Why it is important to debunk the "Trump is a racist" stupidity
Donald Trump is a brash, crass, self promoter, willing to say very provocative things to get attention, and who has treated American politics as the stage for a reality TV show.
But the idea that he is a racist, while a smart bit of campaign propaganda on the part of Hillary Clinton, is a stupid thing to actually believe. The many, many minority people who have worked with him over decades all testify to the fact that his businesses have been run in a colorblind manner, and that he gets along fine with people of all races.
Now that it's clear that Clinton's propaganda ploy, while it was her best shot at winning, has failed, and that Trump will be the next president, it would be a very nice thing for people to drop this piece of stupidity. Why? Well, because if enough people come to believe this nonsense, massive rioting and inter-racial violence are the likely results of Trump's upcoming victory. And even if you wanted Clinton to win, I suggest you ought not to be pleased with that outcome when Trump actually does win.
But the idea that he is a racist, while a smart bit of campaign propaganda on the part of Hillary Clinton, is a stupid thing to actually believe. The many, many minority people who have worked with him over decades all testify to the fact that his businesses have been run in a colorblind manner, and that he gets along fine with people of all races.
Now that it's clear that Clinton's propaganda ploy, while it was her best shot at winning, has failed, and that Trump will be the next president, it would be a very nice thing for people to drop this piece of stupidity. Why? Well, because if enough people come to believe this nonsense, massive rioting and inter-racial violence are the likely results of Trump's upcoming victory. And even if you wanted Clinton to win, I suggest you ought not to be pleased with that outcome when Trump actually does win.
Leaving aside the matter of whether or not Trump actually is a racist, "enough people" (of both racist and anti-racist persuasions) already believe that for the outcome you mention to be very likely, if not inevitable.
ReplyDeleteThat kind of thing is not the kind of cat that can be put back in the bag.
I agree, if you want to get anywhere with me and many others on Trump you have to convince us of this.
ReplyDeleteYou've made a really good argument here for why it would be nice if it weren't true (your third paragraph). Now let's get to establishing that it's not true (fwiw I pretty much take your word on the second sentence of your second paragraph).
So people are now required to prove they are not racist, even when there is no evidence that they are?!
Delete"even when there is no evidence that they are?!"
ReplyDelete"Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino President John R. O’Donnell, in the 1991 book 'Trumped,' alleged that Trump once said that 'laziness is a trait in blacks.' He also claimed Trump said, of his accountants: 'Black guys counting my money! I hate it. The only kind of people I want counting my money are little short guys that wear yarmulkes every day.' (Trump has called O’Donnell a disgruntled employee, but he has not disputed the remarks. 'The stuff O'Donnell wrote about me is probably true,' he told Playboy in an interview published in May 1997.)"
-- "Five Myths Donald Trump Tells About Donald Trump," by Glenn Kessler, Washington post, 01/28/16
"even when there is no evidence that they are?!"
ReplyDelete"[Kip] Brown also used to work in the casinos, at the Showboat, bussing tables, and at Trump's Castle, stripping and waxing floors. 'When Donald and Ivana came to the casino, the bosses would order all the black people off the floor,' he said. 'It was the eighties, I was a teen-ager, but I remember it: they put us all in the back.'"
"The Death and Life of Atlantic City," by Nick Paumgarten, The New Yorker, 09/07/15
Yeah, Tom. Let's say we have reporters dig up all of your enemies and ask them to tell bad stories about you. How will you look?
DeleteI might look pretty bad.
DeleteSo if first-person accounts of alleged racism aren't evidence, what is?
So, a couple of disgruntled former employees, versus https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b329eUPKQVg.
DeleteWhat we have: after decades of running multiple businesses with thousands and thousands of employees, media desperate to dig up dirt can find exactly two of them who having something bad to report.
DeleteAs I said, NO evidence.
Lastly: Kip Brown's story is preposterous. This was NJ in the 80s, not Georgie in 1910. And even if it had been the latter... racists WANT black people out on the floor serving them, not tucked away in the back!
DeleteA plausible story that would mean Kip is not simply a liar: perhaps maintenance staff was cleaning up, and told to stop while the Trump's were there. And that department may have been mostly black. And Kip jumped to a conclusion.
But the story he told is absurd.
OK, Tom, you're acting like an idiot again. Bye.
DeleteYeah, I fall for that trick every time, Gene. It's like Lucy with the football -- whenever you realize that you're wrong and there's no way out of it, you ban the person showing you that you're wrong and do a little victory dance.
ReplyDeleteBut hey, whatever floats your boat. I always get a giggle out of watching you flounder helplessly for awhile before pulling the plug.
OK dips*&t, here's what happened: I debunked two VERY SPECIFIC instances of first person testimony that Trump is a racist: one is a disgruntled ex-employee, when Trump said "the stuff he wrote is probably true," there is no evidence he had even read the book and was surely just speaking in general, and the second case is wildly implausible.
DeleteIn any case, you came back with "Oh, so first person testimony doesn't count as evidence for you?"
A complete dips&*t move. It's as though I show that two experiments where done badly, with no controls, bad measurements, etc. and your comeback is "Oh, Gene thinks experiments don't count!"
I bet if we poke around the Internet, we'd find lots of web sites that have banned you for "proving them wrong." You know what: that is what every dips&*t who acts like an ass on other people's web sites ALWAYS says, Tom. So enjoy the company of the other 10 million Internet losers who act like you do.
"were done badly"
DeleteBUT GENE! DIPS*&T ISN'T AN ARUGMENT!
ReplyDelete