He took questions on the Today show today:
Q: Tell us your views of LGBT and how you plan to be inclusive. Please speak about the North Carolina bathroom law.
A: ”North Carolina did something that was very strong and they’re paying a big price and there’s a lot of problems,” said Trump, who would have left things as they were. “There have been very few complaints the way it is. People go, they use the bathroom that they feel is appropriate, there has been so little trouble.” He said that instead, the new law has brought tremendous economic “strife” for the state, including various boycotts by entertainers and major businesses. “Leave it the way it is.”
Okay, kudos. It was the right answer, and in stark contrast to Ted Cruz, who actually defended HB2 last week. During an MSNBC town hall, Cruz said, “As the father of daughters, I’m not terribly excited about men being able to go alone into a bathroom with my daughters, and I think that’s a perfectly reasonable determination for the people to make.”
I am not confident that Trump supporters will agree with him on this.
But then this….
Q: Regarding news that Harriet Tubman will replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill: Was the move an act of political correctness or a long-overdue gesture?
A: Trump hailed Jackson as a president with a “great history of tremendous success” and said he would rather leave Jackson on the bill. “I think it’s pure political correctness. Been on the bill for many, many years and really represented somebody that was very important to this country,” he said. He suggested putting Tubman on the $2 bill or creating a new one altogether. “I would love to see another denomination, and that could take place, I think it would be more appropriate.”
Jackson had a “great history of tremendous success” if that means successfully relocating the Native Americans and laying the groundwork for the Civil War. Seriously, Trump has no clue what Jackson did. And if you ask around (or Google), the truth is that nobody has the slightest idea how Jackson got on the $20 bill in the first place.
No really, we checked. The Treasury Department, which has the authority to determine who appears on what bills (so long as that individual is already dead), says on its Web site that its own historical records “do not suggest” why certain presidents ended up on certain bills during a blitz of portrait selections in 1928.
In fact, Jackson was opposed to the creation of paper money.
But I digress.
Let me return to Trump. The slam on “political correctness”? Listen, even I believe we can go too far sometimes in pointing out and correcting perceived social slights. But political correctness means nothing more than showing respect for, and occasionally honoring, minority viewpoints. And when rich white men like Donald Trump take a slam at political correctness, you know what they are talking about. It’s the death cry of the white American male, seeing his power and influence diminished by the rise of (oh, the horror!) women and minorities. For some, slamming political correctness offers an excuse for blatant bigotry.
Consider the contrast between the two questions put to Trump above, He is clearly capable of seeing discrimination — he has no problem letting Kaitlen Jenner use whatever bathroom she wants in Trump Tower. And yet, put a black woman on the $20? Why, that’s political correctness gone awry.
What’s the difference?
Speaking of Trump, I came across this, which I clip from the Baltimore Sun:
Hey nineteen. STFU.