Update for 24 July 2020
U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX-01) calls on Congress to ban any political organization or party that has ever held a public position supporting slavery or the Confederate States of America, citing the racist history of the Democratic party. (https://youtu.be/lRR5IQmMXEU)
JOE BIDEN, THE DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE, on Wednesday called President Trump the country’s first racist to be elected to the White House.
The Washington Post reported that Biden said that Trump frequently refers to the pandemic as the “China virus,” saying, “the way he deals with people based on the color of their skin, their national origin, where they’re from, is absolutely sickening.”
“No sitting president has ever done this,” Biden said. “Never, never, never. No Republican president has done this. No Democratic president. We’ve had racists, and they’ve existed, they’ve tried to get elected president. He’s the first one that has.”1
TO ITS CREDIT, the left-leaning WashPost did challenge Biden’s remark: Though Biden calls Trump the first racist to be president, history shows the United States has had leaders who either were openly racist, such as enslavers, used racist language, expressed racist views, or enacted racist policies.
Symone Sanders, a Biden campaign senior adviser, acknowledged that although Trump isn’t the first racist president, he’s unique in modern history.
“There have been a number of racist American presidents, but Trump stands out — especially in modern history — because he made running on racism and division his calling card and won,” Sanders said.
WHO IS A “RACIST”?
Katrina Pierson, a Trump campaign senior adviser, did directly address Biden’s comments, calling them “an insult to the intelligence of black voters” and pointed to remarks Biden has made in the past. Biden last year faced criticism from his Democratic primary opponents when he spoke favorably of his ability to work with segregationist senators, and he once had to apologize for calling Barack Obama “the first mainstream African American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.”
There is no question that Trump has called the Covid-19 virus the “Chinese virus.” That is where the virus originated; about that there also is no question. Unlike the mis-named “Spanish Flu”2 of 1918, this malady’s point of origin is correctly identified.
How identifying a killer by its point of origin is “racist” is beyond this scrivener’s comprehension. True, Trump HAS complained that China has taken advantage of the U.S. (under both Democrat and Republican administrations) and, true, Trump has moved to punish China for its behavior; still, as with the “Chinese” flu, the truth is the truth, no matter who speaks it.
- Not all influenza pandemics originate in China, albeit most do start there.
The “Swine Flu” epidemic originated in Veracruz, Mexico. Health workers traced the virus to a pig farm in this southeastern Mexican state.3
A few “racist” presidents
Martin Van Buren ordered the U.S. Army into the Cherokee Nation. The soldiers rounded up as many Cherokees as they could into temporary stockades and subsequently marched the captives, led by John Ross, to the Indian Territory in 1838 and 1839.4
Chester A. Arthur signed the "Chinese Exclusion Act" passed by Congress in 18825, provided an absolute 10-year moratorium on Chinese labor immigration.
Abraham Lincoln stated, "I am not, nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people, I as much as any man am in favor of the superior position assigned to the white race." (The Emancipation Proclamation did not apply to areas which were loyal to, or controlled by, the Union. Slavery was not actually abolished in the U.S. until the passage of the 13th Amendment which was declared ratified on December 6, 1865.)6 Lincoln's remarks may be why the so-called Black Lives Matter miscreants attempted to deface the Lincoln Monument.
In 1864, Lincoln was president when deportation of the Navajos by the U.S. government occurred when 8,000 Navajos were forcibly relocated to an internment camp in Bosque Redondo, where, under armed guards, more than 3,500 Navajo and Mescalero Apache men, women, and children died from starvation and disease.
Then there was Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
FDR interned thousands of Japanese because they were Japanese. He feared a Fifth Column. (He ALWAYS suspected anyone outside his social set of being part of a Fifth Column.) Being a fair man, he also sent a few Germans and Italians to camp, as well.7 Eleanor Roosevelt, a fierce proponent of civil rights, hoped to change her husband’s mind, but when she brought the subject up with him, he interrupted her and told her never to mention it again.
FDR repeatedly ignored Jewish appeals to accept refugees from the nazis. Initially because he wanted to remain on good trading terms with the nazi government.
According to Rafael Medoff, in his book The Jews Should Keep Quiet, 8
- The U.S. immigration system severely limited the number of German Jews admitted during the nazi years to about 26,000 annually — but even that quota was less than 25% filled during most of the Hitler era, because the Roosevelt administration piled on so many extra requirements for would-be immigrants. For example, starting in 1941, merely leaving behind a close relative in Europe would be enough to disqualify an applicant — on the absurd assumption that the nazis could threaten the relative and thereby force the immigrant into spying for Hitler.
In 1923, as a member of the Harvard board of directors, Roosevelt decided there were too many Jewish students at the college and helped institute a quota to limit the number admitted. In 1938, he privately suggested that Jews in Poland were dominating the economy and were therefore to blame for provoking anti-Semitism there. In 1941, he remarked at a Cabinet meeting that there were too many Jews among federal employees in Oregon. In 1943, he told government officials in Allied-liberated North Africa that the number of local Jews in various professions “should be definitely limited” so as to “eliminate the specific and understandable complaints which the Germans bore towards the Jews in Germany.”
Unfortunately, FDR’s anti-Semitism can fill a book — and it did. Portions of the book (ibid.) may be read at https://tinyurl.com/yyez6qye .
The Clintons “Crime Bill Destroyed Our Communities,” a reference to the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, which is now considered a disaster because it caused the incarceration rate among the black community to skyrocket. The legislation was such a debacle that Mr. Clinton said last year he regrets signing the bill. But at Thursday’s rally, the former president angrily attempted to justify another Clinton outrage from 1994: Ms. Clinton calling black gang members “super predators” who must be “brought to heel.”9
Bill Clinton10 “has no civil rights policy. He has, in fact, failed to address concretely the issue of racism, and instead has made every effort to distance himself from civil rights advocates.” Herbert Hill 11
Barack Obama12 is a liberal who cannot deal with a conservative, He
- (a) snubbed Israel’s prime minister 13
(b) gave the PLO/PFLP US$221 million on his last day in office14
Obama’s decision not to block a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements laid bare all the grievances the two men have nursed since shortly after they took office in 2009. For Mr. Netanyahu, it was the final betrayal by a president who was supposed to be an ally but never really was. For Mr. Obama, it was the inevitable result of Mr. Netanyahu’s own stubborn defiance of international concerns with his policies.
Short list
Harry S Truman, of Missouri, did what FDR would not do: he integrated the military. Truman also appointed the first black to a Cabinet position.
Dwight D. Eisenhower, did what FDR would not do; he integrated schools.
Lyndon Baines Johnson of Texas, did what FDR would not do; he created the Great Society. While FDR created a multitude of programs during the depression, most benefited whites; LBJ’s plan was (more or less) color blind.
Richard M. Nixon didn’t particularly like Jews, but despite his Secretary of State, he aided Israel when it needed help.
Geo. Bush appointed Colin Powell as the first black Secretary of State. Condoleezza Rice was the second black Secretary of State; appointed to the post in Bush’s second term.
Is he senile, ignorant, or both?
Something obviously is wrong with a man who neither knows history nor listens to his handlers who (apparently) tried to shield him from this latest gaffe, his latest “foot in mouth” performance.
Trump is not a racist — he has brought more blacks into office than any president before him.
Because he wants to build a wall to keep out illegals, especially drug smugglers and assorted violent criminals, does that make him a racist? Or does that make him an American president trying to uphold the Constitution and protect ALL of America’s citizens.
Has he, like Biden, put his foot in his mouth and said, or tweeted, something unpresidential. Without a doubt.
Is Trump the best man for the office?
No, but he is better than the alternative (Biden).
Americans are facing an election between Tweedledee and Tweedledum.
Unfortunately it also is an election between the rule of law and anarchists; the middle ground is deserted by any and all who might bring reason and civility to the table.
America is in sad straits, difficult times.
There are those — China for example — waiting for America to falter, to become a second class nation such as England and those that populate Europe.
If anyone wants to discuss racism and freedoms, look to China where racism abounds (ask a Muslim) and freedoms do not.
Trump may not be the best candidate, but he is better than the Democrat alternative.
Parting thought
During the campaign, Biden has forgotten Barack Obama’s name repeatedly, proclaimed he was running for Senate, declared that over 150 million people have been killed by gun violence since 2007, confused his wife with his sister, confused Angela Merkel with Margaret Thatcher, and confused Theresa May twice with Margaret Thatcher. He’s issued an endless litany of baffling and embarrassing statements, including, “Tomorrow’s Super Thursday,” “We choose truth over facts,” “Poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids,” “Why, why, why, why, why, why, why?” and “We hold these truths to be self-evident: all men and women created by the, go, you know the, you know the thing.”
The Best of Biden: https://youtu.be/1VMKF3lRoqw
More on Biden's faux pas at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzBdBj5QWyY
Sources
1 Washington Post: https://tinyurl.com/y5axejr5
2. “Spanish flu”: https://tinyurl.com/rmv6v9x
3. “Swine flu”: https://tinyurl.com/y2l6bmyh
4. Van Buren: https://tinyurl.com/yc8p76oy
5. Arthur: https://tinyurl.com/yacyswvt
6. Lincoln: https://tinyurl.com/y37v8l82
7. FDR & Japanese: https://tinyurl.com/yahl2s3g
8. FDR & Jews: The Jews Should Keep Quiet, Rafael Medoff, JPS, ISBN 978-0-8276-1470-30
9. Clintons: https://tinyurl.com/y3fr85g6
10. Clinton: Racism or Realpolitik? www.jstor.com
11. Hill: https://tinyurl.com/y3j7uzfk
12. Obama: https://tinyurl.com/y5rmwyqv
13. Obama & Netanyahu: https://tinyurl.com/yxbpv2et
14: Obama & PLO/PFLP: https://tinyurl.com/y399b8nh
PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.
Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.
Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.
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