Donald Trump just can’t seem to stay out of trouble. The president of the United States is in hot water after telling his supporters at a Mississippi rally that he is incredibly racist.
“Folks, I’m a huge racist,” said Trump at the rally. “I think it’s pretty clear by this point. I hate Mexicans, I hate blacks, and I really hate Muslims. I essentially base all of my policy around hatred for minorities. I’m sure you’ll all agree with me that we need to be protected from these bad hombres!” [Crowd cheers.]
The speech caused quite a stir all over the world. Many have taken to social media to denounce these comments, with one Twitter user commenting that “it’s pretty fucking obvious that Trump is a confirmed racist now. How can anyone misconstrue this??”
However, it may not be that simple. Pundits on various television stations have been spending the past 24 hours trying to decipher what exactly President Trump meant by these words.
“I think he’s just voicing his displeasure over recent events,” said Jenna Mias, a senior White House correspondent on CNN and contributor to The Huffington Post, likely referring to the overturned travel ban. “Sure, he said these awful things, but he’s just playing up to the crowd. I don’t think he actually believes these things. He’s simply trying to connect with white, middle-class workers who are desperate to believe him.
“That’s why he won the election, because he made rust belt workers feel important again — not because he spewed racist shit 24/7.”
“The president is not a racist, period,” said Alex Jones, founder of Infowars. “He has a duty to protect the American people, and I think he will do a wonderful job. If systematically limiting the opportunities of non-white people is considered racist, then I might as well pack up and leave. This country has gone to shit.”
President Trump has yet to personally respond to these allegations, but White House press secretary Sean Spicer told the press that Trump is “the least racist person in the history of the Earth” and that he has watched the hit TV show Atlanta many times and “really liked the rapper guy.”
