More startling revelations are coming out of Bob Woodward’s soon-to-be-released book Rage, but the revelation that’s perhaps the least shocking is this one: Trump told Woodward that he doesn’t believe that because he’s led a life of privilege it obligates him to understand the “anger and pain” felt by Black Americans.
Well considering the way this president has treated African-American people, who didn’t see THAT coming? The U.S. is locked in racial unrest that hasn’t been seen since the 1960s and Trump has repeatedly thrown gasoline on this situation as protests against racism and police brutality are ongoing.
Woodward’s book, set to be released next week is based on a series of 18 on-the-record interviews between Trump and the Pulitzer Prize-winning [1] journalist, and The Washington Post, where Woodward is associate editor, has published excerpts [2] from the book and posted audio clips on its website, NBC News [1] reports. The interviews were recorded from December to July.
During a June 19 conversation with the president, Woodward, whose father was a lawyer and a judge in Illinois, pointed out their similar backgrounds because he and Trump are white and privileged. He asked Trump if that affected his thinking.
“Do you have any sense that the privilege has isolated and put you in a cave to a certain extent, as it put me and I think lots of white privileged people in a cave and that we have to work our way out of it to understand the anger and the pain, particularly, Black people feel in this country?”
“No. You really drank the Kool-Aid, didn’t you?” he said. “Just listen to you. Wow. No, I don’t feel that at all.”
Woodward couldn’t help but feel Trump’s voice was mocking and incredulous, and he noted that in his book. He tried to get Trump to understand the situation faced by Black Americans who have been victimized by discrimination and Trump used that opportunity to brag once again that he has done more for Black people than any other president since Abraham Lincoln.
In a later conversation, Woodward wanted to know if Trump thought there was “systemic or institutional racism in this country.”
“Well I think there is everywhere,” Trump said in the audio clip. “I think probably less here than in most places. Or less here than many places.”
In a conversation on July 8, Trump complained about his lack of support among Black voters. Apparently he has yet to understand that when you describe white supremacists as “very fine people” you’re likely to cause offense among other people, specifically people of color. But that’s lost on this man.
“I’ve done a tremendous amount for the Black community,” he said. “And honestly I’m not feeling any love.”
This from a guy who continues to denigrate [3] protesters who are fighting for racial justice. And he wonders why Black people don’t love him. Trump also indulged his jealousy of former President Barack Obama by claiming he didn’t think the former president was intelligent.
“I think he’s highly over-rated. And I don’t think he’s a great speaker,” he said and then told Woodward that Korean leader Kim Jong Un considers Obama an “a**hole.”
But Trump is on a speeding path to become the worst president the U.S. has ever seen and it’s far too obvious by now that he has the intelligence of an amoeba. Really, I just can’t even with this guy. I can’t.