I agree that he used offensive language. However, what he said wasn't racist. — Thorongil
To the extent that he associates race with riches, there's a racist element to his thought, but primarily he's thoughtless and speaks from his gut fear of / contempt for the dispossessed. — Baden
Donald Trump, who has on many occasions called the tradition of shaking hands “barbaric,” confessed in his 1997 book The Art of the Comeback: “One of the curses of American society is the simple act of shaking hands, and the more successful and famous one becomes the worse this terrible custom seems to get. I happen to be a clean hands freak. I feel much better after I thoroughly wash my hands, which I do as much as possible.”
But Trump’s germophobia goes beyond an unwillingness to shake hands—an aversion he has had to forgo during his run for the presidency. Trump is also reported to have a preference for drinking with straws and eating pizza with a fork, a distaste for pressing elevator buttons and a revulsion to fans and the public getting too close to him, such as for autographs.
In an op-ed for the U.K. newspaper The Independent, Gurnek Bains, author of Cultural DNA: The Psychology of Globalization and founder of a corporate psychology consultancy, suggests that Trump’s fear of communicable diseases is the root of his anti-immigrant political stances.
His obsession with cleanliness is why he prefers mass-produced or processed food. His preferences are not complicated: KFC. McDonald’s. The occasional taco bowl.
“I like See’s Candies.” “I like hamburgers.” “I’m an ice cream fan from way back.”
“I don’t like rich sauces or fine wines,” Trump wrote in his book Surviving at the Top. “I like to eat steak rather than pheasant under glass.” So long as the steak is well-done—so well-done, according to his longtime butler, “it would rock on the plate.”
His simplistic palate is a function of his desire for cleanliness. “One bad hamburger, you can destroy McDonald’s,” he explained to CNN’s Anderson Cooper earlier this year. “I’m a very clean person. I like cleanliness, and I think you’re better off going there than maybe someplace that you have no idea where the food’s coming from. It’s a certain standard.”
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/10/the-7-oddest-things-donald-trump-thinks-214354
One must be 35 years of age, a resident within the United States for 14 years, and a natural born citizen. — Thorongil
To me it's quite clear in the context of everything else Trump has said and done that he's a xenophobe/racist/bigot. — Benkei
I think these 8 pages reflect for starters different thresholds for what constitutes racism. To me it's quite clear in the context of everything else Trump has said and done that he's a xenophobe/racist/bigot. Remember his comments about an Indiana born judge being partial due to him being Mexican (e.g. ancestry leads to an inherent conflict of interest)? — Benkei
Now, when Trump questioned the ability of that judge of Mexican ancestry and Democratic political leanings to handle his case impartially, Democrats quickly changed their tune and feigned shock that he could have the audacity to suggest that this man's racial (or other) background just might have an influence on his judicial decisions. — Erik
Do you think the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations should ask for their Ellis Island Medal back? It was for services to black inner-city youth after all. — tom
Or do you think he is a racist because he has reduced black unemployment to record lows, and already restored black median income to levels before Obama reduced it by $1000pa? — tom
Oh, and that's Rosa Parks in the picture, by the way. — tom
But I also grew up in an area with a large percentage of Trump supporters and I can tell you that not all of them are the caricatured racists and xenophobes they're often portrayed as. In fact, I'm sure many won't believe this but I know many Mexican-American Trump supporters, and most of them are proud of their heritage. Now of course there's likely a large percentage of his base who do harbor deep-seated prejudices--and I've not met a single black Trump supporter yet--but it's a bit more complex than some people think and that others would like you to believe. — Erik
Those are additional subjective preferences in addition to the real qualifications. — Thorongil
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