Everybody’s doing it.
President Trump is unmoved by claims that his recent tweets and rhetoric about congressmen and women of color are racist because “everybody’s called a racist now.”
During a recent interview with C-SPAN, President Trump argued the sting of being labeled a “racist” is now attenuated.
“I think the word has really gone down a long way because everybody’s called a racist now. Her own party called Nancy Pelosi a racist two weeks ago,” he said. “The word is so overused, it’s such a disgrace. I can tell you this, I’m the least racist person there is in the world, as far as I’m concerned.”
Trump also claimed that Democrats use the word when they’ve run out of things to criticize.
“They use it almost when they run out of things to criticize you — they say, ‘He’s a racist. He’s a racist.’ … But with me they have a hard time getting away with it, and they don’t get away with it,” he said.
.@SteveScully: "When Congressman Elijah Cummings calls you a racist, your reaction is what?
President Trump: "I think the word has really gone down a long way, because everybody's called a racist now. Her own party called Nancy Pelosi a racist two weeks ago." pic.twitter.com/keXPup0ndL
— CSPAN (@cspan) July 30, 2019
Trump’s been hit as a racist for decades — from the infamous Central Park Five newspaper ad to calling Mexicans “rapists” during the 2016 campaign — but the cries of racism have sharpened in recent weeks as he’s lobbed insults at a group of congresswomen of color and told them to “go back” to their home countries. He’s also spent the last several days attacking Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) and calling Baltimore “filthy.”
