Donald Trump isn’t racist as his four decades in the public eye and well documented history of hiring and promoting thousands of people of all races, creeds and nationalities over the years amply proves.
In fact I’m not aware of a single person who actually knows Trump, or who has worked with him or for him, who has ever even suggested the man is racist. Such rubbish is a new invention and it comes from journalists who would push the racist narrative against any Republican nominee – but who have a special ax to grind against Trump because he’s repeatedly called them out for dishonesty and lack of professional ethics.
Of course there are also the Hillary and Bernie voters who hurl the racist insult at Trump with the same frequency that their thuggish allies hurl fists and projectiles at Trump’s peaceful supporters.
And I have no idea why the likes of Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, Lindsey Graham and Mark Kirk feel the need to give aid and comfort to this motley crew, beyond their obvious jealousy of Trump. It’s that and the fact these are small, petty men who apparently have the emotional sensitivities of a six-year-old girl.
Donald Trump shouldn’t even have to dignify this predictable smear with a response. That’s how preposterous even the suggestion that Trump is racist truly is.
But a recent federal lawsuit successfully pursued against President Obama’s Department of Justice (DOJ) now makes this phony racist narrative too delicious to ignore.
Afsaneh Ashley Tabaddor has been a judge for the U.S. Immigration Court in Los Angeles since 2005. She was born in Tehran, and at the age of 10 immigrated to the United States.
In 2012 Judge Tabaddor asked for, and received permission from her supervisors to attend a roundtable event with Iranian-American community leaders hosted by Obama’s White House.
But after she attended that event, the DOJ recommended that she be recused from all immigration cases involving Iranian nationals. The DOJ then made the recommendation an official order and expressed concerns about even “the appearance of impropriety.”
In August 2014 Judge Tabaddor filed suit in federal court against U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and the DOJ, alleging that the blanket recusal order discriminated against her in violation of her constitutional and civil rights.
Once Judge Tabaddor put the world on public notice with her lawsuit, Obama and his liberal allies immediately acted to correct this wrong, right?
Well no, of course they didn’t.
The DOJ aggressively fought Judge Tabaddor in court. It initially tried to avoid the merits of the Judge’s claims by fighting to get the suit dismissed on technical jurisdictional grounds. Those attempts failed.
Finally after three years the DOJ backed down. This past November the parties entered into a settlement agreement whereby the DOJ paid Judge Tabaddor $200,000 – most of which went for attorneys’ fees and other costs, but a smaller portion did go to the Judge for damages. The DOJ also agreed to provide Judge Tabaddor with a letter stating there had been no “allegation or finding of any bias, partiality or misconduct” by her, ever.
Most importantly, the DOJ also committed to perform a full review of its recusal related policies and procedures.
In other words it was a huge victory for Judge Tabaddor over Obama’s DOJ.
So let’s review. When it comes to Donald Trump, the Left shrieks he’s a racist when he merely suggests that a judge’s Mexican heritage MIGHT be a factor to consider in his case. Trump has never said the judge is biased or unfit in any way to hear the case due to his ancestry. Trump only raised a question in light of the fact the judge has been active with a pro-immigrant organization – which is his right of course and that’s all perfectly fine. But given that Trump has made stopping illegal immigration a centerpiece of his campaign, he’s merely wondered if the immigration issue could be muddying the waters in the litigation involving Trump University.
It’s true that most lawyers would advise a client not to talk publicly about a case and especially about the judge, but Trump as an individual party in the case does have a right to do so on his own if he chooses.
Let’s also remember that it’s highly doubtful Trump would have even mentioned the case on the campaign trail in the first place if the press and other opponents weren’t actively misrepresenting the facts for political reasons.
But now compare Trump expressing his honest opinion, on his own, to the DOJ’s actual official actions under Obama. The federal government didn’t just pose an informal question about Judge Tabaddor. DOJ officials banned her from hearing all cases involving Iranian nationals – and she was banned expressly because of her own Iranian ancestry. And the DOJ – by its own admission – banned Judge Tabaddor from such cases even though there wasn’t a scintilla of evidence that she had ever exhibited bias of any kind towards anyone.
Incredibly, not only did the DOJ force Judge Tabaddor’s recusal from certain cases solely on the basis of her national origin and/or race, the Department put its discriminatory policy in writing!
It’s funny how National Public Radio and a small number of other outlets initially covered the story about Judge Tabaddor’s civil rights claim. But now despite the fact the November settlement of that lawsuit has an on-point connection to this latest phony brew-ha-ha ginned-up against Trump, it’s been nothing but crickets from liberal journalists.
The Left can’t have it both ways. They can’t call Trump a racist over a bunch of nothing, while they stay silent in the face of iron-clad proof that Obama Administration officials micro-managed an immigration judge’s docket solely on the basis of that judge’s race and/or national origin.
Our liberal friends aren’t going to stop their reckless smearing of Trump of course. The Left’s hypocrisy is surpassed only by its dishonesty.
But given their shameful silence in the face of Obama’s institutionalized racism and discrimination against a fine judge who was simply trying to do her job, we have no choice but to call them what they are – racists.
Doug Ibendahl is a Chicago Attorney and a former General Counsel of the Illinois Republican Party.