In the US, President Trump is an average racist. We know that from opinion polls.
According to a Quinnipiac poll in July, 49% of US voters thought he was racist, 47% thought he was not – given or take 4% (the margin of error). That puts Trump dead in the middle: he is more racist than half the country, but less racist than the other half. He is about as average as you can get.
Assumimg that those who think Trump is not racist are more racist than he is, we can use the same poll to get a rough idea of how racist different parts of the US are, at least relative to Trump:
More racist than Trump:
- 86% of Republicans
- 63% of White men
- 59% of Whites without a college degree
- 56% of men
- 52% of Whites
- 50% of those ages 35 to 49 (born 1969 to 1983)
- 49% of those ages 50 to 64 (born 1954 to 1968)
- 47% of all US voters
- 46% of those ages 65 or older (born before 1954)
- 45% of Whites with a college degree
- 44% of Independents
- 43% of White women
- 40% of those ages 18 to 34 (born 1984 to 2000)
- 40% of Hispanics
- 39% of women
- 19% of Blacks
- 16% of those on this blog who took part in an unscientific poll in 2016
- 10% of Democrats
Age: The good news is that Millennials, the future of the country, are markedly less racist than Trump or the country as a whole. Presumably because they are, on average, more educated and less White. I would like to say they have also learned from the past, but history seems to have had little effect on their elders – they are all within the margin of error from each other.
Party: It might seem strange that Democrats overall are less racist than Blacks or that Republicans are more racist than Whites. Some of it probably is due to partisanship – Republicans would naturally be more likely to give Trump the benefit of the doubt, Democrats less so. But after 50 years of the Southern Strategy, after 50 years of racist dog whistles and now foghorns, it is hardly surprising that Republicans have gathered to their cause the lion’s share of the nation’s worst racists.
And that gets to my main point:
Trump is not an anomaly.
Not demographically – see above. He is well within the mainstream of US opinion. He is markedly closer to the centre than most White men.
And not historically – what in the world do you expect after 50 years of racist dog whistles?
Two things make him seem like an anomaly:
- His lack of a filter – As bad as Trump is, most White men are worse. But they know when to keep their mouth shut. Trump speaks with almost no filter, like some drunken loudmouth at a bar.
- The White Liberal press – which would be close to the 10% for Democrats. That would make Trump seem like an outlier to them. But since they are White themselves, they will also want to write him off as the Racist Uncle sort. That Omarosa says he used the N-word is music to their ears.
– Abagond, 2018.
Source: that Quinnipiac poll (2018).
See also:
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I can’t believe I’m seeing this because when I said that Trump was not “particularly racist” before the 2016 elections it was interpreted as claiming he wasn’t racist.
He is, and he’s quite typical for his age.
However he’s certainly an anomaly from the perspective of being a President willing to say some of the things he says. Also, some of his appointees are even worse than he is which is another major issue.
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“I am the least racist person” – “least” – what does that comment even mean? Least than what?
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I got you covered here. (A) It means that he is just a little bit racist or (B) If you come into contact with a lot of racist he will be the least racist among them.
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@August Noone: LOL, thank you for that. The “least racist among them” makes him a bona fide racist – at least.
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that’s interesting only in the perspective of this the first time the president? or anyone? has live, probably not real-time, closed caption official policy statements or just the ‘hot-mic’ mess trump is well known for turning in to memes, like a self generated meme, wow, i mean it’s right there, but to have figured something like that out before hand…
just trying to type this and people are talking to and around me well anyway
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and if you think about it it’s the smart way to make the next move past his nightmare of a twitter stream
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“I am the Least Racist Person.” – Donald Trump, 2015
It may be surprising to some, but I like Donald tRump,…. although with limitations. I like him because “he tells it like it is”, as a swath of his malignantly racist, blabbermouth minions would unabashedly say.
I like him because he fires off incoherent, rage filled Twitter posts as often as an alcoholic while in his or her drunken stupor, yet again reaches for and drink the last vestiges remaining within his/her recently purchased bottle of Smirnoff. Yes, .. I like Trump, but I will never vote for him!
I like Mr. tRump because he has awakened so-called African Americans from their collective slumber. Black folk were too damn comfortable in their oppression after being duped by Obama’s (aka: Obomber) “change” slogan and his supposed “post racial” period
I like Trump, because finally, someone SELECTED to the Presidency has enough of you know what, to constantly tell Black folks the truth about Amerika as a whole and in no uncertain terms, remind us via policies, news conferences, current events and some not so current events as well, which is: Amerika Still Hate so-called African Americans with an Unbridled Passion!
Hell, … tRump has even stated himself that he is in fact a “racist.” Although he believes he isn’t the MOST racist, but nonetheless, he is still on record as being an admitted racist.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2018/01/17/six-times-president-trump-said-he-is-the-least-racist-person/?utm_term=.e0f22ddbcc14
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Trump is a racist for sure and even lies saying that he never has said the N-word on tape, He’s used the word like previous presidents before him and he’s just as racist as most whites and non white people of color.
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Omarosa has a book that she’s trying to sell and I refuse to waste money on this drivel. She’s not saying anything we don’t know about Trump and his corrupt cadre.
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@May Burnell
Trump’s gameplays are not nearly as odd as Richard Spencer’s brand of racism that appeared out of nowhere, but there is always that rich White guy edge that makes Trump and Spencer quite peculiar. Rich White guys tend not to flaunt it like other poorer opportunistic racists because they are just racking up the points of “privilege”, but Trump and Spencer make it seem like a game rather than die-hard beliefs. It is more like a game of monopoly than something fervent like Jihad. Trump also seems to have NPD, but I cannot be sure if that is just his behavior brought on by being rich or not. I would say that they are classic cases of trolls whom I thought were homosexuals in the past. Lol.
Lol, Omarosa knows that she had her Black card revoked when she had her mouth frothing over the word Trump… spare the poor woman a few coins to get by, Mary. She was just trying to make a living… I still feel bad for her, as she clearly had no backup plan and is now getting the taste of wolves piercing her flesh for being outed as a tattered Rented Negro. We could have kept her safe, too, but she took a risk that did not pay off. Unlike the boys on Wallstreet, a Black woman simply cannot get herself a second chance these days.
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@Mary Burnell
My mistake for the spelling error.
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I am too much of a troll. I apologize again, @Mary Burrell… Awkward.
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@blakksage
Absolutely, but I still feel like he gives the world a reason to literally just give a hand to America. He is utterly pathetic in his absence of a filter. Even sex addict, William Jefferson knew how to keep it private… well nevermind, but I believe Trump’s presence is quite breathtaking though for the reasons listed. Say goodbye to John “lack of a filter” Wayne. Bring on Don “what does filter mean?” Trump.
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Most whites will secretly sympathize withTrump as they have done this secretly or overtly themselves.
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As a Millennial, it is good to know that more people in my generation tend to be more open minded and less racist. It is ironic considering that Dylann Roof was around the same age as I when he shot and killed nine Black people in a church in Charleston, South Carolina. Or that the increasing number of White men joining and engaging in the alt right happen to be younger White men. Especially since I live in an area that is racially divided, polarized and isolated from much of the rest of Florida. Sometimes, I give up hope that my generation will help solve the issue of race, class and political division in this country.
Also I believe that Donald Trump is the average racist. This article is definitely correct about the range of racism among the country but I disagree that Democrats especially White Democrats are less racist than the rest of the country. If anything, White Democrats are just as racist if not more racist than their Conservative counterparts.
I don’t think things will get any better anything soon.
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FB post from my friend “George”.
I edited out most of the F bombs.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2156598841286218&id=100008083698763
In the last two years, the term “dog whistle” has gained increasing popularity. Ironically so, because dog whistles have become likewise increasingly rarer during that time.
The Willie Horton ad was a dog whistle. Talking about welfare cheats is a political dog whistle.There are lots of examples of famous dog whistles in American political history. The last two or three years have been fairly devoid of dog whistles. Because what Donald Trump does isn’t dog whistling, at all. Donald Trump stands on the0 front porch of his house and yells “Fido! Here boy!” so the whole neighborhood can hear him.
See, I’m afraid a lot of you guys aren’t getting something, here. We’ve all been hearing a lot about the time John McCain told the old racist Islamaphobe to shut up and sit back down. See, what a good bunch of you are missing is that his incident was emblematic in a very significant way.
What you’re not getting, and what you should have gotten by now, is that a significant hunk of the population of this country are a bunch of rabid, authoritarian, militaristic, white nationalists. What you’re not getting is that up until a couple years ago, the political system, and in particular the Republican Party, was HOLDING THESE PEOPLE BACK.
Yeah, they had their Willie Horton ads, they had lots of racist policies, lots of pro-war policies, lots of terrible policies in general, but 62 million people voted for Donald Trump. Donald Trump. And they did it because they love all that sh*t and they want more of it.
An enormous portion of the American public are horrible, they’ve been horrible for a while, and up until just now, the political system, including all those mean nasty Republicans, was actually serving to tamp down the worst instincts of those people.
And now it isn’t.
The difference between someone like Ronald Reagan, George Bush, John McCain, is that they actually had a moral center and they largely did not actively encourage the worst, most virulent, most violent instincts of their demographic. They may have played footsie with it some, they may have ignored it a lot, but they weren’t actively telling everyone how great it all is. They were leading chants about building walls, they weren’t telling encouraging violence at their damn speeches. They weren’t calling people animals.
You don’t think so?
Put Trump and today’s Republican Party in precisely the same situation Bush and McCain were in 2001. Imagine what would happen, right now, if a major Islamic extermist terror attack happened in the US. Let’s say 100 people. Now imagine 500. 1000.
Now imagine 3000 people. Imagine what would happen if a 9/11 size terror attack happened in the US and responsibility could be traced back to nations in the middle east.
Imagine Trump’s reaction. Imagine what his base would want. Imagine what the congress would give him.
Now imagine that happening ten years from now, once the Trump right has dug itself in, once it’s the norm on the right. Once the never Trump right is gone. Once the military is run by Trumpists.
Let me fill you in. You would be looking back at the war on terror like it was the fcking food fight in Animal House and the Patriot Act would look like it was written by the ACLU and Lysander Spooner. Tehran would be a fcking parking lot, and you are out of your mind if you don’t think Muslim immigrants would be in concentration camps, very likely some native born Muslims with them.
Trump has already said he wants to kill the families of terrorists. Hunt them down and kill them. Innocent men, women and children. Murdered. He wants to do that now, and his base loves him for it. With 3000 deaths to play off of, there’s no telling where it could go.
Because, get this through your heads, 62 million people in this country want every mother f*cking awful thing Trump can think of and they want it yesterday. Concentration camps, nuclear war, torture. All of it.
The postwar Republican order was conservative, sometimes warmongering, covertly racist. It was bad. It was nothing like Trumpism. Trumpism isn’t a continuation, it’s a disjunction. Trumpism is openly authoritarian, flirtatiously fascist, fanatically militaristic, and openly, malevolently, simply, evilly, white supremacist. The Trump right is as bad as an American political movement could realistically be right now. In fact, it’s worse.
So go ahead, I guess, and piss on McCain’s grave. I get it, he was absolutely responsible for the deaths of thousands of people. But just don’t forget, there is simply no comparison between John McCain and his Republican Party and the vile f*cking swamp of orcs and Nazis and lickspittles that presently inhabit the American right.
We are at a major turning point in world history, right now, this minute. If you don’t understand how much worse Trump and Trumpism is than any other American political movement in modern history, you are profoundly underestimating the seriousness and the danger of the situation we are in.
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“It might seem strange that Democrats overall are less racist than Blacks or that Republicans are more racist than Whites.”
Scott Alexander, of the blog Slate Star Codex, wouldn’t be surprised:
“One of the ways we know that racism is a giant all-encompassing social factor is the Implicit Association Test. Psychologists ask subjects to quickly identify whether words or photos are members of certain gerrymandered categories, like ‘either a white person’s face or a positive emotion’ or ‘either a black person’s face [or] a negative emotion’. Then they compare to a different set of gerrymandered categories, like ‘either a black person’s face or a positive emotion’ or ‘either a white person’s face or a negative emotion.’ If subjects have more trouble (as measured in latency time) connecting white people to negative things than they do white people to positive things, then they probably have subconscious positive associations with white people.
…
Of course, what the test famously found was that even white people who claimed to have no racist attitudes at all usually had positive associations with white people and negative associations with black people on the test. There are very many claims and counterclaims about the precise meaning of this, but it ended up being a big part of the evidence in favor of the current consensus that all white people are at least a little racist.
Anyway, three months ago, someone finally had the bright idea of doing an Implicit Association Test with political parties, and they found that people’s unconscious partisan biases were half again as strong as their unconscious racial biases.
…
For example, if you are a white Democrat, your unconscious bias against blacks (as measured by something called a d-score) is 0.16, but your unconscious bias against Republicans will be 0.23. The Cohen’s d for racial bias was 0.61, by the book a ‘moderate’ effect size; for party it was 0.95, a ‘large’ effect size.
Okay, fine, but we know race has real world consequences. Like, there have been several studies where people sent out a bunch of identical resumes except sometimes with a black person’s photo and other times with a white person’s photo, and it was noticed that employers were much more likely to invite the fictional white candidates for interviews. So just some stupid Implicit Association Test results can’t compare to that, right?
Iyengar and Westwood also decided to do the resume test for parties. They asked subjects to decide which of several candidates should get a scholarship (subjects were told this was a genuine decision for the university the researchers were affiliated with). Some resumes had photos of black people, others of white people. And some students listed their experience in Young Democrats of America, others in Young Republicans of America.
Once again, discrimination on the basis of party was much stronger than discrimination on the basis of race. The size of the race effect for white people was only 56-44 (and in the reverse of the expected direction); the size of the party effect was about 80-20 for Democrats and 69-31 for Republicans.
If you want to see their third experiment, which applied yet another classic methodology used to detect racism and once again found partyism to be much stronger, you can read the paper.
I & W did an unusually thorough job, but this sort of thing isn’t new or ground-breaking. People have been studying ‘belief congruence theory’ – the idea that differences in beliefs are more important than demographic factors in forming in-groups and outgroups – for decades. As early as 1967, Smith et al were doing surveys all over the country and finding that people were more likely to accept friendships across racial lines than across beliefs; in the forty years since then, the observation has been replicated scores of times.
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One of the best-known examples of racism is the ‘Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner’ scenario where parents are scandalized about their child marrying someone of a different race. Pew has done some good work on this and found that only 23% of conservatives and 1% (!) of liberals admit they would be upset in this situation. But Pew also asked how parents would feel about their child marrying someone of a different political party. Now 30% of conservatives and 23% of liberals would get upset. Average them out, and you go from 12% upsetness rate for race to 27% upsetness rate for party – more than double. Yeah, people do lie to pollsters, but a picture is starting to come together here.
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Since people will delight in misinterpreting me here, let me overemphasize what I am not saying. I’m not saying people of either party have it ‘worse’ than black people, or that partyism is more of a problem than racism, or any of a number of stupid things along those lines which I am sure I will nevertheless be accused of believing. Racism is worse than partyism because the two parties are at least kind of balanced in numbers and in resources, whereas the brunt of an entire country’s racism falls on a few underprivileged people. I am saying that the underlying attitudes that produce partyism are stronger than the underlying attitudes that produce racism, with no necessary implications on their social effects.”
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Everyone has biases whether conscious or not. When one becomes conscious of these biases within themselves they can choose to acknowledge those biases; continue to be in denial; acknowledge those biases and don’t care, or attempt to change themselves as much as they can. Guess which ones most choose?
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I don’t disagree that Trump is an “average racist”, but what I can’t tolerate that he claims to be the “least racist person”; in fact, he constantly uses superlatives to describe himself. The man has zero credibility.
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