Parker: Trump’s dehumanizing of detractors truly dangerous

Whatever her motivations, Omarosa seems set on exposing Trump as a racist. (Congratulations, Omarosa, you’re the last to know. He’s also a misogynist.)

It’s fair to say that most whites who are racist usually don’t think they are. This is because they don’t use the N-word or actively seek to bring harm to non-whites. But racism is a pernicious, passive plague. You don’t have to burn crosses in people’s yards; All you have to do is see African-Americans (or Asians or Latinos) in stereotypically demeaning ways. Thus, when Trump became angry with Omarosa, he didn’t say she was a disgruntled former employee. Instead, he tweeted:

“When you give a crazed, crying lowlife a break, and give her a job at the White House, I guess it just didn’t work out. Good work by General Kelly for quickly firing that dog!”

Directing such vitriol toward any woman is repellant. But what makes the president’s remarks especially repugnant is that they were aimed at a minority woman and followed a spate of similar insults targeting African-Americans. In a twofer last week, he attacked both CNN anchor Don Lemon and LeBron James, tweeting: “Lebron James was just interviewed by the dumbest man on television, Don Lemon. He made Lebron look smart, which isn’t easy to do.”

Uncomfortable language

Granted, the above have been critical of Trump, but so what? Presidents are frequently under fire. Yet, through some strange reasoning, Americans are supposed to accept that, you know, Trump’s a fighter. He fires back, as though this were justification for the bile he releases.

It’s a simple matter of fact that certain insults have greater or lesser impact when applied to particular individuals or groups of people. Comparing Mitt Romney or Steve Bannon to a dog, as Trump previously did, obviously isn’t the same as calling a black woman a dog. Questioning the intelligence of African-Americans is especially blistering.

Did Trump mean for us to treat his comments so literally? Who cares? He’s the president of the United States and should be able to muzzle his schoolyard impulses. He should also know that dehumanization leads to marginalization, which can lead to cruelty (say, separating young migrant children from their parents).

As Smith explains in his book, it’s much easier to hurt, maim or kill another when you no longer see them as quite human. History’s catalogue of atrocity confirms this. Which is why no one should be comfortable with the language of dehumanization, no matter how relatively minor the degree.

Least of all, the president.