OP-Ed : Donald Trump Reaches Peak White Privilege
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/king-donald-trump-reached-peak-white-privilege-article-1.3176766?utm_content=buffer03b6d&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=NYDailyNewsTw
Donald Trump exudes white privilege. Without it, he wouldn't be President of the United States. No black man in America could ever have said and done the things he has said and done (don't make me list them ) without an advanced degree or a single day of elected experience no less, and rise to the highest office in the land. Never! That's an exclusively white male opportunity.
White privilege seeps out of the very pores of this administration. It's how Betsy DeVos could become secretary of education without a single day of experience teaching in a classroom or managing a school. Most of her predecessors had at least done one of those things — many even managed entire school districts with thousands of students. Like Trump, she has no advanced degree, but that was no impediment for her. Wealth and white privilege paved her way.
Donald Trump reached peak white privilege this week. With his political world caving in all around him, with talks of his impeachment or resignation growing, and whispers of conservatives hoping Vice President Pence can somehow take his place, Trump has started a national pity party for himself. In doing so, he has not only exposed just how deep his rabbit hole of white privilege goes, but also just how little history he truly understands.
First, sulking aloud while he was supposed to be giving a commencement speech to Coast Guard graduates, Trump said of himself "no politician in history, and I say this with great surety, has been treated worse, or more unfairly."
This has to be one of the most outrageous, offensive, and ridiculous statements I've ever heard from a national leader.
First off, we live in a nation where we've seen former presidents — including Lincoln and Kennedy — shot and killed while in office. Robert Kennedy, while running for President, was also shot and killed. Trump was actually 22 years old when RFK was assassinated, but it appears that he either forgot it even happened or that he actually believes what is happening with him right now is worse than being assassinated.
Is Donald Trump unaware that Nelson Mandela spent 27 years incarcerated as a political prisoner in apartheid South Africa? The bulk of those years were spent in painful isolation on Robben Island, far away from his own wife, children and community. Mandela, mind you, was not on that island alone, but with dozens of other political prisoners from throughout South Africa. Does Trump actually believe that what he is experiencing is worse than this?
In fact, so many brilliant African politicians, from Patrice Lumumba to Kwame Nkrumah, were executed and exiled for taking a stand against colonialism. I sincerely doubt, though, that Donald Trump has ever even uttered those names before or could pick their faces out of a lineup.
Trump complains of ‘witch hunt’ Russia probe in paranoid tweets
Trump continued his self-pity party Thursday when he tweeted that what he is experiencing right now is "the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history."
Really? That he could even form his fingers to tweet such foolishness is disgusting. Mind you, Donald Trump himself said he hired private investigators to attempt to prove that President Barack Obama was not even an American. Trump was perhaps the most visible "birther" in the entire nation — continually questioning the citizenship and humanity of Obama every chance he got.
That Trump now thinks he is experiencing the worst witch hunt in American history, or the worst political attacks in world history, shows just how painfully delusional he actually is.
Trump made his outrageous claims with "surety" — so let me say what I'm about to say with surety. Donald Trump's narcissistic assessment of how bad things are for him right now is not just strange, it's disturbing. I honestly believe it's a sign that something is painfully wrong with this man to be able to make such a skewed assessment. He does not have his feet or mind grounded in reality. He lacks the basic knowledge or context to even understand the common facts of American or world history.
Trump campaign members had 18 undisclosed talks with Russia
I've said it before, but I'll say it again — none of this is surprising. This is exactly who Donald Trump has always been — except now he's a terrible human being in the most important office in the world.
God help us.
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"Trump complains of ‘witch hunt’ Russia probe in paranoid tweets
Trump continued his self-pity party Thursday when he tweeted that what he is experiencing right now is "the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history."
Really? That he could even form his fingers to tweet such foolishness is disgusting. Mind you, Donald Trump himself said he hired private investigators to attempt to prove that President Barack Obama was not even an American. Trump was perhaps the most visible "birther" in the entire nation — continually questioning the citizenship and humanity of Obama every chance he got.
That Trump now thinks he is experiencing the worst witch hunt in American history, or the worst political attacks in world history, shows just how painfully delusional he actually is."
I 'm not going to read the article. Tired of reading articles that ooze artificial grievance.
Good. We will be spared your inane three and four word replies.
The term "white privilege" has become so overused, it is now cliché and a part of mindless political rhetoric.
Did you read the article?
What is mindless about it?
What is mindless about it?
The fact that only Trump would have been accused of white privilege & not HRC ... for one thing .
Trump complains he is the victim of a witch hunt, when he conducted a witch hunt against Obama himself.
He's a special sort of scum bag Petey.
I said the TERM "white privilege," The idea of "white privilege" is a conceptual abstraction. It doesn't exist naturally. It's not a science, psycological or math term and is overused in a mindless fashion, often disparagingly by race baiters and people with low vocabulary skills who cannot articulate behavioral nuances.
There are many phrases and terms and words that are occasionally overused or misapplied. The concept is not invalidated. The writer of the column is a black man who often writes about racial incidents as part of his beat. The article above in itself is a recounting of Trump's current "woe is me" whining. He also says that a black man with Trump's faults would never have been elected president. I don't see where that argument fails.
The most effective campaign strategy for a black man to become president in recent years is to promise free crap at the expense of the successful white man. It is true different strategies are required when targeting different demographics.
Race baiter in other words, with marginal writing skills. I'm not talking about that idiot dufus of a trump. This isn't about race. It's about a RICH, white male.....whom like all rich white males, are entitled barbecue of their wealth. It's economics and classes, not race.
It is one article of many, people can accept it's premise or not, it is not a big deal. The article is much more about Trump's whining and failings than it is about white privilege anyway.
It's like those damn free phones that the blacks get....That really pisses me off, so I researched it and lo an behold this is what I found...They aren't Obama phones, they are BUSH phones...and the bulk of them go to white people....
Damn, I didn't realize that Bush was black..He must be some kind of passer, the male version of Rachel Dolezal.
and that has what to do with my post?
If you speaking to me Aeon, it has nothing to do with your post, it's for Dean.
Here.
From your link Dean.
Who Started the Obama Phone
“Who started the Obama Phone?” is one of the most frequently asked questions about the Lifeline program.
That growth, of course, is partially related to the financial meltdown, the subsequent recession, and lingering economic issues. The number of Americans eligible for the program has grown dramatically recent years and the program has expanded to meet that demand.
But perhaps we should look back at a little history to determine the real architect of the free phone program. A timeline of the program’s history makes it difficult to pinpoint an exact date the program was created and blurs the possibility of assigning credit or blame (depending on your opinion of the program).
President Obama?
It’s an undisputed fact that Safelink Wireless offered the first free government cell phone in Tennessee in 2008, but don’t let the year confuse you. Barack Obama was not elected President until November of that year, but that first free government cell phone was given out three months earlier during the Bush administration.
name="aswift_2" width="590" height="60" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0"> President Clinton? Some authorities go back even further and say the Obama Phone program can trace its roots back to the Clinton administration because that’s when the Federal Communications Commission authorized a subsidy for landline telephones as part of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The Act authorized subsidized landline telephones for America’s needy and it was approved by both houses of Congress and signed into law by President Clinton. President Reagan? Nevertheless, some authorities dispute that interpretation and believe credit for the Obama Phone program should go back even further to 1984 when Ronald Reagan was President, because it was then that the Federal Communications Commission created the original Lifeline Assistance program (technically, Lifeline Assistance is the official name of the Obama Phone program). President Roosevelt? But even that does not go back far enough for some industry leaders who say the origin of the Obama Phone program goes all the way back to 1934. During President Franklin Roosevelt’s first administration, Congress created the Federal Communications Commission and promised “to make available, so far as possible, to all the people of the United States, a rapid, efficient, Nation-wide, and world-wide wire and radio communication service with adequate facilities at reasonable charges.” Today’s Lifeline Assistance program is funded through a Universal Service Fund that evolved from that concept. President Wilson? And believe it or not, there are a few telecommunications experts insist that the Obama Phone program began all the way back in the early 20th century during the Woodrow Wilson administration. Their logic? When the first telephone companies were founded, the phone service offered by one company in one town was often incompatible with the phone service offered by another company in another town. That situation created technical chaos in the budding telephone industry. The solution? In 1913 the Woodrow Wilson administration gave AT&T a monopoly over phone service, which allowed them to set nationwide technology standards and determine the evolution of the nation’s future telephone system. What’s not in dispute? The program helps people. Obviously, the roots of the Obama Phone program are in dispute. What’s not in dispute is that the program has grown tremendously during President Obama’s administration — nearly 20 million low income Americans are already benefiting from the program. Some experts believe that as many as 35% of all Americans may be qualified for the free phones and that the program will continue to grow under subsequent presidents even as it retains the Obama’s name on itMea Maxima Culpa
No problem Aeon.
First, sulking aloud while he was supposed to be giving a commencement speech to Coast Guard graduates, Trump said of himself "no politician in history, and I say this with great surety, has been treated worse, or more unfairly."
The graduates were not there to hear a crybaby politician man-baby whine, but that's what they got.
It's not easy for an orange man to succeed in America these days.
Basically, this article says that only in a country filled with stupid and/or racist white people can a stupid white man like Trump become president. Apart from basing this spurious conclusion on race based identity politics, it goes on to support it with irrelevant facts.
First it picks out Trump as the seemingly sole beneficiary of white privilege while completely ignoring that he ran against Hillary Clinton who is also white and had the exclusive privilege of literally riding the coattails of her white husband into the White House. No black man or woman could have ever been nominated president of the United States with a 40 year history of scandals, barely escaping an indictment by the FBI, setting the Middle East on fire, etc.
Second, it acts like Trump is crazy for suggesting that he has been treated unfairly by the press when he receives constant negative press coverage from a media that is just short of openly declaring itself part of the democratic resistance. It tops it off by making the ridiculous statement that Trump really has nothing to complain about because he hasn't been assassinated or imprisoned for 27 years like Nelson Mandela.
Third, it says that Trump is a dope because he can't pick Patrice Lumumba and Kwame Nkrumah out of a lineup. I bet 99.9% of people of any educational background (black or white) couldn't do it either.
Fourth, Trump is crazy for saying the Russia investigation is a witch hunt. I don't know whether it's a witch hunt or not but the press is long on innuendo and short on facts . . . just like the author.
Well said. It's just manufactured outrage.