Obama’s Presidency Led To Trump’s White Nationalist Populism

When the “Taxed Enough Already” protest signs started appearing just after Barack Obama’s first inauguration, we should have seen this coming. When those protest signs turned into a conservative political coalition called the Tea Party, we should have seen this coming. When Donald Trump presided over the “birther” freak show, we should have seen this coming.

• • •

Donald Trump Supporters: Make America White Again

At a rally today in Ohio, Donald Trump said in response to protesters, “We cannot let our First Amendment rights be taken away from us folks.” This is an appeal to people (yes, white people) who feel persecuted. Of course, they are not being persecuted, but often people believe disagreement, particularly from an out-group, is the same as persecution.

• • •

Bill Maher: Bill O’Reilly, Republicans, Don’t Hear What Obama Says

On Friday’s Real Time on HBO, host Bill Maher compared President Obama’s statement on African-American men and crime with Bill O’Reilly’s statement about statistical evidence on blacks and homicide. One Friday earlier, President Obama said, “Now, this isn’t to say that the African-American community is naive about the fact that African-American young men are disproportionately involved in the criminal justice system.” Obama said this during his much talked about and unscripted remarks on Trayvon Martin, the Zimmerman not-guilty verdict, and race relations in America.

• • •

Racializing Black-On-Black Crime, A Means To Demonize African-Americans

To listen to many on the Right, we are never to include a racial component in any crime until we eradicate so-called “black-on-black” crime. Conservatives believe the liberal media should not focus on a black victim, portrayed by conservative media as the guilty party, and should instead focus its attention on inner-city black-on-black crime. According to conservative media, we aren’t talking about blacks killing other blacks enough. Until we meet our quota in reporting blacks being murdered by other blacks, we are not allowed to talk about any other crime and the potential that race may have played a role.

• • •