Is Trump racist?

[Anonymous]

I am extremely apolitical. And I've been battling stage 4 cancer for the past 6 months. I don't care who our next president is. I don't really follow the news or watch tv, so I'm realllllly out of the loop..

My kids came home from school and announced "well trump is racist and Hillary is power hungry" (my guess is that they are all probably power hungry). But is he truly racist? What specifically has he done or said that demonstrates he is in fact racist? I'm asking because I genuinely do not know, and am curious if this is true - or if it's more of a popular media invention.

[Anonymous]

No, of course not.

He's spoken about illegal immigrants and religion but never mentioned race.

He has captured the imaginations of racist people.

So did Hillary in 2008 when she ran a racist campaign. President Obama's comment about people clinging to guns and religion were specifically about Pennsylvania primary voters going for Hillary.

Trump will be painted as a racist between now and November so keep waiting for him to say something racist and see if you ever hear it.

[Anonymous]

No. Donald Trump a kind, loving, genteel and refined open-minded man who would not mind at all if one of his children married a filthy rich African-American or Arab Muslim.

[jsteele]

This question is covered pretty well in this thread:

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/545545.page

Trump frames his statements to appeal to white identity politics. It is a classic case of blaming all of America's ills on "them", the "them" being blacks, Mexicans, Muslims, women, the disabled, etc., depending on the issue at hand. If a black person can't find a job, according to Trump that person lacks spirit. If a white Christian male can't find a job, it is because the job was either sent to Mexico or taken by an illegal immigrant. Whether this is racism or cynical politics is a question that we can't answer.

[Anonymous]

I honestly don't think he's rascist. I think he's a blowhard who's good at saying things people want to hear.

[Anonymous]

Jeff, do you think Hillary Clinton's team dabbled in the same in the 2008 primary?

[Anonymous]

Yes, he even says things like dealing with people "going off the reservation". Of course he's racist.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:This question is covered pretty well in this thread:

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/545545.page

Trump frames his statements to appeal to white identity politics. It is a classic case of blaming all of America's ills on "them", the "them" being blacks, Mexicans, Muslims, women, the disabled, etc., depending on the issue at hand. If a black person can't find a job, according to Trump that person lacks spirit. If a white Christian male can't find a job, it is because the job was either sent to Mexico or taken by an illegal immigrant. Whether this is racism or cynical politics is a question that we can't answer.

Unlike the democrats who appeal to non-white identity politics. It's a classic case of blaming all of Americas ills on white people. If a black person can't get a job, according to the Democratic Party it's because of racism. Whether this is racism or cynical politics is a question we can't answer.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:Jeff, do you think Hillary Clinton's team dabbled in the same in the 2008 primary?

With regard to black voters, yes. But, it was not central to the campaign and wasn't across the board in the same manner as Trump is doing it.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:This question is covered pretty well in this thread:

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/545545.page

Trump frames his statements to appeal to white identity politics. It is a classic case of blaming all of America's ills on "them", the "them" being blacks, Mexicans, Muslims, women, the disabled, etc., depending on the issue at hand. If a black person can't find a job, according to Trump that person lacks spirit. If a white Christian male can't find a job, it is because the job was either sent to Mexico or taken by an illegal immigrant. Whether this is racism or cynical politics is a question that we can't answer.

Unlike the democrats who appeal to non-white identity politics. It's a classic case of blaming all of Americas ills on white people. If a black person can't get a job, according to the Democratic Party it's because of racism. Whether this is racism or cynical politics is a question we can't answer.

This is a misstatement of Democratic positions. First, you are comparing what one individual -- Trump -- is saying to what the members of an entire party are saying. Needless to say, the members of that party don't always agree. So, trying to generalize to a single message will necessarily result in inaccuracy. But, I do agree that the Democratic Party's appeal to minority voters often leaves out or marginalizes lower and working class whites, leaving them to turn to the likes of Trump. I think Sanders made a laudable attempt to address class differences rather than racial and ethnic differences. This didn't go well for him, unfortunately.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Jeff, do you think Hillary Clinton's team dabbled in the same in the 2008 primary?

You are deflecting from the OP's question. Why?

We can't know what Trump really thinks in terms of race and national origin. Is he genuinely a racist and xenophobe? I don't know what's in his heart or mind. But he makes racist and xenophobic statements and appeals to resentment in white people, so his behaviors are certainly bigoted. What more do we really need to know?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jeff, do you think Hillary Clinton's team dabbled in the same in the 2008 primary?

You are deflecting from the OP's question. Why?

We can't know what Trump really thinks in terms of race and national origin. Is he genuinely a racist and xenophobe? I don't know what's in his heart or mind. But he makes racist and xenophobic statements and appeals to resentment in white people, so his behaviors are certainly bigoted. What more do we really need to know?

I'd already answered above, so I wasn't deflecting. From reading here, I've come to appreciate that Jeff will answer a question like that honestly.

If you think what Trump is doing now is racist and have any honesty, you have to say that Hillary ran a racist campaign in the 2008 primary.

I think Trump's message resonates with racists, but his appeal is directly to Americans and against non-Americans. Not something I'm gung-ho about, but being opposed to free trade wanting to restrict immigration isn't racist on its own.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:This question is covered pretty well in this thread:

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/545545.page

Trump frames his statements to appeal to white identity politics. It is a classic case of blaming all of America's ills on "them", the "them" being blacks, Mexicans, Muslims, women, the disabled, etc., depending on the issue at hand. If a black person can't find a job, according to Trump that person lacks spirit. If a white Christian male can't find a job, it is because the job was either sent to Mexico or taken by an illegal immigrant. Whether this is racism or cynical politics is a question that we can't answer.

Unlike the democrats who appeal to non-white identity politics. It's a classic case of blaming all of Americas ills on white people. If a black person can't get a job, according to the Democratic Party it's because of racism. Whether this is racism or cynical politics is a question we can't answer.

This is a misstatement of Democratic positions. First, you are comparing what one individual -- Trump -- is saying to what the members of an entire party are saying. Needless to say, the members of that party don't always agree. So, trying to generalize to a single message will necessarily result in inaccuracy. But, I do agree that the Democratic Party's appeal to minority voters often leaves out or marginalizes lower and working class whites, leaving them to turn to the likes of Trump. I think Sanders made a laudable attempt to address class differences rather than racial and ethnic differences. This didn't go well for him, unfortunately.

This is off the point of the thread, but most working-class white voters abandoned the Democratic Party decades ago, largely due to the party's efforts to fully include minorities. So this is something of a minefield, one Sanders wasn't fully cognizant of. He still thinks of the South and southern Democrats in pre-VRA terms. That would be an interesting conversation in itself but I don't want to distract further from the thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jeff, do you think Hillary Clinton's team dabbled in the same in the 2008 primary?

You are deflecting from the OP's question. Why?

We can't know what Trump really thinks in terms of race and national origin. Is he genuinely a racist and xenophobe? I don't know what's in his heart or mind. But he makes racist and xenophobic statements and appeals to resentment in white people, so his behaviors are certainly bigoted. What more do we really need to know?

I'd already answered above, so I wasn't deflecting. From reading here, I've come to appreciate that Jeff will answer a question like that honestly.

If you think what Trump is doing now is racist and have any honesty, you have to say that Hillary ran a racist campaign in the 2008 primary.

I think Trump's message resonates with racists, but his appeal is directly to Americans and against non-Americans. Not something I'm gung-ho about, but being opposed to free trade wanting to restrict immigration isn't racist on its own.

You seek to distract from what Trump is doing. We already know what Jeff thinks of the 2008 Clinton campaign.

Trump's direct appeals to racism and xenophobia, and the associated violence at his rallies, are new and frightening.

[Anonymous]

I'm not a Trump supporter.

I'm a Sanders supporter who called a racist and misogynist for daring not to vote for HRC, so I've seen how this game is played.

I'm sorry if it hurts your feelings to remember the racist shit her team pulled in 2008.

The violence at Trump rallies is going to hand the election to him as it truly terrifies most voters not wrapped up in the internet bubble.