Defining Racism; Donald Trump in Question

What is so endearing about Donald Trump is that he speaks from his heart.  

In the Trump University case, he said the ruling was unfair and the judge incompetent. Not equipped with cerebral tools, Trump reached into his bag of emotional cliches and suggested Judge Curiel's  Mexican heritage improperly guided his decision. These are charges to be handled by attorneys and appeals procedures, but Trump is a cheerleader. On any topic he is the opening act for lively discussion.  

His cryptic remark in this case set the stage for a few days of national discussion on racism while the details of the case and justice of the decision were hustled off-stage.    The problem is that when challenged, Trump simply repeats himself. He barks out arousing one-liners, then leaves his followers to come up with a script. This week we listened in vain for any media attention or panel discussions about the details of the Trump University case. The question was narrowed to one issue: Is Trump a racist, or is he not?

The facts: Judge Curiel was born and raised in Indiana, has a vetted reputation for fairness, and is even on record for ruling against a Mexican in a notable court battle.  Trump  had nothing enlightening to say about his school's case.  He only offered an attitudinal judgment about Curiel.  Trump's remark is classic racism; wrapped in transparent emotion from losing in court.  

I have never heard anyone accused of being a racist who ever admitted it.  Indeed, Trump says he is "the least racist you have ever seen."  To admit being a racist fatally undermines the validity of your convictions.  To convince others of the integrity of your opinions you have to deny the emotional fount from which they arise. If your disagreement with a person of another race has substance, then race does not enter the picture.  A solid opinion is not enhanced by unsupported emotion. With the lack of appending judicially crafted "reasons," Trump's ethnic slur became racism on parade.

In one televised panel discussion, a Trump defender lamely explained that whether a person is a racist or not depends on his motivation; that is, if he does not mean ill toward the other person, his remark is unstained by prejudice.   But does anyone really think that Trump's impugning a respected American born jurist as incapacitated by foreign ethnicity, was anything but a barbed arrow?  

During this year's presidential campaign, each time Trump has been called out for an outrageous statement, his pattern has been to double down and rub it in.  That is what so many people like about him--he doesn't back away. This time, however, as the presumptive Republican nominee, his need to reel in the establishment folk of his party is hard pressing. He apparently recognized he had a problem.  No, he didn't withdraw his racist claim about the judge, he just said he didn't mean it as it was taken.  Note this is not a retracting of the words used, it is a repainting of them.  

Trump's commentary about people in general is to call them foreigners, liars, ugly or deformed, weak, female, etc. His consistent mode is to attack the personhood of those who criticize him. If he were to follow his advice to protesters at his rallies, he would sucker punch the judge if had the chance. In contrast, the fine leaders he says he admires are fellow bullies like Putin, Kim Jong-il, or cross burning crusaders.  If Trump has other, unemotional reasons for his negative opinion of Curiel, I'll be listening. But the man is not strong on "reasons." 

Actually I think Trump is mostly "talk."  He is an effective motivational speaker if arousal is what is sought.  Mitt Romney, though,  just chimed in saying he fears Trump will foster "trickle down racism" nationally.  You may expect that if he becomes President, his arousal abilities will have international implications.

I am scheduled to give a lecture in July on why certain U.S. Presidents are consistently ranked "greatest" among the forty-three in polling surveys. I predict that Trump has a solid chance to bump Warren G. Harding one step up off the bottom rung.

Trump may be a stirring phrase maker, but I don't think he will find a hood and robe hanging in a White House closet alongside a copy of the Constitution.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Doug Good