On Monday morning, hours before President Donald Trump would issue an unequivocal denunciation of white supremacy, MSNBC “Morning Joe” co-host Joe Scarborough accused Trump’s donors of funding white supremacy.
“For those of you funding Donald Trump’s reelection campaign, you may want to take note: that because you keep writing checks to this president, it’s on you. It really is, it’s all on you because you are funding this white supremacist campaign, CEOs,” Scarborough said.
“You really are, businesspeople. Millionaires and billionaires, it is your money that is funding this white supremacy. Because you won’t tell him to stop,” the co-host added.
Scarborough suggested that donors to the president’s political campaign could just ask Trump to change his rhetoric, using their money as a bargaining chip to get him to stop his “white supremacy.”
Addressing the donors, the MSNBC co-host said, “You won’t tell him, ’talk about the economy, and I’ll write you a check, keep up the white supremacist attacks and I’m going to ask for a refund.’ But you won’t do that. Why is that? Are you a white supremacist?”
He kept up the questions: “Does your company support white supremacy? Does a corporation that you run, do they support white supremacy?”
These accusations are horrendous. President Trump is not racist, and many of the remarks Democrats have denounced as racist have nothing to do with race. The tweet storm against Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) came after Cummings attacked immigration agencies, accusing them of “child abuse.” Even the infamous “go back” tweets were clearly targeted at members of “The Squad” for their political positions, not for their races. As black pastor Rev. Bill Owens noted, Trump attacks people for political reasons, not racial ones.
When it comes to the black community, Trump has met with black leaders and leaders of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to strategize on helping black Americans advance. The black unemployment rate reached historic lows under Trump. The first black billionaire gave him an “A+” on the economy.
There is no evidence Trump is a “white nationalist,” and quite a bit that he is not anything of the sort.
Furthermore, Trump is the current president of the United States, running for reelection. He is almost certainly going to be the Republican nominee, so he is likely the only truly viable challenger to whichever anti-Second Amendment, anti-religious freedom, big government climate zealot the Democrats decide to nominate for president. Financial contributions to his campaign should be seen in this light.
Donors to Trump’s campaign are not endorsing his rhetoric. Scarborough should know better.
"For those of you funding Donald Trump's re-election campaign, you may want to take note: Because you keep writing checks to this president, it's on you…because you are funding this white supremacist campaign…It is your money that is funding this white supremacy." —@JoeNBC pic.twitter.com/w0kxC0KJAk
— Morning Joe (@Morning_Joe) August 5, 2019
Follow Tyler O’Neil, the author of this article, on Twitter at @Tyler2ONeil.
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