racism

Trump 'the laughingstock' of polite society: NYT editorial

New York Times Columnist Jamelle Bouie says the easiest way to read the motivations of an insincere person like President Donald Trump is to see him “at his most unfiltered.”

That involves his late-night posts on social media, far away from the eyes of handlers.

It was late Thursday night when Trump posted a video to his Truth Social account depicting President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama as apes. It’s a post Bouie described as “the most flagrant display of presidential racism since Woodrow Wilson screened D.W. Griffith’s “The Birth of a Nation” in the White House in 1915.

A smattering of Republicans were offended enough to speak out, beginning with endangered blue-state Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y), who called the post “wrong and incredibly offensive,” followed by Rep Michael Turner (R-Ohio) who slammed it as “heart breaking and unacceptable.”

But getting back to what motivates Trump, Bouie said — in addition to ego and raw self-interest — is obviously racism. After all racism is the brand an “ideology that papers over feelings of inadequacy.”

“Let’s suppose you’re the spoiled son of a self-made man,” said Bouie. “Let’s suppose … that you’re the laughingstock of polite society, a punchline for the privileged.”

In truth, Bouie said Trump’s “entire political career — from his embrace of birtherism to his hatred of birthright citizenship — cannot be understood outside the context of his bitter, deep-seated racism.”

“Trump is not profound,” said Bouie. “He has been the same person this whole time. The question is why so many others have refused to see what he has never bothered to hide.”

From Your Site Articles

Related Articles Around the Web

Trump admin won't call Klansman who murdered civil rights leader a 'racist'

Mississippi Today reports that President Donald Trump’s National Park Service (NPS) is replacing visitor brochures from the Medgar & Myrlie Evers Home National Monument, in Jackson, Mississippi.

Among the anticipated changes? No longer calling his murderer a “racist.”

“Edits to the brochure have removed that reference to Byron De La Beckwith, according to NPS officials, who asked not to be named for fear of retribution. Other edits include eliminating the reference to Medgar Evers lying in a pool of blood after being shot,” reports Mississippi Today writer Jerry Mitchell.

In 1963, Beckwith shot civil rights leader Medgar Evers in the back as he stood in the driveway of the Evers family home in northwest Jackson. His children were inside the home awaiting their father at the time of his death, and they saw him bleeding out in the front yard.

The original brochures pulled from the home described Beckwith as “a member of the racist and segregationist White Citizens’ Council.” That council, according to history author Stephanie Rolph, “believed in the natural superiority of the Aryan race.”

“They even went so far as to say that civilizations failed because of racial amalgamation,” Rolph added.

Mississippi Today reports Beckwith also belonged to the nation’s most violent white supremacist group, the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, responsible for at least 10 killings in Mississippi.

“You can’t call Beckwith a racist?” said Jeff Steinberg, founder of Sojourn to the Past, which regularly provides civil rights tours to the home. “If you opened a picture dictionary and turned to the definition for ‘racist,’ you’d probably find a picture of Byron De La Beckwith.”

Mississippi Today reports NPS' decision comes in the wake of Trump’s March 2025 executive order, “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” which accused the Biden administration of a “widespread effort to rewrite our Nation’s history, replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth.”

Furthermore, the order demanded the Secretary of the Interior “ensure” that all public monuments and properties within its jurisdiction “do not contain descriptions, depictions, or other content that inappropriately disparage Americans past or living.”

This apparently includes race-based assassins.

Mississippi Today adds that Trump initially hailed Evers, a World War II veteran, as a “great American hero” at the opening of the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum in 2017. But after his 2025 executive order, his U.S. Army removed Evers, and the names of other Black heroes, from a section on the Arlington National Cemetery website that honored non-white Americans who fought in the nation’s wars.

From Your Site Articles

Related Articles Around the Web

GOP lawmaker caught pushing for 'segregated schools' in leaked texts

One high-ranking Republican state lawmaker in New Hampshire was recently seen advocating for racially segregated public schools in her state, according to a new report.

In a Wednesday article, Granite Post – the New Hampshire-based website for the liberal Courier Newsroom media brand – reported that state representative Kristin Noble (R), who is the vice chair of the House Education Policy and Administration Committee, posted favorably about separating students by race in a group chat for Republican lawmakers. A screen recording of the "EdPolicy2026" group chat an unnamed member of the Education Committee leaked to Granite Post shows a user using the vice chair's first and last name talking about "fun stuff" that could be done "when we have segregated schools."

"Imagine the scores though if we had schools for them and some for us," Noble wrote.

Republican state representative Katy Peternel – who is the assistant majority leader in the New Hampshire House of Representatives – responded to Noble's message with a laughing-crying emoji.

Noble's comments were roundly condemned by Democrats. State representative David Landau, who is the ranking member of the House Education Funding Committee, said Noble's remark was "more than shocking" and "disgusting."

"It’s not who we are as a state. It’s not who we are as a country. And we’re better because we go to schools together and because we learn together and we work together, because ... that’s how life is," Landau told Granite Post.

According to the outlet, Noble has sponsored 2026 legislation that would ban the teaching of "critical race theory," or CRT, in public schools. The NAACP has previously argued that the push to ban CRT is rooted in a desire by conservatives to limit curriculum teaching students about slavery and Black history.

AlterNet has reached out to Rep. Noble for comment.

Click here to read Granite Post's report in full.

From Your Site Articles

Related Articles Around the Web

'These people are terrified': How Trump's recent behavior reflects 'white folks' real fear

“Nation” Justice Correspondent Elie Mystal said there is an easy reason to explain President Donald Trump’s list of weird, counterproductive actions over the last few weeks.

Mystal pointed to reports that the Trump administration is considering proposals to “radically reshape the U.S. refugee system, denying entry to Black and brown refugees the world over while opening up the borders for white people from South Africa and Europe who claim they are being politically persecuted.”

Trump is also planning to slash the number of refugees admitted into the country each year to 7,500, down from 125,000, and he is willing to staunch the flow of migrants despite the hard consequences in factories and farms across the nation as employers search frantically for labor.

“Apparently, those few spots are now reserved for white people who espouse Nazi beliefs, as both Trump and Vance have made a point of defending neo-Nazis in Germany and have been apparently making plans to bring them over here,” Mystal said.

But none of this is surprising to anybody who has done the work of actually listening to what Trump and his MAGA supporters have been talking about for years, Mystal added.

“The Trump administration is an openly white supremacist regime, and they’ve been acting like it, in both word and deed, since he returned to office,” he said. “These people are terrified of the browning of America, terrified that white folks will lose their numeric majority in this country in the coming decades, and terrified of the declining white birth rate.”

Trying to flood the border with white immigrants fits neatly with “bombing boats full of innocent brown people, authorizing Gestapo-style tactics by ICE, taking away birthright citizenship from people actually born here, sending in the military to police brown cities, eviscerating the voting rights of non-white people, and trying to turn white women into brood mothers through the revocation of their reproductive rights,” Mystal said. “If you believe that America exists for the benefit and glory of white folks, and if you believe that non-white folks don’t ‘deserve’ to be here unless they are working to increase the profits of white people, then every single thing the Trump administration is doing makes sense. It’s how you resurrect white supremacist rule over this nation if white supremacy is your one true calling.”

Mystal insists he has not lost his “capacity to be horrified by any of it.” He’s just used to hearing about it.

“This is just what majorities of white folks do. This is what majorities of white folks have always done whenever their power is left unchecked. And the only reason they’re afraid of losing their majority is that they assume other people will do to them what they’ve done to everybody else, just as soon as we get a chance,” Mystal said. “We won’t, of course. Because we’re better than that.”

Read the Nation’s newsletter at this link.

From Your Site Articles

Related Articles Around the Web

Trump's Black outreach chief warns 'racism and hatred' in leaked GOP texts will doom party

The ongoing fallout over leaked racist text messages from Republican leaders and staffers is now causing one prominent Black organizer from President Donald Trump's reelection campaign to issue a stark warning to her party.

The text messages, which were initially leaked to Politico this week, showed Republican elected officials and party officials in multiple states openly praising Germany's fascist regime during World War II, sending political opponents "to the gas chamber" and calling Black people "monkeys" and "watermelon people." Several of the Republican officials named in the report have either resigned or been fired from their positions.

In a Thursday op-ed for the Washington Post, Gina Barr — who was the executive director of Black coalitions for the Trump 2024 campaign — lamented that young Republicans who have been tasked with leading the GOP in the coming decades openly espoused "hatred and racism."

"Their bigotry doesn’t just stain their reputations — it blinds them and their ilk to the reality of the political terrain ahead," Barr wrote.

Barr, who is also the director of women and urban engagement at the Republican National Committee according to her LinkedIn profile, said that the scandal was particularly damning for Republicans given that the most important "terrain" in the 2026 midterm elections is in the suburbs, and that people of color will play an outsized role in determining who controls Congress next November.

"The demographics tell the story. Of the 26 congressional districts targeted by the National Republican Congressional Committee, 17 are in areas where at least 40 percent of residents are people of color, according to the 2020 census," she wrote. "Four of Texas’s five newly drawn seats are majority minority. Those numbers aren’t just statistics — they are the future knocking on the GOP’s door."

Barr acknowledged that while Republicans made inroads with communities of color in 2024, those gains could be wiped out if voters see the GOP as a party filled with closet racists. She called on the GOP to "root out anyone in its ranks still clinging to the racist relics of the past."

"The Republican Party made real progress with voters of color in 2024. If it hopes to keep Congress in 2026, it will need to work even harder," she wrote. "Because the terrain has shifted — and in politics, like war, if you don’t understand the terrain, you lose."

Click here to read Barr's full op-ed in the Post.

From Your Site Articles

Related Articles Around the Web

Secret Service agent on leave after calling Charlie Kirk’s death 'karma'

NDTV reports a member of the US Secret Service has been placed on administrative leave for allegedly calling the death of MAGA influencer Charlie Kirk "karma" on social media.

Anthony Pough reportedly shared a post from Kirk claiming Black judges don’t have “brain processing power” and saying “[Kirk] spewed hate and racism on his show.”

Kirk’s coment designated Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, former Representative Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) and others as "affirmative action picks" because they "weren't smart enough to get in on their own."

“Yeah, we know you do not have the brain processing power to otherwise be taken really seriously. You had to go steal a white person's slot to go be taken somewhat seriously." Kirk said on his “Charlie Kirk Show."

Minutes later, on the same show, Kirk contrived a mocking scenario involving two Black pilots named “Ramone” and “Cadillac.”

“If you are mourning this guy … delete me,” Pough said.

His criticism quickly drew criticism of its own. NDTV reports Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and other conservative leaders demanded Pough be terminated, with Blackburn calling the post "inexcusable" and accusing Pough of “attempting to justify a political assassination."

Pough has been placed on leave while an internal inquiry is conducted, according to NDTV. The New York Post reports the Secret Service said the agent's "behavior which violates our code of conduct" is not tolerated.

NDTV also reports that Pough expressed his pride in the work of the Secret Service in February. He has also criticized the administration of President Donald Trump, appearing to make fun of the president's conflict with Elon Musk, the former head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Read the NDTV report at this link.

From Your Site Articles

Related Articles Around the Web

'Taking advantage of the moment': Why a 'whites only' compound is blossoming under Trump

New York Times reporter Debra Kamin says the Trump administration is emboldening racists to defy 57-year-old anti-discrimination housing laws.

Eric Orwoll and Peter Csere believe their “Return to the Land” residential community development meets the requirements for a legal exemption for private associations and religious groups that offer housing to their members, and they’re using it to reserve home lots exclusively for heterosexual white residents.

When asked “Why and why now” Kamin said it comes down to who occupies the White House.

“Racism is, as you know, definitely not anything new. But definitely ‘why now’ is because there is a feeling among the architects of this community and the people who created it that they can get away with it now, because even though the laws obviously very explicitly make it illegal to discriminate, a lot of things that we took as rules and norms just a few months ago no longer really apply,” Kamin said. “They feel that at the highest levels of government, they will be allowed to do this.”

The Times reports Csere, who was arrested in Ecuador for stabbing a miner and remains accused of stealing tens of thousands of dollars from a vegan community there, is breaking ground in Arkansas.

Kamin told CNN while visiting the compound that founder Orwoll pulled a copy of Adolf Hitler’s manifesto, “Mein Kampf” from a bookshelf and turned it around to hide its spine just before Times photographers snapped pictures of the room. But Orwoll insists he is not a racist.

“I'm not asking for supremacy over anyone else,” Orwoll said in a clip. “Return to the Land is not a supremacist group. It's not a hate group. It's not even a white nationalist group. We are white identitarians. We value our identity and want to preserve it. That's not hate. That is love for your own people.”

Kamin said the state attorney general is investigating the legality of the development but has done nothing beyond that because “someone would have to say that they've been wronged, and that's where it gets tricky.”

“For someone to say they've been wronged, you would have to have, someone who wants to live here and was rejected, and how many Black or Jewish or gay families are going to want to move to this compound in the middle of Arkansas?” Kamin said. “They’re clearly in violation of the Fair Housing Act, but to bring a legal case against them is going to take a few more steps."

Watch the video below or at this link.

- YouTube youtu.be

From Your Site Articles

Related Articles Around the Web

Man who repeatedly called bar patrons a racist slur gets stripped and beaten with poles

A white man who hurled racial slurs at Black patrons of a Mississippi bar was hospitalized after being severely beaten, and local authorities say they're investigating the incident as a possible hate crime.

Memphis, Tennessee Fox affiliate WHBQ reported that a Tippah County, Mississippi man, who was apparently heavily intoxicated, walked into the C.J. Lounge in Marshall County last Saturday, where eyewitnesses say he began provoking the crowd with racist taunts. Patron Miles Stone told WHBQ he saw the confrontation play out, from the moment the man walked in to when he was kicked and stomped on nearly every part of his body and stripped naked while patrons poured beer on him.

"The guy walked in, and he was very aggressive," Stone said. "Other guys in the area were listening, trying to remain calm. They asked him to leave quietly."

"When they were scuffling outside, he was still using the N-word: 'F you N's, F you N's,'" he recalled.

WHBQ played cell phone video of the moments leading up the beating, in which the man was seen yelling at patrons and throwing up "white power" signs. Holly Springs Police Department officers say the crowd used both fists and feet as well as sticks and poles to beat the man.

"I'm not standing for anything like that. However, we have to live with our choices, and he made the choice to go in there aggressively, and he has to live with the choice he's made," Taylor said.

C.J. Lounge has since been closed down by police for operating without a beer or business license. The Holly Springs Police Department chief told WHBQ he had been consistently pushing for the local district attorney to declare the bar a nuisance, saying his officers are often called there multiple times per night on weekends.

Watch WHBQ's full report below, or by clicking this link.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

From Your Site Articles

Related Articles Around the Web

'Cross that line': High school baseball players shout racist chants at opposing team

A local high school baseball team in California's Bay Area is now in hot water after several of its players were heard yelling racist taunts at opposing players.

CBS affiliate WBTW reported Friday that parents want accountability from school officials after hearing "blatant racism" from players during an April 23 game between Albany and Pinole Valley High Schools. According to cellphone video, Pinole Valley players called Asian players "P.F. Chang" and "Baljeet," after the Chinese restaurant chain and the 'Phineas & Ferb" character, respectively. Parents described the taunts as "blatant racism" and "discrimination."

"It’s not an acceptable behavior by any means, particularly in this community of ours, in the Bay Area," parent Mattison Ly told KRON. "I just don’t think that behavior, in this day, is tolerable."

"Understanding that their words and actions and intentions have serious real-world consequences, beyond which they can even understand,” parent Jason Turvow said of the chants. “It’s hit heavy on this side of the field.”

Eugene Lee, another parent who was present at the game, said that Pinole Valley's baseball season should be ended prematurely and that

“It sends the right message,” Lee said. “It means that if you cross that line and you bring hate onto the field, you don’t get to take the field. Any action that happens after the season that doesn’t impact the current team in the current season ... is largely irrelevant.”

The Albany Unified School District's superintendent's office said that they had spoken with both the baseball coach and the school's athletic director regarding the incident, and sent out a district-wide email saying it had filed several complaints. However, Lee is calling for stiffer consequences for those responsible.

Click here to read the original report.

From Your Site Articles

Related Articles Around the Web

'I don’t know about that man': GOP lawmaker slammed for calling Black congressman a slur

A clip from a podcast did not go over well on social media as commenters dragged U.S. Rep. Diana Harshbarger (R-Tenn.) for calling U.S. Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) “boy.”

“Gosh dang it, boy. Put that – He does not need that cane. That cane is a prop. I swear it’s not real,” Harshbarger said in the clip first posted by Heartland Signal on X. "And I'm wondering, one of my colleagues said unscrew the gold part off of it and see if there's a gun in there. I don’t know about that man. He’s just Weird Al.”

Harshbarger was referring to the Democrat's reactions during Donald Trump’s joint address to congress, which included hoisting signs of protest, wearing pink or, in Green’s case, pointing his cane at the president and heckling him, before being escorted from the chamber.

“I wanted to go over there and grab a few of them [Democrats] but Al Green was over here with his cane,” Harshbarger told an interviewer.

Reaction on quickly noted the American South’s long history of emasculating Black men by calling them "boy."

"She called a Black man 'boy,'" progressive podcaster Fred Wellman tweeted, while calling Harshbarger a "racist."

Democratic Georgia state senate candidate Jerrold Dagen quote-tweeted the clip and called on House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) to call for a censure vote against Harshbarger. Another commentator opined: "Hell is too good for folk like this."

“Imagine if (Green) called her ‘little girl’ and accused her of being a weird person who conceals a weapon by pretending to need a medical device to get around?” asked a fourth. “The GOP would be outraged by such an accusation!”

Harshbarger was originally elected in 2020, after winning a 17-way Republican primary for Tennessee' 1st Congressional District. In 2013, her husband, Robert Harshbarger, was sentenced to four years in federal prison for committing healthcare fraud as part of a pharmacy he ran, and ordered to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in restitution. Her son, Bobby, is a Republican state senator for Tennessee's 4th Senate District.

See the original post below, or by clicking this link.

From Your Site Articles

Related Articles Around the Web

Parents call out racist messages left on 'letters to Santa' in Tennessee museum

In the weeks following the United States' 2024 presidential election and President-elect Donald Trump's narrow victory over Vice President Kamala Harris, racist messages have been left at the Discovery Park of America — a museum in Union City, Tennessee.

The messages were left in the form of Santa letters, and some visitors to the museum have removed the offensive messages after seeing them.

One of the letters, which was posted on Facebook, read, "I want a slave for Christmas."

Jessie Smith III, a visitor to the museum, told Memphis Channel 3 News. "We are trying to raise our kids the right way in a world full of hate, so we removed them so no one else had to see the mess. Racism is taught, and that's just something that our kids aren't going to be taught. We want them to be kind to everyone in this world."

A spokesperson for Discovery Park of America called out the racist messages and stressed that they don't reflect the views of museum staff.

On Facebook, the spokesperson wrote, "As many of you know, we have a 'Letters to Santa' station as part of our Christmas celebration. From time to time, a guest will write something inappropriate on a letter. That happened tonight, and a guest saw it and let us know."

The spokesperson continued, "Any inappropriate letters are removed and destroyed as soon as we see them. We apologize for any offense this may have caused."

From Your Site Articles

Related Articles Around the Web

Contact Advertise with AlterNet Privacy Policy Writer Guidelines Press Information About AlterNet Meet the AlterNet Staff Debug Logs