in a column for today’s New York Times titled On Race: The Moral High Ground.
It is occasioned largely by Donald Trump’s reaction to the firing of Roseanne Barr after her horrid tweet.
Blow sets up his screed by quoting from a Toni Morrison interview with Charlie Rose, where the Nobel Laureate asserts that she felt morally superior to those who directed racism in her direction. Blow adds to that his own feelings not of hurt or damage by racism directed towards him, but rather of rage.
He asserts of the current occupant of the Oval Office that
Trump is a walking, talking permission slip for the white supremacist.
That those here already knew, well before the election in November of 2016.
Of Trump’s bleating tweet about Bob Iger apologizing to Valerie Jarrett for Barr’s tweet, Blow notes that Trump included no condemnation of Bar’s offensive remarks, adding that
Failure to rebuke can rightly be taken as tacit approval and acceptance.
He also notes that Trump, who in his tweet wonders about an apology to him for the unspecified (in the tweet) supposed nasty remarks about him on ABC, never apologies for his own nasty remarks.
And then we get this:
Did he apologize to the Central Park Five for calling for their executions?
Did he apologize to Barack Obama for leading the charge on the racist birther lie?
Did he apologize for calling Mexican immigrants rapists and murderers?
Did he apologize to the Muslim community for saying that Islam hates us?
Did he apologize to African countries or Haiti and El Salvador for describing them with an expletive?
Did he apologize to Colin Kaepernick and other protesting N.F.L. players for calling them sons of bitches?
No, no, no, no, no, no.
Donald Trump, White House racist, Nazi sympathizer, alt-right hero, receiver of laurels from the former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke, is the absolute last person who should be demanding an apology in this Roseanne controversy.
After stating that Trump and Barr are morally compromised by their “racial contempt,” Blow reasserts his rage at the fact that Trump has the power to impose policy based on that racism, before closing with these words:
Against that, I will fight always because policies produce real injuries, but I will never allow the racist to believe that his words alone have the power to inflict those injuries. That, to me, is laughable.
I think this column definitely justifies its title, and strongly suggest you both read it and pass it on.