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By Micha Green, AFRO Washington, D.C. Editor, [email protected]
Before he was president, Donald Trump was known to be a rich bully whether it was in person, on television or social media- and let’s face it, some of his attacks seemed prejudiced to say the least- such as his obsession over proving President Barack Obama was not born in the United States. Since becoming president, nothing has changed. He continues to use his platform to publicly shame and debase those who go against him, often using language considered doubly inflammatory when directed at a person of color.
The President’s most recent public disparagement was toward Omarosa Manigault Newman, his former crony, a three-time “Apprentice” alum and former White House liaison.
Yet before one can even begin to dissect the latest racist outburst from the Tweeter in Chief, let’s first reflect on the top racist Trump moments.
Candidate Trump:
From the very beginning Trump did not try to hide what he felt about people of color. “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best — they’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people,” he said during his presidential candidacy announcement.
In late August 2015, presidential candidate Trump had a press conference where he was to speak candidly about his views on immigration. Renowned Univision journalist Jorge Ramos was physically removed from the conference by the candidate’s security after Trump refused to answer a question. Right before he was kicked out, the entrepreneur and reality star told him to, “Go back to Univision,” reminiscent of the often used slur towards immigrants of color to return to “their country.”
Xenophobia is the name of the game when it comes to many of Trump’s most racist moments, such as in early 2018 when he was overheard saying in a meeting, “Why do we want all these people from ‘sh*thole countries’ coming here?” What makes it even more racist is that the President reportedly asked the condescending question once places like Haiti and Africa were mentioned.
This one is a double whammy as the President was disparaging two people at once.
Now if there’s one thing that men of color really don’t enjoy it is being called names that diminish their intellect. During the slave era, many states had laws prohibiting Blacks from learning to read. When Blacks were allowed to attend school, many were segregated and bound to institutions with poor facilities, crowded classes and outdated texts.
After CNN anchor Don Lemon interviewed basketball star, philanthropist and activist LeBron James, the Tweeter in Chief took to Twitter to criticize both of them by calling them dumb.
“[LeBron] James was just interviewed by the dumbest man on television, Don Lemon. He made [LeBron] look smart, which isn’t easy to do,” the President said about the anchor and athlete. “I like Mike,” he added, seemingly elevating legendary basketball player and mogul, Michael Jordan- to whom James is often compared.
Trump has insulted Rep. Maxine Waters’ (D-CA) intelligence many times before. Admittedly the two have had a major back and forth, pretty much since Trump began in office, as the congresswoman is vehemently against his presidency and makes her case for impeaching him frequently. On August 2 the President said Waters had a “Very low IQ. Low IQ,” an insult Trump has said about the California congresswoman in the past.
So now let’s go back to breaking down the President’s most recent slur towards a woman of color- when he called former White House liaison Manigault Newman a lot of things, such as wacky, but that was not the worst. He called her a dog. While the President has called White people dogs before, an insult rude in itself, it’s simply a no-no when it comes to people of color. In the United States, Black people were considered three-fifths of a person until after the Civil War with the 13th Amendment.
Manigault Newman told MSNBC on Tuesday that Trump believes women “are beneath him,” and that he speaks insulting of minorities.
“He has absolutely no respect for women, for African-Americans,” she said.
This news comes as no surprise to many people of color who were saying the same thing before the election. Arguably the closest Black woman to the President is saying he speaks pejoratively about people of color and women as a habit.
One of the main people who had the President’s back is now turning against him.
Now Manigault Newman is teasing more recordings while selling her book, Unhinged: An Insider’s Account of the Trump White House.
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