It's Not Just That He's a Racist; It's that He's a Proud Racist

By Dustin Rowles | Politics | January 12, 2018 |

By Dustin Rowles | Politics | January 12, 2018 |

I’m only reporting this to have it on the record, so that we may link to this post next week or next month or tomorrow when we are tabulating the number of racist statement that Trump has made in order to illustrate what everyone already knows: That Donald Trump is a racist. He does not like black people. Or brown people. And he’s not that big a fan of women, either. If that’s your bag, you know: Fuck you. But don’t try to convince anyone otherwise. The argument in favor of Donald Trump is not and will never be: “He’s not a racist,” it is and will always be, “He’s a racist, but that’s why I like him.”

That’s it.

And despite his Twitter denials, yes: Donald Trump called Haiti and El Salvador and other African countries “shitholes,” and he didn’t call them that because they don’t have Trump Towers. He called them that because those are countries with large black and brown populations.

Senator Dick Durbin, who was in the meeting, went on the record this morning to rebut Trump’s denials and raise him: Not only did Trump say what was reported, but he said worse.

Sen. Durbin on Trump comments. Was in the room. Calls racist language heartbreaking. @cbschicago pic.twitter.com/lKM5QDPr5r

— Mike Puccinelli (@MPuccinelliCBS2) January 12, 2018

There’s also this from Durbin:

Durbin also said that he told Trump: “Do you realize how painful that term (chain migration) is to so many people?,” saying it hurts African Americans “personally” given the way many of their ancestors came to US. Trump said: “That’s a good line,” according to Durbin

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) January 12, 2018

Durbin also said that Trump’s golf buddy, Lindsay Graham, objected to Trump’s rhetoric.

BREAKING: Durbin says Lindsay Graham spoke up when Trump made his “shithole” comments

— Ali Velshi (@AliVelshi) January 12, 2018

And yet, Trump did not feel chastened. He did not feel shame. He felt pride.

Trump spent last night phoning allies and friends, asking them how they thought the “shithole” remark was playing out in the press. One White House official referred to it as a “victory lap.”

— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) January 12, 2018

And now, as I did this morning, while you’re swallowing that bile, let me remind you that this man was our President a little more than a year ago, in a time when we did not have social media arguments about what our current President may or may not have meant when he called Haiti a shithole. Every fucking Trump scandal should be juxtaposed with two-minute clips of President Obama, not just to remind you of how much better Obama was, but to illustrate what normal looks like, because most of us have forgotten.