postine
2023-09-20 13:00:16 UTC
The Ever-Growing List of Trumps Most Racist Rants
DDonald Trump has claimed he is the least racist person there is anywhere
in the world. Like many things the president says, nothing could be
further from the truth. Trump regularly makes racist comments and deploys
bigotry as a divisive political weapon.
Trumps racism long predates his foray into politics. Before he ever
launched a presidential bid, Trump had exhibited a pattern of
discrimination toward his Black tenants, called for draconian punitive
measures in the Central Park Five case, and made a public show of
questioning Barack Obamas citizenship.
But the political spotlight and a rabid base has only made Trumps
incendiary rhetoric grow worse. Ahead, we look at the most racist things
hes said since he officially began his political career in the summer of
2015.
(Editors Note: This list will be updated as Trump makes other bigoted
remarks.)
On immigrants
July 2015: Trump falsely claimed that migrants bring diseases into the
United States. Tremendous infectious disease is pouring across the
border, Trump said in a statement. The United States has become a
dumping ground for Mexico and, in fact, for many other parts of the
world.
June 2017: During a meeting to talk about U.S. visas, Trump said that
people from Haiti all have AIDS and that Nigerian immigrants would never
go back to their huts after experiencing the United States.
January 2018: At a bipartisan meeting discussing protections for
immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador, and African countries, Trump asked:
Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here? He
then suggested the United States should accept more immigrants from
countries such as Norway.
May 2018: Trump called undocumented immigrants animals at a meeting with
reporters in the White House. You wouldnt believe how bad these people
are, he said. These arent people, these are animals.
October 2018: Trump portrayed a migrant caravan as a violent threat to the
United States. Criminals and unknown Middle Easterners are mixed in, he
tweeted. He also called it an invasion. A midterm campaign ad on the
topic from the Trump team was so racist that even Fox News refused to air
it.
October 2019: At a campaign rally in Minneapolis, Trump promised his
administration wouldnt make the mistakes made in European countries and
allow a violent ideology to take root in our country on our shores.
Minnesota is home to some 52,000 Somalis, the largest concentration in the
country. The crowd booed repeatedly as Trump mentioned the states Somali
migrants, and cheered when he promised to give local communities a
greater say in refugee policy. The president then bragged about slashing
the countrys cap on refugee admissions to its lowest amount in decades.
In the Trump administration, we will always protect American families
first, and that has not been done in Minnesota, he said.
On Muslims
September 2015: Trump falsely suggested that Syrian refugees could be ISIS
fighters in disguise.
December 2015: Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete
shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our countrys
representatives can figure out what the hell is going on, Trump said at a
rally in South Carolina. His administration eventually implemented a
travel ban on people from five majority-Muslim countries.
March 2016: I think Islam hates us, he claimed in an interview with CNN.
On Black people
August 2016: Trump told Black voters: Youre living in poverty, your
schools are no good, you have no jobs, 58% of your youth is unemployed.
What the hell do you have to lose? His claim was untrue on many levels,
not least of which was that according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics,
the unemployment rate for young Black people at that time was only 19.2%.
October 2016: Trump often acts like majority Black cities in the United
States are war zones. Our inner cities are a disaster, Trump said. You
get shot walking to the store. They have no education, they have no jobs.
August 2018: Trump routinely deploys the racist trope that Black men are
less intelligent. LeBron James was just interviewed by the dumbest man on
television, Don Lemon, he tweeted. He made LeBron look smart, which
isnt easy to do. I like Mike!
July 2019: After Elijah Cummings criticized the conditions of immigrant
detention centers at the U.S.-Mexico border, Trump called the Maryland
congressmans district a disgusting, rat, and rodent infested mess and
far worse and more dangerous than the detention centers. The district is
majority Black and includes a large swath of Baltimore.
October 2019: Trump called the impeachment inquiry against him a
lynching, comparing the constitutionally sanctioned process to the
extrajudicial murders of Black Americans following the Civil War.
According to the NAACP, there were 4,743 recorded lynchings between 1882
and 1968. Roughly three-quarters of the victims were African American,
with lynchings used as a weapon to terrorize the Black community.
May 2020: Trump took to Twitter to express his displeasure with the anti-
racism protests around the country following the police killing of George
Floyd and other Black Americans. These THUGS are dishonoring the memory
of George Floyd, and I wont let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim
Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way, he wrote.
Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts,
the shooting starts. The phrase when the looting starts, the shooting
starts has a racist history, being used before by a white police chief in
response to civil unrest and a segregationist politician. Twitter placed a
warning on the tweet, saying it violated the Twitter Rules about
glorifying violence.
June 2020: Trump called anti-racism protesters looters, thugs and
others forms of Lowlife & Scum on Twitter. Later that month, at a
campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, he called demonstrators in the city
thugs, even though police reports said protests in the city had in in
fact been peaceful.
On Asian people
March 2020: As the coronavirus pandemic ravaged the country, Trump
insisted on calling the disease the Chinese virus, playing right into
old racist tropes.
May 2020: At a press briefing, CBS News reporter Weijia Jiang asked Trump
why he continued to falsely claim the U.S. was doing testing for the
coronavirus at higher rates than other countries. She asked: Why is this
a global competition to you if every day Americans are still losing their
lives? In return, Trump deflected the question before telling Jiang, who
is Chinese-American: Theyre losing their lives everywhere in the world,
and maybe thats a question you should ask China. Dont ask me, ask China
that question, OK? When Jiang pressed him on is response, Trump said he
would give the same answer to anybody that asks a nasty question. He
then abruptly ended the briefing.
June 2020: Trump called Covid-19 the kung flu at his Tulsa, Oklahoma,
rally.
On Mexican people
June 2015: Trump launched his presidential bid with these infamous
comments: When Mexico sends its people, theyre not sending their best
theyre not sending you. Theyre not sending you. Theyre sending people
that have lots of problems and theyre bringing those problems with us,
he said. Theyre bringing drugs. Theyre bringing crime. Theyre rapists.
And some, I assume, are good people.
June 2016: Trump argued that Judge Gonzalo Curiel an Indiana-born judge
who was overseeing the lawsuit against the now-defunct Trump University
could not be impartial because of his Mexican heritage. Trump added:
Im building a wall. Its an inherent conflict of interest.
On Native Americans
May 2016: Trump referred to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who earlier in her life
claimed to have Native American heritage, despite the lack of any known
Native American ancestors, as Pocahontas. He tweeted: Goofy Elizabeth
Warren, sometimes referred to as Pocahontas because she faked the fact she
is Native American, is a lowlife! The president has used it in tweets at
least 20 times since. He has also frequently used it in rallies and
vowed to revive the slur as Warrens presidential campaign goes on.
February 2019: In another tweet targeting Warren, Trump mocked the Trail
of Tears which led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands Native
Americans.
On white nationalists
August 2017: Following the Unite the Right white nationalist rally in
Charlottesville, Virginia, that led to the murder of counterprotester
Heather Heyer, Trump refused to condemn the right-wing marchers. Instead,
he insisted that many sides and both sides were to blame for the days
violence. Trump also said that the white nationalist groups included some
very fine people.
On Jewish people
July 2016: Trump tweeted a graphic that was previously posted on a white
nationalist message board showing Hillary Clinton along with a six-pointed
star and a pile of cash and the phrase most corrupt candidate ever. The
graphic was a classic anti-Semitic trope.
August 2019: Trump resurfaced the anti-Semitic charge of dual loyalty.
He told reporters: I think any Jewish people that vote for a Democrat, I
think it shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty.
On Puerto Ricans
October 2017: After being criticized for his incompetent response to
Hurricane Maria, Trump called Puerto Ricans politically motivated
ingrates. He would later deny that 3,000 people died because of the
storm, despite overwhelming evidence that this was the case.
On the Squad
July 2019: Trump took aim at four congresswomen of color Reps.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, and Rashida Tlaib
in a tweet that was clearly racist. Why dont they go back and help fix
the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came, Trump
tweeted. Then come back and show us how it is done. Ocasio-Cortez was
born in the Bronx; Tlaib is from Detroit; and Pressley was born in
Cincinnati. Omar, who was born in Somalia, has lived in the United States
for 25 years and became an American citizen in 2000. Trump gleefully
reacted to Send her back! chants at his rally, and only disavowed them
after pressure from the GOP.
June 2020: At rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Trump attacked several Democratic
women of color. Speaking about Rep. Omar, Trump said she would like to
make the government of our country just like the country from where she
came, Somalia. No government, no safety, no police, no nothing. Just
anarchy.
DDonald Trump has claimed he is the least racist person there is anywhere
in the world. Like many things the president says, nothing could be
further from the truth. Trump regularly makes racist comments and deploys
bigotry as a divisive political weapon.
Trumps racism long predates his foray into politics. Before he ever
launched a presidential bid, Trump had exhibited a pattern of
discrimination toward his Black tenants, called for draconian punitive
measures in the Central Park Five case, and made a public show of
questioning Barack Obamas citizenship.
But the political spotlight and a rabid base has only made Trumps
incendiary rhetoric grow worse. Ahead, we look at the most racist things
hes said since he officially began his political career in the summer of
2015.
(Editors Note: This list will be updated as Trump makes other bigoted
remarks.)
On immigrants
July 2015: Trump falsely claimed that migrants bring diseases into the
United States. Tremendous infectious disease is pouring across the
border, Trump said in a statement. The United States has become a
dumping ground for Mexico and, in fact, for many other parts of the
world.
June 2017: During a meeting to talk about U.S. visas, Trump said that
people from Haiti all have AIDS and that Nigerian immigrants would never
go back to their huts after experiencing the United States.
January 2018: At a bipartisan meeting discussing protections for
immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador, and African countries, Trump asked:
Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here? He
then suggested the United States should accept more immigrants from
countries such as Norway.
May 2018: Trump called undocumented immigrants animals at a meeting with
reporters in the White House. You wouldnt believe how bad these people
are, he said. These arent people, these are animals.
October 2018: Trump portrayed a migrant caravan as a violent threat to the
United States. Criminals and unknown Middle Easterners are mixed in, he
tweeted. He also called it an invasion. A midterm campaign ad on the
topic from the Trump team was so racist that even Fox News refused to air
it.
October 2019: At a campaign rally in Minneapolis, Trump promised his
administration wouldnt make the mistakes made in European countries and
allow a violent ideology to take root in our country on our shores.
Minnesota is home to some 52,000 Somalis, the largest concentration in the
country. The crowd booed repeatedly as Trump mentioned the states Somali
migrants, and cheered when he promised to give local communities a
greater say in refugee policy. The president then bragged about slashing
the countrys cap on refugee admissions to its lowest amount in decades.
In the Trump administration, we will always protect American families
first, and that has not been done in Minnesota, he said.
On Muslims
September 2015: Trump falsely suggested that Syrian refugees could be ISIS
fighters in disguise.
December 2015: Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete
shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our countrys
representatives can figure out what the hell is going on, Trump said at a
rally in South Carolina. His administration eventually implemented a
travel ban on people from five majority-Muslim countries.
March 2016: I think Islam hates us, he claimed in an interview with CNN.
On Black people
August 2016: Trump told Black voters: Youre living in poverty, your
schools are no good, you have no jobs, 58% of your youth is unemployed.
What the hell do you have to lose? His claim was untrue on many levels,
not least of which was that according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics,
the unemployment rate for young Black people at that time was only 19.2%.
October 2016: Trump often acts like majority Black cities in the United
States are war zones. Our inner cities are a disaster, Trump said. You
get shot walking to the store. They have no education, they have no jobs.
August 2018: Trump routinely deploys the racist trope that Black men are
less intelligent. LeBron James was just interviewed by the dumbest man on
television, Don Lemon, he tweeted. He made LeBron look smart, which
isnt easy to do. I like Mike!
July 2019: After Elijah Cummings criticized the conditions of immigrant
detention centers at the U.S.-Mexico border, Trump called the Maryland
congressmans district a disgusting, rat, and rodent infested mess and
far worse and more dangerous than the detention centers. The district is
majority Black and includes a large swath of Baltimore.
October 2019: Trump called the impeachment inquiry against him a
lynching, comparing the constitutionally sanctioned process to the
extrajudicial murders of Black Americans following the Civil War.
According to the NAACP, there were 4,743 recorded lynchings between 1882
and 1968. Roughly three-quarters of the victims were African American,
with lynchings used as a weapon to terrorize the Black community.
May 2020: Trump took to Twitter to express his displeasure with the anti-
racism protests around the country following the police killing of George
Floyd and other Black Americans. These THUGS are dishonoring the memory
of George Floyd, and I wont let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim
Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way, he wrote.
Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts,
the shooting starts. The phrase when the looting starts, the shooting
starts has a racist history, being used before by a white police chief in
response to civil unrest and a segregationist politician. Twitter placed a
warning on the tweet, saying it violated the Twitter Rules about
glorifying violence.
June 2020: Trump called anti-racism protesters looters, thugs and
others forms of Lowlife & Scum on Twitter. Later that month, at a
campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, he called demonstrators in the city
thugs, even though police reports said protests in the city had in in
fact been peaceful.
On Asian people
March 2020: As the coronavirus pandemic ravaged the country, Trump
insisted on calling the disease the Chinese virus, playing right into
old racist tropes.
May 2020: At a press briefing, CBS News reporter Weijia Jiang asked Trump
why he continued to falsely claim the U.S. was doing testing for the
coronavirus at higher rates than other countries. She asked: Why is this
a global competition to you if every day Americans are still losing their
lives? In return, Trump deflected the question before telling Jiang, who
is Chinese-American: Theyre losing their lives everywhere in the world,
and maybe thats a question you should ask China. Dont ask me, ask China
that question, OK? When Jiang pressed him on is response, Trump said he
would give the same answer to anybody that asks a nasty question. He
then abruptly ended the briefing.
June 2020: Trump called Covid-19 the kung flu at his Tulsa, Oklahoma,
rally.
On Mexican people
June 2015: Trump launched his presidential bid with these infamous
comments: When Mexico sends its people, theyre not sending their best
theyre not sending you. Theyre not sending you. Theyre sending people
that have lots of problems and theyre bringing those problems with us,
he said. Theyre bringing drugs. Theyre bringing crime. Theyre rapists.
And some, I assume, are good people.
June 2016: Trump argued that Judge Gonzalo Curiel an Indiana-born judge
who was overseeing the lawsuit against the now-defunct Trump University
could not be impartial because of his Mexican heritage. Trump added:
Im building a wall. Its an inherent conflict of interest.
On Native Americans
May 2016: Trump referred to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who earlier in her life
claimed to have Native American heritage, despite the lack of any known
Native American ancestors, as Pocahontas. He tweeted: Goofy Elizabeth
Warren, sometimes referred to as Pocahontas because she faked the fact she
is Native American, is a lowlife! The president has used it in tweets at
least 20 times since. He has also frequently used it in rallies and
vowed to revive the slur as Warrens presidential campaign goes on.
February 2019: In another tweet targeting Warren, Trump mocked the Trail
of Tears which led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands Native
Americans.
On white nationalists
August 2017: Following the Unite the Right white nationalist rally in
Charlottesville, Virginia, that led to the murder of counterprotester
Heather Heyer, Trump refused to condemn the right-wing marchers. Instead,
he insisted that many sides and both sides were to blame for the days
violence. Trump also said that the white nationalist groups included some
very fine people.
On Jewish people
July 2016: Trump tweeted a graphic that was previously posted on a white
nationalist message board showing Hillary Clinton along with a six-pointed
star and a pile of cash and the phrase most corrupt candidate ever. The
graphic was a classic anti-Semitic trope.
August 2019: Trump resurfaced the anti-Semitic charge of dual loyalty.
He told reporters: I think any Jewish people that vote for a Democrat, I
think it shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty.
On Puerto Ricans
October 2017: After being criticized for his incompetent response to
Hurricane Maria, Trump called Puerto Ricans politically motivated
ingrates. He would later deny that 3,000 people died because of the
storm, despite overwhelming evidence that this was the case.
On the Squad
July 2019: Trump took aim at four congresswomen of color Reps.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, and Rashida Tlaib
in a tweet that was clearly racist. Why dont they go back and help fix
the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came, Trump
tweeted. Then come back and show us how it is done. Ocasio-Cortez was
born in the Bronx; Tlaib is from Detroit; and Pressley was born in
Cincinnati. Omar, who was born in Somalia, has lived in the United States
for 25 years and became an American citizen in 2000. Trump gleefully
reacted to Send her back! chants at his rally, and only disavowed them
after pressure from the GOP.
June 2020: At rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Trump attacked several Democratic
women of color. Speaking about Rep. Omar, Trump said she would like to
make the government of our country just like the country from where she
came, Somalia. No government, no safety, no police, no nothing. Just
anarchy.