You may have heard, it’s been in all the papers, that the president of these United States, one Donald J. Trump, recently referred to many if not all nations on the African continent as shitholes, throwing poor, old Haiti and El Salvador into the discussion to boot, while expressing a desire to attract more folks to our shores from Norway, a rather nice but cold spot on the globe that is known for, in contrast to Africa and Haiti, being home to a lot of white people with blond hair.
The president offered this learned observation after killing in its crib a bipartisan immigration measure that would have, among other things, allowed Latino residents who entered this country illegally as children to remain rather than be cast back from whence they came, nations of which they have little or no recollection.
Only a few days before this particular event, this very same president of these United States faced a large bank of television cameras, an activity he covets, and assured one and all, before God and any other deity of your choosing, that he would proudly sign any piece of legislation laid upon the Resolute desk in the Oval Office that allowed these individuals, known as Dreamers (an admittedly cloying term but there you have it), to stay put in the nation they have called home for many years.
Most of these Dreamers, as you’ve probably figured by now, are not white folks from Scandinavia. They’re brown people from south of the border. Despite his sacred vow, the president of these United States quickly reneged on his promise, dismissing a bipartisan compromise in vulgar terms, because he wants Congress to give him billions of dollars to build a wall along the Mexican border to keep additional brown people, who he has in the past characterized as criminals and “rapists,’’ from entering.
Now, using the old, reliable “if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck’’ test, you will inevitably draw the conclusion that Donald J. Trump, the president of these United States, is a racist despite his stated protest — “No, no, I’m not a racist. I am the least racist person you have ever interviewed, that I can tell you” – to the contrary.
So, the United States of America, in this its 242nd year of existence, is being led by an individual who, through his very words and deeds, believes that a significant portion of the nation’s population he is obliged to serve, those with black and brown skin, are inferior to the white majority, of which he is a card carrying member.
As James Thurber said, you could look it up. He is Lester Maddox in a Brioni suit, as ill-fitting as it might be.
Racist leader of free world
Just how America, reputedly the greatest nation in history, set about the task of selecting an obvious racist as the leader of the free world is a long, sordid and now twice-told tale. The fact that he was a racist was as s obvious as the chartreuse mop atop his head during the 2016 presidential campaign but many voted for him anyway. In fact, most voted for him because of his empty promise to “make America great again,’’ at least for white folks who thought the America depicted in “Leave it to Beaver’’ was the real deal.
Donald J. Trump, suffice to say, is a lost cause. He likely will remain in the White House for at least the next three years, bloviating about black and brown people, persistently lying like a rug as we used to say, and generally degrading the high office he holds. It’s an extraordinarily sad time in this country we call home and it will take genuine leadership from outside the Oval Office to see us through.
So where is it?
Did you see what Senate Republican Leader Mitch “Root and Branch’’ McConnell, of Louisville, had to say about the president’s overt racism, that it has no place in the national debate and that people of all colors and persuasions can still faithfully look to their government to provide the support and justice they so richly deserve despite the rantings of the Bigot-in-Chief?
No you didn’t, because ol’ Root ‘n Branch has been as quiet as a church mouse over this sad state of affairs, keeping mum like most folks in his native Alabama during the Ku Klux Klan reign of terror. All McConnell wants to do is push his sainted political agenda through Congress, go home and watch a U of L basketball game or two.
This is not leadership. It’s enabling racism just so he can get his corporate pals and millionaire donors, few of whom are black or brown, to pat him on the back and whisper in his ear what a great job he’s doing. Meanwhile millions of African-Americans and Latino-Americans are left to wonder where they fit in this great, wide country of ours.
But Mitch says nothing. You might even say he persisted. It’s the mark of a coward.
Meanwhile, Trump’s old golfing buddy, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Bowling Green, goes on Meet the Press last Sunday to declare it’s “unfair’’ to call the president a racist.
“I don’t think the comments were constructive at all, but I also think that, to be fair, we shouldn’t draw conclusions that he didn’t intend,” Paul said.
The media, those devils, have gone “completely bonkers” over the remarks, he complained.
The base — enough said
Well, then, tell us Rand, what exactly did your new BFF intend, since you apparently don’t believe his words speak for themselves? And what do you make of the report from conservative blogger and radio show host Erick Erickson that Trump himself called friends after the “shithole’’ event to brag about it?.
“I spoke to one of those friends,’’ Erickson wrote on Twitter. “The President thought it would play well with the base.”
And that says all you need to know about Trump’s base.
Back in 1968, young American men were dying needlessly in Vietnam and no one was really doing anything about it. Bobby Kennedy, George McGovern and others had passed on the opportunity to challenge the incumbent Democratic president Lyndon Johnson in the primaries.
In stepped Sen. Eugene McCarthy, D-MN, who decided to make a run as the anti-war candidate despite advice from friends and confidants that such a race would prove futile.
No, McCarthy told them, this is too important. We must take this to the people. He fared surprisingly well in the New Hampshire primary and soon thereafter Johnson dropped out as a result of the weight of Vietnam.
This is one of those McCarthy times. Someone needs to take it to the people, explaining that having a racist serve as president of the United States is beyond unacceptable and must be resisted.
It’s time to take a stand.
The NKyTribune’s Washington columnist Bill Straub served 11 years as the Frankfort Bureau chief for The Kentucky Post. He also is the former White House/political correspondent for Scripps Howard News Service. A member of the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame, he currently resides in Silver Spring, Maryland, and writes frequently about the federal government and politics. Email him at williamgstraub@gmail.com.
You sir are the true racist. Considering the Liberal blinders you wear. You backed Obama’s racist views and actions the past 8 years. Relations have never been worse. In addition you are a liar. He NEVER mentioned those nations. It was the media who did. Check your references. You are why Demoncrats are like babies. Always crying about something without an idea in how to fix it.