Caffeinated Politics

There are moments in public life when the mask slips, when the pretense dissolves, and what remains is the raw, unvarnished truth of a person’s character. Donald Trump’s decision to amplify a grotesque, racist depiction of Barack and Michelle Obama is one of those moments. It is not a gaffe. It is not a lapse. It is a wide-open lid into the sewer he has chosen to inhabit, and the one he invites his low-brow supporters to join him in. And it makes me sick.

Some people argue that Trump merely “shares what he finds interesting” on his social media platform. But when what he finds “interesting” is the centuries‑old dehumanization of Black people, the message is unmistakable. Racism is not incidental to Trump’s politics; it is foundational to them. It is the oxygen he breathes and the fuel he pours onto the fire of division.

The very first time Donald Trump was mentioned in The New York Times was on October 16, 1973, in a front-page below-the-fold article titled “Major Landlord Accused Of Antiblack Bias in City”. The news story dealt with a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice against the Trump Management Corporation, which was run by then 27-year-old Donald Trump and his father, Fred Trump.

While we know that Trump did not invent racism in America, he has perfected the art of weaponizing it. He has turned it into a spectacle, a rallying cry, a loyalty test. He has made cruelty a badge of honor and bigotry a form of entertainment. And when he elevates racist imagery, he is not simply expressing an opinion but rather signaling to millions that this behavior is acceptable.

The Obamas, who carried themselves with dignity through eight years of relentless racist attacks, deserve far better than to be dragged once again into Trump’s sewer. But this is not just about them. It is about the message Trump sends to every Black American: that their humanity is negotiable, that their dignity is disposable, that their very identity is fair game for mockery. It is also about the message he sends to his followers: that racism is not only tolerated but celebrated.

This is the ecosystem Trump continuously cultivates. It is a political movement that feeds on the resentments of whites, thrives on the dehumanization of Black people, and Brown people, and Gay people, and transgender people. There is no such thing as the idea of a shared humanity in Trump’s world. The MAGA movement, with Trump in the lead, treats empathy as weakness and cruelty as strength. It is a movement that insists America must be dragged backward, not pushed forward.

Some people will rush to excuse Trump. They always do. They will claim it was a joke, or a misunderstanding, or that critics are “too sensitive.” But these excuses are not neutral. They are complicity dressed up as commentary. They are the grease that keeps the gears of racism turning. And it simply must stop!

The truth is simple: Trump knows exactly what he is doing. He has always known. And he is counting on the rest of us to become numb to it. We cannot afford that numbness.

Racism is not a side issue. It is not a distraction. It is a moral crisis. When a political leader embraces it, amplifies it, and normalizes it, the damage ripples far beyond a single social media post or a single news cycle. It corrodes the culture. It poisons the discourse. It teaches the next generation that racial hatred is just another form of political expression. It is not.

Trump has chosen his personal sewer. He has built it, nurtured it, buried himself in it, and invited others to wallow in it. The question now is whether the rest of us will refuse to follow — and insist that America is better than this.