The Professionally Outraged

Well, white folks like Ezra Klein and other people in the professionally outraged class are once again outraged. You are shocked, I’m sure. Here’s the latest thought-crime that the Donald has committed, during his one hour plus press conference. A black woman reporter named April Ryan from the American Urban Radio Networks asked the following:

RYAN: When you say the inner cities, are you going to include the CBC, Mr. President, in your conversations with your urban agenda, your inner-city agenda?

TRUMP: Am I going to include who?

RYAN: Are you going to include the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus?

TRUMP: Well, I would. I tell you what: Do you want to set up the meeting? Do you want to set up the meeting?

RYAN: No, no, no. I’m just a reporter.

TRUMP: Are they friends of yours? Set up the meeting.

RYAN: I know some of them, but I’m sure they’re watching right now —

TRUMP: Let’s go. Set up a meeting. I would love to meet with the Black Caucus. I think it’s great, the Congressional Black Caucus. I think it’s great.

Now, from my perspective, Trump has just offered this woman the opportunity of a lifetime. He has said that she can set up the meeting. Not only that, but she already knows some of the members of the CBC.

Oh my goodness, dear lady, run don’t walk! PICK UP THE PHONE AND SET UP A MEETING! Go talk with whoever you know in the CBC, you’ve just been deputized in public by the President to set up the meeting! And who do you think will get the best angle for the story, maybe even an exclusive on the meeting? Who will get the chance for one-on-one interviews with some of the players? Who will get the chance to call up the White House and discuss the proposed meeting?

Why, that would be Ms. April Ryan from the American Urban Radio Networks … seriously, people kill for a chance like this reporter had.

So … what has been the response to this curious offer from the President? Sadly, April Ryan did not see what was before her … she explained on Twitter:

I am a journalist not a convener! But thank you for answering my questions.

Opportunity of a lifetime in her grasp, handed to her on a silver platter by the President, and she is blinded by her political views … it is a Greek tragedy. The chance was hers and she did not take it. Reporters around the planet are doing a facepalm imagining what they would have done …

And of course, proving that no good deed goes unpunished, the professionally offended class chimed in from all corners of the globe, excoriating Trump for … for … well, something. Susan Rice and Ezra Klein recommended this point of view from Vox

The moment is just one example of a critique Trump has faced repeatedly: He genuinely seems to view black people as a monolithic “other” — a group of people who work and behave in exactly similar ways. Not only does this seem to define an entire group of people down to a lowest common denominator, but it’s also simply dehumanizing to treat individuals as only part of a bigger group.

Ummm … errr … say what? Trump’s answer shows he views black people as a “monolithic other”? This is just elitist hyperbole and bafflegab.

Then there was this lovely comment, in all caps:

IGNORING THE FACT THAT TRUMP IS THE PRESIDENT AND CAN SET UP HIS OWN MEETING, HIS COMMENT SUGGESTS THAT APRIL RYAN IS FRIENDS WITH THE CBC BECAUSE ALL BLACK PEOPLE KNOW EACH OTHER

And Representative Elijah Cummings said the same:

“I think a lot of people assume that all black people know all black people”

Ummm … errr … guys, April Ryan said she knows several members of the CBC, so if Trump assumed she knew the CBC folks … he was right. They do know each other.

Not only that, but have you ever in your life met someone who thought that all black people know each other? I know I have not.

Then we have the writer from Salon who tweeted:

just watched the clip of Trump barking at April Ryan like she’s his secretary to set up a meeting w/the Congressional Black Caucus

Read it yourself. He ASKED her a couple of times if she WANTED to set up a meeting, and he URGED her to take the opportunity … that’s not barking at a secretary. That’s trying, albeit unsuccessfully, to give a reporter a change to be more than a reporter, to be a participant in moving the CBC agenda forwards.

Anyhow, if you look around the web, this meaningless quack from the talking heads goes on and on about Trump and April Ryan, with psychological claims made about the contents of Trumps cranium, all kinds of accusations, claims that the President hates or doesn’t understand or doesn’t care about black people …

… and not one person seems to have noticed that what the President actually did was to offer someone the chance of a lifetime, and she turned her nose up at it.

It’s funny. Trump once said that he could pull out a pistol on Fifth Avenue and shoot someone and his supporters would STILL vote for him. And that was probably true … but foolish me, I never thought about the other side of that equation.

The other side of that equation is that if Trump raised a man from the dead on Fifth Avenue, his opponents would still NOT vote for him … and this is a perfect example.

Regards to all,

w.

ONCE AGAIN: Please QUOTE THE EXACT WORDS YOU ARE DISCUSSING in your comment, so we can all understand your subject.