Republicans argue that accusing them of racism is similar to the boy who cried wolf. They accuse liberals of playing the race card against them as a cheap defense against criticism. They continue to make this argument without any hint of detecting their own hypocrisy by ignoring Donald Trump’s accusation of racism against “the Squad” and Congressman Elijah Cummings. But, if you’re a Republican, you have to ignore a lot of what Donald Trump says.
Writing for The Hill, media reporter Joe Concha argues that being accused of racism comes with the territory, and quotes Lindsey Graham who said, “Something I have learned: If you are a Republican nominee for President – or President – you will be accused of being a racist.” Concha excluded Graham’s quotes when he said during the 2016 Republican presidential primaries, “Donald Trump is a race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot.” For Republicans, cowardice and hypocrisy “come with the territory.”
Republicans ask, “Why are you always accusing us of being racist?” I’ll answer that with a question. Why are you always being racist?
Donald Trump isn’t just a racist. He also believes his racism should be his 2020 presidential platform. While casting the Democratic Party as the party of socialism, he and his supporters are making the Republican Party the party of racists, if they weren’t that already. In 2016, Trump supporters retweeted Russian troll farm lies that the Pope had endorsed Trump. That was false, but he did score the endorsement of the Nazi publication The Daily Stormer.
Trump is sore about Maryland Congressman Elijah Cummings criticizing his handling of the border situation and throwing children into jail. Saturday, Fox News ran a segment attacking Cummings and his representation of Baltimore, showing the city, as their guest with ready-made video said, one of “abandoned rowhomes filled with trash, homeless addicts, empty needles” and as a place “attracting rodents and cockroaches.” An hour later, Trump echoed the dogma and said the city was “rat and rodent-infested” and a place “no human being would want to live.” This, two weeks after he told four brown, female representatives to “go back to where they came from.”
Of course, Republicans are arguing that none of this is racist, ignoring the history of using “go back where you came from” to minorities in this nation. They also seem to be unaware of Trump’s history with the word “infested” when tweeting about people of color.
Is Trump comparing people of color to disease-carrying vermin? Trump has tweeted the word “infested,” “infest,” or “infestation” eight times, five since his inauguration. Each time, he’s used it when attacking minorities.
Six days before his inauguration, Trump attacked Congressman John Lewis (who is black and a civil rights leader), and described his district as “crime-infested.” The district is 58% black.
Later that same day, Trump described all inner cities in the U.S. as “crime-infested.”
In April of 2018, Trump tweeted that sanctuary cities in California are “crime-infested and breeding.”
June 19, 2018, Trump accused Democrats of wanting illegal immigrants to “pour into and infest our country.” On June 3, he used “infestation” for MS-13.
Back in 2014, he tweeted about “Ebola infested areas of Africa” and that Americans who visit these “infested” areas would “bring the plague back to the U.S.”
Two weeks ago during his racist tweets at the four Democratic congresswomen, he demanded that they “go back to” the “crime-infested” places from which they came.
While tweeting that he’s not a racist, Trump retweeted a British columnist who promotes the White Genocide conspiracy theory (that immigration is used solely as a mean of wiping out the white race), who used Trump’s own term while describing Baltimore as a “proper shithole.” As proven multiple times by his supporters, it’s really hard to defend a racist argument when you’re stupid.
Donald Trump is a racist. You can’t defend it. As the example above shows, who better to defend Trump from accusations of racism than white people? Fox News’ Greg Gutfeld points out the good things Trump has done for black Americans, as though having a black friend is a get-out-of-racism-jail-free card. Last week, a conservative cartoonist cast one white guy telling another white guy to leave his house as the equivalent of telling four minority women to “go back to where they came from.” These people can’t think sophistically and aren’t smart enough to be pundits. Just like Donald Trump isn’t sophisticated or smart enough to be president.
I’ve been to Baltimore on multiple occasions. I don’t live that far from it. Like most major cities, there are good and bad areas. I’ve seen both in that city. I wouldn’t call it “infested” by any means, though there are a lot of crabs. But I know this: The White House is infested with racist pigs.
Creative note: Oddly enough, it’s really hard to draw a pig without it coming out cute. Friend and fellow cartoonist, Stacy Curtis, has a thing about drawing pigs with banjos. I’m sure there’s a reason why, but I don’t know what it is, but his artwork is amazing. I had him in mind when I was drawing this pig but I refused to look at any of his work during because that would have “infested” my drawing. I really wanted my pig to come out nasty and disgusting. Did I succeed?
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For The Yucatan Times Newsroom
Clay Jones
www.claytoonz.com
