WTF 7/3/2024

Hey, Donald Trump — what exactly do you mean by a ‘Black job’?

I didn’t watch the recent so-called presidential debate between Biden and Trump. And truth be told  I never watch political debates. In any election in which I will vote I prefer to conduct my own research on the candidates and then make my choice based upon who I believe will best serve my interests and the interests of the working class as well as the most disadvantaged of we the people of this country.

I did read about the debate however and from what I gather Biden didn’t have the best performance that he could have had and Trump… a per his usual… lied his ass off.

There was also one op-ed  I read by Leonard Greene that did grab my attention when Mr. Greene asked the question… “Hey, Donald Trump — what exactly do you mean by a ‘Black job?’”

He points out that various social media sites have been alive with folks who have also been struggling with the same question since Trump coined the phrase during his debate with the man he is trying not replace in the White House.

The piece being referenced is where Trump claimed that the immigrants coming into the country across the southern border  were “… taking Black jobs now, and it could be 18, it could be 19 and even 20 million people. They’re taking Black jobs, and they’re taking Hispanic jobs, and you haven’t seen it yet, but you’re gonna see something that’s going to be the worst in our history.”

And maybe even more mind boggling was that post debate there was Trump doubling down two days later at  rally in Virginia saying immigration is “the worst thing that’s happening” to Black people because immigrants are “taking the Black jobs.”

And maybe even more flabbergasting was Sen. Marco Rubio trying to spin doctor Trump’s words into a positive by saying. “When you flood a country with millions of people you’re going to have more competition for work. You are. And those workers are willing to do it at a lower wage.”

What Rubio did accomplish was to essentially confirm what Trump had inferred with his debate comment from the get go that “Black jobs” are … low-wage jobs.

And allow me to point out this crap from Trump… this racist bullshit… is nothing new that spews forth from Trump’s lips.

Let me count the ways…

• In 1973, the Justice Department sued Trump Management.., i.e., Donald Trump and his father Fred… for discrimination against African Americans in their renting practices that was based upon evidence that Testers from the New York City Human Rights Division showed that prospective black renters at Trump buildings were told there were no apartments available, while prospective White renters were offered apartments at the same buildings. In fact during the investigation, four of Trump’s agents admitted to using a “C” (for “colored”) or “9” code to label Black applicants and stated that they were not allowed to rent to black tenants,” and that prospective Black renters should be sent to the central office while white renters could have their applications accepted on site. Plus three doormen testified that if Black people came to inquire about rentals they were to tell those prospective Black renters that the rental costs were outrageously high or that there were simply no vacancies available. And finally Elyse Goldweber, the Justice Department lawyer tasked with taking Trump’s deposition, has stated that during a coffee break Trump said to her directly, “You know, you don’t want to live with them either.”

A settlement was reached in 1975 where Trump pledged to familiarize himself with the Fair Housing Act and had to take out an ad welcoming Black applicants s for his rental properties.

Which was all to no avail because in 1978 The Trump Organization was sued for violating terms of the 1975 settlement by continuing to refuse to rent to black tenants; Trump and his lawyer Roy Cohn denied the charges.

Yet as late as 1983 the Metropolitan Action Institute noted that two Trump Village properties were still over 95% White.

• In John O’Donnell in his 1991 book Trumped! quoted Trump as allegedly saying: “I’ve got black accountants at Tru7mp Castle and at Trump Plaza. Black guys counting my money! I hate it. The only kind of people I want counting my money are short guys wearing yarmulkes… Those are the only kind of people I want counting my money. Nobody else… Besides that, I’ve got to tell you something else. I think that the guy’s lazy. And it’s probably not his fault because laziness is a trait in blacks.

In a 1997 Playboy interview Trump said, “The stuff O’Donnell wrote about me is probably true.”

• In April 2005, Trump appeared on Howard Stern’s radio show, where Trump proposed that the fourth seson season of his TV show The Apprentices should feature an exclusively white team of blondes competing against a team of only African-Americans. The proposal was rejected by television executives at NBC.

However, the actual fourth season of The Apprentice concluded with Trump asking the male African-American winner of the season, Randal Pinkett, to share the honor with the runner-up, a white woman. Pinkett said this was “racist”

• Trump has also been accused of using racial slurs during filming of The Apprentice. Former Apprentice contestant and former Trump administration communications director Omarosa Manigault Newman said that Trump used “the N-word and others.” And Bill Pruitt, co-producer of Season One of The Apprentice also claimed that Trump used a racial slur during filming of the show.

• In 1989 five black and Latino boys were wrongfully convicted of raping a woman jogging in New York City. Leading the charge against them was a real estate mogul Donald Trump who reputedly paid $85,000 to take out advertising space in four of New York City’s newspapers, including the New York Times that was headline with “Bring Back The Death Penalty. Bring Back Our Police!”

Above his signature, Trump wrote: “I want to hate these muggers and murderers. They should be forced to suffer and, when they kill, they should be executed for their crimes. They must serve as examples so that others will think long and hard before committing a crime or an act of violence.”

The five males were officially exonerated in 2002, based on a confession by an imprisoned serial rapist that was confirmed by DNA evidence from a semen sample.

Yet as late as late as 2019 Trump was still insisting the five men were guilty and the exoneration should never had taken place.

• Prior to and during the 2016 campaign, Trump used his political platform to spread disparaging messages against various racial groups. Trump has claimed at various times that “the overwhelming amount of violent crime in our cities is committed by blacks and Hispanics” and that “there’s killings on an hourly basis virtually in places like Baltimore and Chicago and many other places.” On another occasion he once said, “There are places in America that are among the most dangerous in the world. You go to places like Oakland. Or Ferguson. The crime numbers are worse. Seriously.”

Plus he has said on various social media platforms that 81% of white murder victims were killed by black people when according to a 2014 FBI report the actual percentage was 15%.  

• From 2011 to 2016, Trump was a leading proponent of the debunked birther conspiracy theory that said that Barack Obama was not born in the United States.

• In 2018 Trump referred to El Salvador, Haiti and various African countries as “shitholes.”

• In 2107, after former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick chose not to stand during the playing of the national anthem as a form of protest against racism and police brutality, he aid to a very white crowd, “You know what’s hurting the game? When people like yourselves turn on television, and you see those people taking the knee when they are playing our great national anthem.”

• In July 2019, Trump said that four Democratic congresswomen of color, three of whom were American-born: “Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime-infested places from which they came. Then come back and show us how it is done.”

He later denied his comments were racist, saying “if somebody has a problem with our country, if somebody doesn’t want to be in our country, they should leave.

And I’ll stop here…

I think my point is established. Trump has a proven history of being a racist and of making racist comments.  

So his words during the debate shouldn’t Be a shock but sadly and truthfully they are.

Yet he persists in trying to convince Black folks he has their best interests at heart by  saying “I’ve said this, and I say it openly and not a lot of people dispute it: I’ve done more for Black Americans than anybody with the possible exception of Abraham Lincoln. Nobody has even been close.”

And the obviously racist nonsense he recently told a Black Conservative Federation’s annual convention when he said, “I got indicted for nothing, for something that is nothing. They were doing it because it’s election interference. And then I got indicted for a second time, a third time and a fourth time, and a lot of people said that that’s why the Black people like me because they’ve been hurt so badly and discriminated against.”

And…

“I’m being indicted for you, the Black population.”

And finally…

“The mug shot, we’ve all seen the mug shot. And you know who embraced it more than anybody else? The Black population. It’s incredible. You see Black people walking around with my mug shot on the shirts.”

For the record…

There’s no such thing as a Black job or Hispanic job or a white job or any kind of job except just jobs.

However as Greens did conclude in his op-ed…

“Your one Black Job this Fall, dear Americans, is to vote for Biden. Jill will wake him on time.”

Biden isn’t popular… but his policies sure are.

A recent blind test conducted by YouGov asked a selection of we the people in America  what they thought about major policies proposed by Joe Biden and Donald Trump without specifying who proposed the policies. The goal being how to see how the public perceived political ideas when stripped of tribal associations.

Of the 28 Biden proposals YouGov asked about, 27 were supported by more people than opposed them.

And maybe most importantly 24 of Biden’s policies got more than 50% of respondents supporting his ideas.

Among his most popular ideas were his proposal requiring criminal and mental background checks for all gun purchases… supported by 82% of the respondents… a group that included  70% of voters who self-identified as Trump supporters.

Trump’s policies did a lot worse…

Of his 28 proposals, only 9 even got at least plurality support (more people supported than opposed them). And even more troubling just 6 of Trump’s proposals were favored by a majority of respondents.

Yet here we are just months away from the November election and Biden’s approval rating is oftentimes in the shitter.

The fact he trails Trump in many polls is frankly amazing considering that when his ideas are presented without his name attached people for the most part like those  ideas.

When polls asked people for their opinion when the two men had their names included people tended t go with Trump over Biden.

For example, recent polls say that voters trust Trump more than Biden on guns and gun violence… yet… the YouGov poll with their names excluded says the exact opposite… that prefer Biden’s approach to gun policy, which not only includes requiring background checks for all gun purchases but also banning sales of assault-style rifles.

And…

In recent polls Trump opinions on the economy and taxes are preferred over Biden’s.

But according to the YouGov poll Biden’s ideas… including a proposals to raise taxes on billionaires and increasing the minimum wage… are in general more to we the people’s liking than Trump’s ideas.

All I can say is go fucking figure… and…

I’m not the biggest Biden supporter out there. Frankly I don’t like the guy a whole hell of a lot. Going back to when he was a senator and Bill Clinton was president and the two of them were behind creating and passing a law that sent a lot of people to prison for a hell of long time. And Biden bragged about being the force behind the creation of the law.

But in 2024 I’ll vote for Biden and his policies of today over anything that that the lying, sniveling, bullshitting con artist Trump has to offer.

And y’all should too.

The Supreme Court ruling and presidential immunity…

The Supreme Court recently ruled that former president Donald Trump is immune from prosecution for his “official acts” in office. 

In a 6-3 ruling split along ideological lines the Court ruled that former president Trump is immune from prosecution for official acts taken while in office, but not for private conduct.

Broadly, that immunity has referred to the legal theory that past and current presidents have some protections from legal accountability. In the context of Monday’s Supreme Court decision, it is the ruling that Trump and others are absolutely immune to prosecution for actions taken while exercising their “core constitutional powers,” and entitled to the presumption of immunity for their official acts. It does not provide a shield for private or unofficial acts.

Specifically included in the Court’s ruling was that official conduct for which Trump is immune from prosecution includes his discussions with Justice Department officials in the wake of the 2020 presidential election, during which he sought to convince them to aggressively pursue unfounded claims of election fraud.

Simply put I totally am in agreement with Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s opinion that said the ruling would make protected, including a president staging a military coup, having a rival assassinated or taking a bribe in exchange for a pardon. And that the “deeply wrong” ruling “reshapes the institution of the Presidency” and “makes a mockery of the principle, foundational to our Constitution and system of Government, that no man is above the law,” she wrote.

And in conclusion that “The long-term consequences of today’s decision are stark (that) In every use of official power, the President is now a king above the law.”

Another thousand words…