Is Donald Trump racist? 10 phrases to analyze it
Is Donald Trump racist? By definition, yes.
According to the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language, as the presenter of CNN in Spanish Juan Carlos López explained in Directo USA, racism is the “exacerbation of the racial sense of an ethnic group that usually motivates discrimination or persecution of another or others with that coexists ”.
And Sunday's tweets from the president of the United States undoubtedly exacerbated the racial sense. Although he did not say their names, Trump referred to the progressive Democratic congresswomen known as "The Squad," Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, for New York, Ilhan Omar, for Minnesota, Rashida Tlaib, for Michigan, and Ayanna Pressley, for Massachusetts, tweeting the following:
… .And viciously telling the people of the United States, the greatest and most powerful Nation on earth, how our government is to be run. Why don't they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came. Then come back and show us how….
- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 14, 2019
"Very interesting to see the 'progressive' Democratic congresswomen, who originally came from countries where their governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept in the world (if they have a functioning government at all) , they are now telling the people of America loudly and viciously, to the greatest and most powerful nation on Earth, how our government should be run. Why don't you go back and fix the totally wrecked and infested places. crime where they came from ”.
The controversy did not wait. Not only because of the derogatory nature of the tweets, but especially because the four congresswomen have American nationality: three of them were born in the United States and one reached the age of 12 and became a citizen at 17.
CNN political analyst Stephen Collinson stated that: “In telling the four women, three of them born in the US, to 'go back where they came from,' Trump used the most basic and crude racial slur. He also implicitly rejected the motto stamped on the great seal of the United States - E Pluribus Unum - of many, one. He is implying that any American who is not white and born on American soil has no place in the country. "
Although Trump has denied being a racist, it is definitely not the first time he has made comments in that vein. On the contrary, as Collinson rightly argues, "the most shocking thing about Donald Trump's racist tweets is that possibly the fundamentally anti-American outburst of modern presidential rhetoric did not come even remotely as a surprise."
Since the beginning of his campaign in 2016, Trump has resorted to racist and xenophobic rhetoric (understanding xenophobia as "phobia of foreigners"). Here are ten quotes from the president that caused controversy.
1. "Go back where you came from"
"Why don't you go back and fix the totally trashed and crime-infested places where you came from," Trump tweeted on July 14, 2019, referring to the Democratic congresswomen.
2. "Countries of m *****"
"Why do we have all these people from shitty countries coming here?" He said in January 2018, referring to African countries, Haiti and El Salvador, according to people who were at a meeting on immigration at the White House , as reported by the Washington Post and was able to confirm CNN.
3. "We speak English"
"This is a country where we speak English, not Spanish," he said in a CNN debate in September 2015, when he was confronting Jeb Bush, who is married to a Mexican woman.
4. "Conflict of interest due to his Mexican ancestry"
“I am building a wall. There is an inherent conflict of interest, ”he said of federal judge Gonzalo Curiel in June 2016. He stated that since the judge is of“ Mexican descent, ”he would be biased to try him in the Trump University case.
5. "What the hell can they lose?"
“I ask for the vote of every black person in this country. What can they lose? They live in poverty, their schools are bad, they don't have a job, 58% of their youth are unemployed… what the hell can they lose? ”He said in August 2016, two months before the presidential elections.
6. "Obama's birth certificate is a fraud"
"An 'extremely reliable source' called my office and told me that Barack Obama's birth certificate is a fraud," he tweeted in August 2012, in one of his multiple claims that Obama was not born in the United States. United.
7. "Islam hates us"
"I think Islam hates us," he told CNN's Anderson Cooper in March 2016. "And we cannot allow those who have this hatred of the United States to come to this country," he added.
8. "Close the mosques"
"Well, I would hate [to shut down mosques in the US] but it is something to seriously consider," Trump said during an interview on MSNBC in November 2015.
9. "I would love to be a well-educated black man."
“A well-educated black man has a huge advantage over a well-educated white man. Black may think that he has no advantage. […] If he were born again today, I would love to be a well-educated black man, ”he said on NBC in September 1989.
10. "Mexico sends drugs, crime and rapists"
“When Mexico sends its people, it doesn't send the best, it doesn't send people like you or like you. They are sending people with lots of problems. They are bringing drugs, they are bringing crime, they are rapists and some, I assume, are good people, ”he said when he began his campaign in June 2015.
On Tuesday afternoon, the US House of Representatives voted to condemn the president's comments on female congressmen.
In a vote of 240 to 187, the House passed a resolution denouncing the racist comments. Only four Republicans, Will Hurd, Brian Fitzpatrick, Fred Upton and Susan Brooks, and independent Justin Amash joined Democrats in voting for the resolution.
