Today in doth protesting too much:

"No, I'm not a racist. I am the least racist person you have ever interviewed."

-Donald Trump, noted

stable genius and non-racist

Well that settles that.

Pictured: Sean Spicer explaining to us
how the inauguration was the single
most-attended event of all time.

Yeah, that's the still President Donald Trump explaining to reporters how not racist he is despite dismissing vast swaths of the planet as 'shithole countries' just last week. Which, really? The least racist person they've ever interviewed? What is he basing that on? Are these reporters new? Like, maybe it's their first day? Or do you suppose he's doing that thing where he makes wild, baseless claims and then insults anyone who calls him out on it? Sorry, that was uncalled for. He has his press secretary do that.

The Senators suffer from a rare, neuro-
logical condition called 'compulsive
sycophantic prevarication or 'bullshit.'

Whatever, the important thing to remember here is that no matter what he says now, of course he said 'shithole countries' in reference to places he'd like immigrants not to come from. It's also important to remember that all of these places are home to primarily to non-white populations. And despite the retroactive memory loss of Senators Cotton and Perdue who were in the meeting and who went from 'don't recall' shortly afterwards to flat denial once they were on TV, nobody's buying it. Of course he called Haiti, El Salvador and the entirety of Africa 'shithole countries.' Of course he did.

Lindsey Graham, who was also in the room, wasn't having it either. He called them out saying: "My memory hasn't evolved. I know what was said and I know what I said." And what he apparently said was a stinging condemnation of the President's comments:

You might remember Lindsey Graham
as one of the many candidates GOP
voters could have chosen to run instead
of Trump, but, you know, didn't...

"America is an idea, not a race...I tried to make it very clear to the president that when you say 'I'm an American'...[i]t doesn't mean that [one] is black or white, rich or poor. It means that you buy into an ideal of self-representation, compassion, tolerance, the ability to practice one's religion without interference and the acceptance of those who are different...It's not where you come from that matters, it's what you're willing to do once you get here."

-Senator Graham, Republican from-
huh? No, really, I checked...

That uncomfortable thing you're feeling? That suspicion that you've crossed into some parallel reality where nothing makes sense? That's the feeling you get when you can't find fault with something Lindsey Graham says. Compassion? Tolerance? Acceptance of those who are different? That doesn't sound very Republican-ny to me. Well, whatever we might think of Lindsey Graham, he's never been anything but critical of Trump and his Trump-ness, which is more than can be said of most of the GOP.

"It appears to be some kind of  rudimentary human
heart-but in a Republican? That can't be right..."

Pictured: Some of the Nazis the
President defended last year.

But look, I'm not saying I know for a fact that Trump is a racist, I'm just agreeing that he sure sounds and acts like one. And I'm basing that on everything he's done and said publicly which I don't think is an unreasonable thing to do. The Muslim ban, his stupid border wall, that time he leapt to the defense of Nazis. Oh, and the Roy Cohen thing we talked about. And I don't know, 'Shithole Countries' seems pretty consistent to me. I mean, what possible precedent in his character would allow us to even entertain the possibility that he was misquoted?

Anyway, all I'm getting at is that something isn't right here. Ok, obviously this entire last year or so has been an unbelievable goat rodeo of a cluster fuck, but more specifically, the President shouldn't have to be explaining to us how racist he isn't. He or she should be someone whose position on the issue of white supremacy isn't something we need to wonder about. Also, and I don't think this is asking too much, it should be con.

Like, unequivocally, consistently con.
And, some condemnation would be nice.