Everyone but Me and Thee

TRUMP: "The African American community is so thankful. They've called me and they've said, 'finally somebody is telling the truth.'" pic.twitter.com/NTECr7MlGD

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 30, 2019

The "African American community" is highly unified, so they need only one phone line to express an opinion they all hold.

Too much?  Consider:

I know, we're all tired of "what if ___ did this," but imagine if Ilhan Omar or Rashida Tlaib said "the white community called me" or, like the next clip Aaron posted, "the white people have been calling my office."

Tucker Carlson would spend weeks on how racist it was. https://t.co/NsfYXPYCw7

— Max Kennerly (@MaxKennerly) July 30, 2019

Funny how a simple change in wording makes the original statement look as bizarre as it actually is.

Oh, and racist, too.  If Trump said "White people are calling the White House, they all love me!" we'd take it as referring to a small group, not the entirety of white people in America.  But when he says "the African American community," we're all rather comfortable with that phrasing.  That doesn't make us racists; but it does mean we still think too much in racial terms and categories.  And we seldom think about what that means.

Which is why it's going to be very hard to campaign against Trump as a racist.