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Donald Trump, the N-Word, and the GOP
It’s not okay for white people to use the N-word. I thought this was generally understood and widely accepted for … like a few decades now, but apparently I was wrong. (By the way, if you’re a white person, and you think you’re somehow a victim or being oppressed because you’re not allowed to use the N-word, I pity you.)
This has come up in discussion recently because word once again is circulating that there is a tape (or tapes, plural) of “Apprentice” outtakes that include Donald Trump (among other things) using the N-word.
This story isn’t new. It made the rounds in 2015 and 2016. (Anyone who is aware of Donald Trump’s history of overt racism wasn’t surprised.) I don’t know whether such a tape exists, but some are concerned about it because when Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked this week, she couldn’t guarantee it didn’t exist.
In anticipation of the existence of such a tape and its potential release, we’re already seeing rationalizations (including here on Ricochet) and explanations of how, if Donald Trump was caught on tape using the N-word, it’s either okay or it doesn’t matter.
Okay, so two things: First, it’s not okay. Second, it does matter.
If this tape does exist, and it comes out for all of us to hear, it’s going to do enormous damage to the Republican Party. Because what will certainly follow is legions of Trump apologists explaining how it’s okay.
At which point, the Republican Party will become the It’s-Okay-To-Say-The-N-Word Party. If you care about the electoral success of the Republican Party, you don’t want it to become the It’s-Okay-To-Say-The-N-Word Party.
Further, if you care about conservative governance in the future, to the extent that Donald Trump is associated with that conservative governance, it’s a big problem. If things like deregulation are associated with the Republican Party, and the Republican Party is the It’s-Okay-To-Say-The-N-Word Party, then deregulation becomes It’s-Okay-To-Say-The-N-Word-deregulation. All those conservative federal judges become It’s-Okay-To-Say-The-N-Word judges. Tax cuts become It’s-Okay-To-Say-The-N-Word tax cuts.
For Republicans, if you become the It’s-Okay-To-Say-The-N-Word Party, your brand will be irreparably damaged. For conservatives, if you become the philosophy of It’s-Okay-To-Say-The-N-Word, it will be the end of conservatism. Any claim of moral superiority will be gone. The decent people will have to separate themselves and find some other name to call themselves.
If a tape comes out, you don’t want to be trapped on the wrong side of things. Certain things are beyond the pale. This is one of them. If that tape comes out, don’t rationalize it, because what you hear will not be okay.
Published in General
Moderator Note:
The one you are looking for is "side-stepping".We’re required to use euphemisisms when we discuss whether using euphemisims should be required. There must be a euphemism for that.
Given Fred’s history of dislike for the President, I think my interpretation of what Fred meant by “you don’t want to be trapped on the wrong side of things” is closer to what he was thinking.
How about you just read the words written instead of the mind of the person writing them.
I don’t know your circumstances MarciN, but that is not the case in my experience. I’m not that old, mid forties, and I heard this word all the time growing up on the south side of Chicago. Not daily or even weekly, but often enough. And Widespread enough. Through all of that I know that using this word doesn’t make one a racist; if it did then perhaps it’s true what they say about the white male patriarchy after all and we’re all in the club even if there is no membership card. I knew no white supremacists, no nazis. Yet most men (very few women) around me had used this word at least once. In some cases directly and hateful; some of the men around me grew up poor and on the fringes of neighborhoods fighting for survival among competing groups of immigrants and low wage workers. Some simply reflected that cultural experience rather than having gone through it directly. When it got to my time we were of the shock with vulgarity variety mostly. But just to be clear: I’ve used the word in the ironic and shocking sense, and while I understand that was stupid more than shocking and brassy, I do not apologize because there is nothing to apologize for and no one to apologize to.
Also, I am not horrified by the use of the word. However, I am horrified by genuine white supremacists or nazis. That kind of uncompromising hate, or clinical antipathy even, is what leads to mass death. It’s also why I’m horrified by LaRaza or BLM or any other identitarian movement. That is the path of death.
I grew up north of Boston, and I never heard it. I came across it in literature, but I never heard anyone actually say the word.
So perhaps my guess is wrong. I was thinking that it wasn’t used at all anymore so when it is used, it is glaring. :-)
I don’t think you’re completely wrong. I’d agree that it is hardly used anymore. Good.
Moderator Note:
It's not 5:00 here yet, and all I've got at work is denatured alcohol (not doing THAT again).Someone needs to moderate the moderator….or get them some whiskey.
LOLing out loud.
Innocent mistake — but, yes, fake news as well, I suppose. When I checked, I saw that it was on the member feed. Only after that did I discover a moderate comment saying that it had actually been posted to the Main Feed — and then retracted (presumably by the moderators).
I’m not going to amend my comment. I’d rather hope that Fred will feel slightly shamed by the undeserved praise, reflect on his rash decision, and grow to be an even better and more thoughtful man than the good and thoughtful man I know him to be.
Anyway, Drew, just who the hell are you to question my journalistic integrity? I have editorial standards (i.e., A correction will be posted to page B-17 next month.) Are you trying to silence me? Are you against free expression? Are you a hater? Is that it — you’re a hater? I’m going to get a couple of hundred newspapers to join in lock-step conformity to express their combined displeasure over your fascistic rhetorical excesses.
But, that’s what you did. You interpreted Fred’s piece as don’t defend the use of the word. I interpreted it as don’t defend this President any longer if he used the word. I read the words that were written. All of the words that were written. The references to the President, the accusation of overt racism and the warnings that the President will permanently cripple the Republican Party. To say Fred was only advising against supporting the President regarding the use of this racial epithet is to ignore both what he actually said in the piece, as well as Fred’s history of posts. Also, I didn’t say I knew what Fred was thinking as he wrote the post. I said I interpreted what he was thinking because of the post’s content and Fred’s history. Given we can only read each other’s intent through words and prior actions, that is not an unreasonable thing to do.
Moderator Note:
Oh, if only it was "a" redaction. With quoted comments, redacting things has been like whack-a-mole from hell.I hope it wasn’t something I said! But if it was, getting Fred’s post back to the Member Feed was worth a redaction.
That’s what he wrote:
Honesty, I don’t remember who was supposed to be watching him this week. I know it wasn’t me — I’m on ponderously pedantic duty until Monday, when I get a couple of days off before covering snarky know-it-all until the weekend.
I’m just glad to know that I’m not losing my mind because when I first saw this post, it was on the Main Feed and when I returned later it was gone and I seriously questioned if I had made up the whole thing. My true hope was that someone came to his senses and deleted the whole thing, but no such luck.
Oh, I tried to get it deleted. But @basilfawlty is weirdly obsessed with everything Fred writes, and he vetoes every effort toward sanity and decency. (He’s a very troubled person.)
It’s turtles all the way down, my friend.
Buddhists believe that, if we could but speak the final euphemism, universal oneness would be achieved.
(When I said “oneness,” I didn’t actually mean oneness. I was using a…. Well, you know.)
While it’s possible such a tape exists, I must say that the NBC network (…or any Trump disliker involved in the Apprentice production…) having possession of such a tape and not revealing it during the run up to the 2016 election seems incredibly implausible.
News flash!!! Many people on both sides of the aisle really, really dislike Trump and would do anything (… concoct a phony Russia collusion narrative with unmasking of US citizens and FISA warrants to boot… ) to see Trump leave office as soon as possible.
It seems to me the revelation of said tape would have been far less complicated, less time consuming, and less costly then this wacky Mueller special council/DOJ/FBI Congressional investigation/3 to 5 years time frame until we finally figure out what actually happened in this corrupt Obama Administration clusterschtoop.
So you have to ask yourself what could the people with possession of said tapes possibly be waiting for???
Afflicted with Fredophilia?
Some of my best friends have been redacted, too. C’est la vie.
I could explain this but it wouldn’t pass muster.
(Actually, I think I get it. ;) )
Another thoughtful post by Fred. I sure hope that we aren’t going to be so tribal to support the indefensible. I think that there are three tests to judge the past use of the “n” word.
Some 30 years ago an older judge used the “n” word in chambers but not in open court. He had been a judge for over 20 years, and qualified for full retirement. He had not acted as a bigot in the past. (Indeed, a few years earlier, he saw me eating alone at an out-of-town seminar and offered for me to join him and another judge.) He was encouraged to retire to have more time with his grandchildren, which he did. Society expects more of public figures and leaders.
If Trump said it in the 60’s or 70’s, I would certainly cut him a break, especially in the rough and tumble of the world of builders. If he said it after he became a public figure, I would have a problem with it, however I have lots of trouble with Trump already. I would have greater with Trump lying about it, while I would expect him to lie about it.
I have not had anyone utter the “n” word in my presence in conversation for some 30 years. If someone did, I would speak up. I will not utter that word, even if I am reading text.
Finally, I will leave you with a real story which happened a couple of weeks ago. I represented a white woman from a less refined background. She showed me where the father had called her the two word slang for a fornicating female dog and the “n” word. I needed to have the document admitted into evidence. After the document was admitted, I asked her to read the sentence out loud saying, “I want you to read the first sentence of the second paragraph, but you can say ‘n word’ instead of saying ‘n’ word.” She looked perplexed. I said, “You can say the words [fornicating female dog], but you should say ‘n’ word instead of that word.” She was astonished that she could say the words for a fornicating female dog in open court. Then she read the sentence complete with the two word slang for a fornicating female dog, and charged forward saying the “n” word in its entirety and not just as “n” word. She appeared to be more embarrassed at saying the two word slang phrase than the “n” word.
I just hope we can continue to use the D-word. It was very impressive in the last election.
What makes the cheese even more binding is that Fred has absolutely no interest in whether or not the Republicans govern conservatively. He’s pot stirring, pure and simple.
It’s 2018. Racism doesn’t matter any more.
Moderator! Thompson is doing it again!
Moderator Note:
He can ask, it doesn't mean I need to oblige.Ok now you are just asking for more funny comments from the moderator ;)
And booted off.
I really don’t think so. I think that Fred operates with good faith and has shown that every time I have interacted with him.
Moderator Note:
Pass the bottleI worry that they grow bored.
Fred is an anarcho-capitalist (whatever that is). He is neither a Republican nor a conservative.