What did Donald Trump do today?
He Twitter-replied to a serious charge of racism, not with a denial, but with #MAGA.
Greg Sargent of the Washington Post--a newspaper Trump calls "fake news"--tweeted yesterday about Trump's penchant for picking fights with black athletes and celebrities.
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) November 22, 2017
Trump's rage-tweets about LaVar Ball are part of a pattern.
Trump regularly attacks high-profile African Americans to feed his supporters' belief that the system is rigged for minorities:https://t.co/vlWbUj10T2
At 6:31 A.M., Trump replied directly to Sargent's tweet: "MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"
There are a few possible explanations, any or all of which might be true. It may be that Trump, who tends to consume an awful lot of the media he says he hates, accidentally replied to Sargent because of a change to Twitter's UI. Judging from his even-earlier-than-normal, even-angrier-than-normal tweets of late, Trump's confused response may indicate that he is still suffering from jet lag or other forms of sleeplessness. And, of course, it is possible that Trump knew exactly what he was saying and intended his suggestion--that his #MAGA slogan defeats any possible criticism--to be taken at face value.
Why does this matter?
- None of the explanations here are especially encouraging.
- Reciting campaign slogans is not governing.
- People who voted for Trump for non-racist reasons may not appreciate Trump's apparent belief that his own supporters are generally racist.