A NEWSLETTER FROM DAVID CORN |
A NEWSLETTER FROM DAVID CORN |
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By David Corn February 24, 2024 |
Donald Trump and Charlie Kirk at a White House event on March 22, 2018. Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP |
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It’s Black History Month. Could that be why right-wing racism seems to be on the rise?
I’m not sure how you measure it, but there seems to be a pronounced uptick in overt racism within conservative ranks of late. And it goes beyond the egregious conduct of former President Donald Trump. The onetime reality TV celebrity has a long record of racism that stretches from the discriminatory housing practices engaged in by his family business (1960s) to his racist attack on the wrongly convicted Central Park Five (1980s) to his championing of the racist birther theory (2010s). At a town hall in New Hampshire during the 2016 campaign, a man in the audience yelled, “We have a problem in this country; it’s called Muslims...When can we get rid of them?” Affirming this burst of bigotry, Trump replied, “We’re going to be looking at a lot of different things. You know, a lot of people are saying that, and a lot of people are saying that bad things are happening out there.” And when candidate Trump attacked Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who is Mexican American and who was overseeing the Trump University fraud case (remember that one?), even GOP House Speaker Paul Ryan felt compelled to call his remarks “racist.”
Yet Trump’s racism—like so much of his outrageous behavior—never became a decisive issue in the 2016 campaign, and it did not abate during his presidency. There was the Muslim ban. He referred to a group of protesters that included white nationalists and Nazis as “very fine people.” He called African nations “shithole countries.” In the 2020 race, he repeatedly claimed that Joe Biden was teaming up with Black radicals (and commies and antifa and the media) to assault suburban communities (obviously white suburban communities). We don’t have time to go through a full rundown. You want a list of Trump’s racist episodes? Here’s one.
And it only seems to be getting worse. In recent months, Trump has hurled racist attacks at Black officials who are prosecuting cases against him. He has derided Nikki Haley in a racist manner. He has used racist and Hitler-like rhetoric to slam undocumented migrants.
Setting an example with this torrent of hatred, Trump has thrown the door open to denizens of MAGA-land who wish to express their inner racist. Meanwhile, leading strategists of the right, including Chris Rufo and failed wannabe president Ron DeSantis, have launched a war on “wokeness” and diversity, equity, and inclusion programs at schools and businesses, a crusade that jibes nicely with Trump’s explicit racism. It’s hard to believe there’s no connection between these strategic initiatives and Trump’s legitimizing of racism.
As bad as this recent history has been, it appears that voices on the right are going further. Look at Fox pundit Raymond Arroyo. Days ago on that network, he declared Black Americans will back Trump in the coming election because...they love sneakers. Yes, he said that. This was his insight following Trump’s recent announcement that he’s selling a limited line of Trump-inspired (and incredibly gaudy and ugly) sneakers at $399 a pair. Arroyo opined:
As you see Black support eroding from Joe Biden, this is connecting with Black America because they love sneakers. They love sneakers. This is a big deal. Certainly, in the inner city. So, when you have Trump roll out his sneaker line, they’re like, “Wait a minute. This is cool.” He’s reaching them on a level that defies and is above politics. |
Selling a thousand pairs of ridiculous sneakers will win over Black voters? Tough to be more dismissive, or cynical, or...racist than that. When the host asked if “people who are excited about the sneakers” would vote for Trump, Arroyo replied, “Anybody willing to put 400 bucks down for a pair of sneakers—yeah, I think that’s commitment and love.” Arroyo trotted out racial stereotypes, and his Fox interlocutor was fine with that.
On the MAGA right, there’s been a race to a racist bottom, with leading figures seemingly trying to outdo each other. At the front of this pack is Charlie Kirk, the Trump fanboy who heads Turning Point USA. He has declared that he would be nervous if he saw a Black pilot in the cockpit of a plane. As if this captain’s only qualification was checking a box for a DEI initiative. (To be clear, all pilots need to pass the same tests to be certified to fly.) He also noted, “If I’m dealing with someone in customer service who’s a moronic Black woman, I wonder: Is she there because of her excellence or is she there because of affirmative action?"
Floyd Brown, a veteran far-right activist (who was behind the infamously racist Willie Horton ad that ran during the 1988 campaign) and is now campaign manager for Kari Lake’s Senate campaign in Arizona, said something similar about a Black doctor. “Yet now because of DEI, when you see a Black surgeon, you get a question in your mind.” You do?
Kirk has always been an alt-right twerp, but it’s noteworthy that he now has delved into the realm of white supremacy. My colleague Ali Breland did a deep dive on his descent and observed:
Kirk appears to have shifted, embracing racist and white nationalist rhetoric and figures with little hesitation. In the past year, he’s hosted far-right and white supremacist figures on his podcast and has tweeted in support of whiteness, earning praise from white supremacists who have long campaigned to mainstream such rhetoric.
In October, he invited veteran white supremacist Steve Sailer, whose bona fides include writing for overt white nationalist publications including VDare and the Unz Review, on his podcast. During their interview, Kirk called Sailer his favorite “noticer”—a word frequently used in internet conservative spaces as a euphemism for individuals willing to publicly draw bigoted conclusions linking race and criminality. Sailer did exactly this during their conversation, insinuating that Black people commit crimes because of innate characteristics: “Blacks tend to commit murder about 10 times as often per capita as whites...it’s not just all explained by poverty.”
Breland also reported, “Others associated with Turning Point USA are also giving voice to white supremacist positions. In a tweet last week, right-wing internet figure Jack Posobiec, a TPUSA contributor with his own history of ties to white nationalists, slammed Nikki Haley’s financial backers as ‘rootless cosmopolitans,’ an established antisemitic euphemism.” (Posobiec was one of the chief spreaders of the violence-inciting Pizzagate conspiracy theory.)
These folks might seem to be marginal figures, but as influencers on the right, they reflect what appears to be a greater willingness generally to openly voice racist sentiments. Axios reported that at a Turning Point USA conference in December the “emphasis on Haley's nonwhite heritage was hard to miss.”
Racism and white grievance are everywhere on Planet MAGA these days. A broadcast of Sean Hannity’s Fox show earlier this month featured a live segment in which members of the Guardian Angels, a supposedly anti-crime patrol group, assaulted a man in Times Square who they claimed was a “migrant.” As this was transpiring, their leader Curtis Sliwa exclaimed, “They’ve taken over.” Nope. Their victim was from the Bronx. Here was racist violence shown live on television. It was right out of Network.
By the way, the New York Post expressed outrage that a Google AI chatbot generated a picture of a Black founding father: |
Okay, George Washington was not Black. But why go nuts over this and put it on the front page? While we’re at it, Jesus probably did not resemble a white European, as he has often been depicted. (He certainly didn’t look like this.)
Slavery had benefits. Kamala Harris is an idiot. White people are being replaced by people of color (a conspiracy theory promoted by Tucker Carlson and others on the right). Racist comments are zipping through the conservative cosmos at what appears to be a more furious clip than several years ago. There have long been statistics about hate crimes, and in 2023 they were up by 13 percent. But it’s more difficult to track and quantify the dissemination of racist utterances. I sense there’s an acceleration. (Do you?) And I shudder to think how much worse this could get, especially if the Grand Leader and catalyst of this racism revival returns to the White House.
Got anything to say about this item—or anything else? Email me at ourland@motherjones.com. |
A few days ago in Our Land, I wrote about how the Russian attack on the 2016 campaign and Trump’s efforts to aid and abet that Kremlin operation have largely fallen into the memory hole. But the recent indictment of a businessman and FBI informant named Alexander Smirnov for lying to the bureau has cast new light on Moscow’s covert attempts to interfere in American elections to assist Trump.
In June 2020, Smirnov told the bureau that Joe Biden and Hunter Biden were paid $5 million each in 2015 or 2016 so that the elder Biden, then veep, would kill an investigation of Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company that had placed the younger Biden on its board. But according to federal prosecutors, Smirnov’s accusations were lies.
What’s most interesting is that Smirnov’s allegations coincided with a clandestine Russian plot, conducted during the 2020 race, to discredit Biden by spreading similar allegations—accusations that Rudy Giuliani was also advancing. Smirnov’s allegations have since become a key part of the House Republicans’ attempt to impeach Biden, with the likes of Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) saying, “This is the biggest political corruption scandal not only in my lifetime, but I would say in the past 100 years.” Really?
The bottom line is that the Russians mounted a smear campaign to undermine Biden, and Republicans have been partners in this endeavor. GOP legislators and their comrades in right-wing media (who have boosted the bogus claims about the Bidens) have been willing (even eager) to be exploited by the Kremlin and to exploit Russian disinformation. The Smirnov case shows us that the Russia-Republican rot runs deep. If you want to know more, I explained all this in a piece published yesterday.
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Dumbass Comment of the Week |
Once again, so many competitors in a crowded field. When discussing Alexander Smirnov and his alleged lies to the FBI, Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo tried to deny the significance of his indictment, which unfortunately blew up a huge chunk of the Republicans’ impeachment crusade against Biden. On her show, she exclaimed, “How are you going to get more whistleblowers to actually tell you what they know, if they’re afraid the DOJ is going to weaponize the agencies against them?” |
The better question is, if the Justice Department does not prosecute informants who lie to the FBI, won’t that encourage informants to lie?
Rep. Dan Crenshaw, a Texas Republican who presents himself as an independent-minded fellow, demonstrated that he is as in the tank for Donald Trump as every other House Republican. When a podcaster mentioned that Trump “tried to maintain power” after losing the 2020 election, Crenshaw shot back: “I’m not sure how hard he tried.” He added that Trump merely attempted to stay in power by using “words and mean things.” |
In other words, no biggie. Leaning on the Justice Department to falsely state the election was a fraud? Pressuring election officials in Georgia and elsewhere? Inciting a riot? Muscling his vice president? The fake elector scheme? Yeah, not much effort there. Crenshaw further observed, “In the end, it was a peaceful transfer of power.” Uh, no. Just ask the 140-plus Capitol police officers who were injured by the Trump brownshirts who rioted on January 6, 2021.
Cartoonist Scott Adams caught the judges’ attention—though they wish they could ignore him—with a tweet declaring, “I’m canceling all NYC business trips until the Trump property seizure is reversed. Also no new business with NY entities. Too far.” |
That is hardly a loss for the Big Apple and the Empire State. Last year, Adams’ distributor dropped his Dilbert comic strip after Adams engaged in a racist rant in which he urged white people "to get the hell away from Black people." He has not been missed. New York will be fine without him.
After soul-searching deliberations, the judges this week determined that a no-comment can qualify for Dumbass Comment of the Week. Thus, this week’s prize goes to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the notorious anti-vaxxer and conspiracy theorist who is running as an independent for president. (Make sure you see my recent scoop reporting that the super-PAC supporting Kennedy has placed several conspiracy theorists—including a 9/11 truther and election denier—on the payroll.)
When NBC News reporter Alexander Tabet had a chance this week to question RFK Jr., he pointed out that there have been troubling measles outbreaks (see my colleague Kiera Butler’s story about this) and posed an obvious query to this foe of vaccinations: “For America’s children right now, do you recommend they take the MMR vaccine?”
Kennedy looked like a deer in the headlights. He didn’t know what to say. He walked away without uttering a word. |
Kennedy’s silence spoke loudly enough to win. |
Reacting to the last issue, readers shared my outrage that many in the media seem to have forgotten that Vladimir Putin attacked the 2016 election to help Trump and that Trump aided Putin by denying this assault was underway. Ken Stachon pointed out:
In today’s article about the media ignoring Putin’s help in getting Trump elected in 2016 and Trump’s collusion with Russia, one of the points you failed to mention was the indictment of 12 Russian GRU agents who were indicted for their role in helping Trump win.
Yes, I did not include that. I was trying to give a streamlined account. After all, one could write a book on that whole episode. (And I did.) A reader who just wanted to be ID’ed as Danial P. wrote:
I’ve wondered about Trump inviting Russian officials into the Oval Office with no chaperone. Then passing out top secret items like appetizers. I remember our allies screaming they couldn’t trust us anymore. Does America remember these things?
That did indeed happen. Just another chapter in the long Trump-Russia saga that has been forgotten. As for America remembering these things, here’s a refresher. Harry McConnell emailed:
Why has no one tried to get the translator’s notes taken during Trump’s meeting with Putin when no one else was permitted to attend. What was discussed, promised, given away? That is yet another forgotten mystery. What happened to those notes?
Regarding Joe Biden’s age, Rob Jenkin wrote:
I don't believe President Biden, his team, or sympathetic media have emphasized his lifelong struggle with stuttering sufficiently. He has always been prone to "gaffes,” which have led to a reputation of being a poor speaker. Stutterers are not known to be great public speakers. His age appears to have exaggerated this weakness. However, since the left loves to promote the need to be inclusive of people with disabilities, I have to wonder why his problem doesn't get mentioned more often when it might help to shine a more positive light on his "age problem."
There was a wonderful piece about his stutter in the Atlantic four years ago. But this is a point that bears repeating. Carol Wachs sent in a question:
Do you recall when the Trump administration destroyed the two planes that provided Europe with surveillance of Russian military activity in Europe? They said at the time that these had become obsolete. Seems likely that Putin asked Trump to have these billion-dollar assets destroyed. Shouldn’t that still be a huge story? Can you update us on what happened there?
I’m not sure there was a deep plot here. But this is what happened: Shortly after Trump lost the election in 2020, his administration ripped up the Open Skies treaty, a 30-year-old accord that allowed Russia and the United States to conduct unarmed reconnaissance flights over each other’s territory to reduce the possibility of war. And the Trump administration subsequently trashed two of the specially equipped planes that had carried out these Open Skies missions. Naturally, arms control advocates—and Joe Biden—were highly critical of this.
What occurred afterward was not encouraging. The Biden administration was interested in reviving the treaty. But it noted in 2021 that Russia was imposing new restrictions that limited the usefulness of these flights. Meanwhile, Russia moved to withdraw from the accord, as well. Ultimately, the United States announced it would not rejoin the treaty. Trump succeeded in killing Open Skies.
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“I’m worried about Joe Biden’s age. Do you know what that would be in dog years?” “Moxie, really? Aren’t there more important issues?”
“There are. Did you see that Biden’s dog Commander bit Secret Service agents at least 24 times? He’s making all of us look bad.” “Always vote your interest. Then again, Trump doesn’t even have a dog.” “Tough choice.” |
Read Recent Issues of Our Land |
February 21, 2024: The great forgotten betrayal of the Trump years; the fifth season of Fargo gets political; the Black Keys get funky; and more.
February 17, 2024: A refresher on Trump’s porn-star/hush-money case; a farewell message from Alexei Navalny; Dumbass Comment of the Week (Jared Kushner); the Mailbag; MoxieCam™; and more.
February 13, 2024: Joe Biden’s age and how the media covers it; The Greatest Night in Pop lives up to its title; Slow Horses and For All Mankind and the challenge of producing high-quality television; and more.
February 10, 2024: Biden or Trump and the memory hole; Dumbass Comment of the Week (Marjorie Taylor Greene); the Mailbag; MoxieCam™; and more.
February 6, 2024: Joy Reid and a civil rights love story; a new biography of Lou Reed; and more.
February 3, 2024: A too-late Biden shift on Israel?; writing about Taylor Swift; a classic Trump video on lying; Dumbass Comment of the Week (Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar); MoxieCam™; and more.
January 30, 2024: New book tells the inside story of the Georgia RICO case against Donald Trump; Trump pals around with accused billionaire sex criminal; Anatomy of a Fall soars; and more.
January 27, 2024: The dilemma of the anti-Trump conservatives; Dumbass Comment of the Week; the Mailbag; MoxieCam™; and more.
January 23, 2024: Trump, Putin, and Russia—it never ends; my warning to Ron DeSantis; Ava DuVernay’s big idea in Origin; Allison Russell and The Returner; and more.
January 20, 2024: The absurdity of No Labels; Dumbass Comment of the Week (Ron DeSantis); the Mailbag: MoxieCam™; and more. |
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Got suggestions, comments, complaints, tips related to any of the above, or anything else? Email me at ourland@motherjones.com. |
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