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In a Truth Social post on Wednesday evening, President Donald Trump shared a transcript of a far right podcast that delved into racist viewpoints against nonwhite immigrants entering the United States.
The podcast from host Michael Savage railed against immigrants from countries he deemed as undesirable, using those bigoted views to justify terminating the birthright citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment, which Trump has attempted to alter through executive order. The legality of that order was recently argued before the U.S. Supreme Court, during which a majority of justices seemed to indicate they were reluctant to accept Trump’s action as legitimate.
“A baby here becomes an instant citizen, and then they bring the entire family in from China or India or some other hellhole on the planet. … [T]here’s almost no loyalty to this country amongst the immigrant class coming in today,” Savage said in the podcast Trump shared, which was published earlier this month.
The “loyalty” trope is a common anti-immigrant argument made by commentators with racist viewpoints.
Savage continued his diatribe, signaling a preference for white immigrants coming to the U.S.:
No, they’re not like the European Americans of today and their ancestors. … We’ve gone from the melting pot to the chamber pot.
Savage also derided American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) lawyer Cecillia Wang, a U.S. citizen who argued against Trump’s executive order before the Supreme Court, baselessly claiming she was “pushing to destroy our national identity” and to “turn us into a colony of China.”
Trump’s post of Savage’s statement appears to be an endorsement of his views. Indeed, hours before the president shared the transcript and video of Savage’s podcast, Trump made his own post disparaging the Supreme Court, singling out Justice Ketanji Jackson Brown as a “Low IQ person” — a critique he often directs toward Black and Brown people.
Trump’s racism has been exposed multiple times over the years. More recent examples include:
- His sharing a video that depicted former President Barack Obama as an ape, a centuries-old racist trope targeting Black people;
- Using AI technology to depict House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) wearing a sombrero and a fake mustache, as Republicans used debates about a government shutdown to engage in race-baiting arguments about undocumented immigrants;
- And describing Somali immigrants living in the U.S. as “garbage” who “contribute nothing” to society.
Recent polling demonstrates that around half of the country views the president as a racist.
An Economist/YouGov survey conducted in February asked if the word “racist” described Trump. Only 24 percent said it did not, while 1 in 2 voters, 47 percent, said that it did. Another 29 percent said they didn’t have an opinion.
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