To hear the Trump campaign and its supporters tell it, there was nothing the least bit racist about their candidate’s run for the White House. Sure, he called Mexicans rapists, played footsie with neo-Nazis and the KKK, but it was all just a big misunderstanding.
On CNN Saturday, Democratic strategist Symone Sanders and Trump supporter Betsy McCaughey debated the issue, and Sanders began by commenting:
“Tensions are still high, and there is a real disagreement from both sides, actually, about how Donald Trump ascended to be the 45th president of the United States of America.”
In response, McCaughey attempted to use the old jiu jitsu “It’s them not us” argument:
“I think the campaign has been very gracious in victory, but what disturbs me the most is to see the Democratic Party leaders and spokespeople like Symone are still making false accusations of racism — in fact, behaving like racists themselves.
“One reason Donald Trump won is Americans are sick and tired of reverse racism and that’s what they heard from Hillary Clinton at the beginning.”
Ah yes, reverse racism. It’s an all-time favorite for Republicans who know they’re racist as hell but want to try and deflect the charge. Sanders was more than equal to the task, and she fired back at McCaughey with this truth bomb:
“Betsy, people of color in America are victims of systemic racism and I think it’s really important to note that while the Trump campaign, yes, they won. Donald Trump is going to be the next president.
“There are still some real underlying issues. The rhetoric that the campaign elevated, these fringe elements that they brought into the mainstream. These are the things that people in America are still dealing with…The Trump campaign has to at least own that so we can move forward.”
McCaughey, realizing she was losing, replied:
“I don’t appreciate these accusations of racism, because they are untrue and the only reason that people like Symone constantly label their opponents as racist is because they don’t have an argument they can win on the merits.”
Sanders shut McCaughey down flat by reminding her:
“Betsy just ‘You people-d’ me. Thank you.”
The way GOPers like Betsy McCaughey and Donald Trump see it, all African-Americans are the same and are nothing more than “you people.” And yet they wonder why most black Americans consider the Republican Party to be perpetually biased against them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IG6M-wNR-0
Featured Image Via CNN Screengrab
