However, Democrats continue to use the out of context quote to support a baseless charge of racism against Trump. It is not the only such case. For example, Biden castigated Trump for allegedly not denouncing former KKK leader David Duke, a charge Politifact rated as “Mostly False.” He called Trump the first racist to be president, which is a strange charge coming from a candidate in Woodrow Wilson’s party. But critics cannot produce any evidence of Donald Trump unambiguously praising white supremacist organizations, ideas, dogmas or policies. At best they refer to the president’s supposed “dog whistles” which only the critics can hear.

The charge that Trump is tied to these extremist views is ridiculous on its face. President Trump was responsible for — and never misses a chance to highlight — the pre-pandemic lowest unemployment numbers ever for African Americans and Hispanics. He has supported funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), wants to make Juneteenth a federal holiday and designate the KKK as a terrorist group. This is a president who has been a stalwart and lifelong supporter of Israel, who took a huge political risk to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and who has brokered the historic Abraham Accords between the Jewish State, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain. As well, are we supposed to believe that the first president to have Orthodox Jews as members of his immediate family, a man with Jewish grandchildren, is somehow connected to neo-Nazi ideology? Please.