The co-chair of the Republican National Party elicited laughter from Charlamagne Tha God Tuesday after she insisted her father-in-law, Donald Trump, was no bigot.
“I’ve never heard this man say a racist thing,” said Lara Trump in response to a question Tuesday from “Breakfast Club” co-host DJ Envy. She challenged Charlamagne to provide examples, and he did.
“People act like there’s no such things as Google,” he said.
Featured in a brief “The Breakfast Club” montage were the former president’s 2015 remarks about Mexican immigrants, whom he demeaned as “rapists,” and his branding of Haiti, El Salvador and several African nations as “sh-thole countries.”
DJ Envy went back to the early ’70s, when Donald Trump and his father faced a discrimination lawsuit brought by the Justice Department for their alleged refusal to rent apartments to Black tenants. Testimony showed that, in predominantly white apartments, the applications filed by black applicants were marked “C’’ for “colored.”
He also referenced Trump’s refusal to apologize for advocating, in a full-page newspaper ad, the death penalty for “The Central Park Five” after they were falsely implicated in a brutal rape.
Lara Trump, married to Eric Trump, followed her father-in-law’s playbook, dismissing the accusations then transitioning to a series of broad platitudes. She didn’t respond to Trump’s continued assertion that the five young men convicted of brutally raping a Central Park jogger in 1989 pleaded guilty and the victim died. They did not, and she was not killed.
The five former defendants announced Monday they are suing the former president for defamation.
Her claim that the federal housing discrimination lawsuit was settled without any admission of guilt is technically true but neglects to mention that, according to the settlement, Donald Trump had “failed and neglected” to comply with the Fair Housing Act.
“You can go pick apart somebody all you want,” Lara Trump said. “It is a traditional talking point to attack Republicans, to call them racist. But when you look at the things that he wants for this country, he wants every person to be successful. He wants black Americans to be successful, Hispanic Americans to be successful, women to be successful.”
Charlamagne persisted in his questioning about the Republican nominee’s alleged racism, noting his recent claims, backed by zero proof, and that Haitian immigrants in Ohio were eating people’s pets.
“How do you ask Mexicans and Muslims to ignore a lot of the rhetoric, Haitians to ignore a lot of the rhetoric that he said about them that is dangerous, that has villainized them, that has demonized them?” he asked.
“Comments get misconstrued,” she responded
Charlamagne doubled down: “When you make these broad generalizations, you do hurt the Haitian Americans that are here, the Mexican Americans that are here. They all get labeled and villainized and demonized.”
The RNC co-chair remained defensive, refusing to give an inch. But, based on comments posted on X, she wasn’t able to break through with “Breakfast Club” listeners, at least on the topic of race.
Why did you let these liars come in your platform??
— David Merrick (@David_Merrick_) October 21, 2024
She had a smattering of defenders — “She’s right, this idea that Donald Trump is racist is a false narrative drawn up by the leftist media,” said one — but a majority read like these:
“Laura Trump is learning from her father in law,” said another listener. “She speaks in half truths or flat out lies when she comments about the housing discrimination in the 1970s. Trump’s actions surrounding the Central Park Five was racism on steroids. How dare she try to minimize it.”
“Let’s say Trump isn’t racists, racists support him, and he plays into the ideology for the sake of his agenda,” wrote one. “And that’s one of the many reasons I’d never support him.”
On the flip side, Charlamagne was also catching some heat from listeners who felt the radio hosts were unprepared for the interview. “You guys were so ill prepared for this interview. #embarrassing.” wrote one commenter.
One user asked, “Why did you let these liars come in your platform??” One commenter responded to the question, “Let them come but have some clips and facts to rebut those gaslighting lies.”
There are plenty more comments and deeds that, if not racist, are at best racially insensitive. He launched his political career after repeatedly claiming that President Barack Obama was not born in the U.S. and therefore did not meet the qualifications to be president. Not true, but racists and Obama-haters loved him for it.
But despite all this, Trump is polling better among African-Americans than in his previous two runs for office.
“He’ll work for every American equally,” Lara Trump told Charlamagne. “He did that the first term when he was president, and he’ll do it again.”
