Yep, I’m Saying It Again: If You Vote for Trump, You’re a Racist

From Cosmopolitan

You’ve heard it before and you’ll hear it again as long as it keeps being true: a vote for Trump is a vote for white supremacy.

Any doubts about President Donald Trump’s atrocious record against people of color should have been fully laid to rest during the last presidential debate. On Thursday night, Trump kept true to his brand by doubling down on some of his worst and most extreme rhetoric, starting with an abhorrent tirade related to immigration.

When moderator Kristen Welker asked him about a report that lawyers cannot find the parents of 545 migrant children who were separated at the border by the Trump administration, Trump’s response was as racist and horrendous as his administration’s actions. He first said that the children were “brought here by coyotes” (a claim that’s been debunked) or “very bad people,” not their parents. When asked how they would reunite the families, Trump pointed fingers at the Obama administration and went on a tirade about how the children’s parents were “gang members” instead. He also said that less than 1 percent of people come back for immigration court hearings, which CNN’s Daniel Dale reported is false, and said that those who did have “the lowest IQs.” Another false claim.

In the center of his incoherent rants is more clear and undeniable proof that Trump’s racism is and has been the core of his administration. This is the same president whose response to Black Lives Matter was to promote white power, insisted on calling the COVID-19 pandemic the “China Plague,” which caused a surge of xenophobic hate crimes across the country, and proposed a “Muslim Ban” to keep people from seven Muslim-majority countries out of the U.S.

At this point (and we’ve been far past this point for quite some time), it’s not an exaggeration to say Donald Trump is a racist. It’s old news. So old, it isn’t news. It should not be up for debate whether or not Trump’s leadership has put communities of color in danger when he has basically admitted that a vote for him is a vote for white supremacy (we all remember the “stand by and stand back” comment).

So why keep screaming into the abyss about the same thing over and over again? Because for any non-white person in America, his rhetoric brings danger every single waking day. As long as he holds power in the highest office in the nation, it is absolutely necessary to condemn his bigotry often and critically so that this kind of racism never be normalized. We have a president who cannot and should not be separated from his prejudice. Unlike his Proud Boy followers, he has unparalleled power that he’s shown to be unafraid to use to make lives worse for BIPOCs in America.

So take note: It doesn’t matter if your parents haven’t been ripped away from you or if you aren’t afraid to be stopped by police or if you can go to the bathroom without worrying someone will make a scene. If you vote for Donald Trump, you’re voting for all this racist garbage. Stop deluding yourself. You’re just as bad as he is.

With the election 12 days away, there is even less reason to mince words. But holding him accountable for his racism doesn’t mean looking away or dismissing it as Trump being Trump. If you consider yourself an ally, now is the time to lean into your anger and be loud about every single harmful thing he has and will continue to say. Let Trump’s cruelty radicalize you into action (even after you submit your ballot) because millions of lives will not survive another Trump regime. His entire presidency has been defined by his racism, so let any opposition to Trump be in the name of equality.

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