Is Trump a Racist?

Lots of evidence to support that claim!

May 22, 2025

Who Trump labels “Low IQ”

Trump often calls people who are critical of him “low IQ.” Ever notice a pattern in the types of people whom he labels with this demeaning epithet? According to a search conducted with ChatGPT4, he has called the following Black people “low IQ”: Maxine Waters (Dem. CA), V.P. Kamala Harris (Dem. CA), Jasmine Crocket (Dem. TX), and All Green (Dem. TX). (See, huffpost.com, 5.5.25.) There is no record of him ever calling a White Representative or Senator low I.Q.

Carrie Gillon, a linguist and the cohost of “Vocal Fries,” a podcast about linguistic discrimination, says Trump’s mode of speech ― the markedly different way he speaks about Black people’s intelligence versus white people’s ― reeks of racism. “It’s absolutely evident that he thinks Black people have lower IQs than white people — and believes IQ is an important and real way to measure intelligence, and that there is only one kind of intelligence.” She asserted that “The history of IQ is racist and eugenicist, and would take a lot to unpack…. But ultimately: Talking about IQ, particularly in this way, is racist,” she said. (See, huffpost.com, 5.5.25.)

Megan Figueroa, a linguist at the University of Arizona, and co-host of The Vocal Fries, says Trump

“…believes that Black people can have so-called good genes when it comes to sports, but otherwise are ‘low-IQ individuals.’ It’s just blatant racism.” (See, huffpost.com, 5.5.25.)

Given that racism is a fundamental aspect of Trump’s character, racism also permeates a range of Trump Administration policies. Some of it is crystal clear.

Afghan refugees vs. White South African farmers

Take the recent actions in which Trump authorized refugee status for 59 White South African farmers. This action, according to Trump, is justified because the South African government, whose leaders are mostly Black, is engaged in a genocide of White farmers. Elon Musk, who was born in South Africa, has promoted this allegation. He also promoted a right-wing neo-Nazi party just prior to the general elections in Germany this year, and gave a “Heil Hitler” type of salute TWICE to pro-Trump audience on inauguration day in January. His sentiments seem clear.

On May 21, Trump hosted the President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, and lectured him about the genocide being inflicted on White South African farmers, showing him copies of articles and a video from South African sources that confirm the genocide. CNN called it an “ambush” (cnn.com, 5.21.25). Ramaphosa adamantly denied those reports explaining they were produced by right-wing fringe groups creating propaganda. CNN reported that, according to South Africa’s official data, there were 19,696 murderers from April through December 2024. Just seven of the murder victims were farmers. (There are Black and White farmers in SA, but the statistics do not include information on the race of the victims.) Leaders from political parties that represent mostly White people in South Africa, plus the White minister for agriculture in South Africa – who was present at the meeting with Trump -- reject claims that there is any systematic killing of White South African farmers. Almost all news organizations have concluded that Trump’s claims of genocide or mass killings of White SA farmers are false.

Almost simultaneously the Trump administration placed 9,000 Afghan refugees at risk of deportation by declaring an end to their temporary protected status (TPS) as refugees from our 20-year war in Afghanistan because it is now safe for these refugees to return there. You might recall that Republicans railed against Biden for failure to get hundreds or even thousands more Afghans out of that country when we terminated our involvement in that war. The refugees are people who assisted the United States in some way during that war. According to Zia Ghafoori, who worked as an interpreter In combat with US Special Forces from 2002 to 2014, “It’s a death penalty for them if they return to Afghanistan” (npr.org, 5.13.25).

See a pattern here? Expel 9,000 non-White (mostly) Muslim Afghans who will almost certainly be persecuted, if not killed, upon their return to Afghanistan, while giving refugee status to White South African farmers who are not facing systematic or imminent danger. If you did not see evidence of Trump’s racism before now, there it is.

Halting environmental cleanup efforts in mostly Black towns or neighborhoods

Alabama: A U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation in 2023, during the Biden administration, concluded Alabama had engaged in a pattern of inaction and neglect regarding the risks of raw sewage to residents of a mostly Black area in Lowndes County, AL. Pursuant to that investigation the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) entered a settlement agreement with the DOJ to take steps to cleanup and prevent the wastewater problems (APnews.com, 4.11.25). On 4.11.25, Trump’s DOJ announced it would terminate the agreement because it was driven by DEI. The clear implication is that the agreement would be acceptable if the pollution impacted a primarily White neighborhood.

Georgia: Senator Jon Ossoff (Dem, GA) recently grilled EPA administrator, Lee Zedin, regarding the reasons the EPA cancelled a grant to help Thomasville, GA, cleanup wastewater, mitigate the impact of local air pollution, and build a health clinic to serve those suffering from health problems arising from the pollution. (See a link to the YouTube video of that hearing below.)

Zeldin eventually stated that the grant was cancelled because it was influenced by DEI considerations. About 60% of the Thomasville population is Black. Apparently, if Thomasville’s population was entirely or mostly White, the grant would not have been terminated.

Thomasville is not alone. In April, the Trump Administration canceled almost 800 environmental justice grants, almost all of which were awarded to towns in economically depressed areas Where there had been industrial activity that produced or left behind environmental pollution or that had inadequate wastewater treatment infrastructure. These types of areas very frequently involve poor and or minority residents. Therefore, canceling these grants almost inherently impacts communities with primarily minority populations. Given Trump’s obvious antipathy toward minorities, the cancellation of all these grants because they were inspired by DEI is consistent with his underlying racism.

Note: Conservatives vehemently oppose DEI programs because the believe they are contrary to race-neutral decision-making or merit-based hiring. Trump himself completely destroyed the argument for strictly merit-based hiring by appointing the least qualified (competent) group of cabinet members in our history. Their essential qualification is not competency (merit), but total loyalty to Trump. They are also almost all White.

Race-neutral decision-making is also more complicated than it seems. Such a principle, while noble, can also justify ignoring the long-term impact of systemic racism. There is considerable evidence that poor and minority communities have borne a disproportionate burden of industrial pollution for many decades (see, Pollution, Poverty, and People of Color, ScientificAmerican.com, 6.4.12). Consequently, taking those factors into account when awarding EPA grants is a completely justifiable approach, even if conservatives claim it’s illegitimate because it has the scent of DEI.

Termination of USAID funding

The 2024 budget for U.S. Aid for International Development (USAID) was about $21.7 billion, about three-tenths of 1% of the total federal budget (Phys.org, 2.5.25). On March 28, Trump ordered the closure of USAID, our country’s primary program for providing health-related assistance for prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, Ebola, and other diseases in developing countries. Boston University’s School of Public Health has estimated that if USAID funding is not continued before the end of 2025, there could be 176,000 additional adults and children worldwide who die from HIV and 62,000 additional deaths from tuberculosis; and more people will continue to die thereafter if funding is not restored (Jillian McKoy, BU School of Public Health, 3.21.25). A substantial portion of the USAID funding goes toward disease treatment and prevention efforts in Africa, so naturally the beneficiaries of the aid are Black Africans. Recall that in 2018, Trump called a group of poor African countries “shithole countries” (NBCNews.com, 1.11.18). He has no respect or empathy for them. They are expendable. It’s cruel. It also seems patently racist.

Making America More Racist Again

At least since the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s, America has made substantial strides toward reducing racism in our public policies – for example, through the Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act, and Fair Housing Act. There are more minority members of Congress, mayors, and state legislators than ever. Barack Obama was elected twice. And more minority characters are now common in movies, television series, and commercials. The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice, said Martin Luther King. However, sometimes progress involves two steps forward, but one step backward. The Trump administration has taken us a giant step backward – Making America More Racist Again. The first step in treating this disease is to recognize it and admit that’s what is happening. Then resist it, organize, and vote for people who refuse to condone Trump’s racist language and racist policies.

Thanks for reading “So it goes… by J. Goerdt” I appreciate it.