'Stand back and stand by': Rhetoric some call racist has marked Trump's entire presidency
Nicquel Terry EllisPresident Donald Trump has undermined Black Lives Matter protesters, calling them "terrorists" and "thugs." He has made Asian Americans the target of hate crimes, calling the deadly coronavirus the "Chinese virus" and "Kung flu." And the president has used eugenics to appeal to his white supporters, telling a mostly white crowd in Minnesota they have "good genes."
So when Trump urged the Proud Boys, a violent far-right group, to "stand back and stand by" at Black Lives Matter protests, it was another example of the incendiary rhetoric that has marked his presidency.
Since announcing his presidential campaign in 2015, Trump's contentious comments about people of color have been blasted by critics who say he is creating a divided America.
The victims of his attacks have run the gamut.
Trump has targeted Muslims, Mexicans, Syrian refugees, Africans, congresswomen of color, Black athletes protesting racial inequality and former president Barack Obama, among others.
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In many instances, including last month's presidential debate, he has refused to denounce white supremacists or he has defended them.
Notably, in 2017 he set off a firestorm when he said there were "fine people on both sides" at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, after a white supremacist drove his car into a crowd and killed a counterdemonstrator. The "Unite the Right" event drew members of the alt-right who did Nazi salutes.
"There’s been a fairly long history, since he got back into the election, of him basically using hate speech to promote his ideas," said Michael Waltman, associate professor in the department of communication at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. "His immigration policy is grounded largely in xenophobia. He has said really horrific things about Mexicans. He’s done some pretty horrific things to Mexicans."
At a recent rally in Bemidji, Minnesota, the president injected eugenics into his speech, praising the mostly white crowd for their "good genes" while attacking Somali refugees.
He said the state of Minnesota was built by strong men and women who braved the wilderness and cold winters to create a better life.
“You have good genes, you know that, right?” Trump said. “You have good genes. A lot of it is about the genes, isn’t it, don’t you believe? The racehorse theory. You think we’re so different? You have good genes in Minnesota.”
Minnesota is 80% white but has the highest number of refugees per capita of any state.
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The idea of better genes is at the root of the eugenics movement, which started in the late 1800s and grew in the U.S. in the early 20th century, backed by scholars, scientists and the government. Eugenics, a term coined by Charles Darwin’s cousin Francis Galton in 1883, is the philosophy and social movement that encourages reproduction by people or populations believed to have the most desirable traits and discourages reproduction by the “unfit” – those people believed to have undesirable qualities.
In the U.S., eugenics programs boiled down to limiting the number of offspring from immigrants, Blacks, Indigenous people, poor whites and people with disabilities.
Lewis Gordon, who heads the philosophy department at the University of Connecticut, said Trump was perpetuating a notion of superiority among white people.
“Most people who hear Trump’s ramblings don't have the history to know that his words are those of racists," Gordon said. "Today, Trump can say ‘gene’ – that some have ‘good genes’ – and it is implying superiority. Since all racism stems from narcissism, Trump is appealing to the narcissists in the crowd who believe anything they do is superior. They believe they are born with better genes.”
The White House maintains that Trump is not racist.
“Donald Trump’s record as a private citizen and as president has been one of fighting for inclusion and advocating for the equal treatment of all,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Matthews told The Washington Post last month. “Anyone who suggests otherwise is only seeking to sow division.”
At a campaign rally in Duluth, Minnesota, on Sept. 30, Trump blasted Biden's plan to allow more refugees from war-torn countries into the United States, warning his supporters that it would lead to overcrowded schools and hospitals.
He claimed a Biden presidency would mean a "700% increase in refugees coming from the most dangerous places in the world including Yemen, Syria, and your favorite country Somalia."
"This guy loves Somalia," Trump said. "Biden will turn Minnesota into a refugee camp."
But Trump's controversial comments about nonwhite immigrants and certain foreign countries is not new.
He has consistently denigrated Mexicans and built his campaign for president on a promise to build a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border. On Sept. 1, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported that 307 miles of the border wall have been built.
Trump has described Mexican immigrants as "rapists" who bring drugs and crime to the U.S.
He also kept a campaign promise to ban Muslims from the country. In January 2017 – his first month in office – he restricted travel from seven Muslim-majority countries. After a series of court challenges, the restrictions were upheld by the Supreme Court. Trump argued that the restrictions were for national security against terrorism.
Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee for president, said in July that Trump "has fanned the flames of hate in this country" with such policies.
“Muslim communities were the first to feel Donald Trump’s assault on Black and brown communities in this country with his vile Muslim ban,” Biden said. “That fight was the opening barrage in what has been nearly four years of constant pressure and insults, and attacks against Muslim American communities.”
In 2018, sources told the Washington Post that Trump questioned why the U.S. would accept more immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador and "s---hole" countries in Africa rather than countries such as Norway.
He was also criticized in 2019 for telling a group of newly elected female lawmakers known as "the Squad" to "go back" to the countries they came from. Of the lawmakers, Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib were all born in the U.S., while Rep. Ilhan Omar came as a refugee from Somalia more than 20 years ago and has been a U.S. citizen since 2000.
Earlier this year, Trump repeatedly called the coronavirus the "Chinese virus" and "Kung flu" in tweets and White House press briefings as a way to blame China for the pandemic.
The racist rhetoric led to a surge in xenophobic harassment toward Asian Americans, according to the Anti-Defamation League. Asian Americas reported being threatened, physically assaulted, spat on and told to "go back to China."
"Statements by public officials referring to COVID-19 as the “Chinese virus,” “Kung Flu” or “Wu Flu” may be exacerbating the scapegoating and targeting of the AAPI community," the ADL said in June.
Trump has also attempted to undermine Black Lives Matter – an anti-racism movement that has been largely peaceful – referring to protesters as "terrorists" and "thugs" and threatening to send national troops to restore "law & order." However, much of the violence at the protests has been caused by outside agitators, some of whom are linked to white supremacy and militia groups.
When Trump told the Proud Boys to "stand back and stand by" at the Sept. 29 presidential debate, the group celebrated on social media.
After receiving backlash for his comment, Trump later said he did not know who the Proud Boys were.
"I don't know who Proud Boys are, but whoever they are, they have to stand down," Trump said the day after the debate. "Let law enforcement do their work."
Trump said during the Republican National Convention that he has done more for Black Americans than any U.S. president since Abraham Lincoln.
Yet earlier this year, the president was blasted for initially scheduling a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Juneteenth – a holiday that celebrates the Emancipation Proclamation, issued by Lincoln to free enslaved people in Confederate states.
He later decided to push it back a day.
Trump said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that "nobody had ever heard" of the Juneteenth holiday before the controversy erupted.
Contributing: Jordan Culver, Sheree Curry
