Larry Elder on Trump on ol' Uncle Maxine

I actually think that, of all the forms of bigotry that Trump is accused of, the charge of sexism—not racism—is the one most likely to stick. Donald Trump used to own the Miss USA pageant, for example, so he's obviously used to thinking of women as commodities, and this impression is reinforced by his series of trophy wives—most of whom did (and do) have brains and personalities of their own (Melania speaks several languages, as has been widely pointed out), but who were also undeniably trophies in terms of their looks. Trump's insulting "Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that?" regarding Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, back during the 2016 debates, is another very public example of Trump's lack of hesitancy when it comes to instantly judging a woman's looks (or, rather, judging a woman by her looks). It also doesn't help matters that two dozen women still stand at the ready to accuse Trump of varying degrees of sexual harassment and assault—a matter that probably won't resolve itself until after Trump's second term, when he'll be around 78 years old (assuming he lives that long, of course)—as feeble and doddering as Ronald Reagan at the end of his tenure.

Meanwhile, there is no direct, concrete evidence that Donald Trump is a racist. The evidence, in fact, seems to show otherwise. Lately, black and Latino unemployment figures are at record lows. Is that something a racist would push for? Photos of Trump with the likes of Al Sharpton, Muhammad Ali, and Rosa Parks are in the public domain, easily accessible to anyone open-minded enough to seek them out. Would a racist receive an award, alongside Ali and Parks, for promoting racial harmony? Calling Maxine Waters an idiot doesn't make Trump racist. Maxine Waters is an idiot, and that has nothing to do with the color of her skin. Idiots come in all shapes and sizes. Telling members of "the Squad" that they ought to return to the lands of their births, solve the problems there, then come back and teach the rest of us how to solve problems in this country—that's not racist, either. To claim that Trump was racist because the four women of the Squad are women "of color," as the parlance goes, is to psychologize, i.e., to claim to read Trump's mind. You think you know what Trump intended when he targeted those women? You're telepathic? Well, what's your evidence that the alternative explanation isn't true: that Trump was calling these women out for having been vocally disloyal—each in her own slimy, slithery way—to the United States despite holding seats in Congress? You have no such evidence, which makes you as much of an idiot as Maxine Waters. Granted: the only member of the Squad actually born outside the US is Ilhan Omar, so if you think Trump is an idiot for telling the other three women to go back to their supposed homelands, I'm not going to argue with you. It was an idiotic way to phrase whatever he was trying to say. Trump is no wordsmith; we need only consult his cringe-inducing record on Twitter to confirm that. (And unlike Styx, I don't buy into the theory that Trump is actually a competent writer who is deliberately misspelling and flubbing the grammar of his tweets as a way to make people pay attention to them. This isn't 4-D chess; it's D-level English.)

You want to convince me that Trump is a racist? Then provide direct evidence of his racism. Present to me an audio recording of Trump saying "nigger" or declaring that whites built America, own America, and will always rule this land. Present to me some Wikileaks emails from Trump in which he talks about "the master race." Give me something real. All the rabid left has provided, thus far, is "evidence" that must be interpreted a certain way to be considered evidence at all. Trump said, during the 2016 campaign, that Mexicans are bringing crime, drugs, and rape into the US. That must be racist, right? Well, it's not. The word "Mexican" doesn't denote a race, fool. Plus, there are facts to back up the idea that crime, drugs, and rape tend to rise in areas where illegal border crossings are happening. (And if you want more data than US data, look at Sweden. Or France. Or England. Or... you get the picture.) Or what about when Trump said that US District Judge Gonzalo Curiel might have a conflict of interest in the Trump University case because of his "Mexican heritage"? Do you think that was racist? Once again: the word "Mexican" doesn't—denote—a—race. Get that through your thick skull. And besides, Trump may have had good reason to question Judge Curiel's objectivity. What about when Trump supposedly said, during the Charlottesville incident, that there were "good people on both sides"? Was he giving a pass to white supremacists? No, and shame on you for believing fake news. These bits of so-called "evidence" of Trump's racism are worth absolutely nothing. Give me direct, concrete, material evidence, though, and I'll get on my knees and apologize to you for having been so mistaken about Trump. But I don't think you can ever provide such evidence because such evidence doesn't exist. As Styx says: Trump doesn't have a racist bone in his body.

In short: Larry Elder makes good points, and the people accusing Trump of racism are hypocrites with their heads rammed firmly up their asses. But as far as I'm concerned, if you want to accuse Trump of sexism, there's plenty of direct evidence for that accusation.