A Long History

Interviewed by Axios' Jonathan Swan, President Trump's son-in-law refusedto concede that birtherism is racist. Then asked "has Trump ever said anything racist?" Jared Kushner responded  “Absolutely not. You can’t not be a racist for 69 years then run for president and be a racist.” (Presumably, inclusion of the double negative was a slip-of-the-tongue.)

Objection: assumes facts not in evidence. There are the usual suspects, including when

In 1973, Trump Management was accused by the Justice Department of violating the Fair Housing Act of 1968 by discriminating against people of color; when the suit was settled, the D.O.J. called the decree “one of the most far-reaching ever negotiated,” and the Justice lawyer who argued the case called it a “clear government victory,” according to the Washington Post. More recently the president has railed against immigrants from “shithole countries” like Haiti and African nations; last month Slate reported that the administration is plotting a “backdoor travel ban” on people trying to come to the U.S. from those places (unlike its front-door travel ban against Muslims, which Kushner sidestepped when asked if it was religiously bigoted).

However, that's not it.a smoking gun. Racism, Merriam-Webster understands, is "a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race."

So the argument is not proven even by candidate Trump's remark "look at my African-American over here" because Trump may believe he owns everyone, not only blacks. However, Trump may once have said, as former Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino President John R. O’Donnell charged, that Donald Trump once maintained "laziness is a trait in blacks."

That classically racist remark combined with Trump's past and present of ethnic hostility dovetails neatly with a belief in eugenics. Trump biographer Mike D'Antonio once remarked “The family subscribes to a racehorse theory of human development They believe that there are superior people and that if you put together the genes of a superior woman and a superior man, you get a superior offspring.”

 Such as in

Trump's obsession with his genes is so weird. pic.twitter.com/8zIOHURuPU

— Erin 🔥🏃🏻‍♀️🍳 Ryan (@morninggloria) July 20, 2017

A little weird, but a lot telling. A good reporter must, and will, ask and probe, as Swan did.  Nevertheless, it is now less interesting to probe whether the President is a racist- which answer is obvious- than what sort of human mind it takes to support Barack Hussein Obama one year and a brazen, transparent bigot four years later.



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