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Comment by cletus | Hacker News Reader

This just goes to prove that even a racist clock is right twice a day [1] because it's clear that:

- China has engaged in state-sponsored corporate and military espionage; and

- Chinese companies are not separate from the state.

The only reasonable conclusion here is that Huawei gear on key networking infrastructure represents a security threat and really that's all there is to it. I find it odd that it's taken Trump, who otherwise is a disaster on pretty much every front, to actually say what is otherwise obvious.

[1]: https://www.penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/the-racist-clock-4...

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I don't believe this is the consequence of Trump being racist.

I don't believe trump is racist.

There is a lot of circumstantial evidence to suggest that he is[0,1], going back to lawsuits over housing discrimination in the 1970s, to his comments about wanting more immigrants from Norway rather than "shithole countries" in Africa, and of course equivocating on Charlottesville.

Granted, he hasn't burned a cross on the White House lawn, but it's difficult to look at his statements and the unprecedented (and well documented) support his campaign had from racists and not conclude he probably is racist beyond a reasonable doubt.

[0]https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/06/trump-r...

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_views_of_Donald_Trump

Charlottesville hoax has been debunked again and again, including by MSM outlets themselves. Read what he actually said: https://blog.dilbert.com/2019/04/30/the-fine-people-hoax-fun...

Ok fair enough. That still leaves the rest of the mountain of evidence. Is every quote and statement ever made by and about Trump also a hoax? Even the ones from prior to his presidency?

Prior to his presidency here's how things were "racism" wise: https://www.google.com/search?q=trump+with+sharpton&newwindo.... Dude even had a black girflriend for a couple of years: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/17/us/politics/trump-blacks-...

As to "mountains of evidence", up until you've read the article I linked, you thought there was "mountain of evidence" about Charlottesville, too. Heck, you probably still think that, this particular bit of fake news has been drilled into everyone's skulls relentlessly for over a year.

What makes you think that other "evidence" is not of the same quality?

One article from which that first picture was taken[0] suggests other than the narrative you want to present:

    Today, the two are at opposite ends of the political spectrum. In 
    the interview last December, Trump said on Fox that Sharpton “is 
    a guy who I don’t believe really believes what he’s saying.”

    And Sharpton has used his MSNBC and radio shows to criticize Trump, 
    arguing that his stances on Barack Obama’s birth certificate 
    and the Central Park Five were racist.

And here's another one[1] where Al Sharpton out and out calls Trump a racist.

So that leaves the fact that he one dated a black woman as your evidence to disprove everything else?

H.P. Lovecraft was a racist and virulent antisemite, and yet he still married a Jewish woman. Racists are not racist about everything, all the time, like cartoon characters, and where people like Trump are concerned, obviously class status also has an effect on the way race is viewed.

Not terribly convincing.

[0]https://www.nationalreview.com/2015/09/trumps-pal-al-sharpto...

[1]https://www.huffpost.com/entry/al-sharpton-donald-trump-raci...

>Heck, you probably still think that, this particular bit of fake news has been drilled into everyone's skulls relentlessly for over a year.

Now you're resorting to personal attacks, so this conversation is over.

Of course Sharpton will call him a "racist" _now_. Not doing so would subject him to intense repercussions as a democrat, his career would be over in an instant.

But Trump is the dude literally _nobody_ had any problems with until he ran against HRC, including the likes of Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, etc. He received the Rosa Parks award fer chrissakes: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-received-ellis-islan...

If you would like to pick the strongest cases from the list I'd be more than willing to poke holes in them. I skimmed through the wikipedia article and your other link, there was a lot of here-say, some things that may not be PC by today's standards, and some outright falsehoods. I did not see any racism though.

He had a black girlfriend, his son-in-law is Jewish. I really don't see how he can be racist. I think people may mistake his abrasive personality for racism, but when you're targeting individuals and not a race, it's not racism.

Well yes.

I did say it was circumstantial evidence, but there is a lot of it.

>He had a black girlfriend, his son-in-law is Jewish. I really don't see how he can be racist.

As I mentioned elsewhere, H.P. Lovecraft was anti-semitic, and married a Jewish woman. Also, Dick Cheney's daughter is gay, but he doesn't support gay rights (and yes, "gay" is not a race, let's not get bogged down in pedantry.)

It is entirely possible to be a racist and not perfectly consistent with one's racism, and to be racist against certain people or groups based on the admixture of race and class, or race and personal relationships. Racism is emotional, not rational.

The best you can say is that there's evidence for and against, but that still leaves evidence for.

It's the other way around, you got it all wrong. Bush wanted to introduce a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. Cheney was against this amendment.

I'll tell you more, Obama was against gay marriage well after that, as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6K9dS9wl7U

Specifically, written of Cheney in 2004:

"Vice President Dick Cheney, whose daughter Mary is a lesbian, distanced himself from President Bush’s call for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage “Lynne and I have a gay daughter, so it’s an issue our family is very familiar with,” Cheney told an audience that included his daughter. “With the respect to the question of relationships, my general view is freedom means freedom for everyone. People ought to be free to enter into any kind of relationship they want to. “The question that comes up with the issue of marriage is what kind of official sanction or approval is going to be granted by government? Historically, that’s been a relationship that has been handled by the states. The states have made that fundamental decision of what constitutes a marriage,” he said."

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/id/5817720/ns/politics/t/cheney-odds-...

Which is basically a position identical to Obama's position in 2008. Funny between two people holding the same views one is called a "homophobe", and another is a paragon of virtue.

I don't see enough evidence to prove he is. And in the spirit of the American justice system, I'll presume innocence.

I'm willing to be swayed if you can find a strong enough argument.

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