8/11/18
WASHINGTON — There has been no reset, no moment of national healing. One year after blaming ‘‘both sides’’ for violent clashes between white supremacists and counter-protesters, President Trump still flirts with racially tinged rhetoric — and feels little blow-back from Republican leaders or GOP voters when he does. Black leaders and Democrats argue Trump’s tone and actions on race have gotten even worse in the months since the clashes in Charlottesville, Va. The result is a starkly segregated political landscape where there is scant punishment for racially loaded rhetoric and, at times, clear reward. Democrats are pinning their hopes of flipping control of Congress on mobilizing liberals and minorities, particularly black voters. And Republicans’ best chance of holding off a Democratic wave is strong turnout among the conservative white voters who helped sweep Trump into office and often cheer his willingness to dive into hot-button issues with racial overtones. Trump’s rise to power can be traced through a series of statements that invoke racial stereotypes. In 1989, he called for the death penalty for the Central Park Five, five black and Hispanic teenagers accused of raping and beating a white woman; they were later exonerated through DNA evidence, but Trump has suggested he still believes they’re guilty. For years, Trump promoted the lie that President Barack Obama was born in Kenya.
Over the past year, from his perch in the White House, he’s repeatedly questioned the intelligence of prominent black figures, including Representative Maxine Waters, a California Democrat, basketball star LeBron James and CNN anchor Don Lemon, whom he called ‘‘the dumbest man on television.’’ ‘‘One of the oldest strategies is to call into question the intellect of African-Americans,’’ said Mitch Landrieu, the former Democratic mayor of New Orleans. ‘‘It’s just sad and awful.’’ NAACP president Derrick Johnson said the black community has ‘‘never seen this level of tone deafness or this total disregard’’ from a modern American president. According to a CBS News poll taken in the days after the Charlottesville clashes, a wide share of Democrats — about 7 in 10 — said Trump’s policies encouraged racial division in the country, little different from a poll conducted earlier in the year. By comparison, more than 8 in 10 Republicans said the president’s policies either had no effect on race relations or encouraged unity. Trump’s job approval among blacks has shown little change, consistently stuck around 10 percent in most surveys. The White House did not respond to questions about whether Trump has any regrets about his handling of the Charlottesville protests or other racial rhetoric.
