BBO Discussion Forums: Has U.S. Democracy Been Trumped? - BBO Discussion Forums

From The Cult of Trump by the NYT Editorial Board:

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Hey, I've got an idea. Let's ostracize our allies while promoting our enemies:

WaPo headline:

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Who the hell does this guy work for? It certainly isn't the American people or America's interests.

 johnu, on 2018-June-08, 01:52, said:

Except for the people who directly attack him, I wonder if Trump really has any real opinion about these other groups. I don't think he hates immigrants, Muslims and blacks, I think he knows that his base does, so it's politically best for him to express that opinion. Trump has made many statements since he joined the presidential campaign that directly contradict opinions he expressed in interviews years earlier. He just says and acts in whatever way will endear him with his base. I'm sure that as a businessman he loved getting cheap labor from immigrants -- I'll bet there were many of them hired as maids in his hotels -- and didn't give a ***** that they might be displacing American workers; but Republican voters don't want to hear that.

Does he actually think he'll ever be able to get Mexico to pay for the wall? Who knows? But he'll just keep saying it because that's what his people want to hear.

The guy may be totally ignorant about politics and history, but he's a master showman and knows how to play people. That's what got him elected. ldrews is the poster child for people who have been totally taken in by him.

 barmar, on 2018-June-08, 09:18, said:

If you look at Trump's behavior over time, one of the few consistent positions is a deep ingrained hatred for blacks which is expressed in thought, word, and deed

1. Systematic discrimination in Trump housing projects
2. The Central Park five
3. Casual use of words like N****r is day to day conversation
4. Discriminatory hiring practices
5. The ingrained unthinking racism that comes up consistently and effortlessly throughout his life

To suggest otherwise is laughable

 hrothgar, on 2018-June-08, 10:46, said:

And yet:

• Dr. Ben Carson, a black, is a cabinet member
  
• Trump responded to Kim Kardassian's plea for clemency
  
• Trump is considering a pardon for Mohammed Ali
  
• Elain Choa, a Tawainese-American, is a cabinet member
  
• Nikki Haley, a Indian-American, is Ambassador to the UN

 Winstonm, on 2018-June-08, 07:24, said:

I don't want to embarrass myself by guessing the wrong answer, but is it a 6 letter word starting with R u _ _ _ _ ?

 ldrews, on 2018-June-08, 10:53, said:

Larry, I have a friends who socialize with Trump.

The man causally refers to blacks as niggers. The fact that he appointed an uncle Tom onto his cabinet to help shore things up with the religious right is an outlier, not a refutation.

 hrothgar, on 2018-June-08, 13:20, said:

Hrothgar, I have black friends that refer to other blacks as niggers. Does that make them racist?

 ldrews, on 2018-June-08, 13:37, said:

Congratulations drews, that is probably the most ignorant comment I have ever heard you make

 hrothgar, on 2018-June-08, 13:20, said:

Another thing. I don't know where you grew up, but in the 1950s, 1960s in most major cities, particularly New York, and particularly Queens where Trump grew up, every cultural group seemed to have a knickname: wops, kikes, niggers, spics, etc. Often derogatory but often not. It was what it was. The names were used universally on the street.

According to your definition, all of those people who grew up in those communities and used that language are racist.

 ldrews, on 2018-June-08, 13:59, said:

I grew up in New York in the 70s and early 80s. A bit further upstate than Queens (Poughkeepsie).

And a hell of a lot of the folks that I grew up around were racists.
My grandparents most certainly were. (Not because they used the N word, but rather because of their firm belief that the PR's should be run out of town and their horror that I was dating a jew)

And the good townspeople that I lived with created a brand new school district to make sure that the blacks weren't allowed into the same schools as whites
(Spackenkill HS, created in 1973)

With this said and done, we aren't talking about the 50's and the 60's.
We're talking about the second decade of the 21st century

 hrothgar, on 2018-June-08, 14:05, said:

Dennison and a lot of his supporters fondly look back at the 50's and 60's, or least the early 60's. The more progressive supporters want America to be like the 1950's and early 1960's before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for obvious reason. More hardcore supporters fondly look back at the 1850's and early 1860's before the Civil War and the 13th Amendment.

 hrothgar, on 2018-June-08, 14:05, said:

Are we not talking about attitudes formed during the 50's and 60's? Today's children will obviously have much different attitudes, prejudices, and foibles. But you are talking about someone and others whose attitudes and characters were formed long ago. To apply today's standards to 70 year olds is disingenuous to say the least.

 johnu, on 2018-June-08, 14:29, said:

Perhaps some of us look back fondly, it was indeed a simpler time. But mostly it is to learn from our past, both the good and the bad. As many have stated, to ignore history is to be doomed to repeating it.

 ldrews, on 2018-June-08, 16:35, said:

So, moral relativism is fine so long as we're applying to the benefit of old white guys?

Me, I call grandparents racists and Trump is a racist.

(and even if Trump is only pretending to be a racist to appeal to his base, wtf does this say about Trump and his base?)

 ldrews, on 2018-June-08, 10:53, said:

Again I have to compliment Dennison and the best and brightest people he has brought to Washington. Oh wait! Muhammad Ali's conviction was overturned by the Supreme Court in 1971. There is no conviction to pardon but maybe he can commute the prison sentence

 johnu, on 2018-June-08, 17:51, said:

And it PROVES he's neither racist nor biased against Muslims.

 ldrews, on 2018-June-08, 16:35, said:

So what you are saying is once a bigot and racist, always a bigot and racist? Don't bother answering, that was a rhetorical question. And it's fake news that all of today's children will have much different attitudes, prejudices, and foibles. You don't have to look any further than all the young white supremacists at the Charlottsville riots.

 johnu, on 2018-June-08, 17:51, said:

Don't forget the learning from history bit. That which happened 10-15 minutes ago is as far as this admin goes before "I don't recall" kicks in. They aren't stuck in the 50's and 60's. They are stuck in their very own cesspool.

 hrothgar, on 2018-June-08, 17:17, said:

I would then say that the term racist has lost any differential meaning. Almost all of the people who grew up in that era would be racist by your definition.