Don Jr., Racism Whisperer

Donald Trump Jr.—President Trump’s eldest child, Executive Vice President of the Trump organization, outdoors bro, and author of the very bad book Triggered—has a new title under his belt to boast about: Racism expert.

Don Jr. appeared on Lou Dobbs Tonight on Tuesday to discuss the so-called left-wing media’s “attacks” against President Trump.

“Media as we know it is dead,” Don Jr. declared, but not before a two-minute rant about how CBS reporter Weijia Jiang is a race-baiter.

Jiang has been the target of President Trump’s ire for months now due to committing the cardinal sin of doing her job and asking questions Trump doesn’t want to answer; specifically, questioning the administration’s slugging covid-19 response. On Monday, Trump accused Jiang of asking a “nasty question” after she asked why he claimed the United States is “doing far better than any other country when it comes to testing” despite the U.S.’s high death toll, which currently stands at over 83,000. Trump said that people are losing their lives worldwide, and that Jiang should direct her question to China instead.

“Maybe that’s a question you should ask China,” Trump told Jiang. “Don’t ask me. Ask China that question, OK? When you ask them that question, you may get a very unusual answer.”

Jiang, who is Chinese-American, said, “Sir, why are you saying that to me, specifically?”

“I am not saying it specifically to anybody,” Trump replied. “I am saying it to anybody who would ask a nasty question like that.”

The presser was then brought to an abrupt end.

To anyone with an elementary understanding that racism is not merely limited to slurs or acts of violence, Jiang’s concern that she was targetted for being Asian-American was reasonable. This is especially reasonable given Trump’s long history of racism. But to Donald Trump Jr, Jiang was being unreasonable. Who, after all, has a stronger grasp of racism’s many forms, its subtleties, its bleak pervasiveness, than Don Jr., a white man?

“They get an answer to a question and he tells them ask China—where it all came from, where it literally started, where they lied about it—and then apparently the reporter is Asian, so she says, ‘Oh, why are you asking me?’” Don Jr. said. “The race-baiting from this media to try to turn literally anything into a racial issue is just absolutely disgusting, and they should be ashamed of themselves.”

Don Jr. continued: “You know, what it does, Lou, is the reality is—in this world—racism is still a real issue, it’s just not the answer to every issue. It’s the easy button of the political left. And the problem is, that minimizes those who are actually affected by it, which is certainly not someone in the White House press pool… it’s not that person.”

He pushed this point further, saying it’s “a shame” that people roll their eyes when they hear about racism.

“That’s a real disservice to those who are actually affected by it, and I guarantee, that reporter is not,” Don Jr. said.

The insinuation that a member of the press doesn’t experience racism is, of course, absurd (almost as absurd as Don Jr. acting as if he actually cares about marginalized people). It suggests that Don Jr. narrowly defines racism as an overt affliction to which those with prestigious jobs are immune. It’s almost as robust as his definition of antisemitism, which can be summed up as “people being mean to Stephen Miller.”

But considering the fact that Don Jr. doesn’t think his father could possibly be racist because dad let him meet Michael Jackson when he was a kid, it’s obvious that Don Jr. simply doesn’t have the range to seriously interrogate racism… or much else.