Trumps empathy deficit

[babylonsister]

https://thinkprogress.org/trump-empathy-deficit-580b261af74f/

Trump’s empathy deficit
The racism is no longer thinly disguised; it’s blatant and obvious for all to witness.
Sam Fulwood III
Oct 3, 2017, 7:00 pm

snip//

The litany of presidential abuse less than a year into Trump’s presidency is staggering and racially uneven: In just the past month, the administration has urged ESPN’s Jemele Hill be fired for criticizing him, yet has not showed the same venom toward white late-night television hosts such as Stephen Colbert or Jimmy Kimmel who have been far more sustained in their opposition to the president. He has provoked a fight NFL players who have knelt during the playing of the national anthem, demanding that team owners fire them for exercising their freedom of speech rights.

Trump’s response to the Puerto Rico crisis, however, is in a class by itself. In this instance, the stakes are life and death. People on the island have critical needs for food, water, electricity, medical care, and communication. Yet the president has seen fit to complain because some of the most beleaguered Americans in Puerto Rico haven’t praised his leadership.

snip//

What makes Trump’s attitude all the more repellent is that he’s cheered on by a base of support, estimated at about one-third of the American public. His hard-core adorers feed his ego and allows him to ignore criticism.

In the case of Puerto Rico, relatively few Americans knew much about Puerto Rico before the storm hit, including most who had no idea that its residents were U.S. citizens. A 2016 poll conducted by YouGov found that only 43 percent of Americans knew Puerto Ricans were U.S. citizens; a more recent Morning Consult poll showed that even after Hurricane Maria, just 54 percent of Americans knew Puerto Ricans were U.S. citizens.

Such ignorance of our shared national identity makes it easy for Trump to say and do the most odious things, yet seemingly suffer no political consequence. So it shouldn’t have come as too much of a surprise that when Trump lowered himself to visit Puerto Rico, he would exhibit behavior that is all too common for him. He congratulated himself for a job well done, according to the Washington Post.

snip//

Trump’s visit to Puerto Rico mocked the seriousness of the moment and his office. How else to describe images of him casually tossing paper towels and toilet paper at people in a disaster area as if he were throwing out T-shirts at a basketball game? Or how callous is it for a president to laugh about the need for flashlights while 7 percent of the island’s population has electricity? Can anyone imagine such a thing happening in any predominantly white community in the country?

The tragedy of Puerto Rico is made worse when a racially insensitive president comes to visit and only brings rotten, red-meat comments that appeal to his political base and feed anger and resentment toward the black and brown people of this nation.

https://thinkprogress.org/trump-empathy-deficit-580b261af74f/

[yallerdawg]

1. Tossing out paper towels to Puerto Ricans...

is the same as if he had tossed out watermelons in Houston.

An unending series of inappropriate racial and class dog-whistles that reveal the true despicable, deplorable nature of this...person.

Things you never say to a Puerto Rican janitor:

"I want this building:

[Blaukraut]

2. It's more than racism with him. It's misanthropy

Trump hates human beings in general unless they adore him and shower him with praise and adulation or he can profit or benefit from fostering a relationship.

[MFM008]

3. EXACTLY!

spot on.