John Legend firmly believes that Donald Trump is racist “to his core” and cites examples of the former Commander-In-Chief treating Black people as “inferior.”
The EGOT award-winning singer spoke with MSNBC’s Jen Psaki on Sunday, April 21, where he unloaded on Trump for being a “racist” and highlighted past instances where he showed his alleged bigotry.
“When we protested the killing of George Floyd, he was advocating for the military to shoot us in the streets,” Legend said.
“He has made it clear throughout his life that he believes Black people are inferior. Like, he believes that, to his core, in his bones.”
Legend’s first example of Trump’s bigotry cites a 2022 reveal from former Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper about Trump inquiring about shooting Black Lives Matter protestors amid the heightened tension following the killing of George Floyd.
“The president was enraged. He thought that the protests made the country look weak, made us look weak, and ‘us’ meant him. And he wanted to do something about it,” Esper recalled.
“We reached that point in the conversation where he looked frankly at [Joint Chiefs of Staff] Gen. [Mark] Milley and said, ‘Can’t you just shoot
them, just shoot them in the legs or something?’ … It was a suggestion and a formal question. And we were just all taken aback at that moment as this issue just hung very heavily in the air.”Elsewhere in Legend’s sit down on MSNBC, he resurfaced a 1973 lawsuit where Trump’s real estate company was accused of racial discrimination in renting apartments to Black and Latino applicants. Legend used the lawsuit as another example of how Trump “believes in a genetic hierarchy of humanity, and it’s racially determined.”
FBI records include a 1974 interview with a doorman at Trump’s building in Brooklyn where he recalled being ordered to turn away prospective Black applicants.
He said a supervisor “told me that if a Black person came to 2650 Ocean Parkway and inquired about an apartment for rent, and he, that is [redacted] was not there at the time, that I should tell him that the rent was twice as much as it really was, in order that he could not afford the apartment.”
While in South Carolina in February, Trump insinuated his support from the Black community has grown amid his criminal trial.
“And a lot of people said that’s why the Black people like me, because they
have been hurt so badly and discriminated against, and they actually viewed me as I’m being discriminated against,” Trump said. “It’s been pretty amazing, but possibly, maybe, there’s something there.”He also said his mug shot helped him appeal to Black voters.
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