We are not post World War 1 Germany. Race based supremacist ideologies carry an immense social stigma, and the constitution and bureaucratic system in place has enough inertia and safeguards to hold against any such deplorable manifestos to take root and gain momentum.
Not immense enough, clearly.
See… the thing is, you SAY this, but Trump was elected as President, while clearly demonstrating overtly racist and xenophobic ideologies. Remember when he said Curiel couldn’t be a fair judge, because he was Mexican? (Which he is not, he was born in Indiana, but even if he were, this is racist by definition)
The America you’re describing, where being racist has major penalties, is perhaps the America we wished we lived in… it’s the one I once THOUGHT we lived in… but I’m pretty sure it’s not the one we live in.
Seriously, when I drive by a house with a confederate flag and their are people equating BLM to literal Nazis, you know a group that killed millions… what America are you talking about? Stigma. What’s the stigma for white supremacy, racism and misogynistic behaviors, apparently you get to be POTUS.
Well, there’s enough societal backlash built against these ideologies that even the most rabid Trump supporters and surrogates since the time of primaries always start with the supposition that he and his platform aren’t racist. There’s a reason why a dog whistle is needed, after all. Most of the Fortune 500 companies will fire someone immediately on any provable relation to a supremacist group.
Yes Trump won with a hard-core nativist and jingoistic platform, but I still believe that a lot of his voters didn’t think of him as an outright supremacist. Let’s say that elections were held today, I have no doubts that Trump would lose.
By the way, I don’t think Trump is a huge racist, or even an Islamophobe, but I absolutely believe many in his cabinet and White House staff are. Trump has racist tendencies, which almost 80% of the people in his age group have (and all over the world), but above all he’s a liar and an idiot. Add in his utter lack of empathy and a misplaced notion of never backing down and holding grudges, and he continuously finds himself defending positions only because of his stupidity and lack of knowledge in the first place.
My hope is that the unique combination of traits Trump has, make him a one-hit wonder kind of phenomenon. It’s utterly shameful for the whole country that he was elected President, but it’s also very hard for someone else equally despicable to repeat what Trump has done.
Wth is this? He uses actual real life slurs when he talks about people of other races he doesn’t like. He targets people because of their race. He points out a judge, because of his race. He hounded the first black president about his birth, because of his race. What exactly are you waiting for to call someone a “huge” racist?
Among whom? Democrats, Progressives, sure. But Trump still has about 80% approval among Republicans. If there’s a social stigma there, it doesn’t seem very strong. It’s not as strong as their hatred for liberals or their fear of brown people.
I really like the perspective of this BBC article:
Karen Pollock from the Holocaust Educational Trust said: "The Holocaust did not start with the gas chambers, it started with words; with hate-filled rhetoric.
“To therefore see neo-Nazi, racist and anti-Semitic symbols and language used in Charlottesville should shock and horrify all of us. Such hate has no place in our society and we all have a responsibility to act wherever it rears its head.”
You know, there were people on these boards that laughed at the idea of those on the left getting violent (this was months ago). I don’t condone violence. I’m not a violent person. But if this president remains in office much longer, I think that’s the direction our country is headed.
I don’t see how that is possible.
Chanting on the street dressed as a Nazi doesn’t technically restrict any one else’s liberties, though that might be your goal. Under your proposal, what you just said could qualify since you’re technically trying to strip people’s liberties from them.
I’ll openly admit I’m a pretty strict Constitutionalist, but I think for the most part that’s a good thing. Then again, we can’t keep public constructs from having free speech, much less people, so it’s just a matter of mental masturbation. No one is going to Amend the Constitution to get rid of things we mostly disagree with, much less one that I think a majority probably would object to,.
One edit I’d like to do to my previous comment is that I wanted to say but didn’t… “Trump has racist tendencies which most people in his age group have to some degree (and Trump is at an extreme end of it)”
I believe that what he says and defends about racial issues in his own stupid ways, are extremely dangerous and harmful, regardless of why he says that. It’s just different from the sexist views that he has shown almost all his life. That is, he’s not a racist in the same sense that he’s a bona fide sexist and misogynist. Like I said, it doesn’t affect the end result, and in fact even amplifies it considering his position as POTUS.
Most of his racist comments are about him doubling down on idiotic positions, or lashing out against some (perceived by him) unfairness. He believes that admitting a mistake (even if it was done a couple of decades ago) weakens the person entirely and that it’s much better instead to offer excuse even if it’s a complete lie and/or is nonsensical. He also absolutely has to have the last word too in any debate.
During the primaries, only the dreck of Republicans rank and file people stuck with him, and his campaign promises and direction were shaped by their vile beliefs and policies. And now he is doubling down to defend that.
As for the birther stuff, I think it started because Obama’s father was Kenyan and his middle name was Hussain. Even if Obama had the exact same skin tone as his mother (or if his father was a Caucasian Muslim), Trump would very likely still react the same way.
The federal government disagrees.
From what I have learned about Walt Disney I wouldn’t want him running the country either.
When people say “Run the country like a business”, they are often thinking of public Fortune 500 companies where the CEO reports to a board of directors, and the company is publicly accountable for its actions. Unfortunately, Trump’s always been part of a private family company that shares none of those concerns. He was born into his job, and has never had to deal with anyone outside a cabal of sycophants.
Trump doesn’t know how to run a public business, much less a country like one.
The problem with trying to call Trump racist is that he’s so fucking crazy that it’s hard to know what he is at all. I think he’s racist, but he’s also a sociopath or psychopath and a pathological liar and a narcissist and a whole host of other ICD-10 codes of personality disorder. That’s before we even get to the possible dementia. Racist? Most likely. The other stuff makes it hard to tell for certain.
Sure; that’s certainly a type of misuse in my book!
We can only hope for this scenario:
cache of the Bannon interview article:
Pulling a scaramucci?
Why did it have to be linked from cache?
The main site apparently has been having issues since it went up.
Curious, but I see that’s indeed the case.