Happy #CincoDeMayo! The best taco bowls are made in Trump Tower Grill. I love Hispanics! https://t.co/ufoTeQd8yA pic.twitter.com/k01Mc6CuDI
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 5, 2016
Let me see if I can explain it in a way that makes sense to conservatives.
Imagine it's 1984. The Washington Post has recently published an article in which Jesse Jackson refers to Jews as "Hymies" and New York City as "Hymietown." You remember that, don't you, conservatives? You hated Jackson for that. You're still angry about it. (The neo-Nazis excepted, I suppose.)
Now, imagine it's a couple of months after that interview appeared. It's 1984, so there's no Facebook or Twitter. Instead, Jackson gets photographed in the print press. What he's doing in the photo is popping a frozen bagel into a toaster -- no, worse, heating up a frozen bagel pizza -- over a caption that reads, "Jackson: 'I love Jews! Happy Passover!'"
Get it now, Trump fans?
Nahh. I'm sure Trump fans still don't get it.
If you're white, it's hard to understand why the tweet was an insult, unless you have the ability to put yourself in the shoes of people who aren't like you -- a skill that's in short supply on the right. I'm Italian. People eat dumbed-down Italian food all the time. But nobody would open a can of Chef Boyardee and say "Happy Columbus Day!" simply because (a) even conservatives know the difference between Chef Boyardee and real Italian food and (b) people don't feel the need to reassure Italians that they don't hate us. We're accepted as white. We joined the club decades ago. We're familiar. We're not exotic anymore.
If you trace your lineage to a European country, in all likelihood you can't even imagine why Trump's tweet was insulting, because it's probably been generations since your ethnic group has been treated with a high level of contempt in America. I think Trump was trolling his critics and winking at his followers when he posted this, knowing he'd generate a huge negative reaction from people who don't like him, but I'm not sure he actually understands why people would react badly to this. I think it's beyond his comprehension -- and beyond the comprehension of his fans. They just think it's some generalized, non-specific hypersensitivity that's not an actual response to anything. I guess they'd call it "political correctness."
