Good thing we weren’t waiting for Donald Trump to say something intelligible about Black History Month or black history in general, because his impeachment is likely to come far sooner. He did, however, manage to make a stop today at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History in Culture (NMAAHC) in Washington, DC—which he used as an opportunity to prove, once again, that he is completely unaware of and uninterested in learning anything substantive that has to do with black people.
Joining him on the tour of the museum were Dr. Ben Carson (who is featured in an exhibit at the NMAAHC), Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, Alveda King (niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.), and of course, his daughter Ivanka. After the tour, he gave a speech which read more like a pep rally for himself and his friends than an address to the nation about the important contributions that black Americans have made to the country.
He did use the speech to tout all of Ben Carson’s many accomplishments. That devolved into his reminding the audience that Carson hasn’t actually been approved yet for the position of secretary of housing and urban development—a position for which he has zero qualifications, other than being an actual home owner. But he promised that, once confirmed, he and Ben would “do great things in our African American community together.”
Below are some of the more bizarre and totally inappropriate statements he made, along with video.
In reference to Tim Scott:
“I want to thank Senator Tim Scott for joining us today. A friend of mine… a great, great senator from South Carolina. I like the state of South Carolina. I like all those states where I won by double, double, double digits.”
To Alveda King:
“I have been watching you for so long, and you are so incredible. And I want to thank you for all the nice things you say about me. Not everybody says nice things, but she’s special.”
After reading a quote by Martin Luther King:
“We’re going to bring this country together. Maybe bring some of the world together. But we’re going to bring this country together. We have a divided country. Its been divided for many, many years, but we’re going to bring it together.”
As if there wasn’t already enough salt in the wound, at the beginning of his speech Trump reminded us that he is the second sitting POTUS to visit the museum, Barack Obama being the first. Since we can’t go back in time (although we are all feverishly wishing we could), is it too much to hope that the third visit by a sitting POTUS (who is not Mike Pence) is just around the corner?