Trump’s Black Woman Derangement Syndrome
There’s a reason that there are no black women of substance in Donald Trump’s life. His contempt for women in general and black women in particular is visceral. The only woman of color to occupy the president’s inner circle was Omarosa Manigault Newman. Last year, she was fired by White House Chief of Staff John Kelly in an exchange surreptitiously recorded in the Situation Room by the reality TV star.
Ms. Manigault Newman insists a tape of Mr. Trump using a notorious racial slur for blacks on the set of “The Apprentice” also exists and soon will be revealed. Perhaps, but if there was ever a recording destined to be filed under “anticlimactic” once it surfaces, it will be Donald Trump using the “n-word.”
It isn’t correct to say Mr. Trump’s universe is completely devoid of black women. Social media superstars Lynnette Hardaway and Rochelle Richardson — better known as YouTube divas Diamond and Silk, are arguably Mr. Trump’s biggest boosters outside his family.
Former Kanye West confidante Candace Owens, another black conservative, appears to be jockeying to fill the “Negro Whisperer” slot Omarosa once occupied. Meanwhile, Katrina Pierson continues to spar on cable news with anyone who dares even insinuate that Mr. Trump is as racist as he sounds.
There is no Valerie Jarrett in Trump World. Only minstrel-like deference to the inchoate bigotry of the president is tolerated. With the resignation of Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, there will be zero women of color and substance within spitting distance of the Trump White House.
There’s no mystery as to why this is. When Donald Trump encounters such women, he feels threatened and assumes a defensive crouch from which he can safely hurl insults that call into question their intelligence and integrity. He’s not shy about it.
He loves to taunt Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., with the repeated lie that she has a “low IQ” even while making the contradictory claim that she’s the real leader of the Democratic Party. Last year, Mr. Trump called Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., a liar and “wacky” when she disputed his account of a belated phone call to the widow of a soldier slain during a mission to North Africa.
Then there was the trifecta of racial insults Mr. Trump aimed at three prominent black female journalists last week.
When Yamiche Alcindor of the PBS NewsHour asked Mr. Trump to speculate whether his odd declaration that he was a “nationalist” emboldened white nationalists looking for affirmation from society’s margins, he responded indignantly, “I don’t know why you’d say that. That’s such a racist question.” He then repeated his declaration that Ms. Alcindor, who refused to flinch, was a racist.
At the same news conference, Mr. Trump told CNN analyst and America Urban Radio Networks Washington reporter April Ryan to “sit down” after refusing to call on her. A few days later, he referred to Ms. Ryan as a “loser” while castigating one of her male CNN colleagues.
But it was during his dressing down of CNN White House correspondent Abby Phillip that the depths of his disdain for black women felt like a sucker punch. On Friday, Ms. Phillip had the temerity to ask Mr. Trump whether the appointment of the under-qualified Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general was an attempt to “rein in” special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian ties to the Trump campaign. “What a stupid question that is,” the president said in a way in which anyone listening could hear the cruel curl of his lips. “But I watch you a lot. You ask a lot of stupid questions.”
None of the women insulted by the president of the United States lost their dignity or composure. Only Mr. Trump was diminished.
When unflattering excerpts about Mr. Trump from former first lady Michelle Obama’s autobiography “Becoming” began circulating last week, I began to wonder if there was indeed a method to the president’s derangement. Smacking prominent black women journalists around gets the public used to what he’ll likely try to do to Mrs. Obama.
Mr. Trump is fairly confident Oprah won’t run in 2020, but knocking Mrs. Obama around would reinforce the message to all women to “sit down.” And while he knows Mrs. Obama hates politics almost as much as she hates him, he wants to send an unambiguous message to a more likely black female opponent in 2020 — Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif.
In Trump World, going after Michelle Obama will be good practice for going after Kamala Harris or Oprah if she changes her mind. The intersection of misogyny, racism and 2020 is a mere tweet away.