We’ve known for along time that Trump is racist, despite his continual denials. Well, he’s done it again. February is Black History Month and we take this month to reflect not only on the history of slaver and Jim Crow (in the hopes that we’ve learned and won’t keep doing it) but also contributions the black population has given us. Think Katherine Johnson’s work with calculating trajectories in the early space program and George Washington Carver’s work as an agricultural chemist.
But Trump, who famously referred to Haiti and African countries as shithole countries whose people should not be allowed to come to the United States, is at it again. Yesterday he posted on his social media account a video that depicted former President Obama and his wife Michelle as apes. No, I’m not going to post a link and I hope you don’t either.
As you can imagine the reaction was swift. Even Republican Senator Tim Scott, who is black, condemned it and hoped it was fake. At first Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt tried to ridicule the outrage calling it “fake outrage.” The post was eventually taken down and Trump blamed a staffer for posting it, even though it was posted in the middle of the night when Trump often posts and most people who work for him are asleep.
He just doesn’t get it. But then neither do his supporters who don’t believe he’s racist.