WP: Jonathan Capehart: Trump insults ‘the blacks,’ again

[BRAVEONAWARPATH]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/post/trump-insults-the-blacks-again/2011/03/04/AF1Vbf5E_blog.html

Years ago at a party, a fete filled with the gorgeous mosaic that is New York City, an African American friend told me a joke. “What do they call a black doctor in the South?” she asked. Before I could respond, she said, “******!” And she said it in that slavemaster-from-“Roots” kinda way for dramatic and comedic effect. We both howled.

The joke was as ugly as the word that is its punchline. But it voiced a truth all black professionals feel deep in their core. No matter how hard we work. No matter how hard we play by the rules. No matter how much we prove through grades, degrees or just plain success, we are less-than. And to be clear: less than white people. No matter what we do, we will never measure up. We will never truly have it made.

What made me — and countless others, blacks and whites, I’ve heard from — so sad yesterday was that even as president of the United States, a job he worked hard to attain and will have to work even harder to keep, Barack Obama was not immune to the reality of my friend’s crude joke. His legitimacy as president was challenged by folks who doubt his American citizenship. But even after the racist birther conspiracy was once again proven false yesterday with the release of Obama’s long-form birth certificate, Donald Trump dug deeper into the racist rabbit hole by questioning Obama’s academic achievement.

Lawrence O’Donnell last night went right at the loathsome dog-whistle politics employed by Trump.

“Trump turned from attacking one man’s birth certificate to trying to undermine the acceptance of the academic credentials of not just Barack Obama,” O’Donnell said, “but of African Americans generally.”

And with that sentence, O’Donnell spoke to why I and countless other African Americans felt wounded by what Trump did. As I explained on O’Donnell’s show in response, we felt wounded because in 2011 you can work hard, play by the rules, achieve great things academically and professionally and still have people look at you as less-than, look at you as not deserving of the things you worked hard to achieve, look at you as unqualified despite plenty of evidence to the contrary because you are black — even if you are the leader of the free world.

After the early victories in Obama’s quest for the 2008 Democratic nomination, young whites drawn to this transformational figure took to chanting “race doesn’t matter.” There have been debates and countless column inches devoted to whether we now live in a post-racial society as many insisted. What happened yesterday — from the release of Obama’s long-form birth certificate to Trump’s taunts about the president’s academic achievement — should show everyone that we do not live in a post-racial America. Not when even the White House can’t be a refuge from racism. And not when someone who proclaims to have “a great relationship with the blacks” gleefully proves every day that that’s a lie.

[Toe Jam]

When Trump came out after Obama released his birth certificate and started questioning his academic ability, I couldn't believe it.

How the hell could anyone vote for that man? He's a blatant racist, as are 99.9% of Republicans.

[shk75]

How the hell could anyone vote for that man? He's a blatant racist, as are 99.9% of Republicans.

http://cache.blippitt.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Popcorn-11-Eddie-Griffin.gif' alt='Popcorn-11-Eddie-Griffin.gif'>

[sundown]

He's a blatant racist, as are 99.9% of Republicans.

What a joke....geesh....

[Destino]

Perception is not always reality and when people want to find evidence of victimization they are likely to find what they are looking for. This issue is a good one, Donald Trump is demanding to see Obama's grades and the response is "they are questioning him because he is black!". Why would that be the go to motivation when George W. Bush's grades in college were published by New Yorker magazine in 1999? Was that racism? College grades were again a major talking point when Kerry ran against Bush. In neither instance was racism mentioned.... in fact his grades were used as evidence that with the Bush name came tremendous privilege and that Bush had no way of understanding the reality faced by Joe Everyman.

Obama's birth certificate controversy and the disjointed criticism of him as a radical "black" Christian while at the same time implying that he is Muslim are plays towards the public's bias. Just think of all the buttons intentionally being pushed:

- He is an immigrant!

- He's a radical black!

- He's Muslim!

This does not however mean that every criticism of the man is founded in racism. Education is a point Obama himself made a big deal. He was very proud of the schools he attended and what he accomplished. Trump is just throwing **** against a wall for two reasons. 1) It allows him to challenge Obama without talking about policy which could bite him if things change between now and election season. 2) By getting a reaction where others have failed he raises his profile. He's taking a non-political road to infuse himself into the discussion and this latest attempt is nothing more than a rehash of previous campaign fodder.

[Bang]

This does not however mean that every criticism of the man is founded in racism. Education is a point Obama himself made a big deal. He was very proud of the schools he attended and what he accomplished. Trump is just throwing **** against a wall for two reasons. 1) It allows him to challenge Obama without talking about policy which could bite him if things change between now and election season. 2) By getting a reaction where others have failed he raises his profile. He's taking a non-political road to infuse himself into the discussion and this latest attempt is nothing more than a rehash of previous campaign fodder.

Yes indeedy. totally agree

~Bang

[Teller]

When Trump came out after Obama released his birth certificate and started questioning his academic ability, I couldn't believe it.

How the hell could anyone vote for that man? He's a blatant racist, as are 99.9% of Republicans.

Bernie Sanders is a communist, as are 99.9% of liberals.

(See how stupid things like that sound now?)

---------- Post added April-29th-2011 at 12:59 PM ----------

Great post, Des.

[DeaconTheVillain]

Nothing of what he said is racist.

When gearing up to run for Pres. you wanna do anything you can to discredit the Pres.

[rictus58]

Yes indeedy. totally agree

~Bang

Make that 3.

[RVAbrendan]

I still can't believe DONALD TRUMP is dwarfing almost everybody in the politcal spotlight. This is turning out to be one helluva year.

[Tweedr01]

i would have to say fourth, agree 100% with destino

[DeaconTheVillain]

If Trump somehow manages to win buythe nominee then its four more years for Obama.

[Madison Redskin]

How the hell could anyone vote for that man? He's a blatant racist, as are 99.9% of Republicans.

Well I agree that no reasonable person would vote for Trump. I don't think he's even serious about running. I think he's announced that he's interested in running purely to get his name in the press.

In any case, you should be careful about accusing people of being racist. Saying that 99.9% of Republicans are racist will result in people dismissing accurate claims about some Republicans being racist. You're pretty level-headed, so I'll chalk that "99.9%" up to hyperbole.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Perception is not always reality and when people want to find evidence of victimization they are likely to find what they are looking for. This issue is a good one, Donald Trump is demanding to see Obama's grades and the response is "they are questioning him because he is black!". Why would that be the go to motivation when George W. Bush's grades in college were published by New Yorker magazine in 1999? Was that racism? College grades were again a major talking point when Kerry ran against Bush. In neither instance was racism mentioned.... in fact his grades were used as evidence that with the Bush name came tremendous privilege and that Bush had no way of understanding the reality faced by Joe Everyman.

Obama's birth certificate controversy and the disjointed criticism of him as a radical "black" Christian while at the same time implying that he is Muslim are plays towards the public's bias. Just think of all the buttons intentionally being pushed:

- He is an immigrant!

- He's a radical black!

- He's Muslim!

This does not however mean that every criticism of the man is founded in racism. Education is a point Obama himself made a big deal. He was very proud of the schools he attended and what he accomplished. Trump is just throwing **** against a wall for two reasons. 1) It allows him to challenge Obama without talking about policy which could bite him if things change between now and election season. 2) By getting a reaction where others have failed he raises his profile. He's taking a non-political road to infuse himself into the discussion and this latest attempt is nothing more than a rehash of previous campaign fodder.

IIRC, Obama admitted in one of his books that he wasn't a great student. Now I don't remember the details of whether it was high school or college but I do believe wanting to look at grades in this case could be seen as stirring up an Affirmative Action debate.

And 99.9% of Republicans are racist, eh Toe Jam? Interesting, I'm sure 0.01% of Democrats are racist, too.

[twa]

I'll get on the bandwagon +5....nice post Destino

[Spec138]

If Trump somehow manages to win buythe nominee then its four more years for Obama.

If that happens I'd vote for Obama and I disagree with him about almost everything.

[Henry]

How could you be so clueless, Destino?

Nah. That was excellent post.

[aREDSKIN]

What a joke....geesh....

Let it go, it's the left's MO, their meta narrative.Their constituency speak if you will. Yes there are racists in the R's camp as there are in the D's camp to and to argue otherwise is just plain ignorant.

[War Paint]

lol. It was only a matter of time before the race card gets played on Trump. He should just ignore it. It's inevitable. IMO, it's why the other GOP candidates seem weak. They are too afraid of the race card, so they refrain from going after Obama too hard on his policies. For example, Huckabee. He's a nice man, but he isn't aggressive enough to go after Obama. Trump is like a Bill Parcells and IMO that is what the GOP needs, somebody who is an attack dog.

[Predicto]

Of course it is stupid to say that 99.9 percent of Republicans are racists. However, it is not stupid to point out that Affirmative Action is a huge hot button issue for the GOP base. We see it on this board all of the time.

So, here is what I find interesting about Trump's immediate segue from the birther crap to a not-so-veiled attempt to demean Obama as an Affirmative Action baby who was unqualified to attend the Ivy League.

Donald Trump added a blatantly race-baiting component to his already racially charged campaign against Barack Obama's Americanness this week when he claimed -- based on things he's "heard" -- that Obama was a "terrible student" who got into Columbia and then Harvard based solely on affirmative action:

"How does a bad student go to Columbia and then to Harvard? I'm thinking about it, I'm certainly looking into it. Let him show his records," he said, without providing backup for his claim.

Trump added, "I have friends who have smart sons with great marks, great boards, great everything and they can't get into Harvard."

Leaving aside the fact that Obama, who went on to graduate Harvard Law magna cum laude, seems like he was probably a very good student, Mr. Trump might need a refresher course in how unqualified people actually do manage to get into the prestigious Ivy League Universities .

Let us take, as an example, the story of a student so obviously unqualified, so transparently unworthy, that a book was written about what his admittance into Harvard said about the sorry behavior of supposedly elite colleges.

That student -- that dull, below-average student who somehow made his way into Harvard -- was Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

Kushner's father, real estate developer Charles Kushner, bought Jared his Harvard acceptance. It cost him $2.5 million. (Kushner later went to jail for tax evasion and witness tampering, so it was also, technically, dirty money that bought Trump's daughter's husband's entry into the Ivy League.)

Wall Street Journal education writer Daniel Golden's book "The Price of Admission" explores the Kushner donation at length. An official at Kushner's (expensive, private) high school told the author: "There was no way anybody in . . . the school thought he would on the merits get into Harvard. His GPA did not warrant it, his SAT scores did not warrant it. We thought, for sure, there was no way this was going to happen."

But it did.

And that is how things actually work at "elite" schools.

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/04/26/trump_affirmative_action

In theory, I'd like to know about how young Donald Trump, the son of a multimillionaire New York real estate developer, managed to transfer from a mediocre college like Fordham into Wharton. Did his Daddy buy him a spot too?

But I don't ask that actually, because it was a long time ago, and Donald Trump is defined now by what he has done the past 30 years, not by his college record. That is what matters now.

Bottom line - Trump doesn't know Obama's grades, other than the fact that Obama got fantastic grades at Harvard Law School. He says that he "heard" that Obama had lousy grades, and asks "how does a guy like THAT get into Harvard?" We all know what buttons he's trying to push with that. It's disgusting behavior, plain and simple.

---------- Post added April-29th-2011 at 01:59 PM ----------

lol. It was only a matter of time before the race card gets played on Trump. He should just ignore it. It's inevitable. IMO, it's why the other GOP candidates seem weak. They are too afraid of the race card, so they refrain from going after Obama too hard on his policies. For example, Huckabee. He's a nice man, but he isn't aggressive enough to go after Obama. Trump is like a Bill Parcells and IMO that is what the GOP needs, somebody who is an attack dog.

Trump just played the Affirmative Action card on Obama. Is that a dirty trick in your book?

[War Paint]

Trump just played the Affirmative Action card on Obama. Is that a dirty trick in your book?

Unless I overlooked a quote somewhere, I didn't see Trump say anything about Affirmative Action. I don't see anything wrong with him requesting Obama's college transcripts. Honestly, this wouldn't have been a problem if the media would have done their jobs in 2008 and properly vetted Obama, instead of selling him as the second coming.

[Predicto]

Unless I overlooked a quote somewhere, I didn't see Trump say anything about Affirmative Action. I don't see anything wrong with him requesting Obama's college transcripts.

I'm sure you don't.

To you there is nothing at all unusual about going after Obama on phony birth certificate concerns, and at the exact moment that those concerns are answered, asking "Hmmm, I've heard that Obama had bad grades - how did a guy like that get into Harvard? *wink* *wink*"

[Teller]

Of course it is stupid to say that 99.9 percent of Republicans are racists. However, it is not stupid to point out that Affirmative Action is a huge hot button issue for the GOP base. We see it on this board all of the time.

And that's a great thing.

One day we'll all be against race-based preferences. Y'know, once your side stops fighting progress on such matters.

Trump just played the Affirmative Action card on Obama. Is that a dirty trick in your book?

This is another reason to get rid of AA. You know me. And you know that I would be utterly FURIOUS if I was black, and someone accused me of getting a "free" ride because of AA. But as long as it's out there, it's going to be in the back of some people's minds.

You also know that I don't believe Obama was an AA charity case. He graduated magna cum laude, and taught at Harvard Law. The dude is smart. Period. But can I tell you for sure that they didn't choose him over an indentically-qualified white candidate? No I can't.

[Predicto]

And that's a great thing.

One day we'll all be against race-based preferences. Y'know, once your side stops fighting progress on such matters.

This is another reason to get rid of AA. You know me. And you know that I would be utterly FURIOUS if I was black, and someone accused me of getting a "free" ride because of AA. But as long as it's out there, it's going to be in the back of some people's minds.

You also know that I don't believe Obama was an AA charity case. He graduated magna cum laude, and taught at Harvard Law. The dude is smart. Period. But can I tell you for sure that they didn't choose him over an indentically-qualified white candidate? No I can't.

I understand all that, and we could debate the merits of Affirmative Action if we want (we already have I think...)

Nevertheless, with regard to what Donald Trump is doing right now - do you agree that Trump's most recent comments are a not-very-subtle attempt to delegitimize Obama as an Affirmative Action baby? Because it seems as clear as day to me.

[twa]

How does that differ from the slights W suffered?