On this morning’s “Meet the Press” Chuck Todd interviewed Sherrod Brown. During the interview Brown stated the obvious: “we have a President who is a racist.” (sorry I have no link)
At this comment by Brown, Todd had to cut in and said “Let me pause you there, you believe in his heart he’s a racist?”
Todd uses this excuse over and over, and I am sick of it. Ponder this, the former Chief White House Correspondent and current Political Director of NBC News believes that unless it can be known what is in a person’s heart, then it is not appropriate to call them a racist.
That is a racist a comment in and of itself.
Those like Todd, claiming that because there is really no way to truly know what was in a “person’s heart”, are setting a bar for professionally reporting on Trump’s words and actions that cannot be objectively met. This is the same standard that has been used for decades to excuse those who take racist actions and make racist statements. This is the deliberate institutional enabling of racism and the racists.
For Todd to assert this standard, knowing as he does the litany of racist acts and statements by Trump throughout his career and life, is to use his position at NBC to shield Trump, and to allow NBC not to have to acknowledge the fact that Trump is a racist. Even on what is supposed to be a news and ANALYSIS program.
It used to be that if it looked like a duck, walked like a duck, and quacked like a duck, then we would all call it a duck. We did not need to know what was in the duck’s heart. According to Todd and NBC we do.
Chuck Todd’s interrupting question forced Sherrod Brown to pause and recount for Chuck Todd a few of the many known racist actions and statements of Trump, not to mention the number of open white nationalists in high positions in Trump’s White House and Administration, all of which Todd knows.
Chuck Todd, whatever is in his heart, is covering for Trump’s racism, and so NBC news, as the only defense for Todd and NBC employees not calling Trump a racist is that THERE IS NO WAY TO KNOW WHAT IS IN TRUMP’S HEART.
Todd and NBC should not be allowed to distance themselves from the racist reality of Trump, and many other Republican’s statements and actions. Trump’s racism is a huge story, and Todd and NBC avoid it like the plague. It is not enough for Todd and NBC to excuse their avoidance of stating the obvious because they cover the actions and statements, when they then challenger others who do state the obvious because how could they possibly know what is in Trump’s heart.
Todd and NBC are enabling Trump’s racism.
In my view, individuals who are comfortable in the company of racists, and in particular those who appeal to and seek out the support of people specifically because they are racist, are themselves racist. So are those in positions of responsibility who refuse to confront such words, actions, and goals as racist.
This includes Chuck Todd and NBC, regardless of what is in their “hearts.” Todd and NBC need to judged by their actions, or more to the point, their lack thereof.
Also, today everyone is calling for the Governor of Virginia to resign because of a 35 year old photo, regardless of what was, or is, in his heart. Does his heart not matter because he is a Democrat? Or does Trump need to don a robe or blackface to be called a racist? Would even that convince Chuck Todd of what is in Trump’s heart? I doubt it.