President Donald Trump continues to attract harsh criticism with his incessant race-baiting, belligerence, and more. This weekend on CNN’s State of the Union in conversation with host Jake Tapper, South Bend, Indiana’s Mayor and consistently in the top five Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg insisted that a vote for Trump in the 2020 election can not be fully separated from the racist behavior that he’s exemplified during his time in office. Trump has singled out people of color for antagonism on front after front — and those who stand before the world and stump for Trump because of the economy or conservative judges getting confirmed or whatever can’t separate themselves from that, he said. It all goes together.
Buttigieg himself has — as others have as well — previously denounced Trump as a “white nationalist” over his behavior in office. Asked now if voting for Trump constituted an act of racism, Buttigieg told Tapper:
‘Well, at best, it means looking the other way on racism. But I think a lot of people are wondering what kind of deal even that is supposed to be. You look at what he said in that rally — “you’ve got no choice but to vote for me,” and If you look at the numbers, basically, what he’s saying is, alright, I want you to look the other way on the racism, tolerate the negativity, accept the instability of my administration, because I am going to deliver for you job growth almost as good as the Obama years. That’s what his argument amounts to right now. And it’s part of the reason why he’s unpopular.’
Check it out:
.@jaketapper: “Do you think that it’s a racist act to cast a vote for President Trump in 2020?”
Presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg: “At best it means looking the other way on racism.” #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/YtqTPvhayX
— State of the Union (@CNNSotu) August 18, 2019
As Buttigieg indicates, just the other day at a rally in New Hampshire, Trump told attendees that they “have” to vote for him in order to keep the economy going strong.
In reality, the economy is struggling under the weight of Trump’s trade policies. Also just the other day, stock market value plummeted with the highest single drop of this year so far, and U.S. businesses are estimated to be losing billions and billions of dollars because of harsh punitive import taxes on large quantities of goods from places like China. Trump and some of his administration’s top officials have recently admitted that it’s at least a possibility that U.S. interests could see some negative outcomes like price spikes from the tariffs, but it’s too late — those spikes have already been unfolding, and Trump has indicated he’s ready and willing to impose even more tariffs.
The most recent quarterly economic growth in the United States (during the second quarter of this year) was just about two percent. Considering precedent in the last several years or so, that’s definitively not something to write home about. Despite an initial estimate placing the numbers higher, overall in 2018, the U.S. economy grew by just about 2.5 percent — again, nothing to write home about.
As Buttigieg indicates, Trump’s plan for his supporters on the grassroots and high-profile level to accept or turn a blind eye to his egomaniacal racism pretty much ends there — it’s not as though he’s even delivering some kind of economic utopia. Instead, it’s a mess.
Featured Image via screenshot
