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Think about it. Next time around, Donald Trump would essentially be able to do anything. Anything. As long, of course, as he's president of these increasingly (dis-)United States. And for that version of reality, he can thank the Supreme Court, the very one he empowered with those three court selections of his. In its most recent presidential decision, that court turned a future President Trump into something new: as Justice Sonya Sotomayor suggested ominously ("With fear for our democracy, I dissent"), "a king above the law"; or, if you prefer your history to start not just before the American revolution but elsewhere, as Justice Elena Kagan suggested in her dissenting opinion on another recent decision by those six right-wing justices, that court is turning itself into "the country's administrative czar."
You might even consider experimenting with a new title for The Donald: Czar Trump the Great. If Sotomayor is right, he'll even be able to order his troops to assassinate a political rival without the slightest fear of ending up in court, no less in jail. Next time around (if there is a next time and Joe Biden's recent grim debate performance suggests that there well might be), any whim or terrible thought of his could indeed become our reality without the slightest fear of future prosecution. Thanks to "his" Supreme Court, he will essentially be able to do anything -- anything -- his heart (if he has one) desires with "absolute immunity." And Donald Trump has been nothing if not grimly whimsical. The first time around, he was certainly the president of the rich and beyond-well-to-do. Next time, he would surely repeat that experience and since his election "coalition" was and remains, as TomDispatch regular Clarence Lusane makes vividly clear today, a distinctly white nationalist one, I wouldn't count on anything he promises Black or Hispanic voters to happen, not for a second.
As Lusane explains, his next time around is certain to be a white racist presidency of the first order (even if his vice-presidential choice does turn out to be Senator Tim Scott). But let Lusane explain. Tom
Who Thinks Donald Trump Is Racist?
Other Racists, That's Who!
Former president Donald Trump often finds himself on the defensive against accusations of racism. He regularly denies the charges, distorting his record and resorting to his "Black friends" defense, while attempting to throw the allegations back at liberals. However, he never explains why he is the favorite son of the one group in society about whose racial bigotry there can be no debate: avowed racists.
Since Trump emerged as a public political figure, they have been resolute in their loyalty to him. Are Trump's African American allies like Senator Tim Scott or Representative Byron Donalds, or Latino ones like Senator Marco Rubio, truly ignorant of his unapologetically racist champions? Or is their blind ambition to share a ticket with him (or be close to power) simply more important to them?
In 2016, when Donald Trump first ran for president, just about every self-declared white nationalist, white supremacist, Klansman, neo-Nazi, and fascist in the country supported his candidacy. And that's no exaggeration.
One of the longest-running white nationalist journals in the United States, American Renaissance, is edited by notorious racist Jared Taylor. In January 2016, during the primary race in Iowa, he circulated a robocall that stated, "I urge you to vote for Donald Trump because he is the one candidate who points out that we should accept immigrants who are good for America. We don't need Muslims. We need smart, well-educated White people who will assimilate to our culture. Vote Trump."
Trump was also cheered on by the Ku Klux Klan's official newspaper, The Crusader, which calls itself the "Political Voice of White Christian America." Though it said that it wasn't necessarily endorsing Trump, its urge to ally with him was all too clear. Under the front-page headline banner "Make America Great Again," Pastor Thomas Robb wrote, "While Trump wants to make America great again, we have to ask ourselves, 'What made America great in the first place?' The short answer to that is simple. America was great not because of what our forefathers did -- but because of who our forefathers were" America was founded as a White Christian Republic. And as a White Christian Republic it became great."
And then there was the David Duke crisis. On February 24, 2016, Duke, the Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, stated to his white radio audience, "Voting against Donald Trump at this point is really treason to your heritage." When Trump was later asked on CNN about his support from the then-most-famous racist in the nation, his reply was "Well, just so you understand, I don't know anything about David Duke. OK? I don't know anything about what you're even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists. So, I don't know." Not exactly an unequivocal denunciation.
And not true in the least. Trump, who claims the best brain and greatest memory on earth, suddenly got amnesia when it came to the way he had spoken out against Duke in 1991 when that figure ran for governor of Louisiana, and, in 2000, when Trump rejected affiliation with the Reform Party in part because of its links to Duke. At the time, he called Duke a "bigot" and a "racist."
Trump conveniently forgot that past history of his during that CNN interview, as he clearly calculated the nature of his base and where it overlapped with Duke's. After blaming a faulty earpiece (which, curiously enough, seemed to work fine for the rest of the interview) and evidently fearing swift blowback, Trump rejected Duke's support the next day.
Duke, however, was undeterred and continued to back him in an enthusiastic fashion. After the election, he even tweeted, "Make no mistake about it, our people played a HUGE role in electing Trump!"
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