Isn't there a Benedict ARNOLD colege for him to speak at right at home?
1
The sponsoring group, the 2020 Bipartisan Justice Center, does not have a full website, though it claims to have been formed in 2015. It appears to be only a front group for Republicans seeking support from African-Americans.
6
He's no longer responsible for his actions. The people who invited him, the people who attended - shame on them. He needs to be treated like a patient now - he needs to be managed and kept calm. Literally. So if he's anywhere doing anything - well that's his handlers fault now. He has no redeeming qualities but his enablers are much worse and have no excuse. No one will ever have any excuse for any of this.
6
So who, exactly thought he was eligible and a perfect candidate for this award? Tell me again.
5
Great article, as always.
2
The very idea of holding a ceremony at ANY college and barring students is crazy and insulting; that he was honored by a group of black leaders was also shameful. If nothing else, everyone should know by now that if you think you are playing to his ego, and that this will result in some reward for you,, you are actually standing on a gangplank over crocodile filled waters. Trump's transactions go one way only.
I still don't get how this was arranged, not do I understand why no students protested. Is there more to the story? Were they threatened with expulsion if they showed themselves?
7
Why did they have Trump at Benedict College ?
Did this article somehow address that?
3
I'm really surprised there is not more outrage from the African American population on this. It was particularly disgusting and in your face. Please people; vote this racist out.
5
Ever since 45 glided down the escalator to announce his candidacy, Charles Blow has passionately decried that Trump is a racist. A President who kisses black babies, signs prison reform, commutes a life sentence for Alice Johnson, supports school choice, creates thousands of Opportunity Zones, all the while overseeing record low black unemployment is not a racist!
Blow has been severely afflicted with Trump Derange Syndrome to the point where hating Trump has become a lifestyle for him. This bias is the basis for all of his columns. The result is vile, predictable and boring commentary. But Blow can't help himself. He is terrified of the fact that in 2020, African-Americans now have a viable alternative to Democrats who for decades have use them for political gain while taking their vote for granted. Why not write a column on that issue?
6
So why did Benedict College invite Trump? Why did over eighty black officials attend and honor Trump? Apparently in Mr. Blow's view, these are the wrong kind of black folk. They think for themselves, so of course they must be marginalized and shamed.
10
@Timothy I did not see anything in his comments that said "these are the wrong kind of black folk." I did , however, read his comment that presentation of the award was an affront to anyone who has paid attention.
Were YOU paying attention?
12
@Timothy Exactly!
2
It's easy to look "good" if you lie shamelessly and stack the audience with sycophants.
14
Dear NYT:
What? "Beneath contempt?"
With passage of the First Step Act, which President Trump championed, Trump did more for criminal justice reform than Obama in his historic eight-year reign.
Many on the left, including Van Jones, agreed that Trump deserved this modest award.
Can't you say a single good thing about this president, without all the hatred and race baiting?
It really gets old.
10
@Jorge - alas, no they can't say anything good about Trump. He has literally driven so many of them insane.
I watched about 30 minutes of a one hour tape of the event. People who would have remained incarcerated for more decades wept when they described how he liberated them and continually worked for changing these miscarriages of justice.
Does Trump do and say bad things? Yes he does. But the notion that he is all bad, "worse than Hitler" and someone who never achieves anything good is false.
If only those at the Times could appreciate this.
8
I already know that Trump is a pathetic, thieving bigot, so I will not blame him for the reception he received at Benedict. I place all the blame on Benedict College for allowing him to come there to the gathering. I also place a great deal of blame on the students who stayed in their rooms while this was going on, whether or not the administration demanded it. And, I'm sure the students' parents knew what was going on as well. Isn't this the college that wealthy Repubs raised money for to get them to some parade or sports bowl a couple of years ago? Shame, shame on everyone associated with Benedict College!!
3
I can understand how Mr. Blow's head must have exploded when he learned of this betrayal by a:
“group of over eighty African-American mayors, city, county and state officials, prosecutors and defense attorneys, political strategists, community leaders, activists, police chiefs and other law enforcement executives,”
I guess that they didn't get the memo that Mr. Blow speaks for all African-Americans and when he says that all must speak hatred towards President 24/7, there can be no dissent.
Sorry, Mr. Blow, but you do not speak for as many people as you think you do. Instead of the constant hate ranting, why don't you try dialogue. Contact the group that gave the President the award and share your thoughts but you must be willing to listen to their reasoning. That may be new for you but please give it a try.
It may be the start of something positive. Dialogue between Trump supporters and Trump haters may not result in re-uniting our divided country but it may very well lower the temperature in the room. That would be a good start.
7
This columnist blames any of the issues in the black community on Trump or the white male patriarchy. Fatherless, broken households, high incarceration and unemployment rates, drug abuse, it's either Bill Clinton's or Donald Trump's fault.
Where are the leaders in the black community? Since MLK we have had Jesse Jackson, (whose son was in prison for graft), Sharpton (Tawana Brawley), Farrakan and his Muslim Brotherhood....Water and Conyers are (or were) no better...
Maybe Mr. Blow should focus his pen on the failure of the black community to solve or at least address their own problems and find some new leadership instead of playing the victim card every week.
9
What right did Benedict College have to lock students in their dorms? Who is in charge at that College? Whomever it is should be fired along with any faculty who agreed with the practice. Colleges like this should be closed. They took away the students rights. The ACLU should take notice.
8
Ultimately, the First Step Act was in direct opposition to what Trump has believed for most of his adult life: brown and black people are inherently criminal and need to be “policed”, which is why “stop and frisk” has always been his go to. He wanted to offer the carrot to an historically black college to push the narrative that he has done so much for the black community. Young students would have called his bluff.
4
Giving Trump this aware is a travesty .
3
After locking up black people because they might get uppity, the response of the powerful yet fearful white man is "Hey, at least we FEED them now!"
This is progress?
1
Excellent column, especially as Mr. Blow makes the point that Trump (a political chameleon) shares a sense of victimhood with the GOP and especially with it's extremist and evangelical factions. That's part of the bond that creates the allegiance that the rabid always-Trumpers, his base, demonstrate.
3
I realize that he spoke at a HBCU, but let's not forget he has kidnapped thousands of children and lost them as well. He has separated and incarcerated families. When immigrants learn and know the rules, and live by them, he changes the rules and moves the goalposts, thereby making them criminals by fiat. In addition, he has circumvented the laws of the United States and has obstructed justice. He does not live by the rule of law. He lives by the rules of trump, which are outside the law. He deserves no awards from anyone for "justice."
10
The presidents of HBCUs have been pursuing the unpopular strategy of actively working with the Trump Administration and republican members of Congress to advance their goals.
Why should they not? This kind of backlash doesn't help Black students. It denies them the benefit of what the HBCU presidents' advocacy can bring.
2
Ugh, Charles, your final sentence has ruined Lestat and Dracula for me, But your conclusions are absolutely right. The man doesn’t care about immigrant toddlers dying in detention , and he has never shown any interest in reducing violence in communities of color. His entire life is essentially a gated community (now paid at taxpayer expense), and he doesn’t care about anyone outside the gates unless he can use it to attempt to divide us on the base of race.
6
Vampires are not nearly frightening enough to describe what's going on here. No matter how unnerving the regular 'happy' clown is to those that really dislike them, it was the sad clown that was the actual precursor and gave way to the eventual and truly evil ones. We say it's unfair to stigmatize mental illness, child abuse and poverty, until we actually meet the serial rapist murdering psychopath who has never known love or kindness.
Spectacle? There's no shortage from either party of the shallow manipulation of identity politics voters.
Much like the upcoming Democratic debate held in majority black Atlanta at actor Tyler Perry's movie studio in nearly all-black lower income city of East Point
1
Who were the school administrators who allowed this charade to happen? Were they the richest black men in the country so they love Trump? Is irony not taught at that school? I'm a 61 year old white man and I just can't understand why any African American would even want to breathe the same air as Trump. Who are these people?
3
It's shameful that Trump got an award, which he will tout to show that blacks like him, despite his do-nothing but denigrate record. The First Step Act applies to relatively few people because it applies only to federal prisoners, not state prisoners. Trump has not even tried to spread the change to the states. He never uses his "bully" pulpit for good.
Mr. Blow, I agree with your sentiments but am curious as to why you did not attempt to interview the persons responsible for inviting and/or approving this sham. What exactly was their thinking behind this ? It would be interesting to know and interesting to see their comments laid out against yours.
5
Well, this is a dishonest piece if I ever read one. Interesting that you left out many of the other provisions of the First Step Act. Truth by omission isn't very worthy.
9
It’s called an Opinion piece for a reason.
3
@Tamar
Feel free to offer a correction, otherwise I think your honesty is the one in question.
2
Mr. Blow, I continue to be impressed with the depth of your knowledge and the breadth of your memory, and your ability to use these attributes to present your ideas in a thorough and easy to understand manner.
The New York Times is fortunate to have you on their payroll
7
I've often said college campuses resemble prisons. We even did an exercise once in methodology. We were shone schematics of various campus buildings on different scales. Students were then asked to explain the use of each building. We only had the site layout for context. Not surprisingly, the archaeological assessment determined the campus was designed for population control. Most of the buildings were constructed in the riot conscious period of the post-1960s. Go figure.
1
I’m always encouraged about Trump’s chances of reelection when Charles Blow is incensed.
10
He wants to be able to plaster his name across any big, important thing, stand proudly before it and take credit.
Another of your great lines that drove the nails in to the heel spurs.
2
"I will always champion due process" --- Donald Trump.
He certainly didn't in the case of the Central Park Five and he certainly didn't in Hillary Clinton's case. In that instance, there was absolutely zero evidence of any crimes after years of partisan investigations, yet he repeatedly pretended otherwise and led chants of "Lock her up! Lock her up!"
3
People familiar with history recognize what's going on here.
When you live under a tyrant or any sort of absolutist monarchy, you have to get what you want from the ruler by flattery. You don't get the king to lower taxes by telling the king that he should lower taxes by rational argument—by proving that it's the right thing to do, and it's wrong to do otherwise. Instead you say, "Your majesty is so wonderful and so amazing. Note how much you were loved and appreciated by your people when you lowered taxes last time. Your overwhelming greatness will be perfectly expressed in another tax cut!"
That's how you manage an absolute ruler. It's sickening and undemocratic, but it's a fact. The ancients knew that game very well.
2
I was told that American First greatness is about our ability to give award to any American for any reason. Example would be a private day care award for a 7 year old child for able to use the bathroom by himself. I thank this NYT article for showing me how my President set a similar example.
2
There are plenty of people who think that flattering Trump will get them what they want. I suppose it works for foreign autocrats and some US politicians.
But it doesn't seem to work for relatively powerless people. They just sell their soul for nothing in return.
2
How could Benedict College have done this on the same day that the Honorable Elijah Cummings was being eulogized? Have they no sense of decency?
5
@rs: Uncle Tom isn't all dead yet.
2
Please encourage your millennial friends to register and vote in the 2020 election. Join up with the League of Women Voters and offer your help. Our best hope beyond Pelosi and Schiff is the youth's willingness to vote. Many have no idea what is going on.
4
@Nancie
In 2019, all millennials are now adults, not youth.
Youth = generation z, many of whom will be voting for the first time in 2020. THEY are our hope, certainly not the lackadaisical 30 and 40-somethings, many of whom failed so fabulously in 2016 by voting for Trump or who sat at home rather than vote for a woman.
The swing voters in 2020 were the swing voters in the 2018 midterms - all college educated women, especially white women who tend to be moderate centrists concerned with the economy, too little education for their taxes + too much crime and war. Quality of life. Dems best chance is not the spendthrift fringe left but the pragmatic, eat your vegetables one or two candidates who're also addressing infrastructure and climate change policies, instead of promising taxpayers will fund sex change operations for convicted felons in prison, reparations and lots of free stuff to illegals.
1
Charles, you need to take a break from Trump! Every word you write is correct, but you are risking your health by allowing that bozo to occupy so much space inside your head!
7
As a former instructor at an HCBU, I am scratching my head over why the Benedict College administration sponsored this fiasco.
6
$$$$$
2
@Steve: Uncle Tom isn't all dead yet.
1
"[T]here are over 2,000 students at the school, yet only a handful were allowed to attend the event. The others were on lockdown, told to stay inside. Their lunches were delivered to them in their dorms."
Hopefully, not VitaPro.
The college president CLEARLY FEARED the reaction Trump would get. So his statements are both nonsense and lies. He needs to resign.
8
Charles Blow delivers a profoundly compelling and convincingly thought provoking Opinion graphically exposing the persistent hypocrisy practiced by the Vietnam War draft dodger of exploiting racial pandering. The institution's suppression of the students' rights to vocalize and express their First Amendment right of protest and condemnation reflects, in my opinion, an antiquated yet still viable antebellum Southern mentality to placate and not anger Caucasian males of privilege exercising power and authority that could potentially affect the lives and futures of Black Americans. Packing the event with handpicked Black GOP head bowed surrogates and their genuflecting political sycophants to witness a carefully orchestrated charade significantly exacerbates a bad situation. No contrition, no apology, no mea culpa for steadfastly attacking, and defending the vicious assault, upon the exonerated Central Park Five. The so called First step Act is just that, an act of duplicity and betrayal. Mr. Blow's exquisitely articulated explication of the significant shortfalls of the vague and ambiguous federal program reveals the naked truth of racial pandering at its best (or worse!). Take a page from The Wizard of Oz: "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. The great and powerful Oz has spoken!" The sleight of hand, the cunning, deliberate speaking in terms of unnamed third persons as support for taking action is classic here. The racist in chief seeks victimhood. Race matters.
6
Despicable human fraud. All politics, not a care for Black people or anyone but himself and the 1%ers.
4
Why blame Trump? Benedict College should be held to account. As an HBCU with a long history of fighting for civil rights and black empowerment, the leadership of Benedict College sold out to host Donald Trump on its campus and to give him the stage to gather all that footage to spin more toxic lies. The leadership of Benedict College was so worried about marring the stagecraft, the Time magazine reported that the college only allocated TEN tickets to Benedict students and asked rest of the students to stay inside their dorms. This is nauseating behavior for any college--let alone a proud HBCU. Benedict College's leadership, form Rosalyn Clark Artis on down should be held to account and publically explain why they chose to silence their own students to host a president who has done more damage to African Americans since Andrew Johnson.
11
@UC Graduate Benedict College may not have sold out. The college may need its public funding (read government here) and its private funding (real well-heeled donors who, in that neck of the woods, may very well be Trump supporters). But I, for one, hope the college retaliates the first chance it gets.
2
Shameful that the school caged the students in their dorms.
9
Tried to click on the 20/20 link, and huh, got this message:
No Results Found
The page you requested could not be found. Try refining your search, or use the navigation above to locate the post.
My guess is that that organization is more like a covert Trump PAC than what the name of it suggests. I find it hard to believe that and org with "over eighty African-American mayors," et.al., would invite Trump to speak at a HBCU. And still want to know how or why on earth Benedict would agree to allow Trump to handpick for his supporters all but a few seats in their venue. What were they thinking? What were they paid or promised?
6
Students on lockdown with lunches delivered. That seems fitting. Student safety first. When the president is on campus the same security protocols used for an active shooter should be in place.
2
Sorry, Mr. Blow, people are free to help Black colleges without your permission. Be thankful we have a president who does.
8
@AACNY
Yeah, um, no Trump didn't. You ignore the outrageous actions taken against the students to deliver snark to defend a monster named Trump. Shame on you.
6
@Max Deitenbeck
And you ignore the bipartisan landmark prison reform signed. Shame on you.
5
@AACNY
I'm not ignoring anything. And I will never ignore Trump apologists like you. Anyone who still supports Trump after his crimes, his racism, his stupidity, his support for dictators, his treason, and his obvious delusions deserves nothing but scorn.
4
I see no real criticism of the group that invited him and gave him the award in the first place. Are they above criticism??? Don't they deserve to be cast in the same harsh light as Trump for misrepresenting the goals of Black people regarding justice reform by honoring such a demon. If Black people and organizations continue to do this can we ever expect to see any change?
6
I read that out of the 300 seats available in this auditorium, that only 10 tickets went to students, the rest went to his usual entourage of sycophants.
4
Central park five got their millions so don't feel sorry for them.
4
@KR whether they got millions is not the point. They were convicted of a heinous crime they DID NOT COMMIT. They lost most of their lives sitting in jail for a crime THEY DID NOT COMMIT. It makes me wonder from this comment of yours, would you have said this if they were young white males?
4
@Martha White Freddy's Fashion Mart massacre and the Crown Heights pogrom occurred in the same city and same era. Don't you ever wonder why those who cry so many tears for the "innocent" CP5 seem to have not a speck of compassion over the innocent victims in these two incidents? If that's not racism, than nothing is.
Wow, this is shocking. Who are these people?
The 2020 Bipartisan Justice Center? Haven't they listened to the news for the last 50 years. Sorry, I can't get past this fact.
2
Mr. Blow, there is no way in the world for Trump to win. If he never went to an African-American college, he'd be called a racist for ignoring them. If he does go to an HBC, it's nothing more than a photo-op.
Very simply, you want him to go, but you want him to be miserable too. That is, you want him to go, and you want him shouted down by black college students who, believing the worst about him, wouldn't give him a fair chance.
You--and the rest of the left--dislike (hate?) Trump for many things, but perhaps nothing more than the fact that he doesn't squarely fit in the box (coffin?) you made for him. He had the outright temerity to actually push a bill that would help incarcerated blacks. The nerve of him! That was supposed to be something only liberals were allowed to do, right? Besides, what would you beat up the Republicans with if it failed to pass?
And then there's the fact that the unemployment rate for blacks is lower than it has been EVER. That has to hurt leftists. Yes, I know, I know--it was really Obama who made this happen, and Trump is just riding his coattails, but at some point, leftists just need to own the fact that for all of his pettiness, hatefulness, such (and, yes, I absolutely admit to it--I detest it too!), Trump has done some things for which we can all be thankful.
How about the fact that he actually has an ongoing conversation with North Korea? What we'd been doing for 50 years wasn't working, so Trump went another way.
Etc.
9
@AaronS
I have a close relative released early from prison thanks to Trump's signing the First Step Act. Mr. Blow can rage all he wants. He is clearly unwilling to acknowledge how important an achievement this is. Inmates and their families, however, understand perfectly and will be eternally grateful.
8
@AACNY , that is wonderful news! I work in a prison, and I can tell you that there are absolutely people who belong here...and absolutely people who don't.
2
@AaronS
Let's just assume the bill actually helped. Does that excuse Trump's sexual assaults, his breaking of laws, his lies, his contempt for the Constitution, his calling for jailing his political opponents, his actions in Syria, his calls for violence, his racism, his sexism, his ignorance? No. And nothing excuses supporting this criminal.
5
How was Trump ever even considered for the award? There is something really wrong going on. Trumlandia, where wrong is right, up is down, evil is good, is starting to take over the whole world.
6
So, will there be a follow-up article on Benedict College treating their own students like prisoners in order to assure POTUS of a protest-free event? It's not much better than the suppression of free thought that occurs at Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA.
10
Agree wholeheartedly that Trump has no record to be proud of regarding criminal justice, unless we are going to talk about his abuses of the bankruptcy system, which is legendary and worthy of great note. His ability to stick it to his creditors approaches criminal conduct, or at least high level skeeviness.
More importantly, who, exactly, is the 20/20 etc etc? Never heard of them before and, frankly, I wouldn't be surprised to hear that Steve Bannon or some other far right operative formed and funded this group for their own purposes. Why did Benedict College host this event? Why were the students locked down in advance?
Raises more questions than it answers.
6
If I'd been locked up in my dorm by my college so they could do this...this(!) of all things, I'd be out in the quad demonstrating the next day. Why aren't they?
Kids these days.
5
That racist, loud-mouthed champion of "stop and frisk" is the same person who refuses to release his tax records, does all he can to keep people from testifying about matters related to him, and demeans anyone who challenges him in public. In short, he refuses to be paused and investigated. Young Blacks deserve to be interrogated and roughed up by police -- how dare they be out Walking While Black!--but King Donald, who spends so much of his time Lying and Disgracing the US while being White, is above suspicion, above the law.
11
Trump spoke at the commencement ceremony of Liberty University in 2017. Were the predominantly (70%) white conservative students put in lock down then?
11
What a grievous misstep by Benedict College. To honor trump is beyond absurd; it is an affront to the history of that institution.
The exclusion of Benedict College students is insult upon injury. Who was being protected? If I were one of their parents, I would want my money back.
10
Anywhere Trump appears the same lies appear as well. If we could only learn to pay him no mind. I decided not to watch his speech on al-Baghdadi since I already knew he would make it about himself. Every appearance -- even chez les noirs, mon cher Charles -- is meaningless. Have a drink and stop preaching to us.
3
The Trump Administration is like a long road trip when you're fighting the call of nature. Pretty soon, you stop noticing the fall colors and focus on relief.
2
It's my intuition that this type of manufactured praise from a black college with a GOP hand picked audience could only happen in red states with lower levels of personal autonomy. There's already been research proving that supporters of GOP politics tend to favor authoritarian practices. Just like Trump's line about how he had to let Turkey's backed Syrian Arab fighters commit torture against the Kurds because it was just like letting kids fight it out in the parking lot. "You let them fight it out and then after awhile you pull them apart. You got to do it, you got to do it."
This line of thinking goes over great with people who love "strong men" with authoritarian, dictatorial instincts. Now imagine someone like Jeffrey Epstein getting an award at an all women's college in NYC like Barnard. If there was an order for all women to stay in their dorms while Epstein gets an award for his work to advance women in the film industry.
Now imagine if the audience was hand picked with people who didn't attend Barnard, but rather were Jeffrey Epstein's supporters who are still loyal to him. The media would be invited to film him receiving the award from the prestigious all women's college. Later at trial he could show the jury how much he is loved and respected at women at the highest levels. This is how billionaire &/9r political oligarchs con the people who believe whatever they see instead of reading between the lines. Shame on South Carolina for letting this happen!
6
While working for his father, Trump was sued for racially discriminatory housing practices in 1970s Coney Island. He hasn't evolved since then, he's merely using speeches at Black Colleges to give the false impression that he cares. He does not. Trump uses, then discards, people. All acts are in service to his ego, the man lacks empathy. How sad that Benedict College extended an invitation to this unworthy man.
7
NYT has a problem of overly relying upon Opinion Writers versus journalists. @CharlesBlow this is you word (opinion) against Trumps.
This story would have greater synergy had you relied upon actual reportage - i.e. photographs of the audience (and not only Trump giving the speech), and an interview with one or two of the students - and their experience with lockdown....
No other media organization thought it valuable to speak with the students. So are you just crying wolf to grab a headline?
Was the lunch the student were provided worth it? what are their thoughts on the award? Let us stop manipulating the population and opinions to fit your narrative - we're not all pawns to be manipulated for benefit of corporate and political institutions.
9
@BeTheChange
The speeches were lovely, as were the speeches at another event, where inmates released early as a result of the First Step Act talked about what it meant to them.
6
@AACNY
So you don't link to a video of the "lovely speech." One might suspect that it doesn't exist or, if it does, you don't want people to poke holes in its veracity.
2
Trump as cynical manipulator and liar is nothing new. But did a college's worth of students comply with being locked down to deny them the right of free expression and protest? And they took it? Wow.
Sledgehammers to the door locks would be more the American way. I want more coverage of the reception of this fiasco by on-campus students. Behaving like sheep is not going to cut it.
6
Why did the 20/20 group gave Trump its “Bipartisan Justice Award”?
2
@Frank MacGill
First Step Act and Second Step Act. You won't have read much about them at the NYT but they are truly great for inmates and released prisoners.
5
Maybe, like Obama said of his not supporting gay marriage, Trump is evolving.
3
@M
Right, evolving. Evolving into a petty dictator like Mussolini. He liked parades and sycophantic praise too.
Quite Orwellian!
1
Thanks for this shockingly true column, The students were delivered lunch in their DORMS?! They were in their rooms?What kind of a college was this? And why give a JUSTICE award to the most racist president ever.
I have no more words.
PS I am against Stop and Frisk.
4
Just disgusting.
He shouldn't have signed the First Step Act.
Then there would have been no award and the students free to roam the campus.
Now that Trump has signed it, the students are free to take advantage of the First Step Act.
2
Surely there’s a story behind the story here.
For Donald Trump—the man who took out a full page ad in this very paper to advocate the death penalty for the Central Park Five after their exoneration—to receive any kind of award for criminal justice is absurd. For him to receive it from a supposed “group of eighty African-American [leaders]” at an historically black college while all but ten of its students were on lockdown is an absolute caricature of travesty.
What is the “20/20 Bipartisan Justice Center”? More to the point, is it even real? Or is it some sort of smoke-and-mirrors organization created to give Trump the appearance of criminal justice legitimacy with African-Americans just in time for the 2020 election? And why on earth did Benedict College lock down virtually its entire student body while the president of the United States stood at its dais? Was there a huge grant behind those locked doors and free lunches?
Donald J. Trump is the master of both “reality” TV and the Art of the Deal. I cannot help but believe that both were at play here.
250
@Steel Magnolia Nah, the Center is real and predates Trump. The college instructed students to stay in their dorms or leave campus because the White House demanded it as a 'security' (read: optics) measure.
What incentives either the college or this Center had, I suspect publicity and being able to say they truly are bipartisan had a great deal to do with all the bad choices.
Of course, the college could have said, at least, that students would be free to attend classes and wander their own campus. The Center could have not awarded the least deserving of their invited speakers (the WH probably demanded the award as a bribe). Most significantly, they could have invited Trump just like the others (Dems) and simply accepted his refusal.
24
@Steel Magnolia It seems that he keeps people in prison and keeps people out of prison, depending on color and money.
13
45 receives a "Bipartisan justice Award". I thought George Orwell wrote fiction not Nostradamus oracles. The whole event was disturbing. Packing the audience with loyalists, locking down the students, giving awards to the undeserving, suggest government actions done by Beijing and not by Washington D.C. or Columbia, S,C.
5
I think the group that gave the award was attempting to emphasize bipartisanship and did not realize that they were legitimizing Trump's wicked behavior.
A) What coercive technique did college officials use to keep the student body locked up, preventing students from expressing their opinions? The police state wants to know.
B) What leverage was used to convince the administration of a black college to invite America's Racist in Chief to speak, without student voices, but before the 'bosses' who support silencing the voices of Black America?
8
His advance team sure stocked the pond with dependable sycophants and loyalists to ensure a bankable camera-ready spectacle. I have never heard of such a carefully engineered publicity stop supposedly catering to unlikely supporters. trump's selective narrative about low employment benefiting African American households consistently omits any mention of the stark wealth gap between African American and white households. It's selective information cherry picking with unconscionable dishonesty and a complete lack of integrity. The administration's proponents are incapable of being ashamed of themselves.
5
So now we have to believe that any African-American group that finds merit in something that President Trump has done must be denounced as untrue to their race? Mr. Blow has lost all perspective. Ironically, his automatic criticism of anything that Trump does only helps fuel support for Trump.
7
I got an eensy question.
If this is all just a case of plain old black support for Trump that Charles Blow doesn’t like, why’d they need to truck in their own people? Why were only seven students allowed in, and everybody else locked down in their dorms?
I’m asking because this sort of astroturfing has gone on ever since Hizzoner came down the golden escalator to a paid crowd, and showed up at Liberty U (kind of an ironic name, considering) to a pep rally that students had to be ordered to attend.
Why is that?
5
Good people, intelligent people, can make mistakes. They can be occasionally wrong. And from time to time they can hurt others without meaning to.
This is what I surmise might have happened with the 20/20 BiPartisan Justice folks. Clearly they have both hurt people of colour and used the students and College poorly. African Americans generally, and those students specifically deserve an explanation and an apology.
Perhaps they were pressured or influenced to do this. Who knows what kind of Quid Pro Quo deal was offered. Either way, it was a colossal blunder to have offered a proven racist and misogynist this award. Who, in the future will want to receive it knowing that they share it with trump? Unwittingly, these folks have just devalued their award.
Appeasement. Making nice with the bully. Folks, it never works. In fact it makes it worse. As for trump - he's gonna use this award to lie about how he is a friend of people of colour. He's gonna start saying that even Martin Luther King Jr didn't receive this award (leaving out the fact that it didn't exist then).
Yes, good people can make errors. What makes good people good, is that they explain, apologize and correct their missteps.
A few thoughts:
- The First Step Act is the sole beneficial achievement of the Trump Administration. Donald Trump rightly deserves credit for supporting it, and for pushing it in Congress, both of which he and his Staff did.
- How distasteful, then, that Trump and his team used the White House to arrange this recent spectacle in South Carolina.
- While I recognize that it would have been very hard for any university to shun the White House, how shameful that this HBCU allowed itself to be used as a backdrop for this racist. The harder road was the right one here. It was not taken.
- Unspoken in this article is that the White House's efforts were part of a scramble to placate this crying baby, who has by media accounts openly complained that his support for First Step was a mistake, and that he has received no credit for it.
If only we had an adult President. Instead we have this disaster.
Trump's fate is now in the hands of Black America. If Black voters come out in large numbers next November, then he will be ousted, and easily. If Black voters stay home, they will have re-elected this racist.
Black America, please understand: apathy is a vote to re-elect. Register and vote!
151
@R.S. Don't make this is about the black voter, It's not our responsibility to clean up this mess. The white voter that says one thing, but does another is the one that you need to convince. A lot of those states that flipped from blue to red, don't have a high population of black people. We didn't put this baby in office...
78
@Hacksaw_Jim_Thuggin - the 2020 election will be very, very close. Of the many factors that will account for the difference in the electoral college, Black voter turnout in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Florida will be one of them. If Black voters come out in large numbers and the Democrats win those three states, Trump will be out.
PS - love the user name.
13
@R.S. I love how it is now up to the Black Voter to undo this havoc that all americans have played a part in.
8
The college staff have learned that to get anything from Trump you need to praise him and appeal to his image of himself.
The juxtaposition of this event and the ceremonies honoring Representative Cummings sears the malignant state of racial injustice in the United States into the brain.
Members of the 20/20 Bipartisan Justice Center need to each receive their own copy of this article, complete with the comments. Then they each need to write a personal apology to every student who was locked down in their dorms while this travesty played out. There needs to be an investigation of the college to see if the actions were even legal, as they certainly were not moral.
Thank you Mr . Blow. The silence of the liberal world, white and black, is deafening.
3
The students were on lockdown to ensure the president a "safe space"? To protect his feelings? What a snowflake. I thought this was exactly the kind of political correctness conservatives opposed.
6
I cannot believe the audience didn't break out in guffaws at his hypocrisy
1
@Helen Toman, the audience was mostly bought and paid for.
3
Everything Trump does is a spectacle, usually an embarrassing one. He cannot visit a college, black or white, without his now trademark boorishness, just as he cannot announce the death of Al-Baghdadi without bragging that it eclipsed the success of his predecessor in bagging Bin Laden.
3
There is a sad pattern in every Trump column.
Trump and his goons do something impossibly heinous.
We call him out.
He denies and calls fake news.
His base calls fake news.
We construct the proof.
He then does something more heinous and we lose our minds.
We need to simply vote him out and arrest him.
5
This post truth master of indecent ceremonies pulled off quite a stunt. Hail to the thief.
This just keeps getting worse. It means the pendulum is about to swing...right?
1
Given the article yesterday about the black churches being unwilling to back Buttigieg because he’s gay gives us pause. Civil rights are civil rights but older Black people who lived through the era are unwilling to extend the same civil rights to people with different sexual orientations, republicans have succeeded in breaking alliances so why wouldn’t they “honor” this criminal?
1
I think Trump cares deeply about criminal justice, and the justice system. Trump cares because he knows that, very soon now, he may be deeply involved with the criminal justice system. Trump cares in the same way any criminal cares about the justice system... Trump cares that he find a way, any way, to escape the consequences of his own criminal actions. I care, and I hope he does not. You can tell just how much Trump cares by how hard he works to hide his crimes, to hide the evidence, and how much Trump works to distract and lie about his actions. Trump cares about the criminal justice system - just like every other crook cares.
1
The efforts to insulate Trump from criticism are disgusting. Look at the difference between his speech at the university and his reception at the baseball game last night.
3
Signs at rallies proclaiming "Blacks for Trump," "Latinos for Trump," "Women for Trump" make my head explode — his shameful self-promotion is still appealing to gold-plated aspirations despite his lies and broken promises.
America badly needs a rapprochement between Trump and the black community.
But Trump's clumsiness and your hatred for him make this outcome impossible.
Maybe you will manage to take him down and maybe you won't.
But either way, it is unlikely that you will have done something good. Hatred like yours rallies his supporters, turns off centrists (against you) and makes it more likely that he is reelected.
3
No disagreement with your factual recitations, Charles.....but maybe ask why......really ask why.... Benedict College agreed to let him him speak there, or invited him to speak there?
Reportedly, only 10 students were given tickets to attend.
They gave him an honor? For doing the absolute minimum about criminal justice reform?
That's sad.
2
I thought “lockdowns” were only called to protect those present at a certain location when a clear danger (e.g.“active shooter”) had been identified. So is “snowflake” Trump now so fragile that his handlers have to put certain venues and in this case almost the entire student body of Benedict College into lockdown before he appears?
This presidency grows more Orwellian by the day.
1
“Republicans like Trump bemoan victimhood, but secretly — or not so secretly — demand a slice of it.”
Perfect.
3
Just started checking the event - and discovered a squadron of leading Democratic contenders were invited - K. Harris pulled out because of Trump appearance/award, Sanders and Biden got into battle over semantics Sunday - when student asked what advice the two would give their kids if pulled over again by cops, Sanders said something like, it's wrong you have to but be polite so you don't get shot. Biden responded "if you were my (daughter?), you would be caucasian and wouldn't be pulled over" and accused Sanders of not understanding institutional racism in America (I just quote 'em).
Apparently students were permitted to see speakers other than Trump.
What a shame that NYT wasn't there to cover this alleged "open" event.
Someone call the student leaders, if any, and tell them to take the Admin. building and hold the institution's president accountable.
1
If “Donald Trump at Benedict College was beneath contempt” then the fault lies with The 20/20 Group and Benedict College.
3
"The forest was shrinking but the trees kept voting for the axe as its handle was made of wood and they thought it was one of them".
The only possible explanation...???
4
In every "presidential act," Trump offers nothing but sneering provocation.
He's a one man plague.
3
The link to the 2020 bipartisan Justice group did not work. Who are these folks? hHow did Trump get the award? Sadly there was no way to discover how this award came about. It would have been good to know.
Unbelievable. Benedict College should just call itself a right-wing Christian school. This shows contempt for its students, their rights, and everything a real HBCU stands for.
2
Some historically black colleges are having financial troubles. This is most unfortunate. But I'm mean. If one has to close I hope Benedict is first in line. Anyone that was planning to write them a check should give it another thought. They are an embarrassment to other colleges like Hampton, Spellman, Howard, etc.that have done so much under the worst of circumstances. And I would very much like to know who this group is that gave this horrible man an award.
3
That type of expansive manipulation is only possible when enough people of Van Jones’s ilk can be found to go along. I still recall his disgraceful non interview with Jared Cushner.
2
Once you can accept the fact that Trump is a degenerate interested only in himself, the rest is easy to understand.
1
This seems to continue the notion that if Trump does anything—even if it is right and good like the First Step Program of criminal justice reform or the killing of the ISIS leader—it must be denounced and condemned. The New York Times has adopted this position generally, as part of its view that Trump is terrible and must be “resisted”.
Sometimes that gets old. Trump did not implement “stop and frisk”. That was done by Democratic mayors in Chicago and elsewhere. It’s principal champion was Michael Bloomberg, as mayor of New York City, who in a better world might be (and still might be) the Democratic Presidential nominee. But it predates Trump as politician and was a state and local policy in any event.
Much of the rest of the column is similar noise, and deals with things that have nothing to do with Trump or the Federal government.
And Blow seems to have a problem generally with black people who support Trump. His previous column on a White House event honoring Black youth leadership was similarly off mark. Black people can hold diverse views and see both good and bad in political leaders just like anyone else.
But the Times seems to believe that it’s readership wants blanket condemnations of Trump, so that is what it will provide.
6
@Meg, try to read carefully. Trump supported stop and frisk even after it victimized thousands of innocent non-white men. And there is no way to overlook his shameful media persecution of the innocent Central Park Five as anything but pure racism. Blow goes after Trump on this subject because the latter has proved again and again and again he fundamentally hates and fears African-Americans—and only supports those who treat him like God Almighty.
2
Of course Trump has no interest in justice. Indeed, he fears it. His pathetic appeals should be directed towards mercy. He should receive none.
2
The day Mr. Trump raises his voice against racial hatred and the on-going violence toward black citizens, when he voices the unspeakable wrong of Ms. Atatiana Jefferson's senseless murder in her own home _by a policeman no less_ or Mr. Botham Jean's brutal murder _by another cop_ killed sitting on his couch eating ice cream, is the day we'll believe he has some interest in civil rights. Until then, no amount of photo ops using historically black colleges as backdrops will convince anyone.
2
Thx Charles. It pains me to see black institutions submit themselves to such shameless exploitation. I realize the Second Step org. leased space on the Benedict campus for their event and that hosting POTUS was not the college's idea. But by putting students on lockdown, and thus suppressing their speech, President Clark Artis and her administration became willing enablers of this contemptuous spectacle. Trump supporters will now use our criticism of this event to persuade themselves that Black folks are ungrateful for all that POTUS is doing for them. Queue the mini violins. Black orgs., stop playing into the con artists' hands. Black people, the surest way to stop the menace in the White House is to vote him out. We must get ourselves and our family members and friends registered and go to the polls as if our lives depend on it.
1
What kind of phony bologna College would let Trump in the door..
Locked up their students ??
Where is the pushback from these College kids ??
1
Thank you, as always, Charles Blow, for highlighting the daily abuses of this so-called presidency. I personally feel your newspaper should run a front page headline screaming about this administration locking students up so they can have a ‘safe space’ for dear leader to tell lies without pushback. And let’s not blame the students. In the age of terrorism sponsored by the NRA, they are used to running to lock their doors, and have been trained from kindergarten to do so. I would love to know what message they received on their their campus alert system, and I would also love to know what process the administration went through to find a handful of students willing to to sit quietly for the lies and the photo op.
Is there any hour of any day since 2016 that has not seen some willful abuse?
2
HBCU Benedict College has well over 2000 students enrolled; it has a 99% black student body.
Seven students - that bears repeating - 'seven students' were 'allowed' to see the President speak on their own college campus.
Classes were cancelled and the rest of the black student body, over 2000 students, were essentially locked in their dorm rooms so the nation's leading narcissist could extol the virtues of his African American heroism.
When the narcissist left their college, the 2000 African-American students were released from their holding cells.
You can't make up a bigger cultural obscenity than Trump's HBCU Benedict College performance art.
The man is a bottomless pit of disgrace.
7
Another Trump charade. How so many have succumbed to this rot is astonishing. For crying out loud stop providing him such platforms for his propaganda!
At this point everyone knows who trump is, what he thinks and stands for so his remarks are no surprise. The only question here is why would a black group give trump an award and why would a black college invite trump to speak on his terms shutting down free speck on campus during his visit? I say sham on all involved.
3
As odious as this presentation was to Kamala and Blow, Biden’s show at a HBCU was even more “open mouth insert foot!”
1
Before we can't see the forest for the trees we should take a step back and a deep breath and ask ourselves if the lives of those the article focuses on improve during the Trump admin.
The other thing we should ask ourselves is what exactly defines the lockdown, and who specifically called for it. The left often tries to disrupt the speech of conservatives like Ben Shapiro and deny speech via a heckler's veto. Perhaps someone from the university wanted to prevent a free speech denying spectacle.
@John, so the students get denied _their_ free speech? Typical conservative double-think—no one is entitled to any rights but them.
2
For signing the First Step Act the President who must not be named should receive some credit. This however does not wipe out his racism, narcissism, isolationism, and other less than desirable characteristics.
Measuring his net moral worth, it is substantially below zero.
1
That is a lot of emoting about Trump for an award he didn't give himself. It was given to him by the historic black Benedict College. It follows the typical pattern of black intellectuals. Why write an article about how the black community can stem the patently insane amounts of violence in their communities when you can write about a handful of police shootings? Why write an article about the home lives of so many young black children and how it steals away any opportunity to succeed in school when you can blame the teachers or the "system" for this failing? Why write an article about the African-american men and women who gave out this award to Trump(they really just did that!!) when you can go through a list of Trump's ignorance without even a single question to the folks in charge of this charade?
35
@Edward
Actually, the award was given by the "20/20 Bipartisan Justice Center and the college allowed it to be used for the venue.
The blame belongs squarely with the Justice Center; a supposedly elite invitation-only group comprised of younger black "movers & shakers" (based in the South): Resume-Rich on educational achievements and fellowships and dirt-poor on in-the-trenches work. Benedict college went along with the charade for the notoriety (and it certainly got it).
With no money earmarked for Trump's signing *achievement*- clearly, the award was more for their glory. What a travesty.
29
@Edward
I totally agreed with all that you write. however we can do both talk about a bigot and talk about the people who orchestrated this sham award to be given on the day when Honorable Mr. Cummings was being sent to be with all of the angels of the Civil Rights movement's and beyond..
How in the world did a president of this college allow this travesty to happen,? why were the students not out protesting this visit by a racist?
Where was the social media when you need them to get people out in force to protest, Ms. Harris was right addressing her thoughts to the bigot, however we need to all look in the mirror on who made these decisions and apparently how we have forgotten why we have historical black colleges.
Have we no shame, no pride, racism for many of us is a daily life encounter, we need not have it at our children's colleges, no matter who thought this was a good idea it wasn't and this was a phot op for a racist.
13
@Candlewick
The president of the college should of known better, he is at fault because these movers and shakers are not very enlighten in what it means to be black. apparently these movers and shakers didnt realize that the president and their administration are bigots.
apparently they are not students of black history in America.
7
Just so we’re clear: Nothing HE does or says is beneath MY contempt. He is a walking (lumbering in a bear-like fashion), talking (speaking toddler level “English”learned thru correspondence course) huge, bottomless barrel of hate, spite and deranged Vanity. An appearance at any college would be inappropriate. At a Historically Black College: Sacrilege.
But that’s just me.
6
So the real story is exactly who is this 20/20 Justice group and why did they honor Trump?
Saying they are a group of mayors, law enforcement folks and state officials tells us nothing. It takes months, sometimes years to get on a presidential calendar. Presidents don't go to honorary events unless they are very carefully scripted and this one obviously was.
Benedict College is cash strapped, like all the other HBCU's so where did they get the money to pull off an event like this. Any student group will tell you that even small conferences cost money. Who paid for this?
And of course the biggest question is why? Trump's record on criminal justice issues is obviously contrary to the interests of the Black community so why give him a platform simply to tell more lies?
Unfortunately the Times with all their resources has left the real journalism to others. I look forward to the answers to these basic questions.
Do you readers have any suggestions?
1
This begs the question why this predominantly Black school invited Trump and gave him an award since he's the antithesis of a civil rights advocate.
Locking down the students was a moral outrage and an insult to every student.
Something smells fishy about this event and I wonder if the truth about it will ever be told.
3
reminds me of scenes from Invisible Man
1
What more would the black community need to understand that donald despises it's people?
For those members of that community who understand that our executive unkindness has used this event solely to promote the falsehood that he cares to fail to make this clear to everyone who needs to know would be a shame.
Oppression in the form of hypocracy is even more outrageous than everyday rascism. That the students of this college were treated not just a second class citizens who might get out of line and threaten the security of mr. awesome but also as pawns to confuse the black community surely ought to be obvious. Keep the facts alive.
How in the world did Benedict allow this shame event to be twisted so badly I'd like to know.
3
The First Step Act is a little teeny tiny baby step, but the federal politicians all are going to kill someone with all the self-congratulatory back-slapping. Shortening a relative handful of excessive sentences at the federal level just isn’t enuf. We still got millions of people in federal and state prisons/jails, most for non-violent crimes, without a prayer for their future. How about we start with letting ex-cons vote. Decriminalize drugs. Incentivize their training and hiring. Not pay them a slave wage for learning a skill while incarcerated. End private prisons.
57
@Joe B. You are exactly correct in your perspective. That is what we in Black America really need.
8
Vampire? Way off, vampires at least have a little bit of class.
1
Surely there’s a story behind the story here.
Giving any sort of criminal justice award to Donald Trump—the man who took out a full page in this very paper to advocate the death penalty for the Central Park Five—is absurd. For a “group of over eighty African-American [leaders]” to do it at an historically black college while apparently all but ten of its students were on lockdown is absolute travesty.
What is “20/20 Bipartisan Justice Center” anyway? Or more to the point, is it really “real”? Or is it some sort of smoke-and-mirror “organization” cooked up just to give Trump the appearance of criminal justice legitimacy with African-Americans in time for the 2020 election? And what did Benedict College get for locking down virtually their entire student body while the president of the United States stood at their dais and assumed a mantle of black victimhood as his own?
Donald Trump is the master of the Art of the Deal. I cannot help but believe he didn’t cut one here.
2
The audacity of the college is mind blowing.
How can blk college administrators be so utterly obtuse?
3
And Vampire Trumpy scuttled off to make it back to his casket before sunrise.
1
Why did this university let this happen?
1
Appalling, as always.
Ironic that the Benedict College great and good honor Trump for signing a bill to reduce black incarceration, then the lock down the campus.
You gotta hand it to Trump. He could getaway with murder on Broadway. But why did the college great and good allow this?
2
I thought that Trump couldn't stoop any lower than holding a rally on a historically black college and not allowing the students to attend. Nothing says racist more than this. Sure, there were black people there but they were chosen to be nothing but wallpaper for the Rump. The coward in chief can't stand the possibility of someone dissing him. His reception at the World Series with the chant "Lock him up" was priceless and reveals his actual popularity. Does he need a personal taster too?
1
There is no indication of a spokesperson for the sponsoring group, 2020club.org. Its website gives no information on who is making decisions. Former Missouri state representative Tishaura O. Jones is the only Democrat named as a member on the group website.
It is beyond irony that the students were told to stay in their dorms. It is political maneuvering at its worst. It’s disgusting. The students should not have complied. They PAID to provide the venue. Their college fees maintain the buildings, pay for security, and are intended to provide experiences just like this, to hear the president speak on campus.
A peaceful march was required; students standing together for what is right.
I am amazed at the limited backlash that has occurred.
1
Why did this college invite him or even allow him to enter the campus? It is a disgrace to that college. How are their alumni going to feel when the next financial appeal letter goes out?
The idea of Trump speaking at a historically black college makes me want to vomit.
1
Lockdown and lunch delivered to you in your room? Was it prison food? Who goes to a campus and then has to quarantine the students? Please, next time you get an award, grifter, have it presented in a swamp, so people can get on with their lives...
2
Why do I have to read about this bizarre event in an op-ed piece? Shouldn't this have been another news headline in the ever more peculiar direction of Mr. Trump's narcissism?
Michael
Wasn't this the same man who took out a full page in The New York Post calling for the Central Park 5 to be murdered?
1
Stop and frisk works. Racial profiling works. If blacks and Latinos make up the members of gangs, why wouldn't you stop them to search for weapons?
Should we stop and frisk every young white male walking into a church, movie theater, gathering of people, etc.?
2
The data shows it does not work. White people commit crimes at the same or higher rate. Probable cause should be the reason for a stop by law enforcement, not the color of one’s skin.
1
@Elizabeth
Really? Then why are the prisons full of black and hispanics?
1
How was this event covered on Fox News? They will not be told that all but a few students were on lockdown. Why did they stay inside? Those viewers will no doubt believe he is really being honored by black people. What in the world motivated this?
Apparently a small number of Trump supporters in the school administration instigated this. They had to bus on Black Trump supporters from other places to fill the seats, while keeping most of the students out.
2
With a President who is breaking all records for the number of blatant lies he spews, we need you all the more to remind us of the painful truth, Mr. Blow. Thank you!
2
One thing Trump is king of, is photo ops, and liner notes for his greatest hits. He goes to a black college and gets an award, and voila! He's not a racist.
Except that he is a racist. The fact people are willing to be manipulated by his obvious self-dealing machinations is stuff for psychology theses for years to come.
2
This whole spectacle reads like something from the antebellum era.
1
The honoring of racist Trump was nothing short of shameful. What's going on?
1
Meek little sheep is what the student body of Benedict has become. To be subjugated in that way, and that it occurred in the SC is telling. Sheep!
2
Why would any university other than Liberty University or nutcase institutions like it invite Trump to spout his bilge? They must be absolutely desperate.
3
tell me why he was invited? why were they giving him this award? I reads the column but I still do not understand.
1
Shame on the black members of the Bipartisan Group which includes Democrats who votes for him to receive this award. This is where your anger should be directed at. I will never understand black people who try to appease white people at all costs.
Why do so many people want to lick the boots of this horrid man?
1
"The glamour of a vampire."
You said right there.
Shame on this school!
Mary Jo Olsen
More Americans voted for Obama twice than for any other president in American history, some 69 millions.
Does this show that Americans as a whole are racist?
of course not. Are some individuals racist? of course..
but be very careful when you indict every American as being
racist. please be careful not to stereotype others as racist.
This we know about shameless, treasonous Trump: 1) he’s an incorrigible racist, and 2) he’s a psychopathic lier who lacks any semblance of humanity 3) he’s betrayed the country (who knows what secrets he’s sold to Putin) and destroyed our institutions 4) is crashing the world.
He just betrayed the entire Kurdish community in northern Syria and threw them, literally, under Turkish tanks, even as they helped the US military capture Baghdadi. Yet, he thanked Russia, Turkey and Lindsey Graham. He’s got to go.
1
Most if this opinion is yet another taxonomy of what a terrible person trump is, which the NYT doesn’t need more of, but where is the indictment of the people who brought him to this college campus? Of those who gave him this clear joke of an award?
1
How is this college president keeping his job?
He locked down an historically black college so an old racist white man with a history of advocating locking up young men of color would not have to look at an audience of young people of color. Did I miss something here?
4
Accepting an award related to not locking up black men so much, while requiring that all the black students of the college be locked down...
Um, does no one in this administration have any sense of irony or self-awareness?
174
Trump said he could stand in the street in NY and shoot someone. Americans jostled each other and said, “he really couldn’t.” Yet here he is accepting an award at a black college in SC, and the black students weren’t allowed to attend.
I don’t believe Trump is smart enough to plan events like this. But he has the money to pay nasty people to devise events that move him towards his goal.
This show of power over people who are black is just what cements his base. In his eyes this was a win.
Most people won’t do ANYTHING to get where that want to go. Trump will and does. If you desire to oppose him, you must hire people who understand nasty and will catch the intent on his events before they happen. And plan accordingly.
12
This was a performance for white people who have some concern about looking racist for supporting Trump. Nothing more.
2
Why a black college would allow this man on it's campus and allow him to speak his lies is beyond me. Why an African American group would give any kind of reward makes no sense at all!
3
Mr. Blow,
I am in full agreement with your comments regarding "the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., (I simply can't refer to him a the president). However, I also truly believe that he is fully aware of what he is doing. He knows that he is not deserving of this award. i believe that his appearance was intended to garner the exact response he has gotten from you and others. He simply wants to keep himself in the news.
If, you truly want to see a complete and total meltdown by this individual quit publishing articles, analyses and doing news stories on ALL the craziness he does and says. If, the news outlets simply called him on his lies and disingenuous statements; without all the discussion and analysis. He would quickly devolve into a blithering idiot!
1
“In his first appearance at a Major League Baseball game since taking office, the president was booed at Game 5 of the World Series at Washington’s Nationals Park.”
Ya gotta love a country that knows a bum when it sees one.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/27/us/politics/trump-world-series.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage
3
Ironic. Temporarily locking thousands of black folk up while he does his circus act miming his support for black folk (who by and large don't appreciate his clowning.)
2
I can only shake my head at the hypocrisy of the event and in locking up its black students while bestowing such an honor to a racist, criminal president.
3
Speaks at a Black College with no students allowed in the audience. Utter hypocrisy from a total phony.
3
More tasteless and shameful race baiting by Donald Trump.
1
Trump was endorsed by all the major white supremacist organizations in 2016. David Duke former Grand Dragon of the KKK was quick to endorse him in 2016 and will again in 2020. I wonder why?
Trump is a racist piece of garbage. This is not unknown to educated people. His speech at a HBCU is inexcusable. The president of that university needs to resign. The bureaucracy that allowed him to speak and kept out students need to be fired. This is despicable. That is not strong enough, but if I wrote strong enough words this comment wouldn't be posted.
3
Let’s hear from the students in lockup, Mr Blow. We need a follow-up piece.
7
What I don't understand is why Benedict College aided and abetted this dishonest, racist president?
3
Amen
2
Perhaps the predator in chief is actually more mentally incompetent than we think. Could it be that he does not know how incredibly racist he is? Is white privilege so sick that it blinds to reality? This and the young black Republicans are too much to bear. Mr. Blow, it is too insane to continue on this thread. Think of your own mental well being. How about we move on to the rat-infested apartments in Cummings' district in Baltimore...due to the predator's son-in-law?
1
All one needs to know about Donald Trump's regard for African-Americans is when he said it is moronic to make a donation to the United Negro College Fund on Howard Stern's radio program.
2
I really think there needs to be more attention to and criticism of the organization that gave Trump this shameful platform. He is a racist not because of what he thinks--who knows that he thinks anything at all--but because, as Mr. Blow points out, because of what he's done since he and his father were sued for not renting to black people a long time ago.
So how can black mayors and other black people of stature award a man who persisted in the birther nonsense? who called white supremacist neo-Nazis "fine people?" Who allowed only 10 Benedict College students to be invited (only 7 showed)? In answer to Trump's condescending sneer to black people before the election--"What the hell have you go to lose?"--this organization has answered: your soul and your integrity.
3
To appropriate a word much brandished by the Oval Office lout lately, this column is perfect.
1
The only reason he did anything with criminal justice is because it is a major issue with his son-in-law Jared Kushner. And the only reason Kushner gives a damned about criminal justice reform is because of his father’s time in prison. Had his father not been in prison Jared Kushner would not have cared about criminal justice reform in the slightest.
1
On the day of the Memorial Service for Elijah Cummings to present Trump an award for the First Step Act, an admittedly small step forward in Criminal Justice Reform is worse than a travesty. Had the award been presented to those who drafted, presented and sponsored the legislation, it would have been far more appropriate. Also had the recipients been those who fought for almost a decade to see the legislation enacted it would likely not have required locking down most of the students and the acclaim and the award would have been well deserved.
3
"Trump made this proclamation:
'I will always fight against abuses of power from any source. And I will always champion the right to due process, the right to a fair trial, the right to good legal representation for every American, regardless of race, background, position, right?'”
Mr. President, given your statement above, and given your own multitudinous egregious abuses of power, we now breathlessly await your resignation. We hope you will step down without delay.
4
It's heartening to learn he is a strong believer in due process. It should be a comfort to him as his acts are dissected and his associates questioned.
6
Dear Charles, I read your column regularly, admire your writing, and usually I am in absolute agreement with you. I am against the death penalty and think that Trump acted repulsively when taking out the NYTimes ad. But I hesitate to look at the "Central Park Five" as "just teenagers who were exonerated". I was around at the time, and I believe the verb "wilding" was created to describe criminal or harassing activities by groups of young men, particularly in Central Park. Now, after the somewhat slanted movie, the young men are often put forth as examples of law enforcement and prosecutors blinded by racism and determined to pin the horrible rape of the jogger on some innocent teenagers. The way I remember it is that the young men were actually harrassing and attacking several victims, even robbing one of them and knocking him out, but they had nothing to do with the attack on the woman who became known as the "Central Park Jogger". Or at least there was the DNA of somebody unrelated to their group found which led to their exoneration. These young men made mistakes that night, they got into trouble because of their proximity to an unrelated crime, and served time for something they did not do. But to see them regularly described as upstanding, completely law abiding innocents would be going too far, I am really sorry to say, but it's the actual record.
6
The school president isn’t going to be so proud when he realizes Trump is stiffing him on the security and facility fees like he does everywhere else. I don’t understand why public entities keep agreeing to host Trump.
25
Excellent. There are various kinds of people who keep aligning themselves with Trump. It appears counter-intuitive about some of them, to say the least, as Mr. Blow implies here. I can't help wondering if some of them are merely opportunistic, which could also imply amoral. And it has me wondering what would have happened if those students broke free. If any of them would still want to protest even now, my heart would go out to them.
6
When speaking about Trump I believe it was Rachel Maddow who said "Watch what he does not what he says". Boy was she correct, actions always speak louder than words.
22
I was at the protest. Here’s another wrinkle in this entire production. A local speaker at the rally before the march said he suspected Benedict, an HBCU, hosted the event because they thought their federal funding might be delayed if they didn’t.
18
Yes, there is a bigger story here.
1
pseudo-event
noun
an event arranged or brought about merely for the sake of the publicity it generates.
"pseudo-events look important because the media and the public agree to act as if they are"
7
Why did the leaders of this black college lock down their students? Were they assuming that they would march, protest or react against Trump's visit with violence? This assumption is a kin to the motives of police who stop and frisk for no reason other than racial ones. That the leadership of this college would side for Trump against their own students is astonishing or perhaps they gave in to Trump pressures to avoid a public relations nightmare for Trump. In any case the leaders of Benedict College are as deplorable as the man they hosted.
13
@just Robert We don't know. Maybe auditorium wasn't big enough? Maybe it was something the Secret Service or Trump himself wanted fearful of a hostile of the crowd, which might ruin Trump's photo op? Let's not forget that was a show put on by Trump to draw attention away from the Elijah Cummings funeral on the same day, and to show by his receiving a televised award from Blacks leaders that it was he and not Cummings who had done the most for Blacks. Trump had previously called on Cummings to stop investigating him and declared Cummings responsible for poverty and crime in Baltimore. Trump acted as if he as President and the Congress were in no way responsible for the Nation's poverty.
Criticism of the College Leaders is implicit in the Article by Blow who shows how undeserving Trump was of the Award. But, as President, Trump as the most powerful force in our Nation who we must be most concerned with, not the leaders of that small and financially strapped historically black college.
I would like to hear from the 10 students.
Should be easy enough to have them on TV for a “share and tell.”
6
I was at the protest. One speaker suspected the only reason 45 was “invited” to speak at a HBCU might be that otherwise federal funding would be withheld. Sound familiar?
12
I wonder what "genius" in the White House thought that only allowing in fewer than ten students to a College event looked good? I wonder who in Trump's (mal)administration felt such overwhelming fear of some college kids going about their business, getting coffee, going to the library and maybe holding up some protest signs and yelling, that they had to be locked in their dorms? Were the students who don't live on campus told to stay home?
I think the "danger" they were concerned with was the possible damage to a certain man-child's ego if he saw any present who didn't kiss his boots. Oh, or any significant number of Black people at all, other than those who puzzlingly gave him this award.
I would most certainly want to know, as a parent, how that "lockdown" was effected; were the exits actually locked? What does the fire inspector think about that?
Were local police, county sheriffs or any other group of jack-booted thugs stationed by the doors to intimidate those kids and young adults into staying put? In today's climate, if I'm a young African American, I'm going to see guys in uniforms, packing heat, telling me I have to stay put, as a potentially deadly situation. This is how we lose our rights: crushing dissent pre-emptively juuuussst to be on the "safe side".
What are we teaching our children?
11
This is rather shocking to read.....for so many reasons....I am stunned.....the admin of the College actually agreed to this visit? Wow.
10
How very sad. Suppressing college students.All young people, find your voice! Shame on the elders that supported this!
8
Mr. Blow,
I am trying to understand what benefit accrued to Benedict College for this spectacle. I would like to read your thoughts, speculations, informed hunches about that.
Thanks,
7
I'm amazed that some people still have not learned the fundamental lesson about Trump: come anywhere near him and your soul will be tarnished, your moral compass broken, you WILL BE humiliated. He, on the other hand, always walks away gloating no matter what the outcome because he is shameless, has no conscience, not an ounce of decency.
So, Benedict College and the 20/20 group join a long list of disgraced people. Evangelical Christians, Republicans, MATAts,Tom Price, Reince Priebus, Michael Flynn, Rex Tillerson, Scott Pruitt, Wilbur Ross, and so many more. (To be fair, many of those who were shamed by entering Trump's orbit, deserved shame in their own right. The shame was just magnified by Trump.)
12
This entire event was staged. It was essentially the performance of a fantasy. What strikes me as the greatest affront to justice here is putting the campus on lockdown and forcing the students to stay in their rooms.
Think about that. Trump is getting an award for justice and the black student body gets locked in their rooms. That's not justice. That's oppression.
We all know there are two Trump's. There is the real Trump who spews hate and venom at every turn in a nonsensical and incoherent fashion. And there is teleprompter Trump who slowly reads a bunch of words that someone else wrote that he has no understanding of.
This was teleprompter Trump at his best worst. The words he uttered meant nothing to him.
So the best way to review this event is to critique it as a piece of very bad theater, performed by a very bad actor, orchestrated by a very bad director, written by a very bad playwright, in front of a handpicked audience who would not walk out on it.
15
“Witnessing this spectacle was like falling under the glamour of a vampire.”
Except that vampires are supposed to be sexy and compelling; Trump is neither.
4
So for Donald Trump to receive an award for criminal justice reform, the students had to be put under "lockdown" and could not attend the event their college sponsored!?
When I think of this administration, I only wonder just how many flavors "bad" comes in?
8
trump is a criminal, many times over. perhaps criminal justice reform might ultimately benefit him after he is indicted, tried, and convicted.
3
A lockdown on campus.
Was there an active shooter in the vicinity?
Had a dangerous inmate escaped from jail, prison, or some other institution?
Nope. Just a visit from POTUS, but, considering how dangerous Trump is to the Republic, it kind of makes sense.
Another thing: Trump accuses the Black Lives Matter movement of helping to instigate some of the recent police shootings, yet Trump takes absolutely no responsibility for helping to instigate the ever-increasing violence and mass murders by right-wing extremists/terrorists. Odd how that works for Trump... but doesn’t fool the majority of Americans.
10
All this on the same day as Elijah Cummings' Memorial Service.
6
He was probably trying to draw attention away from The Honourable Elijah Cummings' memorial service, that is all.
1
Trump would want to be God, except he does not believe a god exists. So he is settling for being emperor of the planet earth.
1
When Trump is finally arrested for his crimes of money laundering and bribery, will he be okay with "Please, don't be too nice?"
4
Shame on all involved in this travesty.
4
Why invite and honor a crook? Boggles the mind.
2
Does he want the police to rough him up when he is arrested the day he is out of office?
2
Shame on "a group of over eighty African-American mayors, city, county and state officials, prosecutors and defense attorneys, political strategists, community leaders, activists, police chiefs and other law enforcement executives." Shame on you "adults."
3
"Blessed are the peace makers" but there are some who dedicate
their lives to stirring up racial resentments, who make their livelihood stirring up racial hatreds. Never letting them rest.
It is their stock in trade.
@David
The most prominent person in this episode stirring up racial resentments and racial hatred, as a matter of course, is Trump. And, yup, looking back through 30 years, it is indeed his stock in trade.
1
@Dan Trumps is an excellent role model of what not to be, not to do. Let no one on the liberal side
be like Trump. One racist is more than enough.
Trump will point to his speech and award at Benedict College as showing he had the support of many African Americans. He doesn't have such support, but what he wants to do is blur the charges that he is a racist. In this way he hopes to help some white voters who don't consider themselves racists to be able to rationalize voting for Trump.
2
Who are the responsible parties at Benedictine who abetted this fraud upon their students? Any donors or contributors to Benedictine need to know. That Trump was a recipient of this award is particularly offensive, and Benedictine's providing that particular venue was a disgrace for all current students and alumni. I hope a follow up is done to make public what machinations led to this embarrassment.
2
Trump went not for the hope he could change black minds on their utter dislike of him. Trump went so he base could tell themselves he is really not a racist so they don't have to explain supporting a racist. In the real world, the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree. Trump makes no bones about his racism and I believe is actually proud of it. Trump's base when asked why they support him goes into contortions trying to find a reason for their undying support. Trump has helped the deficit almost reach a trillion dollars. He hasn't built the wall that Mexico was supposed to pay for. The Great Deal Maker hasn't made any great deals. He cut and ran on The Kurdfs making us look like real cowards to the world. What is left to attract such a loyal following? The problem is a racist can never see any problem with another racist. Trump going to a black college is so he can say I can't be a racist because some of my best friends are...
2
I agree with you. I’d also mention the obvious; shame on Benedict College. Ridiculous. Students sent their lunches in their rooms, says it all. Transfer. Now.
6
Mr. Blow is right -- Trump's performance at Benedict College was a disgusting spectacle. And Mr. Blow is right to continue to focus on the frank racism of Donald Trump.
His crudeness, the slurs are designed to incite his base, and to retain their loyalty. They have been effective. But this disgusting display at Benedict College was for another reason - it offered Trump another white supremacy parade in the heart of a black community. And Trump voters also want to see this - that through Trump, they may humiliate blacks any way they want, any time they want.
Trump voters want those of us who are brown skinned Americans to continue to "know our place" - to continue to accept that our fate is in their hands. Trump's humiliation of the African American community at Benedict accomplished just that.
So while we are bemoaning the bigotry of this "president", we must place responsibility for his actions where they clearly lie - with Trump voters. He is nothing but a proxy for their hatred. Three years on in this disaster of a "presidency" they are still in lockstep with him.
Trump voters are treated as either entirely unrelated to this debacle, or as hapless dupes who were "hoodwinked" by Trump. They are neither. All they ever wanted was a "president" who told them that as whites, they were the "real" Americans, and the rest of us should be content with the scraps of second class citizenship. This, folks, is all Trump voters ever wanted and they love his performance.
9
Mr. Blow is right -- Trump's performance at Benedict College was a disgusting spectacle. And Mr. Blow is right to continue to focus on the frank racism of Donald Trump.
His crudeness, the slurs are designed to incite his base, and to retain their loyalty. They have been effective.
But this disgusting display at Benedict College was for another reason - it offered Trump another white supremacy parade in the heart of a black community. And Trump voters also want to see this - that through Trump, they may humiliate blacks any way they want, any time they want.
Trump voters want those of us who are brown skinned Americans to continue to "know our place" - to continue to accept that our fate is in their hands. Trump's humiliation of the African American community at Benedict accomplished just that.
So while we are bemoaning the bigotry of this "president", we must place responsibility for his actions where they clearly lie - with Trump voters. He is nothing but a proxy for their hatred.
Three years on in this disaster of a "presidency" they are still in lockstep with him. Trump voters are treated as either entirely unrelated to this debacle, or as hapless dupes who were "hoodwinked" by Trump. They are neither.
All they ever wanted was a "president" who told them that as whites, they were the "real" Americans, and the rest of us should be content with the scraps of second class citizenship. This, folks, is all Trump voters ever wanted and they love his performance.
2
Trump brought his own guests. He read a speech full of lies. He got an award he did not deserve. At a place that houses and educates black students - of whom only 1 out of every 200 students were even allowed to attend. (Of which only 7 students did attend, which means .0035 black students listened to the lies.) The speech and award were met with almost universal disgust.
That was on Friday afternoon.
On Saturday Trump played golf and was photographed in a secure site, pretending to watch a wanted man NOT getting all the rights he’d promised to guarantee just the day before.
On Sunday morning he delivered a word salad - on liveTV - which prompted Dan Rather’s horrified astonishment. Many others noted the delivery of top secret Intelligence information, likely sowing future terrorism, within the word salad.
On Sunday evening he went to the ballpark, where he was roundly booed.
Just another bizarre weekend for a man facing a current impeachment inquiry, probable criminal indictments and historical condemnation for every conceivable reason.
342
Why in the name of God would a historically black college invite Trump to give a speech on their campus? I very much enjoy reading Mr Blow’s columns but why does he not criticize the college administrators for allowing this spectacle to take place on campus grounds in the first place?
268
@John My question exactly. I loathe trump as much as anyone, but why isn't Mr. Blow calling out the college or the 20/20 Bipartisan Justice Center? That seems like an important element missing from his column.
28
@John
A college known for educating many black students is a great place for Trump to give a speech. Good for Benedict College on this point. The shame is in the treatment of students who were locked up and silenced. "Beneath contempt" is too good a judgement for them. A disgusting display of un-American cowardice.
16
@John
When Obama was in the WH, he distinguished between two types of POC - Black Professionals and Professional Blacks - the President of this university [and I assume - his students] are the former.
He is not afraid to engage with and defeat the enemy in the public square with rational arguments.
2
Wasn't this event "honoring" President Trump held on the same day as the funeral of Rep. Elijah Cummings? Of course, I am sure Congressman Cummings would have much preferred, like Senator McCain, that Trump not attend his memorial. I thought at the time that Trump's appearance at an historically black college on the day a great black Congressman was being honored by, among others, a black former president was planned to compete with the televised Cummings ceremony. But surely even he wouldn't stoop that low. He might have, however, postponed his visit.
94
@abigail49
The man needed a phot op for his upcoming election and he received it.
Except for the black people who are standing behind him at his rallies and who appear on the CNN focus groups, no self respecting minority would be around an individual who is a traitor to America and of course a draft dodger and a bigot.
14
@abigail49
"But surely even he wouldn't stoop that low."
There's the mistake people make all the time when considering this man, Mr. Trump.
Just remember: there is no lower limit to how low this man will stoop.
6
They gave him the award. Maybe they believe like Zelensky did that flattery is the only way to get anything from Donald Trump. It breaks my heart that those in need, those in the margins, the most vulnerable have to praise him publicly or potentially be abandoned by our government.
87
This column lists what we already know about Trump. However, the First Step act should not be downplayed. Truly a good start. It took strange bedfellows like Van Jones and the Koch machine to get it done. Hopefully it will be expanded to the states with additional reforms. Maybe the second step is nationwide decriminalization of THC.
1
This is an 'optics' thing. There's no real substamce in the event described in Blow's column. The award and its high-falutin' speeches don't resemble Trump's actual conduct or beliefs, so of what value is it?
I look for L. Graham in the background on this one.
I am curious about how large a donation Benedict College received from Trump or his donors to put on this fake display of honor. To lock up its own students to prevent their attending the ceremony is a remarkable statement about the legitimacy of the award.
8
Chuck, your issue seems more w/the group presenting the award, the 20/20 Bipartisan Justice Center, than w/the policies of #45. I feel your pain b/c I felt the same way when #44 won the Nobel Peace Prize for doing nothing but being present. In the end my issue wasn’t w/#44 and his policies that flew in the face of the prize but w/the Nobel committee. Just trying to help a friend, you really need to add value vs complaints.
2
Who on earth runs Benedict College? If administrators at my university consented to lock up the students in their dorm rooms for the convenience of a controversial speaker---of ANY speaker---the faculty and students would be united in calling for their heads on a platter!
35
“Lock them up” made for good copy from Chuck but the students were “advised” to stay in their dorms b/c of security during a Presidential visit. Fact checking is pretty easy to do on this one.
3
@Leland6
Thank you for the correction. I can assure you our campus would still be rising up in indignation even if students were just "advised" to lay low.
1
The "National Review" admits that stop-and-frisk is a bad idea.
New York City & Stop-and-Frisk: Crime Decline Shows ...
https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/01/new-york-city-stop-and-frisk-crime
Thus, it is indeed suspicious and worrisome that some Conservatives want to retain stop-and-frisk even if its effectiveness is in great doubt.
Demand for it persists due to ignorance and prejudice. Some people just don't know the facts; some know the facts, but want the practice continued anyway. That latter group, obviously, is where the problem lies. And changing their minds, unfortunately, is nigh impossible: "Don't confuse me with facts; my mind is made up."
All we can do is show them the evidence. The rest is up to them. For you can't change a man's mind when his heart is set on something else.
Rational thinking and evidence-based laws can prevent such injustices from continuing. In this case, eliminating stop-and-frisk was, and is, the right thing to do.
Sometimes, after a few fumbles, we get it right. However, the fumbles hurt a lot of people.
Every law, some wag said, hurts someone. Therefore, we need to make triple-sure that each law is necessary, fair, and reasonable. It's a very difficult and important decision. Failure is not a live option.
Because we don't do this, by and large, we, no doubt, have way too many bad laws on the books. As a result, people suffer.
Once again, thanks, Mr. Blow, for bringing this problem to national attention. We need gadflies.
2
“Bad idea’ but not unconstitutional.
1
The 20/20 group gave Trump its “Bipartisan Justice Award”.
Donald Trump has never been bipartisan in all his adult life. I have never heard of this organization before but they haven't been paying attention.
The president has attacked Democrats since he was inaugurated. He has insulted and belittled and demeaned all Democrats in office. I am not certain that the group has followed current events but when it recognizes this president as an aisle-crosser and a consensus person, then I have a different viewpoint on what constitutes bipartisanship.
The president has spent his adult political life in an attempt to diminish the first black president. He trashed the late Elijah Cummings's hometown of Baltimore as a "rat-infested" dump where no one would want to live. He has praised white supremacists as "very fine people."
The Times last week ran an item on the dangerous financial times that HBCU's are experiencing. Yet he has the nerve to appear at one at the invitation of a group that hasn't the smallest understanding of what coming together to achieve a policy that benefits everyone (or mostly everyone). And why, at this stage of the president's career, as he faces intense scrutiny for acts in office that would have ended any other president's tenure, any organization would seek to "honor" him.
6
@Red Sox, ‘04, ‘07, ‘13, ‘18 :
Got to be a Lindsey Graham thing for his pal and fellow traveler.
Show me one President who attacked numerous groups of Americans who happened not to vote for him as Trump has done. Phony “everyone does it” are just, phony.
The elephant in the room: the group that gave Trump this undeserved award. Their motivation? Who are they really (makeup?, backers?, history?). A separate story is needed.
23
Charles intentionally omits the proverbial elephant-in-the-room;the "20/20 Bipartisan Justice Center." For Charles to "go there", he would need to open up some very uncomfortable realities of the mindset of many Blacks in the South...particularly younger educated well-placed "influencers". Just looking at the Board make-up and "Invitation Only" method of membership to this rarefied organization, tells a story Charles isn't prepared to tell in his column.
Trump is Donald J. Trump where ever he goes. The group didn't care. It provided them with the publicity it wasn't prepared for and provided Trump with campaign material he could never hope-to-be so fortunate for:A travesty all-the-way around.
6
And Benedict College bears no responsibility for agreeing to host this horrific event? For “locking down” its students? For permitting Trump’s forces to control the audience/attendees? Benedict College and it’s ilk will help re-elect Trump. And complain about it.
10
What makes Trump "special" is he doesn't care what the readers of the Times think at this point- to him this is war and he's found out that the more he treats those who oppose his policies and speeches as hated enemies the deeper the support of his army of supporters is.
Those supporters are the real story- we've always had more than our share of con artists in this country, but you'd think it would have required one with a silver tongue to rise to the most powerful job on our planet. It turns out that many in our country resent the "well educated" and Trump makes them feel good about themselves every time he utters a monosyllabic declaration of his anger towards his enemies. This makes him immune to articulate arguments against him to their ears and eyes.
However, it won't be those supporters or the voters he hates that determine his fate. That is in the hands of the distracted and marginally interested swing vote who certainly won't be reading any of Blow's columns in the next year.
They will be seeing short videos of Trump's publicity stunts, however, and they will mark the progress or lack of it in their own lives in the preceding 4 years and vote their selfish interests.
These swing voters are the inevitable bane of populist democracy, especially one that does such a terrible job of teaching its children the history of our country.
3
I wonder how and why the college and this group of black trumpsters became complicit in providing cover for him during his impeachment? Who are these people? Did no one point out his act was not funded and virtually pointless?
Here we have another event devoid of any true meaning except propaganda, or perhaps favor for those willing to lick trump’s boots.
6
Thanks Charles.
I hope you sent a copy of this piece to the board of the 20/20 group that, unfathomably, gave trump the award, that they respond to you, and that you share their response with readers.
2
I do hope Benedict realizes the mistake they made in allowing Trump to use the college as a stage prop, a studio for furthering the myth that he, the one with unmatched wisdom and genius, as Ms. Grisham gushed just a few days ago, is not a racist, is for equality and will further help the minority communities.
The spectacle was just show and tell, sleight of hand, in an attempt to garner support from minority community-nothing more to see.
And I hope those minorities realize they are being played by a con artist.
9
The students at Benedict deserve answers about this. I hope they demand them. As outlined in this strong piece by Mr. Blow, there is nothing in this man’s history or character to justify such an award. Beginning with his early days with his father when they engaged in redlining of prospective black tenants in their property holdings, he has continuously demonstrated his contempt for others whom he regards as lesser beings.
The fans at the World Series game last night responded in the way he deserves.
7
In that last quote, he's talking, disguisedly, about himself:
“I will always fight against abuses of power from any source [‘I'm being unfairly accused of abuse of power’]. And I will always champion the right to due process, the right to a fair trial, the right to good legal representation for every American [‘the impeachment inquiry is being conducted without due process, it is not fair, and I am being accused without the benefit of representation’], regardless of race, background, position [‘even a president’], right?”
3
Don't know who scheduled the Benedict College appearance, but the school is so aptly named, given the circumstances, I can't stand it. Awarding anything but an orange jump-suit to Trump just has to be a Ukraine-style holdup, or someone in the administration of that college is looking for a me-too job as a MAGA booster, and doesn't care what's involved...
3
I'm never shocked anymore by what Trump says when it comes to race -- or about anything else for that matter.
But I am shocked, and deeply disturbed to hear the college was put on "lock down" as if the students of the college represented a threat to the president. Or that somehow seeing too many dark-skinned faces in one place might somehow upset or worry him.
Who authorized such a lock down? Whoever it was should lose their job, along with anyone else who agreed to carry it out. This is not only an affront to these students personally as Black Americans, but an attack on their individual freedoms as well.
9
Under what authority were the majority of the students locked down?
6
Thank you, Mr. Blow, for continuing to air your opinions, especially about events, etc. that are oftentimes 'back-paged' in suburban local news media.
Hooray for the students put on lockdown in their dorms at Benedict College. They are the kind of students for whom I continue to make donations to "higher" education, "Black Colleges," in particular. The 'educated?' organizers of this embarrassing event should be ashamed of themselves for such a lack of backbone.
4
Complaints about the liberal bias of some colleges and universities is widespread.
Those who complain need to note the Kafka-esque, surreal, and utterly absurd nature of this man's appearance at Benedict College. A photo-op, a campaign stop, a staged opportunity -- all those terms are far too mild. It's an immoral, unethical, and vile attack on eduction and a perversion of decency for all the young people who attend there.
7
As always, an excellent column. I wonder what the college was thinking? How could they ever have allowed this man on campus? Free speech is one thing, a man supportive of and supported by white supremacy is another.
3
trump should spend more time with his alleged subjects, like at a world series game, so we can show him how much he is appreciated.
The students at Benedict College deserve the opportunity to boo him and his entourage just as much as the baseball fans.
2
Trump, with his profound ignorance of American history - and pretty much every thing else - probably thought Benedict college was named for Benedict Arnold, a traitor who sold out the United States for personal gain. Now there's someone Trump admires.
Limiting the audience to seven students while filling the room with his staff and other people Trump brought along to cheer him, kept Trump content. Although Trump was probably confused that the students were treated like guests, not as servants.
Where Trump was wasn't important to him.
The people who did the work Trump was taking credit for weren't important to him.
What the First Step Act will accomplish isn't important to him.
The award ceremony was just one more opportunity for Trump to preen for the cameras, look at me, look at me, aren't I great!
Trump got the only thing important to him, a few more headlines.
Vote Democratic in 2020.
Every office, every seat.
5
Trump thinks that because Kim Kardashian visited him in the White House about a woman who deserved parole that he’s entitled to a racial justice award.
That said, it is difficult for me to understand how this college let things get so out of hand. Trump should not have been allowed to give that speech to his allies in that setting.
1
Great column except for one word: glamour. It simply doesn’t apply to the man in any way, shape or form. He is, if anything, the antithesis of glamour.
3
@Nora Brossard: In using the word ‘glamour’, I think Mr. Blow did so in light of the old use of the word that meant ‘magic’ as in sorcery; in Trump’s case, evil magic’.
It is a shame that the students at Benedict College were locked down, and the college administration should be ashamed of themselves. The students should have taken a cue from the brave people of Hong Kong and took to the streets as a group to protest not only the policies of Trump that they disagree with, but the lack of the fundamental right of all Americans to free speech and "petition" their grievances to the government.
We have all seen the cowardice of our "stable genius" president. I have come to the conclusion that he is afraid of speaking to all Americans. It is much safer to hide behind his office and only talk to those who will give him the message he wants to hear. Listening to all voices is what makes for a great leader.
1
It was a stunt to create a film record to be used during his 2020 campaign. Benedict College was a prop.
4
@Liam Jumper Occam's razor!
As if Trump’s self-congratulatory remarks weren’t aggravating enough, he also had to take a cheap shot at President Obama, whom Donald declared had been inferior about helping minorities.
Of course, Trump can’t conceive of himself not besting anyone, let alone a person of color - which shows where he really stands on racial equality.
2
Corruption - an exchange of favors - a threat to hold back funding - something untoward -must be involved in this sorry incident given Trump's history as a champion of racial INjustice - which you so succinctly summarize Let's see who 20/20 Bipartisan Justice really is; who funds them? Who OKd this nonsense? Sigh. I hope the students and the Board of Trustees get to the bottom of the charade. The College's President owes them - at least - an explanation, an apology and something to provide hope that their school is invested in HBCs' mission. No excuses. Thank you for speaking out so quickly.
3
I cannot believe you did not speculate on the college administrations motivations, responsibility and consequences for inviting this man. Given the dire straits Black colleges find themselves in, was it financial, strategic or something else? Black people are indeed not a monolith and there is a small minority that agree with Trump. Speak to that for once!
Although we all admire your writing and our panic over this mans presidency is despairing, I am reading your columns less frequently. Your drumbeat of scorn against this man is appropriate, but they are cloyingly repetitive and no longer add value.
1
@Kevin M Ross
Are you chiding Mr. Blow for not engaging in baseless speculation? This piece is the clearest an most informative I have yet read on this disastrous stunt. Speculating as to some administrator's 'motives' - which administrator? - would completely undercut the clarity of this article.
My intention was for Mr Blow to address why this college in particular and others in general would ask Mr Trump to appear. This is not the first time this has happened. And such an answer would illuminate the complexities of black folks relationship with this man and his party.
It's Trump enablers that surpise and dismay me. Those eighty plus African American officals from all over the country who gave him the Bipartisan Justice Award and Benedict College who hosted the event are difficult to sympathise with. If Republicans didn't acquiesce to almost everything that Trump does, he wouldn't be such a threat to the Presidency and the country.
4
Unfortunately for Trump, he could not order the lockdown of all the Washington Nationals fans before game 5 of the World Series:
"When the president was announced on the public address system after the third inning as part of a tribute to veterans, the crowd roared into sustained booing — hitting almost 100 decibels. Chants of “Lock him up” and “Impeach Trump” then broke out at Nationals Park, where a sellout crowd was watching the game between the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros. "
Seems there were more than a few pro-democracy fans in attendance too.
11
@LT this one event makes me feel so good about our nation. baseball fans know a fraud.
2
It is horrible that the students were imprisoned in their dorms during Trump's speech. I am not surprised though.
While Trump was correct in saying Obama did nothing for black people, he was completely wrong in saying he had done so much for us. Trump has done nothing. The supposedly all-time low unemployment rate does not capture people who have stopped looking for work. Blacks are over-represented in that number. Employers have implemented a virtual black-out in hiring for unskilled and semi-skilled positions by taking on Hispanic immigrants over black applicants. So much for immigrants doing the work that American citizens refuse to do.
The selective prison releases are fine for the affected people but every black person is not in prison or has family in prison. The first person released, Alice Johnson, was a drug dealer who should have been left in prison to serve out her sentence. Why release this person? This is not the first time I've wondered about Kim Kardashian's racial views and motives. Interracial personal relationships are meaningless, look at Strom Thurmond.
If Trump really wanted to help, he could send a bill to Congress that overturns Biden's crime bill or holds the current opioid addicts to the same standards that crack addicts were held to in the 1990s. He could also overturn Obama's Blue Alert law. The police already have sufficient protections, it is black people who need protection from the police.
2
@Lynn in DC . Trump acts like he created a successful employment agency for black people.
Where, and what has he done?
If more blacks have jobs, he takes credit. If more are unemployed, blame Obama.
All so predictable.
2
Lock down the students or else no funding? Yet another “quid pro quo”.
7
Trumps behavior speaks for itself- me, me, and me. Always.
Regardless of political differences, how any college administration, in general, or HBCU in particular could support such a farce is stunning.
Every faux pas DJT makes is facilitated by those who don’t exercise basic common sense and civility. Yet another inch toward normalizing the heretofore abnormal.
2
Trump sings his own praises now, but history will tell a different story.
Trump’s legacy will never hold a candle to that of Elijah Cummings. The late Congressman was beautifully eulogized by so many for his life’s work toward civil rights, racial justice and improving the lives of those he represented. And Representative Cummings accomplished all that he did for its own sake, not for his ego. Such a notion is incomprehensible to Trump.
6
I hope the college students booed where there should have been an applause. If not they were just being an enabler and allowing for him to use them like he uses every one. To do nothing continues his bad behavior toward man kind.
2
@D.j.j.k.
Only 10 students were invited - it was invitation only - and only 7 attended. There were students protesting outside the venue, despite the instruction to stay in their rooms or head off campus.
1
I was shocked as I live in adjoining North Carolina that he-Trump was even allowed on a black college campus. The fault lies with its administration and the awardees of this very dubious so-called award. Indeed the one who should have been 'locked out' or rather locked up is Trump himself.
Instead the students were fed 'in situ' like petulant grade schoolers.
6
I have to wonder why Benedict College was a willing partner in this charade. And why did this bipartisan group wish to praise Trump and allow him to take over their event. Why were the students NOT allowed to attend or walk their campus instead hiding in their dorms? Why was Trump allowed to fill the seats with supporters only who paid for their seats? Isn't it Benedict College's auditorium?
Yes, this whole event was staged for Trump, by Trump and in the glory of Trump. He certainly does not care about lying or hypocrisy .
What were these bipartisan African-American leaders thinking and hoping to achieve?
5
It is mind-boggling and outrageous that the entire student body of Benedict College, with the exception of only 10 students, was placed on lockdown by the administration. This would be awful under any circumstances, but here it was infinitely worse as Benedict College is a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) and the students were placed on lockdown to curry favor with a blatantly racist white man who was being given an award by the college.
It is the height of irony that Trump was given an undeserved award for criminal justice reform while the students paying tuition to attend a Historically Black College and University, and almost all black, were treated the same as convicted felons. A lockdown is the confining of prisoners to their cells in a prison, typically after an escape or to regain control during a riot.
We can blame Trump all day long, as he is without question hateful and vile, however, what everyone must decide is how they are going to react to the awful things Trump says and does. It is only fair to judge those harshly who seek to curry Trump's favor knowing all the damage he is doing.
The administration of Benedict College has so massively failed both its student body, and its mission, that the entire administration should be forced to resign.
7
That act served the early release of white collar prisoners like Kushner's father who served his sentance in a federal prison hence the majority of inmates were excluded. To be lauded for the overall injustice to those who committed non violent crimes, not under the Federal law is a disgrace. Knowing students are locked students in their dorms while giving a speech on the criminal Justice system is a travesty. Trump has absolutely no credibility, his announcement yesterday regarding the killing of the head of ISIS is met with skepticism. Good he was booed at the baseball game, he deserves more than boos.
4
People forget how pervasive violent crime was back in the 80’s and early 90’s.
While the need for “Stop and Frisk” may have passed (and might return), there is little doubt that it saved many lives.
It was, in fact, appeals from minority communities for more and more aggressive policing that led to its implementation in the first place.
Giuliani May be disliked now, but this is one of his most effective actions as NY mayor and was continued by Bloomberg )who continues to defend it).
1
@Alberto
Dear Alberto, I lived in New York during the 80's and crime was a serious problem. Black leaders did call for more police. They also called for better policing. We got more, but not better.
At the federal level Clinton and Joe Biden did respond to the need for better law enforcement. Their crime bill provided federal funding to hire more police. But again, Black leaders also asked for neighborhood diversion programs, job training, expanded education and prison reform.
Instead we got stop and frisk, draconian sentencing, including three strike and you're in for life at the state level and racist sentencing guidelines that gave those who possessed crack cocaine more time than those who used the powdered version of the drug.
In short, we asked for comprehensive criminal justice reform that included prevention, enforcement, rehabilitation and reintegration.
We only got more police. The myth is that Giuliani was a great mayor. He was also petitioned for comprehensive criminal justice reform. He only supported more police and refused over eight years to even meet with community leaders to discuss more.
Bloomberg was the same iron fist, this time in a velvet glove. He would meet with you before saying 'no'.
That's why it took a federal judge to finally shut down this injustice.
1
I live in New York. While police were busy frisking college students waiting for friends outside their building (and the cops KNEW these young men were college students), a little old lady was being mugged by a thug around the corner.
Stop and frisk was a farce.
1
Was there a quid pro quo here? It makes no sense to me either.
1
I am about to give up !
Why would anyone associated with this college ever allow this man on campus much less honor him.
Lately I an afraid that Trump is the face of real America. A craven country where all that matters is wealth and power and a moment of fame.
Shame on all of us for letting this happen.
7
Excellent column Mr. Blow. I become borderline apoplectic when self righteous Republicans claim that Lincoln was a Republican- clearly ignoring that this was a century and a half ago and the parties have since swapped multiple platforms. The comparison is ahistorical and wholly inaccurate.
Moreover, it is likewise laughable to hear Trump deride Biden and Hillary Clinton as racists for their support of the overwhelmingly successful Clinton crime bill. What Trump declines to mention, as part of his transparent effort to suppress Black turn out, is that this measure saved thousands of innocent lives and had the backing of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Trump’s persistent lies are corroding the national fabric. From the birther movement to Trump University, his shamelessness is boundless.
4
It might have been easier to tolerate Trump being given a Justice Award if he didn't have children locked in cages, or sent to strangers for adoption. It might not have been such an obscenity if he wasn't calling himself a champion of due process when we read every week of some young black man or woman who wasn't given theirs before being shot by the police; the police who he's encouraged to be rougher. How "Just" did the students of Benedict College see him when they were virtually locked in their dorms to protect Trump from their protests?
What accolade will he receive next, a "Humanitarian" award for removing our troops from Syria? It wouldn't surprise me a bit... these days are nothing if not absurd.
5
Trump does not deserve to be honored with a criminal justice reward. His name is synonymous with corruption and demagogic appeals to racism and nativism. He has never had any interest in dealing with racial injustice and social inequality; instead he has exploited racial and anti immigrant stereotypes to further his political career and incite his base. His entire political career is about self promotion, inflating his own reputation and demeaning his opponents. He only has earned impeachment and conviction. He has made America a more angry and divided nation with his demagoguery and right wing policies.
3
I attended the protest at Benedict College for this event. A number of Benedict students defied the restriction to stay in their dorms and joined the protestors. As you might imagine, they were extremely upset.
Contrast President Trump's "visit" to Benedict with President Obama's town hall at Benedict in 2015. At that visit, it was open to the public, attended by thousands, and Mr. Obama answered questions from students, including questions on justice. He also took time to meet the the public.
Whether you loved or hated President Obama, he was President of the entire United States, and did his best to unify and speak to the nation. President Trump is President only to those who support him and give him awards that satisfy his bottomless vanity. And if you don't give Mr. Trump shiny awards and tell him what a genius he is, he might pull your funding or otherwise punish you and those you love and serve.
Such is what passes for justice and leadership in this era of Trump thuggishness. Impeachment and/or November 2020 can't come soon enough.
15
How did Trump get invited to this event? He has a history of racism and misogyny, and speaks disrespectfully about non-whites, so his presence at Benedict College made a mockery of the award and the process. He clearly doesn't deserve the Bipartisan Justice Award--he devalues the award, in fact.
9
All during the TV coverage of this speech, I kept wondering: Where are the black folks? Show me the audience. Aren't there any protests going on? What's the black response to Trump's ridiculous claims that he's been the best president for them?
Now I know. ONLY now do I know. Where was the news reporting before this? The part about students being served lunch in their dorms -- if this is as described, to me that's as big as the impeachment story because it already violates the Constitution.
3
@ejb Well, no. The college instructed students to stay in their dorms or head home. Students do not have constitutional rights against their colleges anymore than I had constitutional rights against the college where I was employed for decades.
We all have a number of rights, but constitutional rights are those against government and its actors. Whether this private college violated any rights of its students with this ridiculous charade, I don't know. But they would not be constitutional ones.
An award bestowed by a group no one has ever heard of at a college no one has ever heard of to a man most of us wish we had never heard of.
6
The parents, alumni, and students of Benedict College should be outraged. Mr. Blow’s article would have been more relevant if he’d done what the esteemed Bob Herbert used to do—strengthen his argument with actual reporting. Why didn’t he hot-foot it down to Benedict College to ask why students didn’t protest but willingly allowed themselves to be locked up? Why didn’t he interview parents about why they didn’t descend on Benedict College in droves? And where was Black Lives Matter? Trump embodies white supremacy. He taunts and degrades black people, yet Benedict College is no better than other black individuals (Tiger Woods, Kanyé West) and black conservatives who participate, with Trump, in their own degradation. This is definitely what internalized racial oppression and the colonized mind look like.
6
@PAB Students were not, literally, locked up. Some did protest. I imagine parents and alums will be weighing in when they think it is best to do so.
1
@chris
Yes. That's correct. They were not literally locked up. However, they certainly behaved as though they were. And they did not push back. Maybe HBCU students need to take a page out of Hong Kong's book. Letting this go unchallenged is beyond belief.
What was the 20/20 Bipartisan Justice Center thinking? Was it trying to be 'fair' and give Trump a voice because the Democratic candidates were going to be participating a few days later? Did it think Trump would be gracious and not turn his acceptance speech into a grotesque display of vanity and boorishness?
If anyone has any doubts that this antithesis to the support of justice, criminal or otherwise will do anything to try to win a second term, all they have to do is read that 'I will always fight against abuses of power' statement and remember that this dictator-supporting, Constitution-bashing would be autocrat said it with a straight face.
The Bipartisan Justice Center should be ashamed that it gave an award that now will be tarnished forever to someone who has no shame.
6
I suppose the president of this college liked the idea of a major
celebrity appearing there. He could have asked Kanye and his imaginary friend instead.
Trump's racist supporters think, "he has to do that", whenever Trump tries to look inclusive.
3
Mr. Blow, you’ve been consistent in pointing out this president’s failings, and they’re being widely noted. On the day this little man boasts of a successful raid by agents and agencies he has repeatedly denigrated, DC baseball fans chanted, nearly as one, to “Lock him up!” Thanks for all your work.
2
I am a retired federal prosecuting attorney (1995-2010) and Navy veteran ('65-'69).
Thank you for continuing to shine the light on 45, an ignorant, disgraceful, and evil human being with no heart and no soul. One who will destroy the country and the planet if left to his own devices.
I also thank the fans at last night's Nationals game for the "Lock him up" chants directed at 45. No truer words have ever been spoken. Payback time has arrived and not too soon I would add.
15
Trumps rigs everything. Any so-called "success" he has achieved has been through playing fields that he has tilted to his advantage. Throughout his personal life, business life and political life, cheating, lies, con games, payoffs, bribes, and stacking the deck have been the real "art" of all his deals. The fact that he used a bogus audience at a black college to further shine the light on himself is truly deplorable.
2
Mr. Blow, while your opinion pieces are typically flawless, this one misses the mark. In this case, your beef should be with the organizers of the event, rather than with Trump. Somehow, they thought it was proper to invite an old fool to be honored and to speak. The result was inevitable.
8
@Stop and Think Agreed.
I am a criminal defense lawyer, and I am appalled by this. Mr. Blow is right that, the First Step Act notwithstanding, Trump has never cared about justice or civil rights.
I would have liked the article to address why this group chose to present this award to Trump. What would possess any group of African-American leaders to publicly proclaim him to be a champion of justice? I never heard of the 20/20 Bipartisan Justice Center, and I would love to hear its justification for this action. It strikes me as shameful.
12
RE: Witnessing this spectacle was like falling under the glamour of a vampire.
Eloquence incarnated! A better description of Trump's hold upon his Base cannot be imagined.
2
Imagine in 1969 Columbia University trying to put their students on lockdown during the height of the Vietnam war.The good students @ Benedict did As they were told while the school administration hosted a white Nationalist.While the University has brought shame the larger tragedy lyes with a student population that does what it’s told.Students who lack conviction,political or any other that so far has translated into anything meaningful.Until any meaningful social movement emerges the Trumps and those who are like minded will not go away and return back to the closets where they belong.
8
@Blue Collar 30 Plus
You appear to be blaming the Benedict College students for not risking expulsion and arrest and unfavorably comparing them to Columbia students in 1969. The Columbia students, who were overwhelmingly white, protested with all the benefits of white privilege and far more forgiving economic conditions than today. That the students at Benedict did not protest Trump does not mean that they lacked meaningful convictions - it means that they have learned to pick their battles carefully.
1
In those years of protests,on and off campuses,white,black and Latino many people stood to lose and did.Some paid with there lives.No one knew exactly how Columbia would react therefore those actions were not predicated on any thought of what that outcome would be.Bayard Rustin the man behind MLK and other civil rights leaders,along with those who marched with them had far more to lose than an expulsion from a university!If the majority of students defied the administration I’m more than sure they wouldn’t of expelled the entire student body.What stops them today or tomorrow from walking out of classes and holding rallies on the door steps of the university presidents office?When we fight for rights to vote or for equality of any kind their are sacrifices and things to lose,sometimes up to and including our livelihood and lives.We have a president who is invited on campus on an all black university that is outwardly racist I would think the student body would be incensed.Medgar Evers,MLK and many others who gave with their lives would be seriously disappointed in this generation.
1
@willow Yes, and this was a battle worthy of embrace.
Remind us again how many guns were taken off the streets of NYC under stop and frisk? Curious that we didn't see that number mentioned in the piece.
@Steve Guns were found in fewer than .2% of stops made in NYC while "Stop and Frisk" was active policy. That's 1 gun every 500 stops.
1
@Steve
Maybe because not only blacks and Latinos have guns. They were the people targeted, not whites!
@Steve and you kindly forgot to mention how awful Stop and Frisk was to people of color.... and the new guns laws as well.
I am somewhat confused. Kamala Harris has stated that because of her boycotting the event, Benedict College did not ask students to remain in their rooms and that more students were allowed to attend.
Is this true?
Also, I read that a number of Democratic Presidential candidates (including Corey Booker) did attend. Is this true?
3
@Meg They were scheduled and appeared the following day after sponsorship was changed.
1
Whose idea was it to lock down the students? And the college administration either ordered it or agreed to it. Why? What were they afraid of? Imagine that, a college that is helping to educate young blacks in America tells them that they need to sit in the back of the bus as it were. More accurately, they were not allowed on the bus at all. They were not welcome to see the president of the United States, good or bad. I imagine the administration of the college felt they needed to be politically correct so their federal funds are not cut. Next thing you know they will be offering up dirt on Biden.
21
I'm sorry to inform you Mr. Blow, however Mr. Trump's record on criminal justice reforms (as of today) is far better than that of VP Joe Biden or Senator Kamala Harris.
The latter used CA inmates as slave labor and withheld exculpatory evidence from innocent victims she prosecuted. The former...enough said. There's plenty of criticism about the 1990s crime bill he helped pass.
As far as national politicians go today, Trump's reform is the positive outlier, however dismaying that may be to the resistance.
39
@Jason W Trump was initially reluctant to support this bill. As all bills are, it was written by the House, submitted to the Senate, revisions were negotiated..
119
@Jason W Please let us when and where this "president" ever called out Mr. Biden or anyone else who was involved with the writing or passage of that crime bill. And if we're going to go back some decades to pillory those individuals (who were, after all, responding to an elevated wave of violent crime across the nation), can we also go back to those good old days when that "positive outlier" and his dad were refusing to rent apartments in the buildings they owned or managed to applicants of color?
324
@Jason W
Just to add to Stu Freeman's point, If I recall correctly, Clinton was very much boxed in on this by the leader of the House at that time, Newt Gangidge who what been yelling at the top of his lungs about how bad crime was. So the get tough legislation was as much or more due to Republican shouting, but that does not excuse others for for following along in an attempt at political survival.
40
Like sending David Duke to give a speech at Brandeis University. Pretty sick. I feel for the majority of students at this school who had to endure his visit in such an oppressive manner.
Has he no shame? I think we know the answer already.
9
Well, after scheduling a political assassination so that he could bask in adulation afterwards at Game 5, the crowd still chanted "Lock him up". After all that preparation!
15
While I understand why you think this was particularly abhorrent, it’s really just business as usual for him.
Just like with his rallies he fills the audience with his supporters, lies with impunity, and gets away with it over and over again, and this follows right on the heels of his rah rah speech to the Black Leadership Summit.
Thankfully with the impeachment investigation, and the investigation of all of his cronies, it appears we won’t have to suffer horrible Trumpism for too much longer.
2
Another sad day for our democracy and his hypocrisy. This wasn't justice honored, it was justice denied. Pure, plain and simple. Genuflection to the wrong person for all the wrong reasons
If there was any redemption for this travesty, it was the healthy, full-throated boos hurled his way at the World Series game he attended, surrounded by his entourage of sycophantic flacks.
All in all, these two events sum up the war ahead for democracy versus autocracy. One none of us can afford to lose.
Vote.
6
Almost as bad as Trump’s words and actions is the pandering by HCBU leaders to Trump and all politicians to squeeze off some government funding to keep their archaic business model in place.
3
When will we learn? Trump will grab onto every phony accolade thrown his way. Why in the world did Benedict want this publicity following Trump’s outrageous “lynching” comment? Who are those men smiling & shaking hands with him on the event stage? Who cherry picked the 10 students who did attend the sham ceremony? Who signed off on the lockdown of the others? Surely, are bigger fish to fry with the impeachment inquiry & all. But Benedict was clearly played...
4
Wait! What? The students were on "lockdown"? Wow! Shame on Benedict College for letting this travesty go down on its campus.
10
Trump own words at this event are so telling. All noise, nothing more.
“I will always fight against abuses of power from any source." That's what the current Impeachment inquiry is exploring, because Trump has abused his power so often since taking office.
"And I will always champion the right to due process" Again, this is exactly what Trump is fighting the Democrats about in the Congressional hearings as they investigate his abuses. Trump's puppets tried to stop the proceedings.
"regardless of race, background, position” .... since when does Trump ever support any group other than white heterosexuals. President Trump, remember how you imitated a disabled journalist?
6
Hard to disagree with what you say, Mr. Blow. But I'm puzzled by what you omitted. The 20/20 Justice Center and Benedict College surely know what you do about Donald Trump. You didn't give us any clues about what motivated them to invite him and give an award he totally doesn't deserve. I am puzzled indeed about your omission and the actions of those two groups.
9
Yeah, everyone should have the right to good legal representation. Which is to say, high-priced attorneys of the sort who've delivered monetary deals for Trump that have enabled him to avoid criminal penalties, bankruptcies and possibly even incarceration. Great lawyers like Rudy Giuliani and Bill Barr who've also spent eons doing pro-bono work on behalf of the poor (!). Too bad Roy Cohn isn't still around: The Donald would see to it that he, too, was assisting non-violent members of racial and ethnic minority groups avoid doing time for drug possession.
4
No longer crowing about impeachment, I see.
Mr. Blow's column regularly oscillates between elation at the downfall of Trump and despondent grumbling about all of the things he dislikes about Trump.
See you next time, on the uphill slope, no doubt.
2
The tragedy is that any group of judges, mayors, prosecutors and law enforcement officials, regardless of race, are so hungry for whatever it is that Trump sells them that they are willing to debase themselves so completely. That they are African Americans, a community Trump has show he especially has contempt for and treats as subhuman, makes the tragedy unbearable.
They literally incarcerated young minority men and women who had committed no crime to give a white racist known for advocating the suspension of the fourth amendment rights of minorities an award for criminal justice. I genuinely feel sick to my stomach.
11
@R Rhett I agree with the tenor of all you say. I am getting a bit worried by all the talk of 'lock downs' and your use of 'incarceration.' The students were told to stay in their dorms or leave campus. They were not, in fact, locked in anywhere. Some of them did protest.
Charles, you are preaching to the choir with the same message again, which limits your ability to change the opinion of those who disagree with you (they have simply stopped reading your column). The other side has come to believe that if Trump developed a cure for cancer, you would complain that he hadn't cured heart disease yet :-))
For the sake of getting your word out, a more balanced and nuanced approach (as taken by Bob Herbert for example) would be way more effective. Otherwise you are hollering into an echo chamber to which fewer and fewer belong.
8
@Dr B
I believe nothing that Trump does will ever change your mind . The echo chamber you talk of is increasing in size and you will be unpleasantly surprised in November
1
@Steve Perhaps, but given the dearth of comments disagreeing with Charles I believe my suspicion that fewer and fewer are listening to him. Bob Herbert did not have that problem.
@Dr B I have not stopped reading Mr. B's columns. He may not have all the facts (see next comment) but he writes in a forceful style that is necessary to counter Trump's constant untruth (like "can you belieze this?"). What he does say can be counted on as true - so keep on Mr. B.
the article would be more useful if it told us who the award sponsors were, and their motivation. and anyway even a stopped clock is right twice a day.
11
@Rhporter Go back and read the second paragraph of the article, and follow the link there. Having done so, you will find the article as useful to you as you make it.
We are in a crisis of self-governance. From the constitutional crisis to this institutional racism at Bennet to poor critical thinking, we need new info-skills and a shared info-ethic.
3
Locking down the students reminds me of the times they aside a small, out-of-the-way area as a "free speech zone" or really a "free speech cage" when people wanted to protest. Only in this case, the students weren't even allowed to assemble anywhere.
24
I’m guessing that perhaps Trump gave some large sum of money to the college that made them step so smartly to his tune? Some incentive for the college to lock its students in their rooms and allow his supporters to populate the stands and cheer this frankly puzzling award? Some sort of, you know, quid pro quo?
28
@Joanne Witzkowski Trump never gives large sums of money to anyone but himself.
2
"Still, for this group to give Trump an award of any type was an affront to anyone who has paid attention to his full record on criminal justice and to black people insisting on justice."
If this is the case, I ask myself how a "group of over eighty African-American mayors, city, county and state officials, prosecutors and defense attorneys, political strategists, community leaders, activists, police chiefs and other law enforcement executives,” can be so blind.
Perhaps it pays to cite their mission statement, which I shall do in full: "Our mission is to empower local leaders to implement innovative and practical solutions to problems in the criminal justice system. We use an approach that is bipartisan and includes all relevant stakeholders. We are the only nationwide coalition of Black Republicans, Democrats and Independents focused on criminal justice reform. By building bipartisan relationships and hosting solution-focused conversations, we are uniquely positioned to be a convener for criminal justice reform, activating relevant stakeholders to create solutions to injustice at the local level."
I let that speak for itself.
See also on their website: "Just Announced!
Confirmed Speakers for the 2019
Second Step Presidential Justice Forum!"
The confirmed speakers are almost all of the Democratic candidates for President.
While Mr. Blow's animosity to Mr. Trump is well-known, his treatment of 20/20 Bipartisan Justice Center is extremely unfair and prejudiced.
6
This is quintessential Trump: play they victim, then rub salt in the wounds of the truly oppressed and injured. The only thing that could have made this worse is if he had said, "I feel your pain."
12
"I will always fight against abuses of power from any source."
What a bizarre thing for an individual to say, who abuses his power of office many times, every single day.
39
@Jim Remington disingenuous I'd say -- rather than bizarre.
1
"Trump wanted to nationalize Stop and Frisk to combat violence in the black community."
This is a misstatement, isn't it? I thought that it was shown that in NYC, at least, stop and frisk was used much more to harass young men of color who happened to be at locations where they were considered outsiders, to put it delicately, and therefore subject to profiling, in other words, suspect. But, if the purpose was to combat violence in the black community, how does race enter into that? At a certain hour of the day, in certain locations, where predatory street crime occurs and gang violence could erupt, where innocent black lives could be lost in a vicious drive-by or a frantic cross-fire, what's racist about a policy of stop and frisk? Have parents of young men in affected communities ever been polled regarding their greatest fear for their sons' well-being: gang violence or police conduct? Without defending or justifying for one instant unwarranted use of force and any racist behavior by law enforcement officers, I suspect the former would be the overwhelming concern in such a poll. Certainly the statistics bear that out. All that being said, thank you, Mr. Blow, for exposing the hypocrisy and demagoguery in Trump's failure to implement and fund the follow up provided for in the First Step law.
7
The irony of students on dormitory lockdown while the president is honored for justice reform.
42
This was one of those rare occasions when I was so confused by what I was seeing, that I just simply turned away, hoping that at some later time this event at Benedict College would be thoroughly explained so I could understand what my eyes could not comprehend.
I guess this opinion fleshed out the event a bit more but unfortunately still left me wondering why and how this event was permitted to go forward. Unless the theme of this years 20/20 Bipartisan Justice Reform was “How Rich White Men Can Circumvent the Criminal Justice System With Foreign Influence and a Compromised Attorney General” then President Trump was the last person who should have been asked to be a key note speaker.
The fact that Benedict College students were sequestered from the event should send chills down the spine of Black educators, parents, and students alike. Regardless of their political opinions the fact that students voices (any student) were muted is repulsive, leaving me still to wonder why this President was able to get THAT moment and why students are not demanding an apology from the Administration of Benedict College. This event still could use more scrutiny.
31
Agree with everything you said about Trump.
But where were the scruples and backbone of the trustees and president of Benedict College? There is a lot of blame to go around for this sorry event.
48
It's astonishing a college administration would allow their students to be treated in such a way.
38
So, essentially the students of color were imprisoned in their rooms as cells for the duration and rations provided.
How educational.
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How is locking students in their rooms constitutional, unless, of course in the case of an emergency event — a shooting on campus ? How can this be legal?
6
@Wondering
Yikes, Gang. They were not literally locked in. Some protested. Telling them to stay in their dorms and cancelling classes at the behest of the WH and not 'inviting' more students to attend were bad enough. No need to embellish.
@Chris
lockdown
nounlock·downˈläk-ˌdau̇n
1 : the confinement of prisoners to their cells for all or most of the day as a temporary security measure
2 : an emergency measure or condition in which people are temporarily prevented from entering or leaving a restricted area or building (such as a school) during a threat of danger … the school went on lockdown when a student brought a pellet gun to campus.
When I first read the NYT writeup of this event, I thought I was reading satire.
But when I heard that only 10 black students were allowed in, to give more places to Trump's cronies, supporters, and family members, it really hit me. Like Charles, Trump wanted the ceremony without doing the legwork that would have justified the "award."
I also thought about the Trump family's long history of racial discrimination in housing, of false accusations with the Central Park 5, and his not so veiled attacks on people of color, not as a businessman, but as president!
Forget the legislation he signed into law, worthy as its name, "First Step." No, it's his lifelong legacy of racism, seen in abundance during his first 3 years (Charlottesville, anyone?), that tells just about any sentient human being: Donald Trump could care less about the well being of African Americans.
39
If Trump insists on appearing at any HBC he should be asked what's taking so long to put Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill, replacing Andrew Jackson, one of Trump's favorite presidents (although it's unlikely Trump has studied Jackson's presidency or any other). Trump's treasury secretary Mnuchin announced this year that the launching of the new $20 bill would be delayed for six years, beyond Trump's presidency even if he wins a second term. Coincidence?
20
@gfsanborn
"Trump's treasury secretary Mnuchin announced this year that the launching of the new $20 bill would be delayed for six years, beyond Trump's presidency even if he wins a second term. Coincidence?"
To use one of the incumbent president's favorite expressions, "Perfect."
7
Did no students at Benedict College challenge the school's "lockdown" order? If my university had issued such a command, I'd have immediately headed outside and dared campus security to detain me. I assume the Secret Service made some sham claim about the need for "security," but surely someone at the school was willing to put this unconstitutional restriction of their liberty to the test?
37
I am surprised that Kamala Harris's refusal to attend because of Trump's presence and the exclusion of students was not mentioned at all in this piece. In addition, the fact that Benedict college changed and allowed students to attend because of the pressure brought by Kamala Harris's threat of not attending was also not mentioned. Normally, I think that your columns are terrific but I am mystified by the absences in this particular one.
37
@K. O. Thank you! I concur.
I've continued to be frankly embarrassed to outright horrified by the treatment of People of Color in this country.
I obviously agree that his visit to the college was below contempt. That students were prevented from the possibility of protesting outside is just insult to injury, but I understand that the college needs the funding. So, I reluctantly support whatever they had to do to make Trump's experience positive. I reluctantly similarly support whatever People of Color have to do to protect themselves in our current society, reluctant simply because of the obscene need to do so.
Trump's ego is so very fragile and he routinely reacts in petty, petulant ways. Talk about a "snowflake" that the conservatives direct to Woke culture...
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His handlers didn’t want what happened at Game 5 of the World Series game to happen on that campus. The students had to pay that bill.
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I'll give trump credit for signing the First Step Act. I will also ask why the students were forced to stay in their dorms?* Are will now at the point where people have to create a Potemkin village to convince the "great leader" into thinking that a situation is better than it really is, to remove all dissent so he thinks he is loved?
*will also ask why did they stay in their dorms? I wouldn't have. I would have been out and about and would have raise a ruckus if they had tried to force me
49
@sjs It's my thought that the students were forced to stay in their dorms because the college was in lockdown mode. The president's men didn't want a threat to his security nor did they want a demonstration--so they set the scene they wanted. The students probably stayed in their dorms because they didn't want to jeopardize their educations, especially this late in the semester. Trump strongarmed the college, its students, staff, and faculty.
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@sjs
He only did it because Kushner's father was in prison and he didn't like it.
He then used "common criminals" as the cover.
Yes, sjs, we are at a point where we need to create a Potemkin village for Dear Leader. The entire situation has become a sad joke.
1
We don’t see how the majority of Americans feel about this president because all of his events are so closely controlled. That he was booed at the World Series after killing the most notorious terrorist in the world says a lot. We need to see so much more reporting like this.
Here we have a college that needs funding and is depended on federal aid so they hold this event but only ten students can be counted on not to challenge the president. In a backhanded way the college showed us all that they are doing the job they need to do while doing what they have to do survive.
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@Deirdre "That he was booed at the World Series after killing the most notorious terrorist in the world says a lot"
Actually, it says more about D.C.'s incredibly rude spectators. I felt the same way when Michelle Obama and Jill Biden were booed at a NASCAR race, which was even more pathetic since neither were the actual President/Vice President. Still, if you don't like someone's politics, sit on your hands. Criticizing the President for his bad behavior shouldn't be countered with more bad behavior. As is stands, Trump got the last laugh with the Astros marvelous win.
2
Did Trump kill the ISIS chief? I am confused.
Of course in Trumps Brain he may think he did.
Conflation seems to be his only intellectual trait that we can count on. Oh and confusion.
Vietnam Vet
1
I like to think that if the students had not been on lockdown Trump would have had the same greeting he had at The World Series.
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@Enough
Living in Columbia and knowing many former Benedict students, I can guarantee it have been the same.
4
Say it, Charles.
This is big money talking. The White House, DeVos, Benedict College trustees.
The real irony is college students on lockdown, which is what they do to prisoners.
The White House staff, the Benedict College administration, and the 20/20 Bipartisan Justice Center elites could not afford the humiliating spectacle of 2000 black students booing Trump.
A vignette from the North. During the Raptors celebration this past June in Toronto, over one million people roundly booed Doug Ford, the unpopular premier of Ontario, when he was introduced.
Immediately after his election, Ford embarked on a shortsighted austerity campaign and covertly pursued a number of patronage appointments.
Trudeau was in attendance at the rally, and he strategically campaigned against Ford in the crucial ridings of Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). On October 21, Trudeau and the Liberals were re-elected to a minority government, in spite of the attempted smears by the Conservative Party.
The White House and the Benedict College administration understand only too well the power of the black vote in the US. Trump cannot afford the spectacle of 2000 booing black students going viral over the Internet.
Trump, above all, understands the importance of propaganda, if not much else.
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@Andrew Shin
The noise of the fans booing Trump at the Nationals/Astros game last night reached 100 decibels, (think jack hammer), and lasted long enough to turn his countenance dour.
He may have escaped the displeasure of the Benedict students, but not so the Series fans who couldn't be made to stay home and keep quiet. Could be they had those silenced students in mind when they raised their voices at Trump's introduction; I like thinking they did.
202
@woodswoman
I am so glad to hear that Trump had to experience his true standing with the people. He needs to hear our displeasure. He has always been coddled and that has fed his sense of omnipotence.
He is just starting to get a feel for how he is perceived, about seventy years too late.
2
@Andrew Shin
"The real irony is college students on lockdown, which is what they do to prisoners."
This, and the ironic chant at the World Series,, just highlight the upside down world that is the Trump presidency.
2
Thank you Charles for bringing this information to our attention. One wonders, however, if all of these poignant criticisms will bring about any meaningful change. History shows that the peaceful protest methodology of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was very successful. I am afraid that without such organized efforts our democracy will be in the hands of Bill Barr, the Supreme Court and Senate Republicans who often choose to serve the demands of the chief executive and eschew the vital needs of America's FRUSTRATED MAJORITY.
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@Glen
"FRUSTRATED MAJORITY"
Thank you Glen, for pointing out something we often forget - and substantial number don't even know: We didn't want Trump to be president. Let's work to get rid of the Electoral College.
16
@Thucydides LOL. I suspect that all calling for a revision of the Electoral College would be singing a different tune if Hillary had won the election but lost the popular vote.
1
This is the first time that I have read about the students being placed on lock down during this absurd ceremony. I can not believe that the students allowed themselves to treated in this manner. They are individuals with rights and not a herd of cattle. What are the college administrators teaching their students with their acceptance and implementation of this policy?
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@Kevin Phillips
"I can not believe that the students allowed themselves to treated in this manner. They are individuals with rights and not a herd of cattle..."
Kevin, I went to USC (not the west coast pretender) during the Vietnam War, and was involved in many anti-war protests. Many Benedict and Allen students joined us. Trust me; those Benedict students WOULDN'T have allowed themselves to be treated that way.
4
@Thucydides
Times change? Things were very different then. I went to RVN and enlisted in Chicago during the Democratic Convention riots. There were a lot of protesters that showed a lot of courage standing up for what they believed in and I admired that fact; but , I felt different and did what I thought was right, too. Thanks for your input. k
If the students weren't allowed to attend, why host Trump on campus? Colleges often provide students with enriching experiences, such as hearing a controversial leader speak so they can decide for themselves what they think. Why not allow them to attend?
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@marriea
or fear of punishment. Remember how vindictive trump is and remember he has the power of the federal government. This isn't Harvard with a billion dollar fund, this is a college which needs federal funds.
57
@sjs -
Comparing Trump to Benedict Arnold does a disservice to Benedict Arnold. While Arnold did turn traitor and conspired to turn over a vital fort to the British during the American Revolution, this leaves out one other important event, the Battle of Saratoga, where Arnold was wounded, was a big victory for the Revolutionary Army because of Arnold’s heroic actions. With a solid victory against the British at Saratoga, Louis XVI decided to join in the fight against the British. We would not have won the Revolutionary War without that French assistance, both in men and material.
So, at least for a while, Benedict was an American Hero. I have looked and cannot find any similar action by Cadet Bone Spurs. Arnold went from Hero to Zero, Trump never rose above zero.
29
@sjs -
Comparing Trump to Benedict Arnold does a disservice to Benedict Arnold. While Arnold did turn traitor and conspired to turn over a vital fort to the British during the American Revolution, this leaves out one other important event, the Battle of Saratoga, where Arnold was wounded, was a big victory for the Revolutionary Army because of Arnold’s heroic actions. With a solid victory against the British at Saratoga, Louis XVI decided to join in the fight against the British. We would not have won the Revolutionary War without that French assistance, both in men and material.
So, at least for a while, Benedict was an American Hero. I have looked and cannot find any similar action by Cadet Bone Spurs. Arnold went from Hero to Zero, Trump never rose above zero.
(Sorry, was a response to @DoTheMath)
2
It would seem that the students Constitutional rights have been violated by this lockdown order. I imagine they have standing to file a class action lawsuit against the Benedict administration.
206
@DoTheMath Respectfully, are you trying to destroy another HBCU? Who ultimately wins in that lawsuit? Perhaps their need for money was greater than their need for justice, but that is a different story. Underfunded HBCUs have to be careful; beggars can't be choosers.
3
@DoTheMath What constitutional rights do you think students (or faculty, or staff) have against a private college? It pains me to have to repeatedly note that constitutional rights are rights against government powers, not against private entities.
Now, is there some legal basis for a suit? Maybe. Better that the college stay whole and get rid of a clearly inept (at best) administration.
5
@jerry brown
Beggars? Nice.
If I was an alum or a donor, I would increase my gift if the students and faculty were supported instead of "locked down".
3
Vampire is the absolutely correct descriptive word, one of them anyway, for Donald Trump. He feeds off the accomplishments of others. He inherited a good and improving economy thanks to the quick response of the Bush and then the Obama administrations to the meltdown of the banking system in 2008. But the Donald takes credit for the present economy which is not improving and in which the national debt grows enormously every day as the result of his tax cuts for corporations and the abandonment of the principles of the Tea Party Republican Congressmen. Now he wallows in the glow from the success of the Special Forces and their killing of the leader and instigator of Isis, of course taking credit for that also. I could go on and on, but the informed reader will know all the other instances, too numerous to retell in a short comment. It is especially galling that he takes any credit, other than standing out of the way, of the current criminal justice reforms.
137
It is not normal for any American college or university to host the President of the United States on campus for any reason and then, forbid all but ten of its students to leave their dorms while he is there. What is going on?
Think long and hard about this. Students at an historically black college are essentially on lock-down so a white man who fans the flames of racism far more than any other president in my lifetime can receive an award for signing legislation to basically reduce unfairly long sentences of nonviolent offenders.
The irony here is astounding.
1107
@Mary Scott The only historical figure I can think of that matches this level of irony - awards for fake achievements and self-grandiosity - is Stalin. Trump is bad on a biblical scale. No wonder Putin wants him to stay right there.
34
@Mary Scott
I don't understand who made these horrible decisions.
Was it the president of Benedict College?
If so, who agreed with him?
40
@Mimi Not him, HER. The President of Benedict College is ROSLYN CLARK ARTIS. You can find her bio here:
https://www.benedict.edu/office-of-the-president/
She had a questionable history at Mountain State University in WV.
https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/politics/2017/05/12/florida-memorial-president-could-finalist-jsu-post/101592818/
6
The fact that a college can put students on lockdown, especially when the forum topic is criminal justice reform, is the perfect analogy for what’s going on with truth and justice in America today.
If I’m a college student, and I’m paying tuition to this college, and the college puts me on lockdown, I’m taking my business elsewhere. Shame on this school for enabling Trump’s fairyland narrative where he’s the most popular man alive. We saw at the World Series game that he’s certainly not. Handpicking his crowds to keep from facing reality is something only a deluded person would do. And to enable him? Come on. Give these students their money back and start treating them like adults.
665
@Corrie, I heard the WH Administration notified the college they had to make these changes at the very last minute, so they were unprepared to find another revenue. The college was only allowed to give out 10 tickets to college students. The lockdown happened because the WH was concerned there would be protests and those protests would look bad because students were upset they were not allowed to attend.
130
Just how do you enforce a lock down of college students who have committed no crime?
76
@Portola I worked in an area where presidents have visited. Security is very tight. During Clinton's visit, we had to evacuate our office building because he was visiting some offices next door which could be reached through the back way of ours. Armed people kept us out. We were allowed on the streets, but could not cross the street after a certain point. The same is true when Jimmy Carter came. How do they enforce it? Sharp shooters on the roofs of buildings. I can't say that this is what happened at the college, but I would be surprised if it didn't.
17
I couldn't agree more!
After learning about this, I started doing some research on the organization and its members. I know that it "is headed by Founder & Ashley D. Bell, Esq.," who is a Republican. With very few exceptions, I couldn't assess the names of the over eight people involved, but I did notice that it has Republican and Democrat co-chairs.
I can't assess how the organization decides who to honor, among other things. Unless we know the identities of those responsible for making such decisions, we don't know how many people involved are "liberal" and how many are "conservative." We don't know if there are an equal number of prosecutors and defense attorneys. Prosecutors tend to be more conservative. Also, police chiefs and other law enforcement executives tend to be more conservative. Also, I noticed that the executive director is a corporate attorney and represents the interests of corporations. So, I have a feeling that she leans conservative politically.
I have a feeling that the organization is conservative-leaning and can say it's bipartisan because it has at least one member who is a Democrat. The reason I use Democrat there and not liberal is because some Democrats seem more conservative than liberal. Often, that is a factor of their constituents.
Outcomes are determined by the way in which the "game" is designed.
70
There is nothing to honor about Donald Trump. There is nothing to honor about the current incarnation of the GOP or its members. Giving Trump an award for anything is outrageous. He is excellent at one thing and one thing only: watching out for number 1. That's not worth an award.
478
@hen3ry I am sure they did it for money from South Carolina Republican politicians.
4
@hen3ry ~
In five short sentences, so succinct, so pointed, so accurate!
4
Thank you for this excellent column - I do want you to know that this game doesn’t just cause outrage among folks with dark skin.
Any lover of the Rule of Law should be deeply offended a college created for blacks when they were barred from both private higher education across the nation, and mainly Southern state colleges and universities would allow its facilities to be so misused.
My immediate question - what was the quid-pro-quo? Quick, someone follow the money!
Barring and literally locking out students, possibly many who might be protesters from this event, is, in these days of 18-year-old majority status, is potentially a crime, and needs be investigated as an act of kidnapping - I wish the students would have broken out and occupied the Administration’s offices, asking what the small institution gotten out of it.
Second, somebody needs check the IRS status of the folks who handed out this award, and how much was paid by the government and Trump campaign organization for this circus.
I wish the institution’s students the best of luck transferring to higher education institutions that teach and empower the next generation, not teach them to bow to their masters.
355
@Eatoin Shrdlu it’s like college football. Little teams getting paid big bucks to play the powerhouse teams. I’d like to see the money trail on this transaction. Lindsey Graham probably had something to do with it.
81
I agree that the bigger story is the lockdown of the students. Was it for their protection? Were they afraid the students might protest? Why should students be hidden away at their own university, for which they are paying good money to attend?
528
Are we talking about unlawful detention? Were they actually locked in their rooms?
3
All the students should transfer out. Then no revenue no school.
7
@Anna
Well remember Bush only spoke at carefully curated venues--at Montgomery Blair High School, I believe, something similar happened. He wasn't likely to have a sympathetic audience there, so--they locked out the unsympathetic and hustled him in and out the back way, so he wouldn't have to encounter protesters.
3
Mr. Blow - generally, your columns are "spot on" but this one seems to miss the mark.
I think many would conclude, myself included, that this "honor" was not merited and the event was simply a show put on and supported by powerful folks.
That students were so intentionally unwelcome strikes me as the gist of the story. Set aside the President's "non worthiness" for this award and insead focus on the students. It is their college; their campus and their degrees. Yet they were kept away.
What kind of power demanded that? What was the fear that scared administrators? Why bother when the essence of the award -- the students, for which the College exists -- were not invited?
Nice, I suppose they had lunch delivered but far, far better had they been in the audience to listen and learn and perhaps wonder.
206
@Ed Hutchison
The same kind of power that makes the Navy put a black tarp over the name McCain on a ship near Trump. We have to stop treating him like he is our king.
13
@Matt586
Exactly.
The parents who are paying the tuition need to insist on a REAL explanation from the Board and the president.
Perhaps sue?!
3
I just cannot imagine my college locking us in our dorms when a political head of state visited. Learning to peacefully protest was part of the experience (1990s, not 1960s). Professors used such visits as educable opportunities. Also, frankly, plenty of people would have simply defied the administration and broken out of temporary confinement. What message is that college sending to its students? When shall we overcome, I wonder?
284
@Lillie in 2019 protests are anything but peaceful. If it were the same climate as the 1960s or 1990s I would agree with you, but we are in a much different place now.
4
@Nana There have always been violent protests, some of the *most* violent coming during the 60s. So I don't know where you got the idea that today is more violent. Are you proposing that we preemptively stop legal protests because there was a violent protest somewhere once?
125
@Naomi : Agree. Though we are very much at odds right now in this country, it hasn't risen to the level—and violence—of the late sixties. Not yet, anyway.
10
What I don't understand is how Benedict College had the authority to "lockdown" its student body just to please Trump. The president of this College announcing this great honor and states in the announcement this will "serve as tangible evidence for our students of how diversity of thought and positive social action work together in the democracy of our country". How can the President of this historic Black College make such a grandiose announcement? What the President of this College thought would be a great honor turns into dishonor. To instruct most of its student body to stay inside does not promote diversity of thought or positive social action. Just to please one man? This is simply unamerican.
965
I can only shudder at the thought of what the penalty might have been for violating the “lockdown”.
30
@Martha White Benedict College had no choice but to put most the students on lock down. There weren't enough police officers available to stop and frisk the entire student body.
26
The college gets more federal money if they let Trump speak . Disgraceful
17
This wasn't Trump's baby. It was a bipartisan Congressional effort. He signed it,but didn't create it. Congressional representatives from both parties should have been present.
148
Students were placed on lockdown; had to remain in their rooms with food brought to them. Only a handful attended the ceremony. I assume the handful was carefully vetted. This is a black college honoring a president for his bipartisan work in criminal justice with an award from a group of black public officials. What a wonderful occasion it must have been; Trump will long savor it; maybe it will be a memorable event in the college life of the students, a sitting P.resident at their college. It does sound like making a movie, however. Having just the right number of students, prepared, on the set speaks less to justice than to spectacle.
96
@blgreenie Yep. It's setting up a scene for his upcoming re-election campaign & my jaw is on the ground when I see the people who were complicit in this travesty.
3
@blgreenie I think it's a shame that the students went along with this!! Were they threatened in some way if they went out? Was this enforced or did the students think it was in their best interests to agree? It's not the 60's for sure.
2
Calling for the death penalty for the Central Park Five minority youth, wrongly arrested, prosecuted and convicted. After full exoneration, still refusing to retract his call for the death penalty. Surely, that calls for an award of some kind, just not for criminal justice reform.
390
@Mynheer Peeperkorn his refusal and that of others was beyond the pale. One could argue that he helped to convict them with the ads he took out.
9
Trump held a meeting for optics at an historic black college and was careful to pack the audience with his supporters rather than the students and faculty of the college. It was a stunt to project a false message for political campaigning.
776
@Casual Observer - I don't know about "pack the audience". 10 students were allowed, and 7 showed up.
37
And Benedict College went championed it. What does that say about them?
23
@Casual Observer Students should be looking for a different place to attend college next year. The lock-down action by college administrators is one huge hypocrisy. Best to get their education elsewhere.
34
I guess it has come down to trying to get the best out of a situation by awarding points or prizes to a child to entice them to model good behavior. Futile, but a shiny medal for even an inch in the right direction may seem like the only hope.
19