Michael Cohen’s testimony that Donald Trump was a “racist” who believed that “black people never vote for him, because they were too stupid” wouldn’t have surprised anyone. The president’s discriminatory behavior had long been documented on and off camera and was widespread knowledge amongst Trump’s inner circles. However, Cohen’s testimony did inspire more people to come forward and speak out, adding to the chorus of those who believe Trump has no business leading America.
Just a day after Cohen testified, a former Trump Organization executive broke her silence and revealed that Trump led a culture of racism in the company. Barbara Res was vice president of the Trump Organization during the 1980s, and she recently told CNN’s Brooke Baldwin that racist jokes were a normal occurrence during the taping of Trump’s show “The Apprentice.” Res said she recalled “hearing jokes. There were always black jokes going back and forth, and he told them, too.”
Res also stated that Trump was the one who taught her the expression “once you go black, you never go back.” And Trump’s bigotry knew no bounds:
First time in my life I heard it was Donald that said it – and in a joking way. So I mean there was certainly a lightheartedness about not only black people, but Jews and things like that.”
Res also said that the racially insensitive jokes were accepted by those in the room when Trump said something out of line — it was the company’s culture. Res said:
It was more or less kind of like racism was like accepted. It wasn’t like, ‘Oh, I hate black people.’ It’s just this is the way people are, and this is the way we talk.”
Now, America wasn’t as socially aware in the 1980s as we are now, but that wasn’t so long ago that people wouldn’t have known that racism was wrong! Trump and his white buddies knew what they were doing, but instead of correcting it they created a company culture around bad behavior so they could express their racism freely and safely.
Featured image via screen capture
