Once More for the People in the Back: Anyone Who Supports Donald Trump Is a Racist

[sheshe2]

Michael Harriot

Whenever I am asked why I believe everyone who supports Donald Trump is a racist, I explain it by using the legal doctrine of “the hand of one is the hand of all” and the story of Ryan Holle.

snip

Donald Trump is a racist.

Everyone knows this. His hate for people of color has been well-known for 45 years, since he was sued by the federal government for housing discrimination in 1973. Twenty-nine years ago he solidified his racism by buying full-page ads asking for the death penalty for the Central Park Five. On the day he announced his presidency, he called Mexicans “rapists.” His first act as president was to try to ban Muslims from entering the country. The list is too long to itemize even the highlights, but it’s safe to say that Trump’s racism is a well-established fact.

For most black people, racism is an irredeemable, inexcusable sin from which there is no bouncing back. You can give to the needy, solve world hunger and figure out how to make Kool-Aid that tastes like fried chicken, but if you do some racist shit, you are forever crossed off the list.

For white people, it is different.

Even worse, they vote for a man who embraces, regurgitates and spreads hate. They can reason that they voted for Trump because of his business acumen, their dislike for Hillary Clinton, or white working-class something, disaffected middle-America yada yada yada ... But they are still aware of the undisputed existence of Trump’s bigotry. For this reason, there is only one way to describe a Trump supporter:

A racist.

To actively support Donald Trump is an act of racism, whether such act is committed by Kanye West, Omarosa Manigault Newman or David Duke. When Trump tweets to Kanye, he is wielding Kanye’s blackness as a weapon against black people. Trump knows this. His supporters know it. Even his son, whose IQ is lower than Kellyanne Conway’s, knows this.

Read more: https://www.theroot.com/once-more-for-the-people-in-the-back-anyone-who-suppor-1825581670

[Afromania]

1. There have always been sellouts and collaborators and they come in every color and ethnicity.

These Dathans' are all about the same thing. Standing on the neck of their peers while saying "look boss, I can be a good dog for you. Please let me have a better station closer to you because I'm better than they are."

[Caliman73]

47. Yep, we call them "vendidos" in Chicano culture.

I might even say that I can understand the pull to want to align yourself with the dominant culture. However, to actually do it, you are making a choice and should not be surprised if you get lumped in with the other deplorables when the dust settles.

[kimbutgar]

2. Yet he came out yesterday and said his approval ratings in the black community has doubled

He really thinks we black people are stupid.

[sheshe2]

4. Yeah.

He had Omorasa..then got Kayne. He now has two. He doubled.

Except I think he lost Omarosa...that brings him back down to one if you don't count the paid supporters at his rallies.

[backscatter712]

3. Yep. I cannot respect anyone who supports Trump.

Zero respect.

They saw a man who mocked a disabled man, attacked Gold Star parents for disagreeing with him, demonized Latinos and Muslims, stirred up Neo-Nazis and other white-supremacists, turned his rallies into violent lynch mobs, and bragged about sexually assaulting women. And that's just before the election.

So many people saw this behavior, rationalized it, and checked the box for him.

And I find it hard to be remotely civil around people like that. And I certainly cannot respect them.

I don't want to hear about "economic anxiety." I have plenty of economic anxiety, but I did the right fucking thing, and voted for Hillary instead of that psychopathic, brain-damaged piece of shit.

[EffieBlack]

10. Black people are the most economically anxious people in the country

Yet we didn’t line up to support Trump.

You know why? Because black people recognize racism when we see and hear it and we don’t vote for racists.

And you know what else? White people recognize racism when they see and hear it, too. And most white people who aren’t racist don’t vote for racists. And white people who aren’t racists don’t continue to support racists long after his racism had been out on front street on full display.

If anyone is still supporting him, they don’t get to claim it’s economic anxiety and they don’t get to pretend they’re not racists. They had until December 31, 2017 (my deadline) to figure it out and walk away. Now it’s too late. They’re stuck on the other side with the racist president and the rest of his racist supporters. And they need to stay their asses over there.

It’s very simple.

[Kurt V.]

11. +100

[Docreed2003]

34. Boom!!! Nt

[Ferrets are Cool]

18. What he/she said!!

[oberliner]

25. Note, the author of this piece also did not vote for Hillary Clinton

And wrote an article for The Root saying he can never vote for her.

[Hortensis]

5. Imo, too simplistic. The ACTIONS of all support racism.

We need to be honest and avoid demonizing half the nation. What's happening is way bad as itis, and there can be no happy ending for a whole nation that's fallen into trumpster-dumpster thinking.

[sheshe2]

7. Yes.

They, his supporters are the blatantly obvious ones. The others...not so obvious...or so they think.

[Hortensis]

13. Well, people had many reasons for voting for Trump.

Only for some was it the big driver. We really need to unite against them, and a winning majority requires uniting with those who lack race-based malice.

We can go way overboard in attributing all actions that adversely affect PoC entirely to racism and despising most people as a result. There is no happy ending that route.

My objection to that wypepl thing is to its being brought here. I have no big problem with mostly decent PoC chortling over lightly malicious racial insults among each other -- as long as they behave decently to others otherwise. People need room to act like...people.

[sheshe2]

20. Hortensis

It goes far beyond....

We can go way overboard in attributing all actions that adversely affect PoC entirely to racism and despising most people as a result. There is no happy ending that route.

It goes far beyond POC. Correct, it isn't JUST the racism it is the effect of racism on their safety to walk down a street. How much they can make, how they can excell in a job. It is about woman of all colors that have been demoralized by this president. He thinks of as brainless pussies that he can grab at will. The man hates woman. Fact. His warped belief that he is better and brighter than the rest of us shows his ignorance and his white fucking priveledged ego. His fans laughed and cheered when trump did his flippy floppy image of a reporter that was disabled. His fans roared their support.

I have no use for anyone of them. They made their choice. Done with them all.

Their hatred rules them, it does not rule us.

GOTV 2018.

[Hortensis]

36. Of course for your description of these terrible problems

even the "better" ones enabled. But the point is that you are NOT done with them at all.

Roughly half of all American voters voted Republican -- for various reasons -- and will again in November. And in 2020 and 2080. They are part of us and they will change with changes of leadership, but they'll never go away. Right now we hope to heck just a couple percent who don't like what's happening in their party vote with us and another couple percent are discouraged into not voting at all.

It's easy to be overcome with contempt, and fear, for what they've done, for whatever reasons. Who isn't, and no excuses regardless of reasons. But what's to be gained by embracing contempt and implacable rejection? Virtue is marshalling the self control needed to shut-mouth and encourage the few who finally have had too much of what their party has come to. 30 years late, but hey. Each vote not cast for the GOP is 1 off their total.

The Obamas are probably invited to McCain's funeral. As a leader of what's happened on the right for decades, he has my contempt, no excuses, and is certainly deserving of theirs. But if invited, they'll go smiling among that crowd of conservatives, smiles far more sincere for some than others, and pay their "respects" because that's what people in their position who are fighting for equality do.

Aren't we all in their position to some degree?

[EffieBlack]

41. I don't feel contempt or fear - I just don't think we should waste time or effort chasing around

after them. If they change their minds and want to vote Democratic, by all means, they’re welcome to do so. But we have too many things to do, real, solid, definite Democratic voters to mobilize and protect to expend any of our precious time and resources running around after these people begging them to vote for us.

[Hortensis]

53. No fear, Effie? No seeing where their leaders are taking

our nation now and feeling a clutch at your heart at what will happen if they are able to hold onto and consolidate power? I have insomnia, and these are the worries that come in the night for me.

You're right that we have a huge job to do, no nonsense about that, but peeling off a critical few percentages from the right has to be part of it.

Of course, that's more immediate to some of us than lucky blue-state Dems. I live in one of the most conservative districts in the nation. A third of all Georgians may be black, but not in this county. Sometimes our Dems haven't even come up with someone willing to do a token run for congress. But this time we have two, currently battling each other in the primary. We've actually gotten a robo-call from each. Amazing!

Didn't pay attention to specifics about the first, but the second one promised this district's voters to support the Green New Deal and Medicare for all issues, and specifically to work for "compassion and cooperation" in government. I was listening for that last because a version of it helped persuade some conservatives to vote for a Democratic senator in Alabama. "Compassion," of course, includes social justice issues while carefully avoiding Republican trigger words for wedge issues.

Neither are going to win here unless the incumbent is found diddling someone's two-year-old, but I love that they are trying to woo conservatives with a choice of Democratic issues and ideals that appeal to many of them also.

[EffieBlack]

54. I fear the direction we're going. But my desire not to embrace Trump supporters isn't born out of

any fear of them as individuals.

We don’t need to “peel them off” in order to be successful. We have more than enough votes among sane people who, we don’t have to worry will flip right back the minute they don’t get their way.

As I said, they are free to come over to the light if they like. But I am not interested in watching my party ignore and take for granted solid Democrats in order to attract people who don’t vote Democratic largely because the don’t like Democratic positions on social issues. And the insistence that I’m supposed to waste a second of my time chasing around after bigots and idiots is insulting.

Anyone who says they voted for Obama twice and then voted for Trump s either lying or stupid. And if they’re not lying, they can’t be trusted to vote right - not just in subsequent elections but even in this one. If they are so easily swayed that they could go from voting for a liberal, African-American president to lining up with Nazis and the KKK yo vote for an ignorant, hateful, traitorous unmitigated bigot, I don’t trust them to keep their shit together long enough to vote Democratic when they get in the polling booth. Given how fickle they are, all it would take is for them to have a conversation with the Trumpster next to them in line to swing them back the other way.

No, thank you. Feel free to chase them around and beg them to see the light to your heart’s content. But I’m not going to waste a second of my time trying to win over people who don’t vote with me because of ME and all of the “that’s not fair. give them a chance. they’re not ALL bigot” arguments from my fellow Democrats isn’t going to change my mind.

[Hortensis]

55. I never recommended any of the stuff you're

claiming you won't do. Why'd you even bother? This isn't discussion.

Btw, there are a LOT of cons around here. If I was afraid of conservatives "individually" and blocked roads prevented escape by car, we'd be sneaking out through the woods, and I'd sleep cuddling our shotgun while my husband kept his pistol by his hand. Silly stuff.

[backscatter712]

9. What if a full third of the population genuinely are racist assholes?

Because that's what it's looking like to me.

[Shipwack]

12. Maybe not racists themselves

What I tell people is that Trump supporters (and the Republican Party in general) are either outright racists, or have no qualms with supporting or associating with outright racists.

Both are disgusting.

[bettyellen]

15. If you support racism, then you're a racist. I don't know why- like liar- honest

descriptors are beyond the pale..... but it’s dishonest.
There are way more people supporting racism than we knew. It’s ugly, but we’ve seen it on display for a few years now.

[Shipwack]

17. Yeah...

I too am surprised how many racist cockroaches there still are. I guess I am just naive. I knew it was still a problem, but the number of cockroaches being emboldened by Trump and company is disturbing.

[bettyellen]

19. We have to face up to the reality and treat the fearful and ignorant bigots to the lack of respect

they deserve. Some coddle them, but we know that they hate POC and mouthy women with equal measure. They want us to be second class citizens and they’re just going to have to go fuck themselves. We’re not coddling them after what came to roost in 2016. Never again!

[sheshe2]

29. "Some coddle them, but we know that they hate POC and mouthy women with equal measure."

Spot on, bettyellen.

POC and mouthy women. They hate them.

Fact.

Fugg'em!

[bettyellen]

38. I'm warning every dude I know, don't even try and talk over me with your bullshit about economics,

The rust belt or that “establishment” or they’re “all the same” bullshit. Unless you add “to me” to that statement, it’s a fucking lie. I have had it.

[sheshe2]

39. With you, bettyellen.

[bettyellen]

40. I wanna slap myself for allowing myself to be talked over w some of the bullshit

Again and again, bizarre shit about Wikileaks and Bill the Clemons. Fuck all that shit. Wiki misled people w edits. That was known at the time. Shame on them for lying to us all. Hillary is not Bill nor is this the 90’s.

[sharedvalues]

6. Not all white people

If you do some racist shit you are forever crossed off my list.


This is why the most despicable men in America are the GOP billionaires and politicians that INTENTIONALLY inflame racism to get votes for billionaires.

Reagan, Nixon, Ailes, Murdoch, Atwater, Koches, Mercer, Pope, Uiline, Searle, Limbaugh, Hannity, Carlson, Hewitt, etc.

All of these men know that they are harming America by inflaming racism in the GOP base. They KNOW it. They do it anyway. Plenty of the GOP base voters are deep inside the propaganda bubble. But the GOP billionaires and propagandists are far worse- they incite hate to pursue power, damaging America intentionally.

[wellst0nev0ter]

22. Okay, the majority of white people

Chose the lowest white man pussygrabber to replace a brilliant black president.

[sheshe2]

30. They would be called...

Racists.

[sharedvalues]

44. GOP billionaire-backed ad

Mercers paid for this ad to inflame racism and xenophobia, to get votes for the GOP.

Many of the GOP base are brainwashed by propaganda. But the GOP billionaires that fund the propaganda are far worse- they know what they are doing. If we can stop the propaganda we can greatly reduce racism in America.




https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/04/exclusive-robert-mercer-backed-a-secretive-group-that-worked-with-facebook-google-to-target-anti-muslim-ads-at-swing-voters/


https://m.

[sharedvalues]

42. The deplorable racists are 10-20%

It’s hard to imagine white middle American towns if you don’t live there- they are soaked in Fox and Limbaugh propaganda and they have no minorities. It is possible for some white people to have no contact with any minorities and be so bombarded with Fox and Limbaugh GOP propaganda that they start to believe the lies and the racism.

The people who are really despicable are the propagandists themselves: Limbaugh, Murdoch, Hannity, Drudge, Koch, Mercer. Those Republicans know better and they INTENTIONALLY inflame racism to get votes for the GOP.

No one has done as much harm to America as the GOP liars and propagandists.

[sharedvalues]

43. GOP propagandists and billionaires brainwash them

Blame Rupert Murdoch and Rush Limbaugh first. They incite racism intentionally.

[NRaleighLiberal]

8. Racists. And Hypocrites. And for the most part, deeply brainwashed.

[oberliner]

26. The author of this piece did not vote for Hillary Clinton

And posted an article to that end right before the election.

[sheshe2]

32. I think this is the fifth or sixth time you posted...

I think this is the fifth or sixth time you posted your distaste for the author. You have been on every thread trying to discredit him. He did not like Hill. Got it and, oberliner I have read much of what he has posted and knew this. I knew he did not like Hill, yet neither did the BS supporters and many said they did not vote for her. You support them, mostly white, yet not the black man speaking out?

So put this aside for a bit and actually comment on all those threads about the feelings of POC instead of your divisive tactics.

[oberliner]

51. I love your avatar photo of Hillary Clinton

And I loathe the idea of multiple articles being posted here at DU written by a man who made a point of publishing an article saying why he would never vote for her.

And who has bashed both Hillary and Bill Clinton repeatedly in print (along with the Democratic Party generally and "white allies" )

If people are going to keep posting articles by someone who is anti-Hillary, I will make sure to inform readers of that fact.

[VOX]

14. Individuals who claim to not be racist, and yet support a known racist, makes them de facto racists.

Think of all the "good" citizens of the Third Reich, who didn't have had the stomach to kill Jews and political prisoners face-to-face. While they didn't kill them directly, they nonetheless enthusiastically supported their fascist government that delivered death in a horrific, factory-like manner.

All of Germany was guilty, save for a few righteous Oskar Schindler-types.

[oberliner]

27. How about people who call out Trump supporters but refused to vote for Hillary?

Such as the writer of this piece.

[sharedvalues]

45. Propaganda created both Hitler and today's GOP

The common thread in supporters of 1930s Germany and today’s GOP is propaganda.

Most people are not innately evil. But they are susceptible to propaganda.

That’s the common thread. As long as Fox and Limbaugh and Breitbart lie to people we won’t fix America.

There’s something we all can do: tell your friends and family that watching Fox and listening to Limbaugh is unAmerican and they are harming the country.

[EffieBlack]

49. Propaganda didn't create it. It was a tool to exploit the already existing racism and bigotry

If you think that these didn’t and wouldn’t exist without the propaganda, you’re just not paying attention and you should do some research.

These people aren’t purehearts who were taken advantage of by right wing propagandists and only then became racists and bigots.

[sharedvalues]

58. Takes both. But to fix racism we need to stop propaganda

I also think there is a difference between different parts of the country. The Deep South has its own longstanding problems with racism that would exist without Fox and Limbaugh.

But in many areas of white middle America, Fox and Limbaugh did a lot to create and amplify racism.

No single person in the past four decades has done more to worsen racial relations in America than Rupert Murdoch. Followed closely by Limbaugh and Reagan and Ailes and Hewitt and Levin and Carlson.

We must fight on both fronts: to work with and educate white Americans, and give up on the deplorables who can’t be changed. But also to call out and discuss the role of right wing propaganda in creating and amplifying racism in pursuit of votes for GOP billionaires.

[Amimnoch]

16. Today's most common racist are the ones who deny it.

The ones that spout crap like:
“I have a black friend.”
“I treat everyone equally.”
“I am not a racist.”
“Everyone is equal today.”
“What right’s don’t they have?”

These are overwhelmingly the same ones that deny that privilage exists. The ones that are quick to point out that incarceration rate of minorities is higher, while ignoring the cultural inequities that are cause. The same ones that saw no problem with the behavior of the Starbucks employees because they were “just following policy” after all.

Imo it is an even more insidious form of racism because it is completely intelectually dishonest, and is the root cause of the ongoing racist cultural inequities that we see in headlines almost daily.

To anyone I meet who denies that they are racist, my response is that everyone is a racist. The real question is what are you going to do about it?

[sheshe2]

21. Preach.

Thank you, Amimnoch.

[mcar]

23. Yep

[oberliner]

24. This is by Michael Harriot - author of "Why I Could Never Vote For Hillary Clinton"

And: "I'm Not With Her..."

Along with: "White Allies Are the Worst Wypipo in the World"

[elocs]

31. I don't believe for a second that everybody who supports Trump is a racist

and it really doesn't matter to me what clever way anyone comes up with to support that claim.
And as long as even 1 Trump supporter is not a racist then that blows the hell out of the "everybody" claim.

But the tens of millions of Americans who do support Trump are going nowhere.
Who honestly believes that if Democrats retake Congress and the White House by 2021 that all of these Trump backers and supporters are just going to disappear? They'll be working and waiting for their chance to return, for the Left to become complacent and start factionalizing and infighting. That's a bet I would take.
But tribalism now rules in America and it's us against them and them against us. We brand all of them this way, they brand all of us that way. They can never be right since we are never wrong, but since they consider themselves to always be right then we are always wrong.
My prediction: none of this is going to end well and if this were a third world country we would be anticipating an armed civil war.

[sharedvalues]

46. Tribalism rules because of GOP propaganda

Stopping Fox and Limbaugh and their lies is essential to improving tribalism.

[elocs]

56. As the old saying goes, it takes 2 to Tango.

If the GOP were suddenly to disappear I have no doubt that the Left would fracture into its own tribes, each attacking the other. Actually they already exist but have a common enemy to battle when they figure it out.

[sharedvalues]

57. The left is a traditional political party

The left is a traditional political party of coalitions and compromise.

The right is a dictatorial autocratic group, funded by billionaires, filled with apparatchiks and morons, that aims to destroy government to cut taxes on the rich.

[elocs]

59. Each hates and demonizes what the other side stands for. Fortunately only the left is right. n/t

[sharedvalues]

60. Reality has a decidedly liberal bias

Because one party is only about lies and propaganda

[elocs]

61. " Because one party is only about lies and propaganda"

Oddly enough, the right says exactly the same thing about the Left.
Who would'a thunk it?

[sharedvalues]

62. Yup. But the Democrats tell the truth and the GOP lies. Here's some proof

from 2012!!!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/lets-just-say-it-the-republicans-are-the-problem/2012/04/27/gIQAxCVUlT_story.html?utm_term=.e54dab823f94

Let’s just say it: The Republicans are the problem.

We have been studying Washington politics and Congress for more than 40 years, and never have we seen them this dysfunctional. In our past writings, we have criticized both parties when we believed it was warranted. Today, however, we have no choice but to acknowledge that the core of the problem lies with the Republican Party.

The GOP has become an insurgent outlier in American politics. It is ideologically extreme; scornful of compromise; unmoved by conventional understanding of facts, evidence and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition.

When one party moves this far from the mainstream, it makes it nearly impossible for the political system to deal constructively with the country’s challenges.

The GOP loves to muddy the water by accusing Democrats of being the same as them, using their lying right-wing propaganda machine.


But we know the truth, as do the centrist writers above:

The Republican Party is the problem.

[elocs]

63. " But the Democrats tell the truth and the GOP lies." Yup, and Republicans say they tell the truth

and it's Democrats who lie. Around and around we go. We can't convince them, they will never convince us.

Regardless, the bottom line is that there are tens of millions of Republicans who support Trump and they are going nowhere even if they are the problem. Unless the Left is vigilant the same thing will happen again as has happened now. It could take a generation, if ever, just to recover from what Trump's judicial appointees will have done to America.

[sharedvalues]

65. Truth hurts. Republicans are the party of lies and propaganda

We will continue to stick to the truth and continue to call out the right wing propaganda machine. Eventually their lies will have to hit up against reality. It’s already happened for some Fox viewers with tax cuts for billionaires. And others will be picked off as indictments come down and crimes are exposed. Remember Bush approval rating was high during “Mission Accomplished” and ended up in the gutter.


Stick to facts, expose GOP propaganda. That’s what patriotic Americans should do.

[elocs]

66. Republicans say: "Stick to facts, expose Democrat propaganda."

That’s what patriotic Americans should do."
(I threw in "Democrat" for authenticity.)
There is absolutely nothing we can say that they don't say about us.
There's nothing we can say about Trump that they won't call Democratic propaganda.
We preach to our choir, they preach to theirs, and everybody is convinced that they and only they are righteous.

[sharedvalues]

67. Right, they say that, but they are wrong

And they are a shrinking minority.


They can lie all they want. But eventually the truth will catch up to them.


Keep telling the truth and keep calling out lies and eventually the country will recover. Focus on truth and don’t be scared to call a lie a lie.

[elocs]

68. "Right, they say that, but they are wrong" Which is exactly what they say about Democrats.

How long do you think it will take for tens of millions of Trump supporters, conservatives, those on the right to shrink until they become irrelevant? That won't happen because those on the Left are too fickle voters and are not vigilant. They too easily give in to infighting and breaking into factions, with the Far Left wanting to make the Democratic tent smaller and purge those who are not as pure and Liberal as they are.

Calling a lie a "lie". How about the Big Lie? You know, the one that said that both parties are the same so it didn't matter if you voted for Clinton or Trump or voted at all.
The country could take a generation just to recover from what Trump has done to it and will continue to do it. I'm not pollyannaish enough to delude myself that this country will recover more than for brief periods of time.

[Doodley]

33. The election night was the second worst night of my life after the passing of my mother, and I

am faced with this question every day as most of my in-laws are Trump supporters. Every fiber of my body tells me Trump is the worst kind of human being and his bigotry is a cancer on our nation. Am I going to call all of my in-laws who support something that so disgusts me a racist. No.

[sheshe2]

35. I am so sorry for your mothers passing, Doodley.

He is a cancer on or nation and needs to be eradicated now.

[RandySF]

37. Let me ask everyone this question

If Don Blankenship is elected to the Senate after nurdering 29 coal minors, do we still say it was about economic anxiety?

[sharedvalues]

48. He will get votes because the voters hate democrats

A large number of people who will vote for Blankenship will do so not because they love him, but because they hate Democrats. And they hate democrats because they listen to lies from right wing propaganda.

[EffieBlack]

50. They hate Democrats because they hate Democrats' social pollicies

You are bending over backwards to let these people off the hook by blaming “propaganda” and not their own racism and bigotry.

Propaganda doesn't operate in a vacuum and it doesn’t work in people who are not predisposed to believe it. I could listen to Rush Limbaugh for 48 hours straight, but that would not turn me into a bigoted right winger. Plenty of people are exposed to right wing radio, but they don’t become racists - many of these people ALREADY are racists and the propaganda only builds on that.

These people are not n

[Tipperary]

52. This is the same guy who hates Hillary, right?

You seem to really like him. Are the poc who voted for rump racists also?

[Abu Pepe]

64. Not necessarily

Some are ignorant. Some know they fucked up but are too stubborn to admit it. And yeah the other 90 percent are racist.

[heaven05]

69. so true

these OP's have really been quite educational. They are laden with truth some the wypipo here just can't wrap their minds around because their wypipo privilege and entitlement MAY degrade a little. You're great

[sheshe2]

70. :)