I don’t know why I even scroll down to the Facebook comments after reading a news article because when I do, I immediately regret it. On one side, there are wise, logical Republicans and Democrats who voice their beliefs for each of their candidates with respect. And, on the other side, you see partisan trolls who base their beliefs off Internet memes and groundless conspiracies picked up from shady sites. I know it’s hard for us humans to actually listen to each other and read, but remember that this is one of, if not the most, contentious elections in American history -- doing our research is essential.
Unfortunately, some of our fellow Americans -- the “Trump trolls,” as some people in the comments like to call them -- have been brainwashed into thinking that “Donald Trump” isn’t racist and dismissing his political incorrectness during the campaign trail as “just words.” According to these Trump trolls, who have clearly been living under a rock for the past 16 months, Trump has only said a couple of uncomfortable things, while “Crooked Hillary” is a “lying, cheating criminal.”
First of all, what a load of BS. Sure, Hillary’s no saint, but her scandals are nowhere near as egregious as Trump’s numerous methods of self-interested corruption (for more information, check this article out). Second of all, it would be one thing if Trump had made the occasional insensitive remark throughout his life or career in real estate. But, if you look at his record, you’ll notice a pattern of bigotry and scandal. The following list of scandals is comprehensive but also non-exhaustive.
1. 1970-1979: Trump sued by Justice Department for violating the Fair Housing Act.
The US Department of Justice found evidence that Trump had refused to rent apartments to black tenants, changed the terms of leases based on the applicant’s race, and even lied to his black applicants about whether his apartments were available in order to drive them away. Upon seizing the evidence, the Justice Department sued him for violating the Fair Housing Act.
Trump fought the suit by accusing the federal government of forcing him to accept welfare tenants, a claim that has never been corroborated. To prove that he “wasn’t racist,” Trumpie released a statement saying that 700 out of his 16,000 tenants were black -- a little over 4 percent. On a side note: I find it really ironic how all of this went down during the Nixon administration.
2. 1980s: Trump is accused of discrimination, again.
Kip Brown, one of Trump’s former employees, stated that “when Donald and Ivana came into the casino, the bosses would order all the black people off the floor. It was the eighties. I was a teenager, but I remember it: They put us all in the back.”
3. 1989: The Central Park Five ad.
In 1989, 4 black teenagers and one Latino teenager, aka. “The Central Park Five,” were falsely accused of attacking and raping a jogger in New York’s Central Park. Trump immediately sent out a racially charged newspaper ad demanding “BRING BACK THE DEATH PENALTY. BRING BACK OUR POLICE!” to lead the prosecution of the case. The teenage boys were released from jail after serving 7 to 13 years and were given $41 million as a settlement, but in October of last year, Trump said he still believes the boys were guilty, even if DNA evidence said otherwise.
4. 1991: The John O’Donnell statements.
A book written by John O’Donnell, former president of Atlantic City’s Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino, quotes Trump saying, “Black guys counting my money! I hate it. The only kind of people I want counting my money are short guys that wear yarmulkes every day… I think that the guy is lazy. And it’s probably not his fault because laziness is a trait in blacks. It really is, I believe that. It’s not anything they can control."
Though Trump initially denied that he made those comments, he later affirmed in a 1997 Playboy interview that “the stuff O’Donnell wrote about me is probably true.”
5. 2000: The anti-Native American ads.
To protest a casino built by the St. Regis Mohawk tribe because he saw it as a threat to his properties in Atlantic City, Trump secretly published a series of racist, stereotypical ads in newspapers falsely intimating that the tribe had a well-documented history of crime. Again, using race to cover up his business interests.
6. 2004: Firing a black Apprentice contestant because he was overeducated.
In season 2 of The Apprentice, Trump fired black contestant Kevin Allen because he was taken aback by his many degrees. Allen holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, an MBA from Emory University, and a law degree from the University of Chicago. To this, Trump replies, “You’re an unbelievably talented guy in terms of education, and you haven’t done anything. At some point you have to say, ‘That’s enough.’”
7. 2005: Trump’s “white vs. black” Apprentice idea.
In 2005, Trump openly brought up the idea for his show The Apprentice that pretty much tried to pit white people and black people against each other on two separate teams. He justified his reasoning by saying, “Whether people like that idea or not, it is somewhat reflective of our very vicious world.” Again, exploiting race issues for ratings and self-interests.
8. 2011: The birther movement.
Trump was the most vocal advocate for the anti-Obama birther movement, falsely suggesting that President Obama -- the United States’ first black president -- was born in Kenya and outside the United States. He went so far as to send his investigators to Hawaii to check out Obama’s official birth certificate, and he still wasn’t satisfied. Obama eventually released his real birth certificate, but not without getting the last laugh.
In addition, Trump has argued that Obama may not have been a good enough student to have gotten into Columbia and Harvard Law School: “I heard he was a terrible student. Terrible. How does a black student go to Columbia and then to Harvard?” He even demanded Obama to release his college transcripts -- because, for some reason, he can’t fathom the idea that there are people of color who have been and will be more successful than him.
Interestingly, while Trump’s 2012 presidential run was built on the premise that “we know very little about our president,” Trump has refused to release the same documents that he demanded from Obama during his current campaign. No birth certificate. No tax returns. No college transcripts. Why did he get a medical deferment from the Vietnam War? I’m pretty sure bad feet isn’t a good enough reason to dodge a war draft. And, did he actually “donate” those millions of dollars to charity, as he claimed? In many aspects, the Trump Foundation seems a lot more shady than that of the Clintons (you know something’s wrong when your charity isn’t even registered as a non-profit in 38 states.
This is more than just a matter of political correctness. Here is a man who acts on his prejudice in the form of discrimination and exploits the country’s racism and bigotry for his own profit. Trump can deny this all he wants, but a simple Google search will always say otherwise.
