Sarah Wasko / Media Matters
President Donald Trump did something racist again. At what point will some media outlets just say that?
On January 11, The Washington Post first reported that in a meeting with lawmakers about immigration, when discussing “protecting immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador and African countries as part of a bipartisan immigration deal,” Trump said, “Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” Trump reportedly added that he’d rather have more immigrants from countries like Norway.
That is a racist statement, and Trump said that because he is racist.
It’s far from the first overtly racist comment Trump has made in his life or even in his presidency.
In fact, an undeniable shadow of racial animus hangs over Trump's every action, whether it’s playing footsie with white nationalists or denying black people housing access, picking public fights with black athletes and pundits and public figures or questioning President Barack Obama’s place of birth, calling Mexican immigrants criminals and rapists or calling for the death penalty for a group of innocent black and Latino teenagers.
News outlets may hesitate to ascribe racist motivations to an individual, even if so many of their readers can see it clearly. That’s a bit understandable -- but describing concrete, individual actions and statements doesn’t require the same sort of divination.
Yet some print outlets seem, still, to only feel comfortable calling Trump’s actions racist in the opinion section, or including words or sentiments from third parties that are more comfortable calling racist things racist (like many of their colleagues on mainstream cable news, finally) .
At this point, major national papers are left to perform bizarre word acrobatics to avoid just saying it themselves. The reporting on Trump’s “shithole” remarks is the latest example.
- In its report about the “shithole” remark itself, the Post wrote that Trump used “racially incendiary language” and described him as having a “long-standing tendency to make racially charged remarks.”
- The New York Times wrote that Trump used “disparaging words” and “vulgar language” about the countries in “the latest example of his penchant for racially tinged remarks denigrating immigrants.”
- USA Today said Trump used “a crude description” because he “reportedly grew frustrated.”
- The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump made “vulgar comments” during a “back-and-forth” on immigration.
What more horrifying things does Trump need to do or say that would actually be labeled racist in a report? Judging from what’s been sugar-coated so far, I hope we never know the answer.