There are two things that seem to accompany President Donald Trump in the Oval Office more than any other these days: Diet Coke and racism.
The second of those two has earned a spot atop the list in light of his comments about “shithole” countries during a meeting in the prestigious office Thursday ―and in a new NBC report Friday that describes a startling conversation the president had with a female intelligence analyst there after a White House briefing.
It’s a doozy, and it’s worth reading NBC’s full account of the exchange:
“Where are you from?” the president asked, according to two officials with direct knowledge of the exchange.
New York, she replied.
Trump was unsatisfied and asked again, the officials said. Referring to the president’s hometown, she offered that she, too, was from Manhattan. But that’s not what the president was after.
He wanted to know where “your people” are from, according to the officials, who spoke under condition of anonymity due to the nature of the internal discussions.
After the analyst revealed that her parents are Korean, Trump turned to an adviser in the room and seemed to suggest her ethnicity should determine her career path, asking why the “pretty Korean lady” isn’t negotiating with North Korea on his administration’s behalf, the officials said.
Somehow, in a matter of only a couple of sentences, Trump managed to roll up both a racist and a sexist cliche into one offensive package. Not only did he reportedly repeatedly refuse to believe a woman who wasn’t white was American, he followed it up by diminishing her role ― reportedly that of an expert in hostage policy ― to that of a “pretty ... lady.”
All in a day’s work for the president.