March 19, 2020

Need More Evidence That Trump Is Racist? Take a Look at His Coronavirus Edits.

The sharpie strike that says it all.

ZUMA

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President Donald Trump has drawn widespread condemnation for his new use of the racist label “Chinese Virus” when referring to the novel coronavirus, language experts warn could incite violence against Asians around the world. 

The president’s decision to go all-in on the xenophobic language—which erases his praise for China’s handling of the virus just a few short weeks ago—is predictable; a way of hoping to distract attention from his mishandling of a catastrophic public health crisis. If you needed any more evidence that this is a deliberate strategy, take a look at this photo the Washington Post’s Jabin Botsford snapped inside the briefing room on Thursday:

The photo, which shows the word “corona” crossed out with a sharpie, all but confirms Trump appealing to his base with bigotry. He knows it’s red meat for his supporters, who despite their rabid support, may have come to realize in recent days that the president had misled them about the seriousness of the disease and maybe even exacerbated a public health emergency.

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In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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