Reflections/Jonathan Gramling
Trump Making America White Again
It seems that I wake up — not “woke” up — to another round of outrageous and mostly unconstitutional or illegal statements or actions by Donald Trump. No one should be surprised by all of this. This is what he said he would do on the campaign trail. Some dismissed his rhetoric as trying to energize his base, but would revert to governing upon assuming office.
But he took office and armed with HIS Project 2025 — he lied about owning that too — he set out to upend this country like the dictator that he promised to be. He is remaking America into his own image and likeness because he is driven by the narcissistic within him. He is compulsive and can’t help himself.
On the campaign trail, he exhorted that he wanted to “Make America Great Again.” I always thought that meant “Make America White Again” to his supporters. And it turns out that I was right. Many — if not most — of his actions have been against the interests, if not the existence of people of color in this country.
Trump’s massive deportation scheme has targeted undocumented immigrants whom he has grossly labeled “murders, rapists and drug dealers.” Since many Americans don’t have direct interactions with undocumenteds — or if they do, they don’t realize they are undocumenteds because they don’t fit the stereotype — due to our segregated society and media, and so they believe Trump.
But in all the deportation actions that I have seen to date, they target people of color. They chained people from the subcontinent of India as they sent them home. They have sent people to Colombia on planes. Trump promised to clear Springfield, Ohio of its legal, documented Haitian residents and send them to Haiti.
But I haven’t heard about Trump sending planes full of European undocumenteds back to London and Paris even though they are here by the thousands.
In fact, he is making it easier for some White people of European ancestry to enter the country.
“President Trump on Friday directed government officials to prioritize the resettlement of South Africans of European descent through the U.S. refugee program, which he suspended during his first day in office,” a CBS news item said. “In an executive order, Mr. Trump accused the South African government of discriminating against Afrikaners, an ethnic group in South Africa made up of descendants of European colonists, mostly from the Netherlands, who first arrived there in the 1600s. Until the 1990s, White South Africans of European descent ruled South Africa, enforcing the brutal system of apartheid against the country's Black majority.”
While Trump has railed against Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) efforts and fired or laid off the federal employees implementing DEI, Trump is implementing his own DEI Program — for White Afrikaners.
When Trump ordered the suspension of USAID aid programs and the firing of USAID staff from around the world, he cared less about whom it impacted — many, many of them people of color.
An item in this issue’s Global Connections reveals how this action has cut off HIV medicines for programs in Africa, which may lead to thousands and thousands of people to die a horrible death. And food has been cut off to people as well.
“Almost $500 million in food aid is at risk of spoilage as it sits in ports, ships and warehouses after funding for the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, was paused by the Trump administration, according to a Feb. 10 report from a government watchdog,” A CBS News item said. “An additional 500,000 additional metric tons of food is currently on ships or ready to be shipped abroad, the report added. USAID typically buys commodities such as wheat, soybeans, sorghum and split peas from U.S. farmers.”
This will surely add to the number of children and adults dying from malnutrition around the world — and primarily people of color I would surmise. So what does Trump do? Does he release the food out of compassion? No, he “kills” the messenger.
“President Trump fired the inspector general for the United States Agency for International Development on Tuesday, one day after he released a report detailing the impact of the administration's cuts to the agency, according to two sources familiar with the matter,” CBS News said.
Recently, Trump basically took over the Kennedy Center by firing Democratic appointees and appointing himself and others — Singer Lee Greenwood, Trump’s business partner is on it — so that they can change the direction of the Kennedy Center programming.
“The Kennedy Center's board voted unanimously to elect President Trump to be its new chair Wednesday afternoon, as the president reshapes the center's governing body and performances, moving away from what he views as "woke culture," multiple sources told CBS News.
And we all know what he means by “woke” culture. While Trump has a particular grudge against transgender people — he told the NCAA and other sports groups to remove transgender people from their listing of record holders — “woke culture” has often been used against people of color and DEI.
“President Trump campaigned on ending the scourge of DEI from our federal government and returning America to a merit based society where people are hired based on their skills, not for the color of their skin,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. “This is another win for Americans of all races, religions, and creeds.”
Give me a break. Trump’s world assumes that White people are superior in skills and intellect and so this means that elimination of DEI will lead to fewer hires of people of color.
Donald Trump is “Making America White Again.” I hope people understand this. Whoever voted for Trump because they wanted change is getting what they wanted. But it’s not the change they had in mind.