Trump's Puerto Rico potshots make his racism morally impossible to ignore

[babylonsister]

http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/will_bunch/trumps-puerto-rico-potshots-make-his-racism-morally-impossible-to-ignore-20171001.html?amphtml=y&mobi=true

Trump's Puerto Rico potshots make his racism morally impossible to ignore
Will Bunch, STAFF COLUMNIST
Updated: Sunday, October 1, 2017, 2:29 PM

snip//

In the days before Maria’s landfall on Sept. 20, the anxiety was palpable — not just from the storm but over the question of whether Trump would marshal the massive response the hurricane would require, when the island’s residents are primarily black and brown, and when they can’t cast a single ballot in the 2020 election. It didn’t seem possible, but the White House response — both logistically and morally — to the growing humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands has been even worse than many of us dared to imagine. And it’s been fueled by something else that America saw coming from miles and miles away, from that day in June 2015 when the short-fingered vulgarian descended an escalator in Trump Tower to announce his divisive candidacy — and that is the racism of Donald Trump.

Trump’s international embarrassment of a presidency seemed to reach a new valley one weekend ago, when huge chunks of Puerto Rico were submerged and the full extent of its total loss of electricity and the absence of potable water, food, cash, and gasoline was becoming clear. The president flew on a Friday night to Alabama for a campaign rally for his preferred candidate in a GOP Senate runoff, where he made scant reference to the suffering of our fellow Americans but instead — in a state that had once defined state-sponsored racism with biting police dogs and fire hoses in Birmingham — went on a not-even-dog-whistle rant against black athletes who kneel during the national anthem as “sons of a bitch” protesters.

Then he flew back to his upscale golf club in New Jersey, where — as the Washington Post reported this weekend in a remarkable “tick-tock” recounting — he completely ignored the Puerto Rico crisis right at the moment it required high-level attention. It was telling that Trump did hold a cabinet meeting during those critical days in Bedminster, N.J. — not to talk about the thirsty, starving Americans on the Caribbean island, but on how to continue banning people from primarily Muslim countries from entering the United States. He tweeted up a storm, against black athletes from the NFL and the NBA, while ratcheting up the risk of a nuclear war in North Korea, and, incredibly, even dropped by a gathering of local BMW dealers, the kind of guys that The Donald feels comfortable around.

But Trump has also made it clear, during his White House stint, whom he is not comfortable with: Anyone who criticizes him who happens to be black, brown, or female — or some combination thereof. This is a presidency, after all, where officials called for the firing of a black woman, ESPN’s Jemele Hill, who dared to use her platform to criticize Trump, but didn’t seem too worked up when a late-night TV host such as Stephen Colbert who isn’t black or brown or female bashed the president in terms that even many Trump disparagers thought went too far.

snip//

Trump’s words have massive consequences, and this goes well beyond Puerto Rico. It’s not surprising that — weeks after the president told an audience of cheering cops “don’t be too nice” with criminal suspects — the police ran wild in St. Louis. Or that voters in Alabama riled by this poisonous political climate — in which the commander-in-chief couldn’t find it in his heart to condemn neo-Nazis in Charlottesville — went beyond Trump’s pick to nominate a Senate candidate in Roy Moore who is even more extreme, who openly discriminates against Muslims, the LGBTQ community, and others. The man behind the desk in the Oval Office has opened a Pandora’s box of hate.

That the president of the United States is openly racist is intolerable, not just politically but morally. If it was ever time for the remaining adults in American politics to step forward and put an end to this vile experiment before more people are needlessly hurt, that moment is right now. And that is especially true of Republicans, since they control both houses of Congress and much of the judiciary. Right now, it’s not looking too good, with House Speaker Paul Ryan saying — on Sunday, after Trump’s tweet attacks — that the president’s “heart is in the right place.” The level of sheer denial is astounding. If nothing is done — and done quickly — then the blood of Puerto Rico and maybe Korea and God-knows-where-else will splatter on the hands of the Paul Ryans and the other “respectable people” who said and did nothing.

[tblue37]

1. I have no doubt that Trump believes the people of PR to be primarily PoC, since apparently

all the media mouths and most people posting on the internet (including here on DU) seem to believe that. But in fact 76% of the PR population are white, of European (mainly Spanish) descent.