not going away. Seems like another smaller scale civil war may be brewing... on the scale of what happened during the 60's in Jim Crow states....or maybe broader nation wide....we shall see...probably have to start purchasing weapons for protection...you think ?
1
@Charles Dodgson Stop trembling in fear at his base. They have successfully threatened you into submission.
1
I am not sure that Trump even knows the “Trail of Tears”. He is a person that does not care about anything but himself. It is a good article and I am glad that Jamelle join the NY Times.
47
@Yehuda B. So the all caps TRAIL is just a general reference to any earthen route that Native Americans traveled, running around in full regalia bopping their hands against their mouths ? I am not being facetious, the all caps is reference to something, and that is best I could come up with if it is not the trail of tears, though I agree with you that he wouldn't know it off the top of his head. He might have a ghost(evil) editor.
6
@ob2s: The thing is, that "earthen route" image isn't all that unlikely -- it's the first interpretation that came to my mind, looking at the tweet. Just a lazy bit of Indian Stereotype, to go with "Pocahontas".
But then, in association with Wounded Knee and the Little Bighorn, it does look more like a historical reference. And, as a fan of Jackson, Trump would have heard references to it more recently than back in history class. We may never know.
1
The Republican Party and 45 ostensibly evidence their concerted disdain and unbridled prejudicial expressions directed at racial minorities, Native Americans, and ethnic minorities, cloaking themselves as arbiters of who is worthy of being an American while worshiping and fomenting racial superiority and white nationalism. Obviously this ploy works in keeping the ever diminishing base in line as well as maintaining support from GOP representatives including Liz Cheney and Steve king, both who embrace these positions and are reticent, if not just down right reluctant, to condemn these racially hated spewed tirades. They themselves will not be on the receiving end of a Twitter tirade for straying from the 45 flock. Cheney refused to simply answer Jake Tapper's question about the 'TRAIL" comment and regurgitated her canned remarks lambasting Warren's recent experience with the Native American identification when applying to the Texas Bar, suggesting Warren should be disciplined for submitting a false representation. No hint of condemning 45's remarks. Par for the course. This is the GOP of 2019, and the majority of Americans roundly criticize as shallow and lacking in diversity. The Republican party and 45 are content to maintain the race ploy to maintain power, but those days are waning. Race matters.
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@Dean Browning Webb, Attorney at Law
Thank you. I would like to add that Cheney leaked Energy Dept. memoranda and policy discussions. His right hand guy, Scooter, leaked the identity of an undercover agent in Iran; that endangered her, as well as all Iranians who were helping her.
15
@Linda Miilu
Well said. The living hypocrisy advanced by the GP and 45 is no less astounding than it is superficial. priding themselves in advancing racial superiority by reminding their shrinking base of less than college (and high school) educated die hard supporters that they themselves are better than any dark complexioned person who walks the face of tis Earth is a reminder of Jim Crow America and George Wallace. The GOP and Richard Nixon created the Southern Strategy to avert an otherwise electoral defeat by appealing to Wallace supporters by appealing to a lesser strident feeling about racial superiority but believing in their own racial preferential status. 45 and GOP just recast that playbook. White skin privilege is the core to preserving Republican influence and the sense of power albeit fleeting. They are not prevented from achieving their goals because doors historically erected to shut out black and brown (and LGBTQ) individuals remain open to them, even with eighth grade or high school diplomas. Race matters.
3
Comparing Trump to Jackson is an insult to the memory of Jackson.
6
EXACTLY! Trump and the Republicans at this point because of their dogged support for him and his administration (policies) represent not the greatest but the worst of our foibles and actual sins! Our greatness lies in the future not the past and will require that we exorcise the worst impulses of our species to a higher frequency, that of love! Our best selves will evolve only when we can admit to our sins, the sins of, in this case, the genocide of the indigenous people here before our European ancestors, the continued marginalization of our people. I am sorry for white people, I am white, that lives in the fear of the illusion of our separation and not the strength of our unity.
18
@DemonWarZ... You know...DemonWarZ... am a little concerned that TRUMP, Republican Deplorables and thier ILK may have actually opened up a PANDORAS box....Letting out the GENIE from the bottle... Think about it...BEFORE TRUMP still had the Ku Klux Klan, some vestiges of Jim Crow Laws, Gerrymandering. Do you think relations could actually get worse after TRUMP leaves ?
The news sections of the Times could and should take much of what Mr. Bouie writes here as a template for coverage of the Trump re-election campaign (assuming that he remains a "free person" that long, as Sen. Warren noted). "Reactionary white majoritarianism" may sound biased or hostile or unfair to the president, and such words may be anathema to those who fancy themselves above the messy partisan fray--but who can study US history and pay attention to US politics and still deny the truth in what Mr. Bouie is saying about Mr. Trump? P.S. those who defend the president as too ignorant to have intended a trail of tears reference (e.g. Brit Hume) are in the position, after Donald Jr.'s "savage" comment, of asserting that Trump Sr., our president, is more ignorant of American history than his son. Look forward to seeing Donald Sr. attack Jr. in a Kevin Kruse-like twitter thread.
15
Pocohontas, however exaggerated the legend about her has been, was a great and noble woman rightly recognized as that by Americans ever since her time. Andrew Jackson, however wrong the racial attitudes he shared with most people of his time, was a great president called, not without reason, the founder of American democracy. Donald Trump doesn’t deserve to take the names of those two great historical figures in his mouth.
12
Trump is trying to emulate the actions of another Jackson...Michael and his moonwalk. Trump’s policies are creating the illusion of moving forward while actually taking us backwards.
21
Many Trump supporters might be surprised to learn that in the 1830s, our country was the backwater, the bit player. If that's the kind of greatness Trump wants to emulate, we'll be back to third world status before you know it.
Frankly, in too many parts of the country, that's where we are right now.
145
Jacob
We are a backwater country and may never recover. One need only look at Europe, France in particular as I do every year, to see this. There is a great rail system there and a great culture. Is France perfect? No.
And China for all it’s faults is going to develop 5G before we do and it is far superior in developing things like electric cars.
12
@Jordan Davies Yes, Jordan, yes. I lived in Europe (husband stationed there in the military) in early 70s and even THEN France, Germany, the Netherlands had wonderful train systems (high-speed underground metro in Paris).
8
Far too many Americans do not care about the genocidal wars and forced relocation that Native Peoples have suffered at the hands of European colonialists.
Far too many American are ignorant about our history.
Far too many say "It was in the distant past, and the Indians have all of that casino revenue, anyway."
28
@Brad So what do you want other Americans to DO, exactly? Apparently, they are morally obligated to give all their property to African Americans, meaning there there won't be any left for Native Americans. Should every non Native American just leave the US, and return to Europe penniless? (Remember, in order to be "woke" and morally clean, they gave their home and bank accounts to African Americans as "reparations".) What if European countries refuse to accept them? Also, should the descendants of other tribes that migrated to new continents throughout human history also be obliged to return to the lands of their distant ancestors? If not, why not?
@me Well, one thing these Americans could DO is cease to be ignorant about history by actually learning something. Maybe they would develop critical thinking skills and be capable of advancing logical arguments rather than irrational claims about imagined views on moral cleanliness.
7
If Jackson is so repugnant what about this:
Jefferson–Jackson Day is the annual fundraising celebration (dinner) held by Democratic Party organizations in the United States.[1] It is named for Presidents Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson; the Party says they are its founders. During presidential election campaigns, key dinners are important venues for candidates to attend.
Huh?
@robert brusca Because Iowa Democrats hold a fundraiser named after Jackson, Bouie (or anyone) is not allowed to criticize the Jackson presidency? Is that your argument?
17
How can you say that it was campaign trail? He capitalized TRAIL. So it is either one of two things: (1) Trail of Tears or (2) saying that Native Americans were good trackers and making an comment about trails. Both ways are prejudiced and wrong. We will never know because even if a reporter asks the question, he will say "campaign trail" and winks over at the white nationalists and con the commentators here. As always.
45
@Dave
some people get eh befit of the doubt...Trump always gets the doubt of any benefit.
9
They ought to ask Sarah Hucka-Sans why Trump capitalized "TRAIL" in his tweet. What was it supposed to mean.
I mean, if she's going to take the job, she might as well squirm trying to justify the unjustifiable. At least it's entertainment.
34
As many have said, there is no bottom to the depth of trump's depravity and cruelty. He has no shame, no conscience, no honor. We will be rid of him someday, hopefully very soon.
But as we will never be rid of the shame of our treatment of native Americans, we will never be rid of the stain of trump. It's indelible. Deplorable doesn't even begin to describe what he is, and what he's done to this country.
377
@Deb
Sorry. overreaching. Dislike him or hate him. He is President and he was elected. its our system. Democrat need to let our system of checks and balances work. Italy survived Silvio Berlusconi. If we can't survive Trump it would be shocking. Democrats need to make policy not mischief. If they spend the next 2 years anti-Trumping and accomplish nothing they will be in trouble at election time. Oh yeah their progressive base will love them. But you really do not get elected by your base. You have to appeal to the swing voters.Trump was able to do that once. I'd think Democrats would be more focused on not letting him do that gain rather than gnashing their teeth and attacking him an moving farther to the left.. I'm a ticket-splitter. Neither camp appeals to me now. If nothing changes I'll vote for the economy...that means Trump. Yep. I'd hold my nose and vote for the economy.
1
@robert brusca Then you should vote for Democrats, because the current economy was handed to Trump by Obama. Trump has tried hard to derail it with his tariff and tax shenanigans but it has mostly resisted, so far.
75
@robert brusca, yes that's the difference between a Republican and a patriot. I and millions more will vote for democracy, freedom, the rule of law , common decency, and the golden rule. Go ahead and vote your pocket; I will vote for what is good for the Unites States of America.
105
Trump's Tale of Fear is closer to the larger truth surrounding his insults to Warren. He stokes fear and if there isn't any, he conjures a marauding caravan and wastes tax payer dollars to foster fake fear.
Abusing Senator Warren serves a few purposes: he upsets liberals and his base loves upsetting liberals, he gets to tag Warren as an opportunistic liar when he calls her Pocahontas, he gets to refer to himself, and he sullies a potential adversary.
167
I doubt that Trump was referring to the trail of tears as he is probably not conscious of these historical connections. He probably just meant trail as a generic reference to native Americans. But of course our SJW class needs to embellish and exaggerate in order to pile on Trump as much as possible.
8
@new conservative - I'm sorry, but that's a ridiculous reading. Why else would he CAPITALIZE the word "trail" if he wasn't going for the double-entendre?
68
@new conservative: Saying Individual-1 isn’t “conscious of the historical connections” is a Trump lover’s way of saying he’s ignorant of any and ALL historical connections, never having read a book in his entire life. But maybe SOMEONE in the WH has read one and wrote that cute little twit for him. Steve Miller? Sarah? Bill Shine? Here’s how I comfort myself: Jackson is deader than a doornail, and someday I-1 will be, too. Yes, what I like to call “The Trump Stain” will last awhile, but there’s a product you can buy that will get it out of the carpet.
12
@Lord Melonhead because both new and old conservatives think a double-entendre is a kind of hamburger with 2 patties.
3
I just started watching Game of Thrones. Trump is the juvenile impetuous King Joffrey.
18
@Garbolity
Precisely.
3
I yield to no person in my antipathy toward Trump. But the trail reference likely refers to the campaign trail. I doubt Trump is smart enough or aware enough to make he other connection
21
I have my doubts that Trump personally knew anything about the Trail of Tears. Rather, some of the other bigots in his administration brought this up.
194
@Bob TOG then he wouldn’t have capitalized” trail”
1
The unfair, but very real, problem for Warren is that Trump has been smearing her with the Pocohontas stuff for a long time now and she has never pushed back effectively. You can't ignore this kind of thing and hope that the voters reward you for turning the other cheek. That's not how to fight a bully.
Smears repeated often enough without hard push-back tend to stick -- ask HRC how she thinks decades of right-wing demonization affected her.
248
@Pat
I'm trying to think how she could effectively push back. None of this republican adversaries in the last campaign came up with a way to quell him.
Perhaps reply to each and every one of his twitter slurs by calling him "the Pumpkin?" (Or His Majesty The Pumpkin.)? occasionally misspelling it as Bumpkin.
Or perhaps using the devastatingly effective phrase, a la Reagan in that presidential debate, is the best response.
smiling all the while, "There he goes again."
36
@Pat Have you listened to what Elizabeth Warren has said about Trump in the last 24 hours? I didn't think so.
10
@Pat
Warren's DNA thing is, unfortunately, the same sort of thing that Hillary Clinton's emails were - a nothing burger that nevertheless totally diverted attention from any real issues she wished to discuss.
Democrats ought not make another attempt at swimming upstream, and should pick another person from their pool of well qualified candidates.
32
Trump wants to take the United States back to a time in our history which we are desperately trying to grow past. He and his followers are truly deplorable.
250
@John Watlington
Yep. Putin’s wish is Benedict Donald’s command. Bringing us back in time in the most negative and divisive way possible. The economy will go backwards as well. All according to Plan Putin.
30
@Peter
The deplorables put this country in great jeopardy. The great majority of Americans could see 45 for what he was/is, so the deplorables either didn't care (traitors!) or are willfully ignorant.
8