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General News    H3'ed 8/22/24

Tomgram: Clarence Lusane, Facing a Smart, Confident Younger Black Woman Trump Is Running Scared

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Tom Engelhardt
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This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To receive TomDispatch in your inbox three times a week, click here.

I'm sure you won't be surprised to learn that Donald Trump has said many remarkable (or rather remarkably off-the-wall) things. Still, the question "Is she Indian or is she Black?" and the idea that the presidential candidate who attended a historically Black college and joined a classic Black sorority only "happened to turn black" a few years ago may prove to be but the first of many crucial Trumpian missteps in campaign 2024. It was, of course, meant in a racist fashion to put Kamala Harris in her place and was all too strikingly offered in an interview at a convention of Black journalists (which, in a way, tells you all you need to know). In some strange fashion, however, that comment and the reaction to it put Donald Trump in his place instead.

Of course, as TomDispatch regular Clarence Lusane makes vividly clear today, Trump has always had a distinctly racist thing for putting Black women in their place -- at least their "place" as he's long imagined it. When he was president, he repeatedly lashed out at Black women journalists, classically responding to CNN reporter Abby Phillip's query in 2018 about whether he hoped his acting attorney general would "rein in" special counsel Robert Mueller's probe of his presidential campaign by saying, "What a stupid question that is. What a stupid question," and then adding, "I watch you a lot. You ask a lot of stupid questions."

Perhaps in 2024, as he faces a Black opponent (who, yes, is also of Indian background) in an election which, so far, seems to be putting him distinctly in his place, "what a stupid campaign" may prove to be the apt phrase of the season. If he loses to the very candidate whose background he tried to skewer and who, should the most recent polls prove correct, may skewer him, he'll be left living with that "stupid campaign" for the rest of his life. With that in mind (as well as the fact that he's called Harris "crazy," "stupid," and a "lunatic," among all too many other things, adding "she's not smart, she's not intelligent,"), do check out Lusane's striking take on Donald Trump and Black women. Tom

Donald Trump Confronts Kamala in his Usual Fashion
Trump's Never-ending Malevolent War Against Black Women

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One of the nation's best-known Black Republicans is former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. In the twenty-first century (and perhaps ever), no African American woman rose higher in Republican politics than Rice, who served as President George W. Bush's national security adviser and then his secretary of state, both firsts. Like her or not, agree with her politics or not, she brought significant experience, knowledge, and professionalism to those positions.

Donald Trump's first public words about Rice date back to 2006 when he labeled her with a vile term. In a speech before 8,000 people in New York City, he said, "Condoleezza Rice, she's a lovely woman, but I think she's a b*tch. She goes around to other countries and other nations, negotiates with their leaders, comes back, and nothing ever happens." There was no justification for Trump using such repulsive language other than his own toxic petulance and racist misogyny against Black women.

His vulgarity and sexism toward Rice foreshadowed a political future of hateful attacks on women -- particularly women of color -- with whom he disagrees. That incident provides some context for a recent New York Times report that, in private, Trump has referred repeatedly to Vice President Kamala Harris, his most formidable challenger for the 2024 presidential race, as a "b*tch." His campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung shamelessly and unbelievably stated that, when it comes to the person many would view as the most profane president ever, "That is not language President Trump has used to describe Kamala." In fact, Trump's longstanding and fixed sense of patriarchy and the cruel slurs against women that go with it are well documented.

The stunning upheaval in the 2024 presidential race has, in fact, brought into sharp focus Trump's longstanding animosity toward and war against Black women. President Joe Biden's June 21st decision to drop out of that race propelled Harris to become the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, which means Trump now faces the one opponent who not only threatens his return to office, but also triggers his worse racist and sexist behavior.

Trump Goes After Harris and Other Black Women

In her first weeks running for president, he has publicly called Kamala Harris "dumb as a rock," "nasty," a "bum," and "real garbage." In front of thousands of his followers, he has deliberately and repeatedly mispronounced her name, claiming, "I don't care" when called out on it. At his rallies, some of his supporters can be seen wearing and selling T-shirts that say, "Joe and the Ho Must Go," or some variation on that, deplorable mantras that date back to 2020. Neither Trump nor his campaign have ever denounced such unacceptable activities. His effort and that of many MAGA adherents to "other" Harris is not just meant to humiliate her but degrade and dehumanize her as well.

Nor is this one-off focused on Harris. Trump has done the same to other Black women and women of color for decades. Before, during, and after his presidency, he specifically targeted Black women with a kind of venom he rarely aimed at white women or men.

He's gone after Black women, whether elected and appointed officials (Republican or Democrat), journalists, athletes, prosecutors, or celebrities. Here are just a few examples of his loathing:

  • Former Representative Mia Love (R-UT): "Mia Love gave me no love and she lost. Too bad. Sorry about that Mia."
  • Former Apprentice contestant and then Trump's White House director of communications for the Office of Public Liaison Omarosa Manigault Newman: "When you give a crazed, crying lowlife a break, and give her a job at the White House, I guess it just didn't work out. Good work by General Kelly for quickly firing that dog!"
  • Four congressional women of color -- Representatives Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI): "Why don't they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came?"
  • CNN journalist Abby Phillips: "What a stupid question that is. What a stupid question. But I watch you a lot -- you ask a lot of stupid questions."
  • CNN reporter April Ryan: "April Ryan" You talk about somebody that's a loser. She doesn't know what the hell she's doing" She's very nasty."
  • Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA): "an extraordinarily low IQ person."
  • MSNBC host Joy-Ann Reid: "Who the hell is Joy-Ann Reid? Never met her, she knows ZERO about me, has NO talent, and truly doesn't have the 'it' factor needed for success in showbiz."

The examples of Trump's enraged responses to Black women who criticize or call out his lies, ineptitude, insecurities, and ignorance are endless. He is also fully aware that his attacks put targets on the backs of those women. In fact, that may be exactly the point.

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Tom Engelhardt, who runs the Nation Institute's Tomdispatch.com ("a regular antidote to the mainstream media"), is the co-founder of the American Empire Project and, most recently, the author of Mission Unaccomplished: Tomdispatch (more...)
 

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