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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
We have a huge problem. Trump voters are older. I have heard that if the elections were held today, and everyone voted the same way as they did in 2016, Trump would lose, due to the higher death rates of Trump voters.
The first person who invoked the Nazi’s loses.
Alright, I’m out. It feels like an Occupy rally in here – everyone holding signs for different causes, none of them legitimate.
PM me.
It’s even worse than that. All the dead Trump voters will be voting Democrat.
We all lost much earlier than that.
Good thing we have a fair number of young people leaving the Democrat Party, and even near-record black support for a Republican President in decades, then.
This thread has largely been a train wreck, but the moderation was hilarious, and brought back memories of Monty Python.
The three close states were Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, not Illinois and LBJ’s Texas.
That’s what I get for listening to a Ricochet Contributor.
Moderator Note:
Redaction made on Hadra, not EDISONPARKS.My take on the Left’s racial politics is the Left works hard to FIND racism in their political opponent.
The Left will find racism where it may actually exist, where it kinda sort may or may not exist, and more often than not where racism does NOT exist. The point is, the Left’s end game is to find and announce racism in their political opponent for political advantage, NOT to end racism for the betterment of society. Most important the Left will make exactly zero effort to find racism on the (D) side of the ledger.
I refuse to play the Left’s race baiting game because I know the Left is not seriously trying to solve the issue of race relations in our society, but rather the Left is unscrupulously using race as a cudgel in a disgusting attempt to gain political advantage.
Complete with antifa face masks.
The real theme brought to this conversation by @Fred Hadra is that people of color cannot be called to account for their misdeeds without those doing so being called racists. This results in California where the state is occupied by hordes of illegal immigrants, many of whom are protected felons, but who are encouraged and assisted to vote in elections. So you are correct, Gary, if this is what you think is the right way to go.
No, I don’t. I want to stop the flow. Would love a President Marco Rubio, Nikki Haley, or Tim Scott who can speak to fellow minority citizens. And I want a President I can be proud of.
You wanna strangle my grandmother, just admit it.
I wish you and your grandmother a long and happy life.
Moderator Note:
Redaction made on Hadra, not Jager.You are not a very good cobbler. None of your shoes seem to fit.
Some posts just invite them.
Ok. I was afraid you were serous with some of this stuff, but you are just joking right? You posted the link. Trump called MS-13 animals. Not poor people, not people of a certain skin color. Not people from Guatemala or El Salvador, but members of a viscous gang that is infamous for machete attacks. Calling out vicious murders doesn’t seam like a good example of racism.
Trump called Romney, Bannon and Hillary dogs too. What race are they that he is insulting? I didn’t know that there was a long history of equating white people to animals. Or maybe it is just a word he uses against people with no racial component, and you have to create one to justify your snark.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-calls-omarosa-a-dog-but-shes-not-alone/
Do we have actual proof that Hillary is still alive?
Miss Ann Elk.
You did that good.
@fredhadra is my spirit animal.
Well, I guess he’s a mindreader.
Stupid is as stupid does.
At this point, Gary doesn’t care about conservative goals. He only cares about anti-Trump goals.
I hereby denounce Trump for what he did or didn’t say on the tape that might or might not exist, and will wear a golden hair-shirt emblazoned with a scarlet ‘N’ to show that I, a right-thinking Republican will not tolerate any use of the dash-word by a non-approved dash-word user. I do this to protect the Republican party from being called racist by a leftists, because we’ve never been accused of being racists before.
And I hereby denounce myself for not having denounced Trump for what he did or didn’t say on a tape that might or might not exist. And also for not appreciating all of the virtue signaling done on my behalf as a half-Hispanic Québécois-American who also identifies as a mackerel-snapping, heteronormative Texan imperialist.
Leeeeeeeroy Jeeeeeeenkins.
This is wonderful.
I really wish you would make this its own post. :-)
I have it on good authority that Ricochet is in the “comment business”’.
So hats off to all for making Ricochet more successful