Politics - News Analysis

WH Freaked Out Over ‘White Power’ Tweet But Couldn’t Reach Trump for 3 Hours Because He Was Golfing

For whatever reason, Trump has decided that “full-frontal racism” is the best path in 2020 in spite of polls showing that the American public wants just the opposite. Indeed, Trump is so wrong on this matter that some speculate that he’s trying to lose the race. This last weekend’s “white power” tweet is the latest example of mind-blowing racist acts by Trump. He retweeted a video of a Boomer at The Villages yelling “White Power!” at a group of protesters.

Now the Washington Post has an insider account regarding what happened in the White House upon the issuance of such a blatantly racist tweet. The details are shocking and raise more questions than answers. The tweet set off a firestorm among staff, who knew damned well they had a problem on their hands, and yet their pleas to Trump apparently didn’t work, at least not initially:

Senior staffers quickly conferred over the phone and then began trying to reach the president to convey their concerns about the tweet. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, son-in-law Jared Kushner and other senior advisers spoke with president, said several people familiar with the discussions, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share details of private conversations.

“Trying to reach the president?” That is almost impossible to believe. Yes, Trump was golfing at the time – or most likely was golfing at the time – but the president of the United States is never out of the loop. With cell phones, are any of us really out of the loop nowadays? We refuse to believe that either Kushner or McEnany ever have difficulty getting ahold of Trump in an emergency, and this was certainly a political emergency.

But it sounds like Kushner and McEnany failed to persuade Trump to change it. Someone else was able to get a hold of Trump and persuade him to change it:

Roughly three hours later, the president gave the go-ahead to delete his incendiary tweet — moved, in large part, by the public calls from Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the Senate’s only black Republican, to do just that, aides said.

So Tim Scott, the one black Republican senator talked to Trump and said “take it down,” only then did Trump give the go-ahead to delete it.

The only conclusion is that Trump wasn’t moved by staff members screaming that it was racist and horrible. It took a man in the GOP senate, those people that provide cover for Trump. If Trump were to lose the GOP senate, he loses the White House, and he knows it.

It is interesting and awful that the White House excused the entire incident by stating that Trump didn’t hear the “White Power” portion. Yet when Kayleigh and Jared got a hold of Trump – and presumably told him about the phrase – it didn’t move Trump to immediately say “delete it.” It took Tim Scott and probably a furious phone call from Tim Scott.

Thus, there is every reason to doubt the story about Trump not knowing about the White Power portion.

Last, Trump and the White House have yet to issue a statement saying that Trump condemns racist “white power” antics or assertions. They haven’t addressed the matter beyond deleting it. Trump hasn’t said anything about it. The White House hasn’t put out a statement. The behavior is similar to the Russian bounty story, in which Kayleigh says that Trump has no message for Russia because he hasn’t been briefed yet. In both incidents, we hear Trump didn’t know (as an excuse), yet Trump hasn’t come out and forcefully denounced either one.

“What President Trump and every member of his campaign and the White House need to do is come out and say, ‘We do not want votes from people who shout “white power” or hold up white supremacist ideology, in any way, shape or form,’ ’’ Carpenter said. “Until they do that, they’re stoking this.”

The only message to take away is that they want to stoke this, that or they are so incompetent they can’t organize a statement – and we have trouble believing that. They look like they want the racist vote and the racist wink. The only question remaining unanswered is whether they believe that the racist message is a path to victory, or whether it is intended to ensure a loss.

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Peace, y’all
Jason
[email protected] and on Twitter @MiciakZoom

meet the author

Jason Miciak is a political writer, features writer, author, and attorney. He is originally from Canada but grew up in the Pacific Northwest. He now enjoys life as a single dad raising a ridiculously-loved young girl on the beaches of the Gulf Coast. He is very much the dreamy mystic, a day without learning is a day not lived. He is passionate about his flower pots and studies philosophical science, religion, and non-mathematical principles of theoretical physics. Dogs, pizza, and love are proof that God exists. "Above all else, love one another."

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