Trump and McConnell have given us four years of racist policies and support for white supremacists
In 2016 Donald Trump began his Presidential campaign by attacking and ridiculing the beliefs of minority groups. His campaigning slogan was “Make America Great Again”, the idea behind this slogan is that the rise of the “non-white” population has weakened America’s economy and status. Instead of breaking down systematic racism and implementing policies to help minority voices be heard, cared for and protected, Trump has carried out four years of denial and blatant disrespect to all “non-white” groups, such as…
- Trump consistently pushed the “birther” line that President Obama was not really born in the United States, which many have concluded was a racist line of attack, never previously raised with any white presidential candidates. https://www.cnn.com/2016/09/09/politics/donald-trump-birther/index.html
- Trump repeatedly criticized “U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel as biased and unfair because of his Mexican heritage. https://www.chicagotribune.com/nation-world/ct-donald-trump-elizabeth-warren-pocahontas-20160610-story.html
- Trump suggested four U.S. Congresswomen of color should “go back” to where they came from (three of these women were born in the U.S. and one was born in Somalia but later became a U.S. citizen). https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/14/us/politics/trump-twitter-squad-congress.html_
- After the murder of George Floyd, Trump threatened to veto the annual defense spending bill if it removed Confederate names from U.S. military bases, despite wide bipartisan support for the renaming. https://www.npr.org/2020/07/01/885944809/trump-vows-to-veto-defense-bill-if-it-removes-confederate-names-from-military-ba
- When asked after the George Floyd murder why blacks were still dying at the hands of police, Trump responded that that was “a terrible question to ask” and that “more white people” are killed (by police), disregarding the fact that far more blacks are killed by police in proportion to their numbers in the U.S. population. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/07/14/pair-interviews-trump-highlights-white-victimhood/?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_bump-trump%3Ahomepage%2Fstory-ans
- In June 2020, Trump re-tweeted a video of a couple of his supporters shouting, “White Power!” https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/28/us/politics/trump-white-power-video-racism.html
- Trump’s former attorney, Michael Cohen, similarly described Trump as “a racist”. https://www.politico.com/story/2019/02/26/cohen-trump-racist-conman-cheat-1189951
After a rally in Charlottesville, VA to protest the removal of a statute of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, attended by white supremacists and neo-Nazis, including a neo-Nazi who drove his car into counter-protesters, killing one and injuring 35, Trump said there were “very fine people on both sides” of the Charlottesville protests, including, apparently, those protesting against the removal of Confederate General Lee’s statute. https://www.politifact.com/article/2019/apr/26/context-trumps-very-fine-people-both-sides-remarks/
We simply cannot afford four more years of increasing racism and growth of white supremacy
Instead of healing the racial divide and calming racial tensions, four more years of Trump’s Presidency will only encourage more racist attacks and growth of white supremacists groups. It would likely lead to:
- Growth of groups like the Proud Boys, who have now claimed President Trump’s call for them to “stand back and stand by” as their new motto.
- Further attempts to ban Muslims from entering the country.
- More attacks on mosques, synagogues and other places of worship, spurred by groups who have the implicit support of the President.
- More vigilante attacks on Black Lives Matter protests, including more deaths at the hands of so-called “militia” groups.
- More deaths of Black men in police custody.