Yesterday, several outlets downplayed presidential hopeful Donald Trump’s use of false statistics and a meme from a Neo-Nazi organization on Twitter, calling it a range of things from “questionable” to “controversial,” but rarely noting the outright racial themes that the meme exploits. These headlines were part of a string of work from outlets that simply could not figure out how to handle Trump’s Dixiecrat-ish sludge and lies. However, just a day later, it appears that the landscape may have reached a turning point, with a New York Times editorial board opinion excoriating the businessman. More from the New York Times:
America has just lived through another presidential campaign week dominated by Donald Trump’s racist lies. Here’s a partial list of false statements: The United States is about to take in 250,000 Syrian refugees; African-Americans are responsible for most white homicides; and during the 9/11 attacks, “thousands and thousands” of people in an unnamed “Arab” community in New Jersey “were cheering as that building was coming down.”
In the Republican field, Mr. Trump has distinguished himself as fastest to dive to the bottom. If it’s a lie too vile to utter aloud, count on Mr. Trump to say it, often. It wins him airtime, and retweets through the roof.
This phenomenon is in fact nothing new. Politicians targeting minorities, foreigners or women have always existed in the culture. And every generation or so, at least one demagogue surfaces to fan those flames.
The editorial compared several Trump statements to those made by Joseph McCarthy and George Wallace and notes that he combines their xenophobia, grandiose lying, and racism in a single package. The editorial comes after other sites, including Fast Company and SFist, took Trump to task as well.