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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
You know Presidential elections can be lost by the use of a single word once. But, it must happen during the campaign or while occupying the office, otherwise, it doesn’t count. Remember Aleppo!
I believe that Fred is a prized member of this conservative community. He is less willing to intervene than I am in military conflicts.
Is he a registered Republican? I don’t know, but some of my favorite commentators, like George Will, Steve Schmidt and Joe Scarborough are no longer registered Republicans. (I stayed in the party, to work to change it from within. But if there is a new party which embraces conservative positions but not Trump, I would be interested.)
I have to believe Fred’s wife must be a saint.
I’m not saying that Fred isn’t a prized member of the community. He is. I’ve met him. I’m just saying that he’s not a Republican or a conservative.
I have to believe that many of us have spouses who are saints.
If and when Fred is willing to write on this issue, I would be really interested to hear his point of view, as well as what members of congress most match his views.
For me, that is simple. The Greatest President of the Twentieth Century, Ronald Reagan.
Among the living, Arizona’s Senators Jeff Flake and John McCain. (I like Flake’s positions and McCain’s personality best.)
Fred’s not been shy in the past about disclaiming Republicanism and conservatism.
Gary, I’m with you on the President. But I’d put both Arizona Senators way down my Republican Senator lists, for what I think are substantive reasons having to do with an unwillingness to engage productively with their (and my) party.
My impression is that Fred is essentially a libertarian radical: someone with generally classical-liberal political views who delights in breaking things.
So?
Is that why Fred rarely has any commentary on what the Left and the Democrats do or say since they are so completely broke throughout?
I think that I can see a new OP! Which living political figure(s) are you closest to?
Haven’t seen that in him. Yet.
Jeez, Jamie. Follow the comments.
I heard Robert Byrd use the word on Fox News Sunday…
Moderator Note:
Is it just me, or does that look like the face of someone letting loose a big belch?I do. Why does this matter?
He did. It startled the heck out of me. When challenged, he said that there were “white ‘n’s.'” Byrd was 83. It was 2001.
Time to rename most of the infrastructure of West Virginia.
I am commenting here for no other reason than to thank@fredcole for what he wrote here, to tell him publicly that I agree 100% with what he has written, and that I hope he is not paying any attention to the shameful abuse he is taking in most of these comments.
Fred has a lot of courage to say things that need to be said, and to tackle topics that need to be addressed.
There’s no “So?” to it. Gary and I were discussing Fred’s political beliefs.
For what it’s worth, I agree with Fred that we should not defend the use of racist language. I don’t agree that there’s a significant effort on the right to do so, but I do think that the temptation to push back against the endless accusations of racism and the preposterous double standards imposed by the left is natural and predictable, and that some will yield to it out of frustration.
I don’t think it will tarnish conservatism. We are already routinely called racists, and I don’t think that charge is likely to make more headway because of this kerfuffle.
This isn’t a crisis.
Courage.
Because other people who have called the President or his supporters racist, or insinuated that conservatives in general regularly use racial slurs, have been known to disappear in the dead of night, never to be heard from again.
Please stop. It doesn’t take any courage to write this lazy, predictable garbage.
You know what’s really shameful? That the word courage no longer means anything.
Courage!
Spend some time on the conservative end of twitter.
I don’t question his good faith. But Fred makes no bones about where he’s coming from. It’s neither Republicanism nor conservatism. Why is that so hard to grasp?
This is typical Left and Democrat distraction effort. They are really worried now that their media cohort will not be able to stem the reporting related to Bruce Ohr, that Manafort may be found ‘not guilty’, and that Mueller’s inquiry will collapse. Trump does distraction better.
Moderator Note:
Please take care to keep rhetorical questions from becoming personal attacks.I’m not going to be the one to decide on whether someone is courageous or not. [People] shouting at each each other through the keyboard do not exactly meet the standard of courage by any definition. I’ll own my part in that, in this case.
[I am not OK with a] President of United States [who] reduc[es] everyone with skin a shade darker [than mine] to sub-human levels. “Animals.” “Dogs.” “People from (expletive) hole countries.”
Need I go on?
And now this. The “N-Word.” @retaillawyer thinks that I’m not “manly” because I don’t just come right out and type the word just like he thinks he should be able to, without any social consequences. Maybe he’s a real alpha, just like the President, so perhaps he’s in the best position possible to check my man card. (Go ahead and flag this. But the check the post first. He wrote it.)
Don’t like hearing this? [Redacted.] Well, then here’s an idea for you: don’t defend what Trump is saying. Don’t defend blatantly
and unquestionablyracist things. [Redacted.]Except here you and a lot of other people are defending the use of that very word. The word that, probably up to this, was the line in the sand. But because it’s Trump, you just go with it. He fights! He defends your values! And he. Must. Be. Defended.
So. What else is one supposed to think?
[Redacted.] Just call me a cobbler. But no need to call me courageous.
Absolutely false and ridiculous.
Dinner conversation.