Trump’s Speech on Black History Month: All About Himself

I post this in full. I think it tells much about Trump. It can be found here.

Transcript of President Donald Trump’s remarks on Black History Month

Well the election, it came out really well. Next time we’ll triple the number or quadruple it. We want to get it over 51, right. At least 51. (I assume he is talking about the campaign and the number of black votes he received.)

Well, this is Black History Month, so this is our little breakfast, our little get-together. And just a few notes. During this month, we honor the tremendous history of the African-Americans throughout our country. Throughout the world, if you really think about it, right. And their story is one of unimaginable sacrifice, hard work, and faith in America. (No mention of slavery or Jim Crow.)

I’ve gotten a real glimpse during the campaign; I’d go around with Ben to a lot of places that I wasn’t so familiar with. They’re incredible people. And I want to thank Ben Carson, who’s going to be heading up HUD, and it’s a big job, and it’s a job that’s not only housing, it’s mind and spirit, right? And you understand that. Nobody’s going to be better than Ben. (The one black in his cabinet is Carson. and nothing about history.) 

Last month we celebrated the life of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. whose incredible example is unique in American history. You read all about Dr. Martin Luther King a week ago when somebody said I took the statue out of my office. And it turned out that that was fake news. The statue is cherished. It’s one of the favorite things — and we have some good ones. We have Lincoln, and we have Jefferson, and we have Dr. Martin Luther King. And we have other. But they said the statue, the bust, of Dr. Martin Luther King was taken out of the office. And it was never even touched. So I think it was a disgrace, but that’s the way the press is. It’s very unfortunate. (The disgrace is this is not about King, It’s about the bust of King and the grudge he has against one reporter. Nothing about MLK or Black History.) 

I am very proud now that we have a museum, National Mall, where people can learn about Reverend King, so many other things, Frederick Doug — Douglass is an example of somebody who’s done an amazing job that is being recognized more and more, I notice. Harriet TubmanRosa Parks, and millions more black Americans who made Americans what it is today. Big impact. I’m proud to honor this heritage and will be honoring it more and more. (Douglass “did an amazing job” but nothing more. No mention of other than two others Tubman and Parks. That’s total mention of Black History.).

Folks at the table, in almost all cases, have been great friends and supporters. And Darrell, I met Darrell when he was defending me on television. And the people that were on the other side of the argument didn’t have a chance, right. And Paris has done an amazing job in a very hostile CNN community; he’s all by himself. Seven people and Paris. I’ll take Paris over the seven. But I don’t watch CNN, so I don’t get to see you as much. I don’t like watching fake news. (All about him. Nothing to do with Black History Month.)

But Fox has treated me very nice, wherever Fox is, thank you. We’re going to need better schools, and we need ’em soon. We need more jobs, we need better wages, a lot better wages. We’re going to work very hard on the inner city. Ben’s going to be doing that, big league, that’s one of his big things that we’re going to be looking at. We need safer communities and we’re going to do that with law enforcement. We’re going to make it safe. We’re going to make it much better than it is right now. Right now it’s terrible. (What has any of this to do with Black History?)

I saw you talking about it the other night, Paris, on something else that was really — you did a fantastic job the other night on a very unrelated show. I’m ready to do my part, and I will say this, we’re going to work together. This is a great group, this is a group that’s been so special to me, you really helped me a lot. If you remember, I wasn’t going to do well with the African-American community, and after they heard me speaking and talking about the inner city and lots of other things, we ended up getting, I won’t go into details, but we ended up getting substantially more than other candidates who had run in the past years.(Again nothing about history but all about him and vote counts.)

And now we’re going to take that to new levels. I want to thank my television star over here — Omarosa‘s actually a very nice person. Nobody knows that. I don’t want to destroy her reputation. She is a very good person and she’s been helpful right from the beginning with the campaign and I appreciate it, I really do. Very special. So I want to thank everybody for being here.  (Again, about him and his campaign.) 

This is a good look into a man who knows no history and is totally consumed by himself. It augurs poorly for our future.

13 Comments

  1. From the article linked to: “Donald Trump holds an African American History Month listening session”, “this is our little breakfast, our little get-together. And just a few notes”, “Folks at the table, in almost all cases, have been great friends and supporters”, and, “I saw you talking about it the other night, Paris, on something else…”

    This was not a “speech”. It was an informal colloquy. Why would there be scholarly a reference to slavery or partisan citing of Jim Crow policies passed by Democrats such as Woodrow Wilson, always over solid Republican opposition?

    The complaint about there being only one Black in the cabinet is strange. I can not recall this concern for inclusiveness be raised by a single partisan Democrat for the massive under-representation of White Protestants in the cabinets of Clinton or Obama. Evidently only some people are special to Racist Democrats.

    Given the amount of support from the Black community it is generous for a patronage position as high as a cabinet slot to be given to it. All cabinets are expected to be made up of individuals agreeable to the policies of the President as endorsed by the electorate. As such they reflect the voters who put him in.

    An interesting conversation on under-representation should include the other side of the coin, that is, over-representation. Who consistently gets more than their share in administrations of both parties and why is the topic never addressed?

    • Tadzio:

      You joke. People are supposed to complain that white Protestants are underrepresented in a cabinet of presidents who are white Protestants. You would be making a good point if Trump were black. I don’t quite follow it since he isn’t. As for over-representation, I’d suggest that has been mentioned when people talk about the billionaires in Trump’s cabinet.

  2. John King McDonald

    Khalid :

    That is the last refuge of an ideological scoundrel ; the only ” Reality ” an ideologue is tethered to is their own. All else is dismissed with this high and mighty semantic nonsense . Or is this ” Hyperbole? ” … We already know your answer, so don’t bother deploying the inevitable and creatively dry as dust obfuscations . It gets very boring . Prediictable, Noisy, and Boring. You just make your own coffin, climb in, and pull the lid shut. THE ISLAND OF KHALID : Population : 1 🙂

  3. John King McDonald

    Khalid

    The IRONY was intended . Thankyou, you have now defined clearly why you are a hypocrite to have taken my polemic in the previous thread and applied a term from the argot of literary criticism to it . You are all over the map . You display no intellectual rigor, but rather the ” dog ate my homework ” desperation of an undergraduate struggling to defend a thesis, at any cost, and with no regard for the integrity of the polemicist. You answer polemic with smear ; logic with idelogical cant. Do try to do better! 🙂

    • John:
      For a polemic, written, or, orally delivered, to succeed, it has to be tethered to reality in some small measure, enough, at least, that the reader/listener won’t dismiss it as hyperbole, out of hand.

  4. John:

    Definition of polemic
    1
    a : an aggressive attack on or refutation of the opinions or principles of another
    b : the art or practice of disputation or controversy —usually used in plural but singular or plural in construction
    2
    : an aggressive controversialist : disputant
    polemicistplay \-ˈle-mə-sist\ noun

    Literary criticism is different.

  5. Khalid, In literary criticism this is what we call ” Overheated Rhetoric. ” Your ” Message ” gets lost as the reader dismisses the style of discourse as the fulminations of an anarchist . Over the top assertions of black celebrities having ” the ear of the dons ” are hyperbolic flourishes that entertain, but speak more to fantasy than reality . Are you trying to be ” affective ” or ” effective ” here? Or is the message so defective that it is scoffed at as the hobby horse ranting of a disgruntled eccentric. What would the Russian Formalist’s say? Better yet, what WOULDN’T they say? 🙂

  6. The wheels are coming off, so, fast, I don’t think Glorious Leader will make it to May Day. The worst it gets, the closer we’ll be to the imposition of a totalitarian police state. When Trump’s hold on power slips, he’ll use force to regain it. Coercion is never far from the dictator’s mind. The more chaotic the political situation becomes, the more likely he’ll resort to a foreign war to beat down dissent. The overwhelming propaganda lead-up to GBII’s Iraq War I is a good example of the pressure for war that can be brought to bear by the government controlled media (FOX/Breitbart), only, this time, it will be so much worse. People will be branded traitors for not following Mad Dog, Strangelove, and, Trump/Bannon, over the edge.

  7. Speaking of speakers: Notice at another American University, UC Berkeley, the intolerant fascist students/faculty have once again rioted and shut down another conservative speaker. The violence, threats and “extortion” come from the Left!

    • That’s what I call, “School Spirit.” No venue is safe for racists to spout their hate.
      All the university towns are going to start going off, soon as the weather breaks.
      Don’t disappoint the alumni, Badgers. Get the Red out for Trump.

      All praise to the students demonstrating against against white supremacy. All power to the Dialectic!

  8. At the meeting with Trump, Kanye West said he had the ears of Chi-town neighborhood dons. He claimed the dons would call a halt to the massacre on Chicago streets, if Fed funds were available improve the econ situation in the neighborhoods. Trump rejected the peace offer, and, threatened the dons. Good job, Glorious Leader. When Chicago explodes, you can have all the credit. Did West really have an offer from ganster somebodies? Who knows, but, it would have been worth a try. Instead, to serve his racist base, Trump dismissed the peace try out of hand, and, implied that he’d use force to settle with the dons if they didn’t buckle under. The dons control garrison neighborhoods on the west and south sides. There won’t be enough water in Lake Michigan to put out the fire Trump’s doing his best to start.

  9. At a small “meeting” at the White House, described as a “listening session”, Trump, sitting at a table with others, delivers some “remarks”, many extemporaneous (although he has some notes in front of him). The remarks include personal comments, historical references, and “thanks” to colleagues. He also briefly describes plans for the future. All his remarks are terse, crisp, laconic, plain spoken.
    The corrupt Press compare’s Trump’s brief informal “remarks” with a lengthy scripted speech Obama reads off teleprompters in Constitutional Hall in Philadelphia before a large audience.
    However, some media outlets correctly report that Trump’s “official proclamation” will follow!
    All presidents insert personal references in speeches, none more so than the “I, I, I, me, me, me” guy Obama. Liberals never noticed how much Obama talked about himself. It didn’t bother them. Some in the press noticed: Google “Obama talks about himself!” You’ll find he mentioned himself 137 times in a speech about Hillary; 110 times in another speech; 97 times in another speech; and once 37 times before he even mentioned Hillary.
    We admit this: Trump is not a polished speaker. Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Obama – – – better speakers. So what! Trump is a decision maker. The American people elected a decision maker. If they wanted an orator they’d have elected Ted Cruz or Daniel Webster.