The Trump Administration's Record of Racism

Part Two

October 2018 - July 2020

About this Report

This report, compiled by Democracy in Color researchers, catalogs documented examples of racism by Trump and his administration from October 2018 - July 2020. This is the second part of a two-part report. Part one can be accessed here.

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Table of Contents

1. Later 2018

2. Early 2019, Generally

3. July 2019 Attacks on Congresswomen of Color

4. Later 2019, Generally

5. Early 2020

6. June 2020, Generally

7. July 2020, Generally

Later 2018

At an Oct. 22, 2018 rally in Houston, President Trump said:

A globalist is a person that wants the globe to do well, frankly, not caring about the country so much. And you know what? We can’t have that. You know, they have a word — it’s sort of became old-fashioned — it’s called a nationalist. And I saw, really, we’re not supposed to use that word. You know what I am? I’m a nationalist, okay. I’m a nationalist. Nationalist. Nothing wrong. Use that word. Use that word.

Trump subsequently defended his remarks when asked if they were racist dog whistles or emboldening white nationalists. 

On Oct. 31, 2018, President Trump tweeted a new anti-immigration ad, paid for by the President’s reelection campaign, characterizing migrants as extremely violent and showing masses of people pouring through broken down barriers. The ad was subsequently pulled from major news networks and Facebook. (See below, Nov. 4, 2018.)

Ahead of mid-term elections, President Trump used a Nov. 1, 2018 White House address to boast of crackdowns on asylum-seekers, even hinting that they might be fired upon by U.S. military personnel. He called Central American migrant caravans “violent” and threatened to hold thousands of participants indefinitely in “massive cities of tents.”

Those remarks were followed by a rally that night in Colombia, Mo. in which he said of Central American migrants: (See link immediately above)

Did you see what they did to the Mexican police and military in breaking through the border? These are tough people, they are not little angels, and we are not letting them into our country.

Early 2019, Generally

In a Feb. 9, 2019 tweet, President Trump again referred to Sen. Elizabeth Warren as “Pocahontas,” saying, “Today Elizabeth Warren, sometimes referred to by me as Pocahontas, joined the race for President. Will she run as our first Native American presidential candidate, or has she decided that after 32 years, this is not playing so well anymore?” The New York Times also reported that he referenced the Trail of Tears in that disparaging tweet.

At a May 22, 2019 congressional hearing, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin announced a delay to changing the $20 bill. Plans to remove President Andrew Jackson’s image from the bill and replace it with an image of the abolitionist and activist Harriet Tubman were delayed until 2026. The move drew criticism across the political spectrum. Defending the decision, President Trump said, “Andrew Jackson had a great history.” Jackson owned slaves, censored anti-slavery mailings, and removed Native Americans from massive portions of the southern United States to open up more land for slave-owning plantations.

July 2019 Attacks on Congresswomen of Color

President Trump used a Twitter-thread on July 14, 2019 to disparage people of color and immigrants, and challenge four Democratic congresswomen of color to “go back to where they came from” and fix “governments, [who] are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world.” The United States Equal Opportunity Commission lists some of the specific language used as a violation of anti-discrimination employment law. Privately, President Trump subsequently defended his language to less enthusiastic advisors. 

The following day, Trump offered a public defense of his July 14 tweets, accusing the four congresswomen, three of whom were born in the United States and one of whom took refuge here as a child, of “hat[ing] our country” and saying: 

All I’m saying is, if they’re not happy here, they can leave. There will be many people who will be happy.

His criticisms of the four congresswomen continued at a July 17, 2019 campaign rally, where he again invited them to leave the country, while the crowd, referring to Rep. Ilhan Omar, chanted, “Send her back!”

Following that rally, Trump tweeted of it, “What a crowd, and what great people.”

Later 2019, Generally

In a July 27, 2019 Twitter thread, President Trump attacked Rep. Elijah Cummings, who was Black and had been critical of the administration’s immigration policies. Referring to Cummings’ largely Black congressional district in Baltimore, the president wrote, “Cumming District is a disgusting rat and rodent infested mess…A very dangerous & filthy place.”

The next day, Trump tweeted that Cummings was “racist” without explanation. He also retweeted a conservative columnist calling Baltimore a “proper sh*thole.”

On July 29, 2019, President Trump replied to hinted criticism from Rev. Al Sharpton, calling him “a con man,” and writing that Sharpton “Hates Whites & Cops!”

The Trump administration extended Temporary Protected Status for roughly 7,000 Syrian refugees on Aug. 1, 2019, but refused to redesignate Syrians for eligibility, effectively shutting the United States off for other Syrians seeking protections.

In an Aug. 7, 2019 Vox story, 24 instances of President Trump calling Latinx immigration “an invasion” were detailed. Up to that point, the New York Times reported that Trump’s campaign had purchased 2,000 online ads using the word “invasion” to describe immigration at the southern United States border. 

That same rhetoric was repeated by a man who massacred dozens of people at an El Paso Walmart on Aug. 3 after posting a racist manifesto online. The shooter told police he was specifically targeting Mexicans following the shooting. 

At an Aug. 20, 2019 press event, President Trump stated, “I think any Jewish people that vote for a Democrat, I think it shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty," playing on anti-semitic tropes of dual loyalty of American Jewish people to Israel.

Emails leaked to NPR on or before Nov. 26, 2019 found White House adviser and immigration policy architect Stephen Miller recommending a white supremacist website repeatedly. The website has been identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group. The White House resisted calls for Miller’s resignation by civil rights activists and members of Congress.

The Trump Administration’s Dec. 5, 2019 rule rescinding food assistance to over 700,000 people was criticized as being rooted in racial discrimination. 

In a Dec. 7, 2019 speech before the Israeli American Council, President Trump rehashed old anti-Semitic tropes before a largely Jewish audience, nonetheless, referring to their “dual loyalty,” but also saying that some Jewish people “don’t love Israel enough.” He also added a dash of racism against Native Americans, saying:

A lot of you [Jewish people] are in the real estate business because I know you very well. You’re brutal killers, not nice people at all. But you have to vote for me — you have no choice. You’re not gonna vote for Pocahontas [his nickname for Sen. Elizabeth Warren], I can tell you that. You’re not gonna vote for the wealth tax. Yeah, let’s take 100% of your wealth away! Some of you don’t like me. Some of you don’t like me at all, actually. And you’re going to be my biggest supporters because you’re going to be out of business in about 15 minutes if they get it. So I don’t have to spend a lot of time on that.

Early 2020

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos compared favoring reproductive justice to being pro-slavery in a Jan. 24, 2020 speech in Washington, D.C. Referring to President Abraham Lincoln, she said:

He too contended with the ‘pro-choice’ arguments of his day. They suggested that a state’s choice to be slave or to be free had no moral question in it. Well, President Lincoln reminded those ‘pro-choicers’ that there is a vast portion of the American people that do not look upon that matter as being this very little thing. They look upon it as a vast moral evil.

At a campaign rally on Feb. 20, 2020, President Trump criticized the movie “Parasite.” His biggest complaint, according to the Associated Press, was that the movie was made in South Korea. Trump went on to praise “Gone with the Wind,” which others critique for being nostalgic for slavery. He continued his derision of South Korean-produced “Parasite” at a campaign event the next day.

Trump expanded his travel ban to bar citizens of Myanmar, Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria, Sudan, and Tanzania from settling in the United States long term on Feb. 21, 2020.

Having developed a habit of calling COVID-19 the “Chinese virus,” on March 18, 2020, President Trump defended accusations that the term employed by himself and several administration officials was racist. The following day, a reporter tweeted images of the president’s remarks in which “Corona” appeared to be replaced by “Chinese” in black marker, suggesting persistence in the xenophobic labelling by the president or someone close to him.

Also on March 18, 2020, the Southern Poverty Law Center issued a report finding a 55-percent increase in the number of white nationalist groups between the year that President Trump took office and 2019. Several of these groups believe that “mass violence is necessary to bring about the collapse of our pluralistic society,” the report states.

President Trump sparred with an Asian-American journalist on May 12, 2020, who asked a question about why COVID-19 testing was an issue of “global competition.” He challenged her to “Ask China that question,” and called it a “nasty question.” He then cut the press conference off abruptly.

On May 15, 2020, Trump nominated Mark Burkhalter as the United States ambassador to Norway. Burkhalter was since revealed to have produced a racist campaign flier against a Black politician. He settled a related lawsuit and publicly apologized. 

President Trump tweeted that “When the looting starts, the shooting starts,” on May 29, 2020. He also called Black Lives Matter protesters “THUGS.” The saying about shooting and looting was first offered by Miami police chief Walter E. Headley in 1967, amid uprisings following the killing of several Black men in the area. It has been thought to justify deadly use of force by police, especially against men of color. See also, NPR. The term “thug” has a history as a racial slur, and was recently described by Professor James McHorter as “a nominally polite way of using the N-word.”

June 2020, Generally

Trump called for using the military to “dominate” Black Lives Matter protesters on June 1, 2020.

Senior Trump campaign advisor Mercedes Schlapp retweeted a viral video of a man threatening Black Lives Matter protesters with a chainsaw and using the N-word on June 6, 2020. Schlapp subsequently tweeted the same video with the racial slur muted.

On June 7, a handful of top Trump administration officials denied the existence of systemic racism in media interviews. 

Referring to military bases named for Confederate leaders, the president tweeted on June 10, 2020: 

The United States of America trained and deployed our HEROES on these Hallowed Grounds, and won two World Wars. Therefore my Administration will not even consider the renaming of these Magnificent and Fabled Military Installations.

Trump later threatened to veto legislation to rename those military bases. Congress subsequently passed such legislation by veto-proof majorities, leading Trump to tweet that he remains dedicated to blocking renaming efforts.

In a June 12, 2020 interview with Fox News’ Harris Falker, who is Black, President Trump claimed to have done more for Black people than any other president, carving out a possible exception for President Abraham Lincoln. 

In three media interviews on June 18, 2020, Trump spoke on race issues. He told the Wall Street Journal that his utterance that “when the looting starts, the shooting starts” was “both” a fact and a threat. He also took credit for making Juneteenth “very famous,” though displayed ignorance about the related statement released by the White House. On Fox News, that same day, he seemed to defend police brutality and said, “police have not been treated fairly in this country.” 

Amid divided advisors, President Trump has repeatedly said of Black Lives Matter protesters, “These are not my voters.” According to a June 18, 2020 report by NBC News, some advisors support the president’s insensitive, racist rhetoric following the murder of George Floyd by police.

The president tweeted a doctored, viral video — widely known as the “racist baby” video — which inaccurately accused CNN of fabricating a news story to find racism where it did not exist. On June 19, 2020, both Facebook and Twitter removed the video from their platforms for its inaccuracy. 

Also on June 19, 2020, “for violating [their] policy against organized hate,” Facebook announced the removal of Trump campaign ads employing a Nazi symbol.

President Trump said “the silent majority is stronger than ever before,” at a June 20, 2020 rally in Tulsa, Okla., on native land. The phrase “silent majority” is historically linked to President Nixon’s racist Southern Strategy, employed by his campaigns.

During that rally, President Trump also labelled COVID-19 as the “kung flu,” as his crowd of supporters cheered. He also referred to a hypothetical burglar as “a very tough hombre,” earning laughs from his audience.

That rally, which took place in the former home city of the Black Wall Street—which was burned to the ground during a 1921 race massacre—was initially planned for June 19, or Juneteenth.

In a June 22, 2020 interview with Catholic News Agency, President Trump indicated his eagerness to defend monuments to Confederates by executive order. He also defended his failure to comply with a Supreme Court order to restore Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). Additionally, Trump attacked his past National Security Advisor John Bolton for his claim that Trump approved forced internment and reeducation camps built by the Chinese government for the Uighur ethnic minority, who are largely Muslim.

Also on June 22, 2020, President Trump asked why there were no protesters in the streets concerned about a Black man punching a white retail store employee, video of which he also tweeted. Some have suggested the store employee used a racial slur before being struck.

That same day, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany defended the president’s persistent use of the term “kung flu” as a moniker for COVID-19. President Trump had used the term again at a Tulsa campaign rally days earlier. The president used the term once more at a Phoenix rally on June 23, 2020 to raucous cheers from attendees.

At a Students for Trump rally on June 23, 2020, event speaker Reagan Escudé criticized Quaker Oats for recently rebranding its “Aunt Jemima” syrup for the racist history and association of the brand. Escudé is an employee of Turning Point USA, a nonprofit organizing students who favor Trump.

Through June 23, 2020, President Trump insisted on calling COVID-19 the “kung flu” or the “Chinese virus,” in what Vox saw as an effort to fan the flames of xenophobia.

Trump retweeted a post on June 28, 2020, in which a Florida supporter chants, “White power!” The sole Black Republican Senator, Tim Scott, decried the video as “indefensible.” Trump has since deleted the tweet, with press secretary Kayleigh McEnany claiming that the president watched the video, but did not hear the repeated, clear chants of “white power.” The White House failed to condemn either the tweet or the phrase “white power.”

Reddit shut down a forum populated by supporters of President Trump on June 29, 2020 after years of “racism, misogyny, anti-Semitism, glorification of violence and conspiracy theories that flourished there,” according to the Washington Post. 

That same day, livestreaming platform Twitch suspended the president’s channel for “hateful content” after a pair of videos were broadcast in which the president spoke disparagingly of Mexican and Latinx people.

A June 30, 2020 Washington Post story noted the president’s numerous tweets dedicated to tough-on-crime approaches towards Black Lives Matter protesters and vandals of Confederate monuments amid near silence on the COVID-19 pandemic. The Center for Disease Control observes that the virus disproportionately infects and kills Black, Latinx, and Native American people in the United States, who experience hospitalizations at four-to-five times the rate of white people.

July 2020, Generally

Up to July, 2020, President Trump continued his “ardent defense of Confederate monuments,” even as public opinion swung against him, according to the Washington Post. That story also noted his tweets at Sen. Elizabeth Warren, again referring to her as “Pocahantas,” and his criticism of the Black Lives Matter movement.

The president called the painting of “Black Lives Matter” on a prominent New York City street “a symbol of hate” and “denigrating.” The comments were defended by White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany and echoed by his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.

President Trump’s July 4, 2020 remarks at Mount Rushmore, on native land in South Dakota, were considered “outrageous” by CNN. He railed against a “new far-left fascism,” reported the New York Times. 

On July 6, 2020, Trump falsely tweeted that NASCAR ratings were down, following the finding of a noose in the garage of Bubba Wallace, the sole Black driver in NASCAR’s highest ranks. 

That same day, the president criticized the Washington professional football team and the professional baseball team in Cleveland for considering changing their clubs’ names, widely derided as racist. He then fumed as the football team announced a name change the following week. 

CNN, on July 7, 2020, detailed 17 recent instances in which the Trump administration took advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to reduce immigration into the United States, primarily from predominantly Black and brown populations.

President Trump seemed to deny the fact or the importance of Black people being killed disproportionately by police in a July 14, 2020 interview with CBS News. He also defended monuments to Confederate leaders and people brandishing the Confederate flag. 

As of July 16, 2020, the Trump administration continued flouting a Supreme Court ruling that the administration’s rescission of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) was unconstitutional for being “arbitrary and capricious.”

That evening, Trump’s niece Mary Trump told MSNBC that she had heard the president use racist and anti-Semitic slurs. 

Following a week of federal agents accosting Black Lives Matter protesters in Portland, Ore., on July 20, 2020, President Trump threatened to do the same in Baltimore, Chicago, Detroit, New York City, Oakland, and Philadelphia—all cities with high populations of people of color. The next day he expanded his threats to include Albuquerque, Cleveland, and Milwaukee.

Trump moved on July 21, 2020 to bar the Census from counting undocumented immigrants.

That same day, the Washington Post reported that a forthcoming book by former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen includes allegations that Trump used racist slurs to describe both Barack Obama and Nelson Mandela.  

Reports emerged on July 22, 2020 that Woody Johnson, Trump’s ambassador to the United Kingdom, was under investigation by the State Department inspector general for racist and sexist comments on the job. 

The administration announced plans on July 23, 2020 to scrap the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule implemented by President Obama to address housing discrimination. In the announcement, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson called the policy “unworkable and ultimately a waste of time.”

White nationalist Earl Holt III made a $1,000 contribution to a pro-Trump Super PAC, NPR reported on July 25, 2020. Holt’s racist internet activity was cited by Dylann Roof, the white man who massacred nine Black parishioners at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in June of 2015. The Super PAC, The Committee to Defend the President, hastened to return the contribution following NPR’s inquiry.