‘No Sitting President Has Ever Done This’: Biden Claims Trump Is Country’s ‘First’ Racist President
Photo credit: Saul Loeb, Getty Images.
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden made a bold and historically dubious claim on Wednesday, when he called President Donald Trump the country’s “first” racist president.
According to the Washington Post, Biden made his claim during a remote union town hall meeting in response to a health-care worker who noted Trump’s repeated invocation of the Covid-19’s origin in Asia. Trump has repeatedly used the racist slur “Kung flu” when blaming China for the country’s ongoing struggles in handing the pandemic.
In his answer, Biden said that Trump’s use of the dogwhistle term “China virus” marked a break from past presidents.
“The way he deals with people based on the color of their skin, their national origin, where they’re from, is absolutely sickening,” Biden said.
“No sitting president has ever done this. Never, never, never,” Biden claimed, despite copious historical arguments documenting past presidents’ bigotry and racism. “No Republican president has done this. No Democratic president. We’ve had racists, and they’ve existed, they’ve tried to get elected president. He’s the first one that has.”
Biden says Trump is America's first racist president: "We’ve had racists, and they’ve existed, they’ve tried to get elected president. He’s the first one that has.” pic.twitter.com/BbOG3GgXvq
— The Recount (@therecount) July 22, 2020
Trump was among the most high-profile proponents of the racist Birther conspiracy theory, which falsely claimed former President Barack Obama was born outside the U.S. During his 2016 campaign, in a “textbook racist comment,” Trump also smeared a Mexican-American judge as being incapable of fairness in ruling against him because of his heritage. And, as president, Trump infamously singled out majority-Black nations like Haiti and those in Africa as “shithole countries” during a meeting with Congressional leaders.
