The ascent of Donald Trump to the presidency has exposed deep fault lines in the United States. On one side of those faults, racists seem empowered to come out of the darkness like hasn’t been seen in awhile.
An anonymous Twitter user shared a story of encountering one such racist while on the job in a Washington emergency room, writing:
‘A MAGA hat-wearing person threw a fit in the emergency room today because they didn’t want to wait to see a doctor. I was called a “nig*er loving disgrace to white people,” because I was spending “too much” time with a black patient. Happy days.’
While some may like to argue that racism that springs up among Trump’s followers is their own fault and has nothing to do with the president, that doesn’t actually square up with reality.
Apart from the infamous instances of the president using — and possibly using — racial slurs, there are well documented occasions of him sharing his belief that non-whites are inherent dangers to the West and should be treated as such.
For instance, during a trip to Europe, he proclaimed that immigrants themselves are such a threat, bemoaning their effect on Western culture.
On the homefront, he spent much of his first year in office pushing for a ban on Muslims entering the United States. Over the months he batted around the plan, it ended up cast by the Trump administration as needed for national security. In reality, though, none of the targeted countries had harbored a single documented terrorist who carried out an attack on the United States. Areas where such individuals did come from, like the wealthy Saudi Arabia, weren’t even affected. In other words, the move was about shutting out poor Muslims.
The examples could go on and on. What remains clear at present is that in going after the Twitter user cited in this article, the anonymous Trump’er was taking after their dear leader, not operating independently of them.
Featured Image via YouTube screenshot
