It’s hard to get any more direct than Donald Trump reaching out to white supremacists militia to tell them to “stand by” for the day they’re called on to attack “the left.” But Trump didn’t let his calls for violence end with just telling his Charlottesville fans to keep their torches lit, or even telling his followers to crowd into polling places to practice some good old-fashioned voter intimidation.
But those weren’t the only times that Trump called for violence, or the only time he leaned on the racism steam whistle. Because in addition to making claims about the nonexistent antifa threat and outright lies about violence from “the left,” Trump also devoted some attention to the kind of violence that has been all too familiar in the news over the last months and years: police violence. In short, Trump is all for it. Fox News’ Chris Wallace may have been the moderator, but it was George Wallace that Trump was channelling with repeated statements about “law and order.” And if the inherent racism in that message wasn’t strong enough, Trump made sure to drive it home with repeated references to the suburbs … and he’s still at it.
In one of the earliest sections of the debate, both candidates were asked to talk about race. But … see if you can catch the little oddity about the way that Chris Wallace introduces this section.
Wallace: “I’m going to ask a question about race, but if you want to answer about something else, go ahead.“
That seems like a fair summary of the way race has been discussed in America for 400 years or so. Race is our next topic, but, you know, if it makes you uncomfortable, feel free to skip it. If Wallace’s framing gave everyone a set up to dodge an actual discussion on race, how Trump responded says even more about his attitudes on the topic. First, Joe Biden talked about Charlottesville and the white supremacists who came across the fields “carrying torches, their veins bulging, just spewing anti-Semitic bile and accompanied by the Ku Klux Klan,” he segued to the murder of George Floyd and how Trump sent paramilitary forces to attack peaceful protestors so he could hold up a Bible. “This is a president who has used everything as a dog whistle,” said Biden, “to try to generate racist hatred, racist division.” Biden also made a direct connection between Trump’s deliberate mishandling of the COVID-19 crisis and its disproportionate effect on Blacks.
Then it was Trump’s turn. First Trump claimed that Biden called Blacks “superpredators,” a term that actually was applied by Hillary Clinton in reference to a crime bill, and which Biden never said. Trump then made this claim six more times. Finally, Trump expressed his own views on race by … claiming that he was supported by hundreds of police organizations.
Trump: “I don’t think you have any law enforcement. You can’t even say the word law enforcement. Because if you say those words, you’re going to lose all of your radical left supporters. And why aren’t you saying those words, Joe? Why don’t you say the words law enforcement?”
Trump genuinely seemed to feel like he had Biden caught in a trap when he insisted that Biden say “law enforcement.” This was just one of several moments on Tuesday night when Trump apparently believed there are magic words that, if he can only persuade Biden to say them, will reverse Trump’s plummeting polls. Apparently, Trump and Rudy Giuliani did their debate prep using a copy of Rumpelstiltskin. Unfortunately for Trump, Biden said “law enforcement” in his next response. He did not go up in smoke as Trump might have expected.
The suburbs took a series of blows in Trump’s statements at the talk-over-fest. He repeated previous claims that if Biden wins, “our suburbs would be gone.” Which tee’d up Biden for one of the few real zingers of the evening.
Biden: “He wouldn’t know a suburb unless he took a wrong turn.”
Then the magic phrase switched to “law and order.” Trump said “law and order” a full dozen times last night. And then he entered this absolutely bizarre sequence. It came after Trump declared that Biden could not say “law and order.”
Trump: “And you still haven’t mentioned. Are you in favor of law and order?”
Biden: “I’m in favor of law and—“
Trump: “Are you in favor of law and order?”
Wallace: “You asked a question, let him finish. Let him answer.”
Biden: “Law and order with justice, where people get treated fairly.”
Then, exactly 35 seconds later, Trump had this to say:
Trump: “It is crazy what’s going on and he doesn’t want to say law and order because he can’t because he’ll lose his radical left supporters and once he does that, it’s over with.”
This time, not only did Trump declare there were magic words Biden couldn’t say without losing the left, he made this declaration after Biden said those exact words. And naturally, despite being utterly destroyed in post-debate polling, Trump is out there Wednesday morning bragging about his win, and making the same claims he made at the debate. In fact, he bundled it all up for anyone who failed to get the message.
“Biden refused to use the term, law and order!” tweeted Trump. “There go the suburbs.”
Offered a chance to talk about race, Joe Biden spoke to the horror he felt watching the white supremacists and Charlottesville, the protests following the murder of George Floyd, and the racial disparity in the management of the coronavirus pandemic. It might not have been a perfect answer, but it wasn’t bad for a two minute time slot.
Offered a chance to talk about race, Trump lied about a statement that Biden never made, then talked about how much support he gets from the police. Trump then returned to this theme again and again, repeating that he was supported by hundreds of police organizations, and challenging Biden on “law and order” while proclaiming the death of the suburbs.
Oh, and in the middle of the debate, was a section where Trump was called on to explain why he was ending racial sensitivity training.
Wallace: “What is radical about racial sensitivity training?”
Trump: “If you were a certain person, you had no status in life. It was sort of a reversal. And if you look at the people, we were paying people hundreds of thousands of dollars to teach very bad ideas and frankly, very sick ideas. And really, they were teaching people to hate our country. And I’m not going to do that. I’m not going to allow that to happen. We have to go back to the core values of this country.”
If that needs a little translation, try this: They were teaching people that whites were no better than anyone else. Racial sensitivity trainers were insisting that everyone be treated equally and with respect. Trump is not going to sit still for the decline of white privilege.
Biden got the chance to respond on this issue, and delivered one of his best answers of the evening, not least of all because Trump didn’t interrupt for a least the space of a sentence.
Biden: “The fact is that there is racial insensitivity. People have to be made aware of what other people feel like, what insults them, what is demeaning to them. It’s important people know. Many people don’t want to hurt other people’s feelings, but it makes a big difference. It makes a gigantic difference in the way a child is able to grow up and have a sense of self-esteem. It’s a little bit like how this guy and his friends look down on so many people. They look down their nose on people like Irish Catholics, like me, who grow up in Scranton. They look down on people who don’t have money. They look down on people who are of a different faith. They looked down on people who are a different color. In fact, we’re all Americans. The only way we’re going to bring this country together is bring everybody together. There’s nothing we cannot do, if we do it together. We can take this on and we can defeat racism in America.”
In every word, Trump defended police violence and white privilege. Biden may not have spoken to the issue as authoritatively as many would have liked—and everyone wishes he would drop the “few bad apples” at this point—but his answers recognized that there is racial disparity, that there is unequal policing, unequal opportunity, unequal health care. And that this is something that must be addressed.
The Proud Boys moment may be getting the press, but Trump expressed his racism in every answer of the night.