Donald Trump Has No Idea Whatsoever What The Word Bigot Means

According to Merriam-Webster, bigot is defined as the following:

a person who strongly and unfairly dislikes other people, ideas, etc. : a bigoted person; especially : a person who hates or refuses to accept the members of a particular group (such as a racial or religious group)

This is the word GOP nominee Donald Trump used to describe his opponent, Hillary Clinton, during a speech in Jackson, MS yesterday. He said “Hillary Clinton is a bigot” because she only sees black people as votes. This was the next step up in his recent appeal to minority voters, during which he’s told them to go with Trump because “what the hell do you have to lose,” among other things.

On the same day Clinton delivered a speech in Nevada where she connected Trump to the alt-right movement (not entirely difficult work considering he just hired Breitbart’s Steve Bannon to oversee his campaign), the Republican standard-bearer sat down with CNN’s Anderson Cooper for an interview. (Hillary had done the same earlier this week.)

At one point, Cooper confronted him about calling Clinton a bigot. Trump responded by saying that’s what she is.

“Well she is a bigot. If you look at what’s happening to the inner cities, You look at what’s happening to African-Americans and Hispanics in this country where she talks all the time. She’s talking look at the vets where she said the vets are being treated essentially just fine that its over-exaggerated what’s happening to the vets not so long ago.”

OK, that’s just a bunch of gibberish where Trump couldn’t even hold a single thought together for five seconds. Anderson tried again, asking him directly, how is Hillary Clinton a bigot. Trump’s answer:

“Because she is selling them down the tubes because she’s not doing anything for those communities. She talks a good game. But she doesn’t do anything.”

Ummm, but how does that make her a bigot? You can say she hasn’t done enough for the black community, that she’s taken them for granted, but how does that make her bigoted? It appears Anderson wanted to know the same thing, framing the question a bit differently: “So you’re saying she has hatred or dislike of black people?” So, what say Trump?

“Her policies are bigoted because she knows they’re not going to work.”

Sigh. Once again, this isn’t how this works. This isn’t how any of this works. Cooper, once again, asked if he believed she was personally bigoted. Trump gave the following very thoughtful, very great, very smart response:

“Oh she is. Of course she is. Her policies. They’re her policies she comes out with the policies and others that believe like she does also but she came out with policies over the years. This is over the years. Long time. She’s totally bigoted there’s no question about that.”

First off, what policies? What are the policies you are referring to? You can’t just say POLICIES and not know what they are. Beyond that, again, he’s not proving her bigotry. At best, he’s saying that she isn’t doing right by minorities. Cooper, bless his heart, kept trying to give Trump a chance, asking if Trump is saying that she has hatred in her heart for African-Americans. Go ahead, Mr. Trump:

“I think she has been extremely extremely bad for African-Americans. I think she has been extremely bad for Hispanics. You look at what’s happened with her policies and the policies of President Obama and others. Look at the poverty. Look at the rise in poverty. Look at the rise in violence.”

Again, WHAT ARE THE POLICIES? You haven’t named one yet. (Also, violence across the nation, and in urban areas, has been on a downward trend for decades, including Obama’s presidency.) But being “extremely bad” for Hispanics and African-Americans doesn’t equate to bigotry. Trump still hasn’t shown where she’s shown personal animus to any particular group or ethnicity specifically due to who they are.

One more time, Cooper digs in, asking Trump if “hatred is at the core of that or dislike of African Americans?” Trump’s final answer:

“Or maybe she’s lazy.”

Oh, fuck it.

Trump to @andersoncooper on Clinton: “She is a bigot.” Full interview at 8ET on @AC360 https://t.co/aFzghBnB52 https://t.co/bVNlXhCmti

— CNN (@CNN) August 25, 2016