Donald Trump's racist tweets: President's rhetoric is not surprising

The second most shocking aspect of an episode that would have shaken any other administration is that the president knows that he can exchange such basic tactics because he will not pay any price in a Republican party intimidated by his base fervent politics.

In an attack clearly targeting four minority Democratic lawmakers – the president has not named the "progressives" in his tirade – Trump pointed out how his presidency had used bigotry as a lever of power and made it an aspect of political life of the 21st century more than half a century after the peak of the civil rights era. His use of the most venerated function of the country to make such unequivocal racist remarks underscores how borderless a presidency imbued with rage, fear and identity politics lacks.

By telling the four women – three of whom were born in the United States – to "come back" from where they came from, Trump used the most basic and raw racial provocation. He also implicitly rejected the motto on the Great US Seal – E Pluribus Unum – of many others. He insinuates that any American who is not white and born in the country does not have his place in the country.

In a less polarized era, Trump's tweets could have been disqualifying and a scandalous political turnaround. But Trump has wrought his entry into politics on the basis of a racist affront against the country's first black president, Barack Obama, and he is more and more willing to use such tactics to save his own presidency. And he rarely paid a price.

The Republicans' silence Sunday on Trump's tweets was almost universal, pointing out that his bizarre behavior was tolerated by legislators who represent half of the electorate and who did not risk their own political career to condemn him.

His attack is a logical extension of an electoral strategy clearly designed to exploit racial and social divisions.

A story of racial rhetoric

Trump targeted liberal Democratic legislators in a series of early tweets that resonated with extremist white nationalist sentiment.

He hit the women of Congress who, he claimed, "came from countries whose governments are a total and total disaster, the worst, the most corrupt and the most inept in the world … now, speaking Strong and vicious to the people of the United States, the largest and most powerful nation on earth, how our government should be run. "

"Why do not they go back to help repair the totally devastated and crime-plagued places they came from." Then come back and show us how it's going. "

Of this quartet, only Omar – of Somali origin – was not born in the United States, but she immigrated to the United States when she was young and became a citizen at 17, according to the New York Times.

The reason why Trump's attack was not surprising is that it fits into a pattern of racist rhetoric that he was willing to use in private life – going back to his comments on Central Park Five and the "birtherism" campaign against Obama.

Although it's shocking to see such open racism expressed by a US president, Sunday's tweets were far from the first time Trump treated such toxicity in his duties.

The debate over Trump's "racist" character that appears after such comments seems more and more theoretical.

"America's strength is and has always been rooted in our diversity, but President Trump continues to spread odious rhetoric, a division of sows, and breeds racial tension for his own political gain," he said. Democratic leader Joe Biden.

New Jersey Senator Cory Booker told CNN: "This president is hurting our country and fanaticism just throwing him off is something we must end in this country."

Trump's base will remain firm

The lesson of Trump's political career is that, even if his tweets provoke outrage, they will not measurably change the political environment in the short term.

Trump's relentless restoration at his base means that he has little to fear politically from the modern Republican Party.

The indignation of the media about Trump's behavior will play a role in the persecution complex and hatred of the politically correct that the president put at the center of his appeal to his closest supporters. Trump's assistants could begin to deny the clear implications of his tweets and spark a new anti-media hatred at his core.

During Trump's campaign in 2016 and early in his presidency, some Republican leaders formulated symbolic criticism when he switched to blatant racial rhetoric.

But the political reality is that there is little to be gained – and much to lose in hiring the president directly for the GOP legislators.

The president can only hope to be reelected thanks to the way he has directed his presidency. He must hope that his excited political base will be at the polls in greater numbers than the voters supporting the Democrats whom he describes as extreme and who expect the Communists to take control.

That's why Sunday's tweets are probably not a historical aberration, but a foretaste of the future.