Trump:
"We do not know what led to this crash but we have some very strong opinions and ideas, and I think we’ll probably state those opinions now.”
Nothing triggers my Republican-oriented readers so much as my writing that racism exists in America and that Trump appeals to that racial animus.
Republican frustration with me is not ameliorated by my saying Trump is very skilled at it. His racialized message puts him in sync with the American electorate. Democratic readers get frustrated with me, too, because my saying Trump understands American racism better than do Democrats is a criticism of Democrats.
I lived in Boston during the busing era, 1973-1975. Tribal thinking was rampant. The Irish -- and by that I mean the great-great grandchildren of mid-19th century Irish immigrants -- disliked their rivals, the Italians -- the grandchildren of early 20th century immigrants from Italy. Boston self-segregated into ethnic neighborhoods. People profiled each other: Irish, Italian, Polish, Jewish, Black, and Brahmin (the old New England gentry WASPS.) I was an outsider within this system, a visitor from Oregon, a noncombatant nobody.
Under the locals' veneer of equality and a pretense of respect for everyone as individuals, I saw widespread profiling, stereotyping, and prejudice. There were two big divides that cut across ethnicities. Christians were in a different tribe from Jews. Whites were in a different tribe from Blacks.Trump is simultaneously cynical and toxic while being politically very effective. Trump appeals to tribal grievance with his attacks on diversity. Underlying this is his presumption that Black people are intellectually inferior. Therefore, attempts to recruit Black employees means that Whites are injured and that standards must have been lowered. The premise is that we cannot have both diversity and merit. A great many people are not offended or surprised by Trump's "common sense." It sounds about right to many people -- which is why he felt comfortable saying it and it was his top-of-mind thing to blame for the crash.
Reporter question: “You have today blamed the diversity elements but then told us that you weren’t sure that the controllers made any mistake. You then said perhaps the helicopter pilots were the ones who made the mistake.”
TRUMP: “It’s all under investigation.”
Q: “I understand that. That’s why I’m trying to figure out how you can come to the conclusion right now that diversity had something to do with this crash.”
TRUMP: “Because I have common sense. OK? And unfortunately, a lot of people don’t. We want brilliant people doing this. This is a major chess game at the highest level. When you have 60 planes coming in during a short period of time, and they’re all coming in different directions, and you’re dealing with very high-level computer, computer work and very complex computers.”
Trump is threading a needle and winning in both directions. When Democrats observe Trump's overt racism, Republicans call it Trump Derangement Syndrome. When Democrats observe --as I am now -- that he is appealing to widespread tribal prejudice, Trump calls it an attack on Americans. How dare Democrats say Americans are racist. (It's just that Blacks are too stupid to compete fairly and everyone knows it, so it is about merit, not race.)
Trump is letting systemic racism work for him. He can both use it and deny it. He provides a pathway for fellow Americans to do the same. We aren't prejudiced against inferior tribes. It is just merit. It is just common sense.
Trump is getting praised for scrubbing American history of signs that the majority culture is prejudiced. We can relax and feel good about ourselves. America is okay. We are okay.
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