Donald Trump’s unhinged newest as bizarre excuse for racist video raises much more questions
The video that Donald Trump posted on Truth Social overnight was shocking. But …was it really all that surprising? Here’s a roundup of the last 24 hours in Trumpworld
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
The video that Donald Trump posted on Truth Social overnight was shocking. But …was it really all that surprising?
Regular readers will know Trump’s administration has been posting white supremacy-coded content with alarming regularity for months now.
His speeches are peppered with racist attacks on people of Somali heritage. Or whatever “s***hole” country he’s angry about this week.
He’s been making racist comments about Obama since he was the world’s biggest birther – most recently branding him a “divisive” President. Which aside from being an obvious dogwhistle, is a bit rich coming from Trump.
There was, to America’s credit, universal outrage about the video. Republican Senator Tim Scott, who is Black, was among those who criticised Trump’s post.
“Praying it was fake because it’s the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House. The President should remove it,” he wrote on Twitter.
After which Ramesh Ponnuru, Editor of the National Review, not unreasonably asked him: “What’s the second most racist thing you’ve seen out of this White House?”
Meanwhile, in Trumpworld
- Trump posts – and eventually deletes – racist video
- White House excuse raises more questions than it answers
- Is Starmer going to finally fall out with Trump?
- The FBI sends a pretty sinister email
- And what on Earth is going on in Poland?
Here’s what you need to know
1. Trump posts – and eventually deletes – insanely racist video
You’ve almost certainly already seen it, so we aren’t going to publish it again.
During one of his late-night posting sprees, Trump posted a video containing an image depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes.
After initially telling everyone to quit it with the “fake outrage”, and explaining it was all just a Lion King meme (which doesn’t make it not racist), the post eventually disappeared from Trump’s account. Then it got even weirder.
2. White House suggests Trump doesn’t do his own tweets
The White House were in a real rock and a hard place moment here. There really wasn’t a way they could throw someone under the bus for this and still leave the impression the President does all his own social media.
And so it came to pass that the racist video was blamed on a “staffer”.
Which really raises more questions than it answers. Which staffer? How many staffers have access to Trump’s Truth Social account? Do they have access to his direct messages? You know, the ones where he occasionally fires off a text to the Attorney General to order her to prosecute one of his enemies, and accidentally posts it on main.
Is the account logged in on more than one phone, or do the “staffers” have access to his phone too? If more than one phone, how many phones are logged into the social network where the President has been known to invent policy, announce changes in tariffs on various countries, announced his intention to invade other countries, announce cabinet hirings and firings. Why were they posting to it in the middle of the night?
Lots of questions. All of them entirely moot though, because as we all know, you can’t trust a word that comes out of this White House to be true. So we’ll probably never know who pressed the “repost” button on this particular piece of filth.
3. There’s another shoe just waiting to drop over Mandelson
Keir Starmer has spent quite a lot of the last year spaffing his political capital up the wall in order to get Donald Trump to not hate him. And yes, I know, there are good reasons to do that, but that’s not why I bring it up.
The other day, MPs demanded greater transparency on how Mandelson got appointed – in spite of all the many reasons to simply not give him one of the most important jobs in global politics at a time of acute global uncertainty.
As a result, Starmer is going to have to publish documents relating to the process. And while it’s not known exactly which documents will be published and what will be in them, UK officials fear they could include messages from Mandelson to Downing Street and the Foreign Office. And, according to Politico, those messages might not be entirely flattering about the President or his colleagues.
According to one official quoted by Politico, there is “lots which could be damaging”, adding Mandelson “used to download his thoughts in real time.”
Yikes. Pray for Keir Starmer. Maybe he will get a nickname from Trump after all.
4. FBI sends sinister email about ‘preparations’ for midterms
The FBI is organising a mysterious conference call later this month, inviting election officials from around the US to discuss “preparations” for the midterm election.
This is extremely unusual, particularly while Trump is calling for elections – which are run at the state level in most cases – to be nationalised, a clear breach of the constitution.
Trump is calling for the federal government to take control of the counting of ballots in 15 states – and has named a handful, all of which he has lost in previous elections.
Crooked Media broke the story, and has spoken to election officials who say it’s very weird indeed.
“I was just like, ‘what is this?’ It’s the strangest thing in the world that the FBI is reaching out to us and trying to coordinate election security,” one said.
5. Trump wants to name more things after himself
As if taxi drivers in Washington DC and New York needed another brain ache, Donald Trump is trying to get congress to name more things after him.
He’s already got his name on the Peace Institute and, bizarrely, the Kennedy Memorial Centre.
And now he’s trying to do what all good dictators do when they mount a coup – seize the airport.
Trump wants Dulles International Airport, the national railway station in the Capital, renamed in his honour.
He’s also after naming rights on Penn Station, the national rail station in New York.
In exchange, it’s been reported, he would release $16 billion in federal funds New York needs to build the Gateway tunnel between NYC and New Jersey.
I mean, that’s one way of putting it. The other way of putting it is that he’s holding a vital infrastructure project hostage unless Congress agrees to slap his name on more things.
(A brief aside, as someone who travels through Dulles fairly regularly, I am full swing behind Trump’s plan, announced in December, to rebuild it. I mean, I’m not saying I’d vote for him if he got rid of the weird people mover trucks you have to wait ages for to get to the international terminal. But, you know, I’m not not saying that.)
6. What’s going on in Poland?
Tom Rose, who as we all know is America’s ambassador to Poland, had a bit of a strop on Twitter yesterday about his host country.
“Effective immediately, we will have no further dealings, contacts, or communications with Marshall of the Sejm Czarzasty, whose outrageous and unprovoked insults directed against President Trump has made himself a serious impediment to our excellent relations with Prime Minister Tusk and his government.”
For the non-Polish out there, the Sejm Czarzasty is the Polish Parliament, and the Marshall is the equivalent of the Speaker.
What on Earth did they say to provoke such public ire from a diplomat?
Well, Włodzimierz Czarzasty, for it is he, said: “I will not support the nomination of President Trump for the Nobel Prize, as he does not deserve it.”
He also accused the President of pursuing a “transactional, force-based” foreign policy.
All of which is broadly true, but Rose is still fuming.
He posted on Twitter: “We will not permit anyone to harm U.S.–Polish relations, nor disrespect Donald Trump, who has done so much for Poland and the Polish people.”
But it only escalated from there.
Rose went on to get into an online spat with a random Polish guy called Jack on Twitter.
And then Donald Tusk, the Polish PM waded in, telling him “allies should respect, not lecture, each other. At least this is how we, here in Poland, understand partnership.”
And as you might imagine, Rose didn’t like that. Not even one bit.
“Dear Mr. Prime Minister,” he wrote in response. “I’m assuming your thoughtful and well-articulated message was sent to me by mistake, because surely you intended it for the Speaker of the Sejm, Włodzimierz Czarzasty, who’s despicable, disrespectful and insulting comments about President Trump were so potentially damaging to your government. Mr. Prime Minister, I have nothing but the greatest respect and admiration for your lifetime of bold leadership and for your decades of contributions that strengthened the U.S.–Poland relationship. You Sir have truly been a model ally and great friend of the United States. And I know you agree that insulting and degrading the President of the United States– the greatest friend Poland has ever had in the White House, is the last thing any Polish leader should do. As I’m sure you also know, I will always defend my President without hesitation, exception or apology.”
If you were wondering who the audience for Rose’s performative outrage might be, let me tell you that he did an @ mention of both of Trump’s Twitter accounts in both of his tweets.
