A Pulitzer Prize-winning historian says President Donald Trump is now tied for number one in a category he may not want to brag about.
“He has joined Andrew Johnson as the most racist president in American history,” Jon Meacham said on MSNBC on Monday, referring to the leader who routinely finishes at or near the very bottom of presidential rankings by historians.
Meacham said that “Johnson, in a state message, said that African-Americans were incapable of self-government and relapsed into barbarism if they weren’t closely supervised.”
Over the weekend, Trump launched a racist tirade against several women of color who serve in Congress, telling them to “go back” to their own countries.
Meacham said that America has never been about the concept of birthright but rather the belief that “all men are created equal,” as stated in the Declaration of Independence.
“We didn’t apply it that fully then, we haven’t applied it fully now,” he said. “But that journey toward a more perfect union is the story of the country.”
Instead, Trump has stoked racism with both his recent comments as well as his “birther” lies about former President Barack Obama, Meacham said.
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