Pushing for what many are calling a reverse-racist narrative, GOP front-runner and former President Donald Trump has vowed to push for policies to address an “anti-white” feeling in the country, a belief echoed by many Trump supporters who feel racism against white people is more of a problem than anti-Black racism.
According to Time Magazine, if elected for his second term as president in 2024, Trump plans to tax and fine schools he deems overly progressive. He supports numerous bills aimed at dismantling DEI policies in higher education nationwide, and Trump and many Republicans have criticized critical race theory, a study of systemic racism in society, and have sought to remove it from nationwide curriculums.
Trump, who is facing numerous criminal charges, including some related to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, sat down for an expansive interview with Time. In it, Trump was asked whether he agreed with the “anti-white” feeling in the United States. The news company provided the full transcript from the interview at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla., on April 12 and a follow-up conversation via phone on April 27.
Time asked: “So you have spoken a lot about ‘woke-ism’ on college campuses. Polls show a majority of your supporters have expressed the belief that anti-white racism now represents a greater problem in the country than anti-Black racism. Do you agree?”
Trump opined “that there is a definite anti-white feeling in this country,” blaming President Joe Biden, whom he’ll likely face off with in the 2024 presidential election in November.
“Oh, I think that there is a lot to be said about that. If you look at the Biden administration, they’re sort of against anybody depending on certain views,” Trump said of the anti-white rhetoric. “They’re against Catholics. They’re against a lot of different people. They actually don’t even know what they’re against, but they’re against a lot. But no, I think there is a definite anti-white feeling in this country, and that can’t be allowed either.”
Trump’s comments about the issue have ignited a heated debate, with Trump supporters pushing for policies to protect white people against racism and Black lawmakers warning of Trump’s intention to repurpose policies aimed at protecting people of color from racism and discrimination.
“Donald Trump is a pure racist, and I am worried that the attack is going to be on people of color,” U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters said during a recent MSNBC interview. “We know there are people who are aligned with him who follow him, who are already practicing what their government is going to be under Trump. Not only are they planning on a civil war if they have to do that, but he is spelling it out specifically. How and what they’re going to do and how he’s going to get revenge, how he’s going to attack his enemies.”
Waters added later in the interview of the importance of the country preparing for an eventual outcome of Trump lashing out not just against “anti-white” racism but if the election results are not in his favor.
“I want to know about all of those right-wing organizations that [Trump] is connected with who are training up in the hills somewhere and targeting what communities they are going to attack. We need to know now, given that he is telling us there is going to be violence if he loses. We need to know what his plan is and how we are going to be protected,” Waters said.
A survey conducted by YouGov in December revealed that Republicans were more inclined than Democrats to believe that white individuals encounter a significant amount of discrimination, more so than Black or Arab Americans, Time reported.
Famed actress Whoopi Goldberg even weighed in on Trump’s comments about an “anti-white feeling” in the country, saying it “enraged me.”
“Nobody in your family was hung,” the “View” co-host said during one of the shows. “Nobody in your family was chased because of the color of their skin. How dare you? There’s no anti-white issue here. You are perpetrating anti-humanist issues here. So the question is, is he the future?”
Trump’s campaign website outlines various strategies, with his supporters offering comprehensive suggestions, if Trump should reclaim the presidency from Democrat Biden in the election. One of Trump’s proposals would overturn Biden’s executive order mandating federal agencies to evaluate whether marginalized communities—such as people of color, LGBTQ Americans, and rural Americans—have sufficient access to their services.
