Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 10:52 pm
During President Trump’s press conference in which he claimed he was the “the least racist person,” Trump said to black White House correspondent April Ryan about the Congressional Black Caucus, “Are they friends of yours?”
Ryan is a White House Correspondent and Washington Bureau Chief for American Urban Radio Networks. This does not mean that she has any relationship with the CBC or that she is responsible for setting up meetings.
Here’s Trump assuming that a black reporter must be friends with the CBC, and demanding she set up a meeting for him with them:
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Trump to @AprilDRyan on the Congressional Black Caucus : "Are they friends of yours?" pic.twitter.com/FMtl3qxU9w
— Colin Jones (@colinjones) February 16, 2017
This is the most basic instance of racism. To assume based on someone’s skin color that they are able to set up a meeting with the Congressional Black Caucus is like assuming a white reporter who covers the White House can set up a meeting with any white member of Congress.
These are different branches of government. All black people do not know each other. Also, no reporter would involve themselves to facilitate a meeting like this.
Here’s Trump saying, “Number one, I am the least anti-Semitic person that you’ve ever seen in your entire life. Number two, racism, the least racist person.”
A lie so ridiculous would be called out for anyone else for whom egregiously lying were problematic enough to notice, but with Trump, an avalanche of lies is a consistent feature. Still, we have to try to hold him to some pretense of the same standards, and so:
Donald Trump is not the least racist person we have ever seen in our entire lives.
Not only is this claim not accurate, it is something a child would say. There is no way to measure who are the least anti-Semitic and racist people we have ever “seen”, but here’s a tip – it wouldn’t be obvious by “seeing” them.
The CBC put a point on Trump’s disingenuous claim that he cares about the CBC:
Hi, @realDonaldTrump. We’re the CBC. We sent you a letter on January 19, but you never wrote us back. Sad! Letter: https://t.co/58KiuHmITF
— The CBC (@OfficialCBC) February 16, 2017
SAD indeed.
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