Mask Off: Trump issues horrific announcement - Another Day - Brian Tyler Cohen

[TexasTowelie]

BTC: The Supreme Court strikes a blow to civil rights in America, and Republicans are completely all-white with it. This is just another day.

Today, our nation's highest court took a sledgehammer to one of this country's most progressive laws from the civil rights era that guaranteed minority representation in Congress. So, as one would expect, the president had some prepared remarks on the matter.

[cut to video in Oval Office from C-SPAN]
Trump: Tell me about the uh the what happened.

Reporter: Well, some think that the ruling could create more Republican held congressional seats in the South.

Trump: That's good. Yeah. That's the kind of ruling I like. When did that happen?

[cut to studio]
BTC: When? Oh, it happened um just after you did everything you could to specifically put conservative justices on the court who would take our country back to a time when minorities had fewer rights, but I'm just ballparking it.

There is no other way to describe today other than a massive step backwards for civil rights in America. What the Supreme Court did was essentially gut Section two of the Voting Rights Act, which guarantees black or brown representation in congressional districts and the racial elements of this decision cannot be overstated.

[cut to video from ABC News]
Analyst: The court here today effectively constitutionalizes a colorblindness principle almost completely absent the showing of intention. And what that means is that even the remedies for racial discrimination, the remedies that are designed to prevent racial discrimination are themselves unconstitutional violations of the 14th and 15th Amendments. The irony being that that is what the Voting Rights Act was passed in order to enforce.

[cut to studio]
BTC: What these conservative justices said today was that those laws that were passed to help those burdened by America's racism are in fact racist. The thing that was supposed to help oppress people is really the thing doing the oppressing. It's like blaming a fire extinguisher for causing the fire, but also racist.

But while this Supreme Court ruling is horrible, there's something even worse underneath, which is the reason Donald Trump, his administration, and the Republican party as a whole are celebrating today's Supreme Court decision. To them, it is a win for white people and that has been their goal since the beginning. These people believe that if they simply avoid saying certain words that they can refute the label of racist. But uh hate to break it to them, just because you don't say the words doesn't mean you're not saying the words.

[cut to video from SOTU address]
Trump: We ended DEI in America.

[cut to video at White House from Fox News]
Trump: Uh President Obama, he's building his library in Chicago. It's a disaster. And he said something to the effect, I only want DEI. I only want woke. He wants woke people to build it. bill. He got work people and they have massive cost overruns. The job is stopped. Uh I don't know. It's a disaster and I don't like that happening because it's I think it's bad for the presidency.

[cut to studio]
BTC: Yep. That's why he doesn't like these construction delays because it looks bad for the presidency. Unfortunately, the East Wing couldn't be reached for comment.

Through their relentless cynical messaging, Republicans have been able to turn the idea of diversity, equity, and inclusion, a framework specifically aimed at uplifting those who were held down by America's past racist policies, into a dirty word.

[cut to video from Fox News]
Eric Trump: DEI was prevailing. Everything was turning woke. We were losing our nation.

[cut to video from Newsmax]
Donald Trump, Jr.: Listen, the problem with DEI is that you can't actually have any accountability for people who are beneficiaries or the recipients of DEI policy.

[cut to video from The Benny Show]
Eric Trump: We're saving this nation. I mean, you know, DEI is out the window, Benny. You know, I mean, you no longer have Colin Kaepernick kneeling for the national, you know, for the national anthem. You no longer have, you know, a Budweiser going woke as hell or all of all of this is is dead.

[cut to studio]
BTC: You see, to them, a black man kneeling during the national anthem is anti-American. But kicking Americans off of healthcare, off of food assistance, and making their groceries less affordable is somehow peak patriotism. And it is no accident that the people Donald Trump seems to be most fond of also happen to traffic in a similar speaking style.

[cut to video from Turning Point USA conference]
JD Vance: In the United States of America, you don't have to apologize for being white anymore.

[cut to studio]
BTC: That's right. It's not just those couch cushions. JD likes to screw minorities, too. But there they are. All the examples of racism from Donald Trump's administration. Yep. There are no more instances of these people being…

[Brian is interrupted by video from Fox News]
Pete Hegseth: The era of DEI uh is gone at the Defense Department.

[cut to video from Fox News]
Pete Hegseth: No more DEI offices.

[cut to video from C-SPAN]
Pete Hegseth: When other parts of the department wanted to go woke, the Marine Corps stood strong.

[cut to video from Fox News]
Pete Hegseth: We're not tearing stuff down. We're done with that. We're putting statues back. We're putting paintings back. We're recognizing our history. We're restoring the names of bases as we've done across the country because we're proud of our history. As difficult as it may have been in some chapters, we're going to teach it. We're going to live it. And we're going to fight for it.

[cut to studio]
BTC: Yep. We're going to teach America's history, no matter how painful it may be.

[cut to video from Good Morning America]
Voiceover: President Trump says he has instructed his lawyers to scour through America's museums to rid them of exhibits he considers woke. Specifically citing exhibits on slavery. President Trump targeted the Smithsonian museums, saying they are “OUT OF CONTROL, where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been.”

[cut to studio]
BTC: Look, I don't want to say that something is wrong when the President of the United States is demanding our museums teach our children about all of the good parts of slavery, but I am saying that something is enough wrong that it's worth taking a good look under the hood. [image of Trump wearing a KKK-themed outfit including bejeweled hood]

At what point are we allowed to say that there is a pattern here? Because this sure felt like one of those moments.

[cut to video from NewsNation]
Elizabeth Vargas: His account reposted a video shortly before midnight last night depicting President Obama and the first former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes in a jungle. The White House initially defended the post, eventually deleted the post, and then blamed the post on a staffer.

[cut to studio]
BTC: That's right. A staffer posted the tweet. Someone else wrote this birthday message, and this guy is just a doctor. [inset image of Trump as AI Jesus]

Donald Trump and the Republicans have spent years doing everything they can to make casual racism acceptable again.

[cut to video from Fox News]
Kid Rock: Nothing against Jay-Z. I respect him for his hustle and, you know, his music, but it seems like there's a little bit of a DEI hire there.

[cut to studio]
BTC: Sure, Jay-Z is a DEI hire, but the weekend anchor at Fox with the drinking problem and sexual abuse rap sheet is there because of merit. Got it. [inset photo of Hegseth]

But all of this is why Democrats have to fight back against this GOP. Because this is what we get with their unbridled governance. These are not a bunch of one-off cherrypicked sound bites. It is what racism looks like coming from an overtly racist political party. And that might seem like a big accusation. But I'd love to know how they would describe people who make deliberate efforts to silence minority voices, who downplay racist propaganda, and who are met with raucous applause when they brag about their white pride. For God's sake, Donald Trump's entire rise in politics was rooted in the racist undertones of our black president isn't really one of us.

[cut to video from CNN]
Trump: People are trying to figure out why isn't he giving his birth certificate. It's not a birth certificate.

[cut to studio]
BTC: Ah, memories. We were so young back then. We thought facts could actually silence that type of racism.

[cut to video from CNN]
Suzanne Malveaux: The big story this hour, the White House releasing copies of President Obama's original long form birth certificate. The administration is hoping to put the so-called birther issue to rest once and for all.

[cut to studio]
BTC: Oh, what a sweet, sweet naivete.

[cut to video from CNN]
Anderson Cooper: Do you accept that President Obama was born in the United States, is not Muslim?

Trump: I I really don't know. I mean, I don't know. I don't know why he wouldn't release his records.

[cut to studio]
BTC: He's just not sure. I mean, something about it all just doesn't feel white.

You know, that is why there is no halfway with these people. They are racist ghouls hiding behind a sea of excuses to justify their bigoted actions and to assume otherwise is to do so at our own peril. Gone are the days of strongly worded letters from Democrats decrying the GOP's actions asking for apologies because even if they were to give them, we know it's all bullshit.

The truth is there is no amount of evidence that can be produced, no amount of research that can be provided, no level of proof that will ever satisfy them to the degree that they pull back from their efforts to keep minorities down because that is their brand. And because it is their brand, Democrats need to fight tooth and nail to win back power because when we do, we will implement policies that lift minorities up rather than keep them down. And I for one cannot wait for the day when these racists are forced to look around their much more progressive country and say,

[inset video at Oval Office]
Trump: "When did that happen?"

[cut to studio]
BTC: Exactly.