Transcription
Good evening from New York. I'm Chris Hayes. Donald Trump is to his bones a UNFORTUNATELY, BUT EVERY SO OFTEN, THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES DO SOMETHING SO GROTESQUE, SO EGREGIOUSLY OFFENSIVE, THAT WE HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO VIEW IT IN THE LARGER CONTEXT OF HIS PERSISTENT BIGOTRY.
SO, LAST NIGHT, AROUND MIDNIGHT, TRUMP'S SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT POSTED AND THEN REPOSTED A TRULY DERANGED VIDEO PUSHING 2020 ELECTION CONSPIRACIES, WHICH HE'S OBSESSED WITH, THAT ALSO DEPICTED THE FIRST BLACK PRESIDENT AND THE FIRST BLACK FIRST LADY OF THIS COUNTRY, BARACK AND MICHELLE OBAMA, AS APES.
THE OBAMA FAMILY HAS THUS FAR NOT RESPONDED TO THE VIDEO, BUT HOUSE DEMOCRATIC LEADER HAKKIM JEFFRIES HAS. THIS DISGUSTING VIDEO POSTED BY THE SO-CALLED PRESIDENT WAS DONE UNINTENTIONALLY DONALD TRUMP AND HIS VILE RACIST AND MALIGNANT BEHAVIOR. THIS GUY IS AN UNHINGED BOTTOM FEATER.
PRESIDENT OBAMA AND MICHELE OBAMA ARE BRILLIANT, CARING AND PATRIOTIC AMERICANS. THEY REPRESENT THE BEST OF THIS COUNTRY. IT IS TIME FOR JOHN THONE, MIKE JOHNSON AND REPUBLICANS TO DENOUNCE THIS SERIAL FRAUDSTER WHO IS SITTING AT 1600 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, PRETENDING TO BE THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
AMERICANS OF ALL STRIPES WERE AS DISGUSTED AND OFFENDED AS LEADER JEFFREES, BUT the White House's first response was to pretend they didn't know why. In a statement, White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt called it a, quote, fake outrage. But as they so often do, I think the White House misread the room here. Maybe not everyone is as racist as we are, people were genuinely upset by the president United States in 2026 promoting this kind of just like abhorrent gutter racism. Right. The outrage was real and it was bipartisan Republican members of Congress, including Representative Mike Lawler of New York and Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi condemned the post. As did Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, a staunch Trump ally, the only black Republican serving in that chamber who posted that it was the most racist thing he'd seen out of the White House, leaving many to ask the question, what was the second most racist thing, Senator?
AND SO TRUMP DIDN'T ABOUT FACE. THE VIDEO WAS QUIETLY DELETED. THE WHITE HOUSE BLAMED AN ANONYMOUS STAFFER. IT'S AN EXCUSE THEY'VE USED IN THE PAST, AND YOU CAN DETERMINE FOR YOURSELF IF YOU BELIEVE IT. BUT IF IT'S TRUE, I THINK WE DESERVE TO KNOW WHY A STAFFER IS POSTING AS PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT. THAT'S KIND OF WEIRD. I THINK IT'S CLEAR THAT THE OUTCRY FROM HIS FELLOW REPUBLICANS IS WHAT MOVED THE NEEDLE HERE. AND WHILE IT IS NOTABLE, ONE ALSO HAS TO WONDER WHY THIS INSTANCE OF RANK BIGOTRY CROSSED THE LINE.
DONALD TRUMP IS PROUDLY PUBLICLY RACIST ALL THE TIME. SEEMINGLY EVERY WEEK HE GOES ON SOME DISGUSTING TIRADE ABOUT, FOR INSTANCE, THE BLACK RESIDENTS OF MINNEAPOLIS. HE SPENT A GOOD CHUNK OF HIS PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN LYING ABOUT HAITIAN MIGRANTS EATING CATS AND DOGS. THIS IS WHO HE IS.
BUT EVEN SETTING ASIDE HIS PERSONAL BIGOTRY, WHICH IS REAL AND AN ANIMATING FORCE, HIS ADMINISTRATION, USING ALL THE POWERS OF THE STATE, IS PURSUING AN EXPLICITLY RACIST AGENDA TO REWRITE THE HISTORY OF ANTI-BLACK RACISM IN THIS COUNTRY AND TO FORCE BLACK PEOPLE OUT OF ELITE INSTITUTIONS, BOTH PUBLIC AND PRIVATE. IT IS A WHOLE OF GOVERNMENT APPROACH ALL THE WAY BACK. ALL THE WAY TO THE EARLIEST DAYS OF THIS ADMINISTRATION.
DO YOU REMEMBER THIS? I THINK WE'VE ALL LOST IT BECAUSE, YOU KNOW, THE NEWS CYCLE GOES PAST. DO YOU REMEMBER THEY SPENT WEEKS BLAMING A HORRIFIC, DEADLY PLANE CRASH, AN ABSOLUTE TRAGEDY. DOZENS OF PEOPLE DEAD ON DEI, RIGHT? REMEMBER THAT? THE IMPLICATION BEING THAT IF THE PILOT WERE ANYONE OTHER THAN A WHITE MAN, WELL THEN THAT'S YOUR CAUSE RIGHT THERE. THEY'RE THEY ARE INHERENTLY UNQUALIFIED. SOMETHING THE PRESIDENT SAID THAT I THINK BEARS REEMPHASIZING WHICH IS THAT WHEN YOU DON'T HAVE THE BEST STANDARDS IN WHO YOU'RE HIRING, IT MEANS ON THE ONE HAND YOU'RE NOT GETTING THE BEST PEOPLE IN GOVERNMENT BUT ON THE OTHER HAND, IT PUTS STRESSES ON THE PEOPLE WHO ARE ALREADY THERE AND I THINK THAT IS A CORE PART OF WHAT PRESIDENT TRUMP IS GOING TO BRING AND HAS ALREADY BROUGHT TO WASHINGTON, D.C. IS WE WANT TO HIRE THE BEST WE WANT THE BEST PEOPLE AT AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL AND WE WANT TO MAKE SURE WE HAVE ENOUGH PEOPLE AT AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL WHO ARE ACTUALLY COMPETENT TO DO THE JOB. IF YOU GO BACK TO JUST SOME OF THE HEADLINES OVER THE PAST 10 YEARS, YOU HAVE MANY THE POLICY ENDS UNDER DONALD TRUMP'S LEADERSHIP BECAUSE SAFETY IS THE FIRST PRIORITY OF OUR AVIATION INDUSTRY.
NOW, WE KNOW A LOT MORE ABOUT THE CRASH. IT DOESN'T REALLY SEEM LIKE THE AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS WERE THE SORT OF KEY CAUSE OF IT. AND AS IT SO HAPPENS, ALL THREE CREW MEMBERS OF THE BLACK HAWK HELICOPTER INVOLVED IN THE CRASH WERE WERE WHITE. THE FIRST INSTINCT OF THIS ADMINISTRATION WAS TO BLAME PEOPLE OF COLOR. IT'S PART OF A PATTERN.
NOT LONG AFTER THAT DEI OUTBURST, THE WHITE HOUSE SCRUB JACKIE ROBINSON. YES, THAT JACKIE ROBINSON FROM THE DEFENSE DEPARTMENT'S WEBSITE. IN ADDITION TO BREAKING THE COLOR BARRIER IN MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL, ROBINSON ALSO SERVES AS SECOND LIEUTENANT IN WORLD WAR II WHERE HE WAS COURT-MARTIALED FOR REFUSING TO MOVE TO THE BACK OF AN ARMY BUS, THE PAGE WHICH THEY SCRUBBED WAS LATER RESTORED WHEN AGAIN LIKE WHAT HAPPENED TODAY, THE WHITE HOUSE GOT CAUGHT.
LATE LAST YEAR, THE WHITE HOUSE REMOVED TWO FEDERAL HOLIDAYS HONORING BLACK HISTORY, MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. DAY, AND JUNETEENTH, THE DAY OF THE LIBERATION OF ENSLAVED PEOPLE IN TEXAS, FROM THE LIST OF DAYS WHEN NATIONAL PARKS OFFER FREE ADMISSION, THEY WERE REPLACED WITH TRUMP'S BIRTHDAY. JUST LAST MONTH, WORKERS' DIRECT BY THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE USED CROWBARS TO DEFACE A PHILADELPHIA MEMORIAL HONORING NINE ENSLAVED PEOPLE WHO WERE FORCED TO WORK FOR GEORGE WASHINGTON. THIS WEEK, THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE REMOVED BROCHURES AT THE MEDGAR EVERS MONUMENT IN MISSISSIPPI, GET THIS, IN ORDER TO REMOVE THE DESCRIPTOR RACIST FROM THE KKK MEMBER WHO MURDERED THE CIVIL RIGHTS ICON. ONCE AGAIN, THEY APPEAR TO HAVE BACKTRACKED AFTER GETTING CAUGHT.
I COULD GO ON AND ON AND ON, BUT EVEN MORE INSIDIOUS ARE THE EFFORTS TO PURGE BLACK PEOPLE FROM ELITE INSTITUTIONS AND GOVERNMENT AND REPLACE THEM WITH, WELL, GENERALLY, TO BE HONEST, WHITE DUDES. FOR ALL THEIR TALK ABOUT MERIT, THESE PEOPLE HAVE ZERO CONCEPTION OF IT. THIS ADMINISTRATION IS COMMITTED TO A PROJECT OF AGGRESSIVE AFFIRMATIVE ACTION FOR ASSORTED FAIL SONS AND CONSERVATIVE WHITE MEN.
THIS GRAPHIC FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES LAST YEAR MAKES IT SO CLEAR. TRUMP FORCED OUT THE BLACK CHAIRMAN OF THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF TO REPLACE HIM WITH A WHITE GUY. TRUMP FORCED OUT THE FIRST BLACK CHAIRMAN OF THE FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION, REPLACED HIM WITH A WHITE GUY. HE FORCED OUT THE FIRST BLACK WOMAN TO SERVE IN THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD NOMINATED TWO WHITE GUYS. HE FORCED OUT THE FIRST BLACK CHAIRMAN OF THE FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION, REPLACED HIM WITH A WHITE GUY. HE FORCED OUT THE ONLY BLACK MEMBER OF THE NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD, REPLACED HIM WITH A WHITE GUY. TRUMP IS TRYING TO FIRE LISA COOK, THE FIRST BLACK WOMAN TO SERVE ON THE FED'S BOARD OF GOVERNORS AND THOSE ARE JUST THE PEOPLE IN GOVERNMENT. THEY WANT BLACK PEOPLE BANISHED FROM POWER. HOW MUCH MORE OBVIOUS COULD IT BE? THERE IS A CLEAR PATTERN HERE. THEY ARE PURSUING A RACIST AGENDA. THAT VIDEO, USEFULLY PERHAPS, WAS JUST TRUMP FULLY TAKING THE MASK OFF?