Who better to judge whether or not Donald Trump is a racist than “Shut up and dribble (if you’re black)” Laura Ingraham? And how better to prove it than with deceptively edited clips of Rep. Jim Clyburn suggesting the venerable African American Congressman is a prejudiced race baiter?

Media Matters wrote up the coffee-spray-inducing remarks from Ingraham last night:

INGRAHAM; Their next trick is to launch a desperate campaign to cast President Trump, though, as the villain who threatens us all. They don't like him as a person, so what they have to do is deny that he's done anything at all good for America, and of course they need to call him "racist" with zero evidence. Here is congressman Jim Clyburn with our own Bret Baier earlier tonight.

[...]

I mean, first of all, Bret Baier wasn't trying to pick a fight with him. He was doing this thing called asking a follow-up question, but again, pay no attention to Trump's actual accomplishments, the outcomes. None of it, just ignore it all, and instead, stick with this twisted fantasy that President Trump is really, in his heart of hearts, wants to work against people of color.

Let’s be clear about what Ingraham is doing here. She’s not just saying there’s no evidence that Trump is a racist (even though anyone not a racist and/or in the tank for him knows that he is). Ingraham is smearing Democrats and in particular African American Democrats such as Clyburn as race baiters.

It’s a clever but pernicious sleight-of-hand and one that should not be overlooked just because of the ridiculousness of the “not a racist” claim.

Even worse, Ingraham used deceptively edited clips that made Clyburn look like he had an irrational (racially biased) hatred of Trump that refused to give him credit.

Here’s what she aired:

BAIER: What about the First Step Act or opportunity zones? 

CLYBURN: His son-in-law, came up and worked with people to get the bill done. And the president signed it. But don't tell me what he did. I know better. 

BAIER: But Congressman, he did it. I mean, the administration did it. It wasn't the Obama administration -- 

CLYBURN: The administration -- 

BAIER: -- that did it. It was the Trump administration. 

CLYBURN: I didn't come here to argue with you. But you can argue it, if you want to.

BAIER: But you're not giving the Trump administration any credit for the things that Senator Tim Scott has said it should get credit for. 

CLYBURN: Absolutely not. I'm not, because he doesn't deserve it.

But in the interview, Clyburn backed up his criticisms. Here is what was actually said:

BAIER: So what about the First Step Act or opportunity zones? 

CLYBURN: Well, the president signed that bill. But [Congressman] Richmond wrote much more of that bill than the president ever read. So, I know how that deal got done. Hakeem Jeffries wrote that bill. These guys were working on stuff in that bill for I don't know how many years. How long have we been trying to get these things done? So, they get wrapped into the bill, his son-in-law, came up and worked with people to get the bill done. And the president signed it. But don't tell me what you think he did. I know better. 

BAIER: But Congressman, he did it. I mean, the administration did it. It wasn't the Obama administration … that did it. It was the Trump administration. 

CLYBURN: I didn't come here to argue with you. But you can argue it, if you want to. It's just not true. And that's not the only thing that this president says that's just not true. 

BAIER: OK. I understand, but you're not giving the Trump administration any credit for the things that Senator Tim Scott has said it should get credit for. 

CLYBURN: Absolutely not. I'm not, because he doesn't deserve it. I'll give anybody credit who deserves it. I worked very closely with George W. Bush. And I think he deserved a lot of what he did on Africa, on fighting AIDS. So, I give credit where credit is due. But I know better than that. Now, I don't want to get into these opportunity zones. But you tell me about money spent in opportunity zones, I ask you, who got the wealth out of the money spent in opportunity zones? 

Go down to Charleston and talk to anybody down there, they will tell you and I've seen the headlines in the local Charleston papers, said opportunity zones in Charleston put gentification on steroids. I didn't write that headline. A white person wrote that headline. And you will hear it all over this country. That's what opportunity zones have done. Put gentrification on steroids. 

When you go in and you make an investment with a man, in a black community, and build a dormitory for college, and you get the income off the dormitory, and none of the people that live in that neighborhood can live in that dormitory. Come on. I know better than that.

The fact is, Ingraham and her fellow Fox News Trumpers can’t defend Trump’s abysmal record on race. So they have to suggest African Americans are the real racists – and hope you won’t notice the cover up.

You can watch Ingraham’s charade below, from the June 16, 2020 The Ingraham Angle, via Media Matters. Underneath is Baier’s full interview with Clyburn from the June 16, 2020 Special Report.