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1061 points danso | 2 comments | | HN request time: 0.04s | source
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darkerside ◴[] No.23349412[source]
As President, or any public figure, you are responsible not only for the intention of your words, but also every feasible interpretation of your words, as well as the impacts of your words, regardless of intention.

I say this not to imply that Trump didn't know that this statement could be taken in multiple ways, but to remind people that even if it can it doesn't matter. It's tragic this has happened, and also tragic to have a leader who reacts to the situation in this way, and that a large swath of the country applauds him for it.

Vague and menacing threats are much more thuggish behavior than emotional reaction to the killing of an unarmed civilian.

As for what Twitter is doing, I'm curious whether they follow this path to it's logical conclusion, which is, eventually Trump being banned from Twitter. He's a huge driver of traffic for them, but perhaps they're thinking about life after Trump at this point, months away from the election.

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SpicyLemonZest ◴[] No.23349430[source]
Vague and menacing threats are admittedly thuggish behavior, but I think it's hard to argue that it's more thuggish than burning down a police station.
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AshleyGrant ◴[] No.23349652[source]
Well of course it isn't "more thuggish." The use of "thug" was done on purpose. It is a known racist dog whistle. Trump's racist followers know exactly what he means when he says "These THUGS are..." They replace that with the n word. It's just as a society we don't allow them to say the n word any more, so they've replaced it with a myriad of dog whistles.

What I'm saying is that, in their minds, every single person in that mob is a "thug," and everything they're doing is (in your words) "thuggish."

But the mob of white folks in Charlottesville? Nothing thuggish there. That's just white folks protesting against being oppressed by minorities.

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jonhohle ◴[] No.23350040[source]
The previous president used “thug” to describe Baltimore rioters. Would you consider that racially charged?

https://historymusings.wordpress.com/2015/04/28/full-text-ob...

I didn’t vote for Trump, but it’s clear he’s referring to individuals and groups that are destroying areas of Minneapolis.

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AshleyGrant ◴[] No.23350286[source]
Yes. Yes I would. I wouldn't be surprised if that speech was written by a white person who doesn't understand the meaning behind it. I guarantee Obama fully understands how that term is an epithet.

https://www.google.com/search?q=history+of+thug+as+a+race+wh...

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1. jonhohle ◴[] No.23356542[source]
So then he would have recanted when called out and the Whitehouse wouldn't have stood by the language - https://www.usatoday.com/story/theoval/2015/04/29/obama-whit.... Either he thought the word was appropriate or wasn't able to control his staff writers and spokespeople.
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2. darkerside ◴[] No.23359857[source]
I'd say he likely used it as an appeal to people who view things like this through a racial lens. He was trying to draw a line between most black people and those who would physically attack police officers.

You bring up an interesting point with Obama's usage of the word, and I would agree that he knew what he was doing when he used it. As does Trump.