“Nah, there/s no mainstream media bias!’“
Despicable.
“Mocking Haley, Trump Adds to His Long History of Racist Attacks—The former president is again focusing on race and background as he campaigns against Nikki Haley in New Hampshire.” crowed the New York Times in what was allegedly a news report. The story is another installment of Big Lie #4 on The Big Lies Of The “Resistance” Directory, “Trump Is A Racist/White Supremacist.”
The fact that the Times is still doing this—that lie is one of the hoariest and most persistent in the whole ugly batch—means, quite simply, that the paper can’t be trusted. Simple as that. Its editorial policy is to lie about Donald Trump, and other things, of course, but if a news organization will lie about anything to forward an agenda, then it should never be trusted.
Like most of the Axis, of which it is a charter member, the Times embraces the race-baiting tactics of its compatriots: any criticism of a non-white figure in any field of endeavor is presumptively motivated by racism. (See: Gay, Claudine, and Willis, Fani). With Donald Trump, this has been a spectacularly successful smear: virtually all Democrats and NeverTrump Republicans will tell you that he is a racist.
If you press them on their justification for promoting Big Lie #4—and I have and do—they are stumped, and either huminahumina a misrepresented quote, or cite Trump’s accusation that Barack Obama should have been disqualified as a Presidential candidate because he wasn’t a “natural born” citizen. And, sure enough, Trump made this same accusation against Nikki Haley on social media recently. He also, the Times says, was being racist by making fun of Haley’s name. Trump referred to Haley as “Nimbra” in a post on Truth Social, his social media platform, after previously dubbing her “Nimrada” in a mocking reference to her given name “Nimarata,” which she never uses.
“Both are racist dog whistles,” says the Times. Nonsense. Trump, like the arrested 12-year-old he is, mocks his opponents in play-ground level insults any way he can. It’s stupid. It’s one of the traits that makes trusting him to handle power responsible unacceptably risky. It is not racist.
As for the equally stupid claim that Haley is not a natural-born citizen, that’s not a racist tactic either. Trump made the same false claim against Ted Cruz, who is whiter than I am. If he could have made that allegation against Hillary Clinton or Ron DeSantis, he would have.
Over at Power Line, John Hinderaker reminds us of an aspect of Trump’s Obama trolling that has never been adequately publicized. Quoting the Times piece’s description of Trump’s record of racism as being established by his “stoking discomfort with the election of Barack Obama, the nation’s first Black president — the beginning of the so-called birther movement,” Hinderaker points out,
“It was Obama who claimed to have been born in Kenya. That is what his official biography said for more than a decade. If he had been born in Kenya, he would not be a “natural born Citizen” and thus ineligible to be president. Trump was wrong because Obama lied; he actually was born in Honolulu. But the controversy over his citizenship had nothing to do with his race.“
One of the many ways the news media pulled Barack Obama over the finish line into the White House in 2008 was by deliberately ignoring his myth-filled autobiography. Republicans ignored it too, because they—well, not Trump, but most of them— were terrified of being called racists for criticizing anything about Obama other than his policies. Hinderacker’s point is dead-on: Barack Obama himself was responsible for the “birther” accusations, but to this day it is cited as the smoking gun evidence that Donald Trump is a white supremacist.
Ethics Alarms 
Back in 2016, in the weeks following Trump’s election to the Presidency, the mainstream media made a loud, public display of navel gazing regarding how it had missed Trump’s appeal, and how it needed to do a better job of understanding the people who voted him in.
Now, they’re making precisely the same mistakes again, proving that the mainstream media has precisely the same learning curve as Trump: dead flat. How ironic.
If the world and the nation were in one of our occasional periods of comparative tranquility, this would be comical – even borderline hilarious. Instead, we have social instability domestically, a tinderbox on a world stage that senses American weakness, and a senile crook of a President who would have been unequal to any of the tasks before him back when he was in his prime.
So, it’s not funny. It’s downright terrifying.
These are villains, morons and assholes. No other descriptors will do.
Thanks for the comment: the last two days have been the worst non-holiday, non-weekend commenting drought ever. No clue why…
The bag of anti-Trump propaganda has several tried-and-true weapons in them. This is one of the more enduring ones. It’s not too different from the anti-gun propaganda, the accusation changes based on the narrative. Like George H.W. Bush and John McCain before her, Nikki Haley is credited with victimhood only to spread disinformation about Trump. If he were out of the way, they wouldn’t give her a second thought, just as they used targeted propaganda against McCain, Romney, Dole and both Bushes.
The word “racist” has lost its attack power. As several have said, “When everything is racist, nothing is racist.” It’s hard to have a real debate on any issue when that word is thrown about so cavalierly. Maybe those prone to that technique need to re-read “The Boy Who Cried Wolf.”
“On Friday, Mr. Trump referred to Ms. Haley as “Nimbra” in a post on Truth Social, his social media platform, three days after facing criticism for dubbing her “Nimrada.” Ms. Haley has long gone by her middle name, Nikki.
Both are racist dog whistles, much like his continued focus on Mr. Obama’s middle name, Hussein, “
Seems pretty accurate to me. Reed
Right, Bob. So Trump making fun of every other politician’s name, height, penis size etc, is just nastiness, but when the target isn’t white, it’s racist. The “Hussein” wasn’t racist either, just a cheap shot and a way to emphasize Obama’s Muslim background. Trump is an equal opportunity asshole. Do you really doubt that if Ron DeSantis’s middle name was “Hussein” Trump wouldn’t be using it at every opportunity?
(Who’s “Reed”?)
No. Depends what he’s making fun of the non-white person for.
In this specific situation (and calling Obama Hussein) is saying “Don’t forget…Nikki is an Indian…you wouldn’t vote for an Indian right?”
That’s the racist dog whistle.
“ a way to emphasize Obama’s Muslim background.”
That’s…that’s a racist dog whistle.
No, Bob “Islam” isn’t a race. I’m Greek: if my name was Perlupadippolus and I changed it to Marshall having been Christened in the Greek Orthodox Church, I would expect Trump to makes some kind of dumb joke about it.
You know that old saying about if the only tool you have is a hammer? Racist dog-whistles are the nails for a lot of misguided people, which is why they work well for the race-baiters at the Times.
My maiden name is Greek and was found to be practically unpronounceable by all of my peers and most of my teachers. The playground bullies always found ways to belittle me for my last name, though the most common, and the one that sent little me home in tears was taking my first name, and rhyming it with my last name saying only a bad disease could be called Saropoulos, so I must be infectious. They made up symptoms to the disease every single day. I’m as white as any non-albino out there, if not more. (My mom’s side of the family has some Norwegian and Irish, and while they all manage to Mediterranean-style tan out, I got the recessive pasty, sickly, and especially pale, skin genes.) This wasn’t racist.
Even through college, jokes about my name were continually made. One of my professors pulled me aside to comment on the fact that I didn’t look like I should have a weird name like that. “You must be either Greek or Thai and you don’t look like either.”
Another kid I knew in school had a hard to pronounce last name that started with the letters STR so he was called strawberry, to the same degree. He was white. Pols get lots of teasing for the names with 7 consonants in a row and that isn’t racist. My great uncle’s name was Athanasius but he got so much crap for it that he went by Tom.
Odd names always get teased by people with schoolkid mentalities. The boys and girls on the playground take names and do cruel stuff to them to make themselves look cooler, and this attitude of being obnoxious often remains cool to adults, who always seem to promote the obnoxious jerks. Hussein, Nimarata, and even Barack are odd names. Heck, who forgets that kids named Todd tend to be called Odd Todd. Donald Trump, a successful man, never left the playground bully phase, like so many other rich and successful people, probably because he found it to be a key to success.
At no point is this name calling racist. Sure, it is a sign of an asshole. If we want to say that this behavior shows that Donald Trump does not have the character to be President, well, I won’t disagree. However, we cannot keep harping on non-racist behavior being racist and hope to be taken seriously.
If Donald Trump does something racist, I don’t know if I’ll even consider learning about it. (Personal bias alert!) I’ve heard wolf so often now, that I am not listening to any more cries, even if they do seem to be in pain.
…is saying “Don’t forget…Nikki is an Indian…you wouldn’t vote for an Indian right?”
It’s a very dangerous thing to try interpret the thoughts of anyone, including (and especially) President Trump. He may have been simply twisting her birth name to sound like “nimrod”, which people from my generation use to denote a stupid person or a dullard. I still use that word in that context from time to time…and in that sense, it isn’t racist.
You might not like my guess as to the meaning of his usage – you may not agree with it at all – but a “a guess” it has every chance of being just as accurate as “your guess”.
…and President Trump is still the grade-school bully and jerk that us weaker kids sometimes wished we could just beat the crap out of.
It does seem so many times we comment about Trump, there has to be the caveat of “Yes, he’s an asshole,” before proceeding on to defend him.
The likening to “Nimrod” seems likely to me, as well, but I would take Trump’s derisive statement toward Haley as “She’s a fake, because she goes by her more English-sounding middle name instead of her first name, all to garner more votes.” But then, I can see that as an interpretation because I actually dislike people changing their names to sound more culturally appropriate. (I actually struggle with: shouldn’t we all be saying “Yeshuah” instead of “Jesus”? Yes, I need help.) My point here is that what we accuse Trump of doing just as often points at our own biases instead of his supposed flaws.
Calling an Indian working at a 7-11 “Apu” is not racist. It is impolite, certainly, but no more so than referring to a tall, muscular, blond-haired man as “Hans” is racist. Referring to someone by a character or trope from well-known cultural sources is meant to convey a great deal of information briefly. If I have a friend who is an over-acting philanderer, I might refer to him as “Captain Kirk”, and people would understand what I’m saying about him. The only reason for anyone to claim the “Apu” comment is racist is because they are preconditioned to latch onto anything they can as racist.
It is funny. The current progressive/Marxist/DEI cant is that it is racist to call for a colorblind society. But as soon as we make any mention of someone’s color/ethnicity/etc, it is racist. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. As CBP said above, when everything is racist, then nothing is.
“ Trump, like the arrested 12-year-old he is, mocks his opponents in play-ground level insults any way he can. It’s stupid. It’s one of the traits that makes trusting him to handle power responsible unacceptably risky. It is not racist.”
It is racist dog whistle. Like calling the Indian guy working at 7-11 “Apu”
You know, dog whistles are called that because only dogs can hear them.
Logically, then, a racist dog whistle must be something that only a racist (or perhaps a dog (or a racist dog?) could hear.
Soooo…….how is it you’re able to hear these whistles?
Bob, the Janis Joplin song was not about you.
I need some help. If a man from India is working in a 7-11 and his name (or shortened version of his name) is Apu, how do I comport myself in a way that would not be racist? Do I try to guess what Apu’s full name is and then mangle the pronunciation?
I’m not Indian. I have never been to India. Am I required to learn the origin of “Apu” before I walk in to the store?
Should I hang around outside of the store and ask customers about the name of the man? Then what? Find another person from India and ask if “Apu” is a racist dog whistle?
For all I know, the man’s chosen name is Apu. It’s on his name tag. It’s the name he responds to. Is it my duty to research the name and, if it can be construed as a racist insult, tell Apu that he shouldn’t go by his chosen moniker?
I’m looking for the racism you cite; I can’t find it. I can’t find it impolite, either. I’ve dealt with actual racists in my life, and calling people names, especially politicians, is what Trump does; no one is exempted.
Whaaa? Obama Lied???
This feels like a deliberately exaggerated reaction, but this is genuinely my first time learning Obama himself claimed to be born in Kenya.
Le sigh