For some reason, Brit Hume decided that while condemning Donald Trump’s hideous demand that four Democratic congresswomen of color “go back” to the “crime infested places” they came from, it would be a good idea to scold us all for calling it “racist.”
I suppose we should give Hume credit for condemning Trump’s tweets attacking Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rep. Ilhan Omar, Rep. Ayanna Pressley and Rep. Rashida Tlaib as “nativist, xenophobic, counterfactul [sic]and politically stupid.”
Trump’s “go back” comments were nativist, xenophobic, counterfactul and politically stupid. But they simply do not meet the standard definition of racist, a word so recklessly flung around these days that its actual meaning is being lost.
— Brit Hume (@brithume) July 15, 2019
And at least Hume didn’t admire the so-called humor as well as the content, as yesterday’s Fox & Friends did, or defend the tweets because, as Outnumbered cohost Katie Pavlich said today, “He didn't say go there permanently. He said go there, fix the problem, come back."
But what was the point of lecturing us about racism, other than to maybe make sure he didn’t lose too much cred with the Trump/Fox fan base?
By the way, Brit, Merriam-Webster.com thinks the word still has meaning. It offers three definitions of the word “racism.” One of them is “racial prejudice or discrimination.” Do you really think that birther Trump, who refuses to apologize to the Central Park Five, and who was sued by the Nixon Department of Justice for housing discrimination doesn't meet that test?
(Hume image via screen grab)
I was trying to make the same point you made about the definition of racism when I cited Merriam-Webster but you made it better. Just because Hume said the comment is not racist does not make it so.
Hume: “There are 2 elements to it (racism). One of them is that you believe that race is the predominate controlling factor in human behavior and the second is that you believe in the superiority of one race over another.”
This sounds like a personal definition of Hume’s. Which is interesting because it coincidentally might exempt Trump and it clearly exempts human behavior that’s clearly racist. For example, what if you simply hate another race because they’re different? Hume would say you aren’t racist. Which allows Hume in the same breath to accuse Trump of being “xenophobic” (a synonym of “racism”) and “nativist” (a bias – even a hatred – against immigrants/foreigners) yet disingenuously separate Trump from “racist/racism”.
You can find Brit Hume’s “Special Report” video clip here: https://t.co/IiHwDSmn9M?amp=1
