Donald Trump’s second term as The U.S. President has been quite memorable to say the least—and for all of the wrong reasons.
Trump has, for years, encouraged the deportation of immigrants from the United States. While he claims that these persistent efforts to remove individuals who are not legal U.S. citizens are to protect the security and welfare of the country, many believe that his motivations are driven by racial prejudice.
For anyone who gave Trump the benefit of the doubt against accusations of racism and cultural bigotry, it looks like their campaign of defending the U.S. president is beginning to reach an inescapable end. Donald Trump posted a recent video of former president Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama whose heads were attached to the bodies of apes. The clip was from a video that addressed claims of potential voter fraud occurring during the 2020 Presidential Election. After immense levels of backlash from the public, Trump was forced to remove the video from his social media account.
Many people were disgusted by the reckless post, citing it as racist and blatantly ignorant. Others remained unsurprised as they believed that Trump exposed himself for who he really is. The outrage on social media was loud and clear, and everyone demanded that Donald Trump be held accountable for his distasteful behavior.
Trump, himself, refused to take any responsibility for his actions stating that he did not do anything wrong. Despite the backlash, the president was left unmoved and unnerved, showing no remorse for his racially insensitive posts and doubled down by saying that he would not apologize. In fact, he evaded responsibility for the post by blaming one of the U.S. staffers for posting the video, and claimed that he, himself, did not pay attention to the ending where the Obama Family was depicted as apes.
The problem with the incident is not just the post itself. It’s the comfortability of exhibiting racially prejudicial behavior along with the apathy shown despite displaying clear instances of insensitivity. It’s the unwillingness to show even the slightest bit of remorse to the communities who were offended by his distasteful actions, and it’s the blatant refusal of self-accountability that makes this situation very dangerous in terms of managing the racial division within the country. If the leader of the country exhibits racial bigotry, what would stop the individuals within the country from doing the same?
It seems like racism is getting louder and clearer as the days go on. People are developing an irredeemable comfort with being racially ignorant, being far more blunt about their polarizing views regarding racial inclusion. The Bad Bunny performance was just one example with many people showing clear discontent with the songs not featuring any English language. The egocentrism that many Americans exhibit in their blatant refusal of cultural exploration makes it clear that many Americans are unwilling to participate in the cultural diversity that America prides itself on, and under the rule of Donald Trump, it looks like the acceptance of other cultures and lifestyles will not increase any time soon.
