Trumps Campaign Rhetoric of Racism and Anti-Immigration

Trumps Campaign Rhetoric of Racism and Anti-Immigration Hatred and Fear in Trump’s Campaign Introduction In most of the campaign rallies for Trump’s presidency, he never shied away from making racist comments about the minority groups in the States. He often used racism as a tool to increase his popularity among his supporters. He claimed that he wanted to make America great again by getting rid of those he claimed were illegal immigrants who he considered to be the African-Americans, those of Mexican heritage and the Muslim faithful. Trump claimed that America without these people because they were allegedly involved in crimes such as drug trafficking and gang related violence. Some of his top advisers and cabinet picks have got history and career checkered by claims and accusations of behavior that is racially biased. Most of these people, such as, his senior strategist and counselor, national security advisor have all been accused of racially biased behavior. This is a strategy that Trump used very well and often in his campaign which is probably why he won the election. Some of these instances are discussed below. Racism against Latin Mexicans According to Koulish, Robert.   The Implications of a Lizard Election. (2016),  in May 2016, Donald Trump claimed that the judge who was presiding over a suit that had been staged by a class action against the for-profit Trump University would not be fair in the case because he was of Mexican origin. He used this opportunity to showcase his plans of building a wall between Mexico and America. This is a strategy that gained him a lot of support from people who felt that America needed to be protected from the allegedly drug producing Mexico. This was totally uncalled for given that the judge is an American citizen born in Indiana. In fact, the judge went after Mexican drug cartel in the late 1990s when he was a prosecutor making him to be targeted for assassination by the cartels. A homeless Latino man was beaten up by two brothers in Boston an event that is seen to be as a result of Trump’s anti-immigrant messages. When the brothers were questioned about it, one of them replied that Trump was right for stating that all illegal immigrants must be deported. Trump commented by stating that the two brothers were passionate and that they were well intentioned. He uses this strategy to gain support by promising that deporting illegal immigrants would increase job opportunities to the natives. The problem with the strategy is that it considered all Latinos as illegal immigrants which is not the case. Donald Trump’s campaign was full of racial hatred and ill comments about the minority groups. This in turn led to increase in the number of racial crimes in the states. A Puerto Rican man’s car was vandalized and in the month of November and racial messages scratched on the car which read â€Å"Trump† and â€Å"go home†. This shows that racism was always there in the community only that Trump had gone an extra mile to verbalize it. This strategy gained him votes of those who were racist and of the same thoughts. Trump came up with a statement that characterized Mexican immigrants as criminals and rapists. His explanations in a bid to defend himself are just another page from his book. Trump doesn’t recognize that there is much variety among the minority groups. Instead, he views racial and minority groups as simple monolith entities. Whenever he mentioned these groups, he used the article ‘The’ which personalizes the whole thing. This strategy makes his supporters personalize the matter too leading to rise in racial crimes Islamophobia According to Hochschild, Jennifer L. What Happened on November 8, and What Happens Next? A Tour of Social Scientists Answers. (2016),   in his campaign for the presidency, Trump launched a travel ban that targeted the Muslim community. In so doing, he restricted Syrian refugees and also immigrants from seven countries most of which were Muslim. He did this with the aim of trying to stop the terror attacks that had been earlier on witnessed in the states. This earned him votes of those people who felt that America needed to be safe and free of terrorism which was mainly due to Muslim extremists.   This is totally wrong and racist because the ban targeted all Muslims including those that were born in America. Trump attacked the parents of a Muslim US Army officer who died earlier while serving in the Iraq War. He claimed that the Islamic faith did not allow the mother of the soldier to speak about the matter on grounds that she was a woman. He did this aiming to point out the negativity of Islamic faith and the Muslims all together in a bid to gain himself votes. This was condemned by a lot of people especially politician for being a racial comment. There were also reports of letter sent to at least five mosques in California advocating for genocide. This was done by Trump supporters who were putting into action probably what trump had been advocating. This move is totally wrong since it advocates for racial violence which is a threat to America democracy Anti Blackness According to Monagan, Sharmon L. Swinney.  Fascist Trump How Donald Trumps Rhetoric Is Jeopardizing US National Security. Lulu Press, Inc, 2016,   in his campaign process, Trump refused to condemn his white supporters’ supremacists who were advocating for him. He ignored the opportunity to renounce a white nationalist and a former KKK leader David Duke who had said voting for any other candidate besides Trump would be treason to their heritage. This action shows that he fancied the support and comments of the supremacists and he intended to use that as a strategy to win him votes.   During his campaign period, Trump questioned whether president Obama was really born in America. He often claimed openly that the former president was not a legal president of the US. This claim against the former president was mainly because he was black. He said that the black community was involved in criminal gang activities and that they would be arrested. This claim was totally racially based and it was just a strategy to win him more votes by the whites. Trump also condoned the beating of a black lives matter protestant. He said that maybe the protestant should have been roughed up and that what he was doing was totally illegal. This move brought to him a lot of criticism especially from the media and social media. As much as it brought him negative criticism, it also gained him votes among the white voters and popularity. It is a strategy that he liked to use and most of the times it worked to his advantage. According to Cherkaoui, Mohammed. Donald Trump’s Presidency: New Dawn or Dooms Day?. (2016), Trump’s racial behavior goes way back. When he was the president of his family’s real estate company back in 1973, the company was sued by the justice department for alleged racial discrimination. This was against black people who were looking to rent apartments belonging to the company. As the lawsuit stated, the company charged the black applicants different rents and with conditions from what they charged the white applicants. This shows hatred for the black community which is very evident with Trump. When it came to hi campaigns, he never shied away from his racial comments. Conclusion Owing to these events of racially biased behavior, the quality of Americas democracy is at stake. This behavior has caused a lot of violence based on race. This has sparked a dangerous fire that could bring democracy to its knees if not death. A lot of democracies in the world fail due to violence based on race and religion which have been the key strategies in Trump’s campaign. If this behavior continues as before, the fate of America’s democracy would surely be doomed. References Cherkaoui, Mohammed. Donald Trump’s Presidency: New Dawn or Dooms Day?. (2016). Hochschild, Jennifer L. What Happened on November 8, and What Happens Next? A Tour of Social Scientists Answers. (2016). Koulish, Robert. The Implications of a Lizard Election. (2016). Maher, David J. Introduction to Constitution Day Lectures: Election 2016 and the Structural Constitution.  Md. L. Rev. Endnotes  76 (2016): 1. Monagan, Sharmon L. Swinney.  Fascist Trump How Donald Trumps Rhetoric Is Jeopardizing US National Security. Lulu Press, Inc, 2016.