The reality is that this won’t hurt him at all with his MAGA base or the GOP. We’ve seen this movie too many times not to know that.

There was a time (as recently as 2016) when such vulgar racism would have drawn a rebuke from some Republicans – Paul Ryan, Nikki Haley, Jeff Flake, even Lindsey Graham. But Trump no longer needs to worry: his party is numbed, supine, and comfortable with its silence. Today, other than Justin Amash, not a single Republican elected official denounced their president’s racism.

Instead, we will get shuffling evasions, rationalizations, the usual gaslighting … and, of course, full-throated support from his increasingly nativist toadies.

Which leaves the Democrats. Trump knows how they will react: with outrage and indignation (all completely justified.) That shared fury may unify Dems temporarily, but it also gives Trump what he wants.