July 15, 2019

The Worst Responses to Trump’s Racist Tweets

No YOU’RE the racist!

Ron Sachs/CNP via Zuma

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While President Donald Trump continues to double down on his racist weekend tweetstorm, his fiercest defenders are contorting themselves to try to explain that, actually, those comments weren’t racist. 

On Sunday, Trump unleashed a string of attacks on four freshman Democratic congresswomen of color—Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, collectively known as “The Squad”—urging them to “go back” to the “crime infested” countries they came from. (Only one of them, Omar, was born abroad.) It immediately sparked outrage from all over the world, uniting Democrats (whose very public feud was the original source of Trump’s tweets) and causing #RacistInChief to trend on Twitter. 

Trump has since doubled down on his tweets, saying that he doesn’t need to apologize for anything and that, actually, he deserves an apology from the congresswomen he attacked. And his people have his back. Here’s a roundup of some of the worst defenses of Trump’s tweets: 

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.): On Fox & Friends, Graham defended the president by calling Ocasio-Cortez and the rest of The Squad anti-American and anti-Semitic communists. (Trump quote-tweeted Graham’s comments shortly after they aired.) 

Trump 2020 campaign deputy communications director Matt Wolking: Wolking emphasized that the president said that the congresswomen should “come back” after telling them to “go back” to the countries they came from, and anyone who doesn’t include that coda is a liar: 

Acting US Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Ken Cuccinelli: Asked by CNN on Monday morning if he thought the tweets were racist, Cuccinelli claimed he hadn’t seen the tweets yet: 

Except that on Sunday, he was just on CNN, where he was read the tweets: 

Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.): Harris told a reporter that Trump’s tweets “obviously weren’t racist” because the president was telling the congresswomen to go back to their home districts, not countries:

Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.): Blunt also backed the president, but skirted the question of racism and instead attacked the Democratic Party in general:

Marc Short, chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence: Short went on to Fox News to let viewers know that Trump can’t have “racist motives” because he appointed Elaine Chao, who is Asian American, as his transportation secretary: 

Brit Hume: Then there’s this academic argument from Fox News’ Hume that Trump’s tweets don’t meet the “standard definition” of racist, so everyone should stop using that word: 

He then cited Merriam-Webster’s definition of racism… 

…but neglected to mention the other three definitions: 

Bill Mitchell: The worst defense came from Mitchell, a right-wing radio host, who argued that Trump’s tweets weren’t racist, and you’re racist for thinking that:  

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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