In a speech at the University of Pennsylvania’s Irvine Auditorium yesterday, popular author Ta-Nehisi Coates referred to President Donald Trump as “professionally stupid” and claimed that if Trump were black, he’d never have been elected.
Coates departed some from the subject of his talk, his new book “We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy,” to slam the president, much to the delight of those assembled.
As reported by The Daily Pennsylvanian, the award-winning writer said “Trump is professionally stupid. You cannot convince me that someone who was black and that politically unqualified would even make it as governor […] if Donald Trump was black he wouldn’t have made it off the block.”
He added that white people were nuts for casting their votes for Trump:
At one point, Coates said that “white people are crazy,” citing the fact that a majority of white voters voted for Donald Trump and recent arguments over Civil War monuments as evidence. …
Coates also talked about privilege in America, and how his race and gender inform his world view. …
Coates’ new book, and much of the discussion during the event, revolves around the black experience in America during the Obama administration. Touching on the double standards that he identifies between Obama and Trump, Coates argued the 2016 election would have played out differently if Trump weren’t white and male.
Students who attended were thrilled:
“I think what I viewed today was cool because it was a real look on what I think on what mostly black students may think of, but don’t say out loud,” [Temple University sophomore Anthony James] said. “It kinda was somebody else saying it for us.” …
“As a black Penn student, I really understand that because I feel like when I’m in the classroom, I can’t say something crazy,” [freshman Mariko Lewis] said. “I have to put my best foot forward in a way, if I’m in any social situation.” …
[Freshman Simran Chand said] “I’m privileged by the fact that I’m able to attend Penn, but the fact that I’m a minority makes me a targeted identity […] That dichotomy of our identities is really important to embrace and understand and I think he put that in context really well.”
Speaking of privilege, if Coates were white and uttered his remarks in the racial reverse, here’s what would likely transpire: The crowd constantly would be shouting him down and demanding Penn do something about his, and the general campus climate’s, “hate speech.”
Folks like Laura Ingraham and GOP Representative Joe Walsh got into hot water for expressing about Barack Obama what Coates did about Trump (and without calling black people “crazy”); Think Progress, for example, said Walsh’s comments “undermine the president’s legitimacy.”
Coates’ contention that a black Trump would never have been elected is highly questionable to say the least; if he could not, it wouldn’t be because of white conservative voters. Note the savvy terminology — Coates said Trump was “politically unqualified.” Indeed, Trump lacked any real political experience, but he does have decades of business experience to draw upon.
In comparison, Barack Obama’s real world résumé seems … rather paltry.
Read the full Daily Pennsylvanian article.
MORE: Penn teaching assistant uses racist class discussion technique, calls her critics ‘Nazis’
MORE: ‘Disorientation guide’ tells black students Penn is ‘made up of people who hate you’
IMAGE: YouTube
Like The College Fix on Facebook / Follow us on Twitter
Please join the conversation about our stories on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, MeWe, Rumble, Gab, Minds and Gettr.