Maverick Philosopher

Footnotes to Plato from the foothills of the Superstition Mountains

Is Trump a Racist?

This morning at The New Yorker:

At this point, we know everything there is to know about Donald Trump. His diehard admirers—not all seventy-four million people who voted for him in the 2020 election but his immovable base, maybe thirty per cent of Republicans—admire him still, now more than ever. Is he a racist? Sure, by many definitions.

At this point I stopped reading.  I cannot think of one reasonable definition of 'racist' according to which Trump would count as a racist. Can you?  At least the journo* gives some evidence of understanding that the question whether so-an-so is an X depends on the definition of 'X.' 

__________

*'Journo' is my term of disapprobation for hack journalists a crapload of whom can be found among the 'woke.' 

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Bill Vallicella

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11 responses to “Is Trump a Racist?”

  1. a.morphous Avatar
    a.morphous

    Let me google that for you https://www.vox.com/2016/7/25/12270880/donald-trump-racist-racism-history

    Reply
  2. Kurt Avatar
    Kurt

    A racist by many definitions? Sure. How about racism defined as “anyone who consumes food”. By this definition Trump is a racist. Thank you from saving me the time of reading such garbage.

    Reply
  3. Joe Odegaard Avatar
    Joe Odegaard

    Here is a video of Donald Trump speaking to the congregation of a Black Christian Church in Detroit in September 2016. At one point, about 8:25 minutes in, Trump says “We are all brothers and sisters, and we are all created by the sane God.”
    I cannot believe the lies put out about this man.
    I have posted this video on leftist site comment strings, and have been told that it only proves that Trump is a psychopathic liar.
    Here is the video:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfZDKWo2LxE

    Reply
  4. BV Avatar
    BV

    Thanks, Joe. Trump has character flaws, but he is clearly no racist. Those who think he is need to point to specific racist deeds he performed while president.
    >>I have posted this video on leftist site comment strings, and have been told that it only proves that Trump is a psychopathic liar.<< And that shows that our political enemies are on a very low moral level and are practitioners of the hermeneutics of suspicion.

    Reply
  5. Joe Odegaard Avatar
    Joe Odegaard

    “same” God. Typo.

    Reply
  6. BV Avatar
    BV

    From the Vox article cited above:
    >>On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly made explicitly racist and otherwise bigoted remarks, from calling Mexican immigrants criminals and rapists, to proposing a ban on all Muslims entering the US, to suggesting a judge should recuse himself from a case solely because of the judge’s Mexican heritage.<< But of course it cannot be racist to point out what is true, and it is true that many illegal immigrants are indeed criminals, and not just because of their criminally illegal entry: they are MS-13 gang members, drug smugglers, sex traffickers, etc. This was evident then, but is blindingly evident now. And of course it is not racist to want to ban Sharia-supporting Muslims from entering the country. Islam is not race! Is it bigoted? No, because such Muslims adhere to values and principles that are antithetical to American values and principles, and we are under no obligation to commit national suicide. After all, there is no right to immigrate, and immigration must be to the benefit of the host country. Finally a tribal Hispanic who, because of his tribalism, is incapable of being impartial should recuse himself. Hispanic origin is not the problem; the tribalism is.

    Reply
  7. BV Avatar
    BV

    So I repeat my challenge: supply a reasonable definition of ‘racist’ according to which Trump would count as a racist.
    Would this be reasonable:
    A person P is a racist =df P cites a racial fact, e.g., blacks in the USA comprise 12-14% of the population.

    Reply
  8. Joe Odegaard Avatar
    Joe Odegaard

    You can see the lies being spewed about Trump, and his ‘followers,’ in this Salon article:
    https://www.salon.com/2024/03/28/bibles-make-a-mockery-of-christianity–and-thats-exactly-why-maga-will-eat-them-up/
    I have never seen anything like this.

    Reply
  9. BV Avatar
    BV

    Joe,
    If you read these garbage sites it can have an adverse effect on your peace of mind. Imbibe only enough of this dreck to keep an eye on what’s coming down the pike. And then look to your preparations.
    As for the Trump bible, I think I’ll order one. I love the KJV version!
    It’s a funny thing: we were brought up on the Challoner-Rheims version. I am looking right now at the authorized Catholic edition we were given as Freshmen at the Tech. But whenever the NT verses come to mind, they come to mind in the beautiful King’s English!
    I don’t understand why.
    As for TDS, there are mysteries we will never unravel.

    Reply
  10. Joe Odegaard Avatar
    Joe Odegaard

    Hi Bro Bill
    I only look at Salon every few days, and usually skim it for about 2 minutes. But it’s no use living in a bubble of any sort, and neither is it any use to be blindsided. What a disgusting website.
    But today it rained here in the morning, andd the sun shone in the afternoon, and I got two loops around the headlands on my 3-speed.
    And as for the beauty of the KJV translation, I can think of two things which might explain such beauty; One is that the translation was made at the tail end of the Middle Ages, when men knew God better than they do now, because, after the fall of the Roman world, “Men were obsessed with salvation and, therefore with God. And to restore the world there was no unifyng principle but God.” *
    And then, in the time of Queen Elizabeth I and King James, men were not as distracted as we are now; no radio, no tv, no internet; the spoken word heard directly from the mouth of another played upon the ears of all, and there was time to hear the rhythms of the sounds, and to practice, and a memorable turn of phrase was a way to be heard and remembered. And it was not an ignorant age; Queen Elizabeth could speak or read English, Welsh, Greek, Latin, Spanish, French and Italian. She was fluent in five languages by the time she was eleven, it is said. So the era of the KJV was an era words.
    No wonder it is so beautiful.
    I don’t much read an other version, any my copy of the KJV, I bought for 25 cents in a thrift store in Garberville California, in the heart of the dope-growing “emerald Triangle” of California.
    And now, Buona Notte.
    *(That is a quote from the chapter on the Middle Ages, in the book “Life’s Picture History of Western Man,” 1951. I highly recommend it.)

    Reply
  11. Joe Odegaard Avatar
    Joe Odegaard

    “I don’t much read any other version, and my copy …”
    Typos ! It was pretty late when I wrote that. But I suppose readers can understand.

    Reply

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