Conservatives love to accuse liberals of “playing the race card” because it allows them to ignore issues of racism and privilege in the United States. Rather than acknowledge there is a problem with racism, they choose to sweep it under the rug and point fingers at liberals for calling it out. Jeffrey Lord, political analyst and staunch supporter of President-elect Donald Trump, took that argument to a new level on CNN yesterday, and it wasn’t pretty.
‘There Are No People Of Color In America’
Political analyst Jeffrey Lord was on a CNN panel discussing a speech at Texas A&M University by noted racist Richard Spencer. Lord made the argument that people like Spencer should be ignored, because, after all, that’s a conservative’s modus operandi.
He tried to say that Spencer is on the “fringe,” and that the President-elect “doesn’t want anything to do” with people like him. This, despite that fact that Trump refuses to proactively disavow the support he receives from all these white supremacist groups (but he will proactively call out Saturday Night Live – twice — because, you know, priorities).
It would be easier to believe that Trump isn’t in bed with the white supremacists if he didn’t have Steve Bannon whispering in his ear. It would be easier to believe it if he hadn’t chosen Jeff Sessions for attorney general or Mike Flynn for National Security Advisor.
But I digress.
Phillip Bump, political reporter for the Washington Post, pointed out that people of color in this country are worried about Trump’s actions, saying:
“I think that a lot of folks who oppose Donald Trump, particularly people of color, do not see what he has done before and after the election as reassuring that he is distancing himself from people like Spencer.”
Bump went on to state that a true leader would be proactive in his dismissal of the hordes of white supremacist groups that have thrown their support behind Trump. When he mentioned people of color again, though, that’s when things got weird. Lord said:
“There are no people of color in this country, Phillip. There are only Americans. And therein lies the problem.”
Oh, Jeffrey Lord. Oh blind-to-your-privilege, completely ignorant Jeffrey Lord.
Maria Cardona With The KO Punch
Phillip Bump responded to Lord’s statement with:
“I think you just made my argument for me.”
However, it was Maria Cardona who delivered the smackdown to Lord’s comment:
“Jeffrey, the reality is the following: You, as a White American, have had a very different experience in this country than me, as a Latina, OK? I am sure people do not come up to you and say, ‘You should be deported, your children should be deported because they’re anchor babies.’ That is why this president-elect has an obligation. Because while you might say that he has nothing to do with these white supremacists, the fact of the matter is that he campaigned with a wink and a nudge to them.”
Lord tried to speak over her, condescendingly saying some crap about “your party has yet to apologize for slavery” (seriously, Republicans — give it up. Lincoln was a Republican, but he was NOT a conservative). Cardona, though, kept going, and said that yes, Trump needs to talk about racism, and that he needs to use the national bully pulpit to do so:
“Until he does that, you will have Latinos, African-Americans, Muslims, everybody who felt degraded by his campaign, not believe that he wants to be the president of them. I feel like I am as American as you, Jeffrey, but I am not treated as one by the people who feel emboldened by your president-elect.”
Mic, dropped.
Watch the entire debacle here:
Featured Image via screenshot from VidMe video