Said Jordan Klepper, who, I guess is a comedian, quoted in "Late Night Is Stunned by Trump’s New Stereotype/The president told attendees celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month at the White House to watch their step while touring the unfinished ballroom: 'Only a Hispanic could survive that fall'" (NYT).
Yes, I see, he's on "The Daily Show." Okay, then: comedy. How do you do comedy on top of a Trump statement that is already completely weird?
Seth Meyer also had a go at it. He tried: "You’ve gotta be a platinum level racist to come out with stereotypes no one has ever heard before." And: "'Only a Hispanic could survive that fall'? Are you thinking of cats?"
If it were your job to write a joke based on "Only a Hispanic could survive that fall," what would you say. For the record, I think Trump's "joke" is racist. It's like a comment based on the notion that black people have a special ability to toil in the hot sun. The idea is that they're physically adapted to a job they are stereotyped as doing.
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Nobody's distinguishing malevolent from beneficent racism. Some stereotypes are not only true but ought to guide public policy for the benefit of that group. E.g. main example, what to do about low average black achievement. Answer, encourage acting white. That gives you the best result at whatever level you're at. Resentment is self-defeating.
Be slow with charges of stereotyping; it might be needed wisdom.
Hispanics make up a high proportion of construction workers in the U.S., including high-rise construction.
IOW, Trump always bad. Republicans always raciss. That's "comedy" on TV. There is no such thing as a "hispanic" its a made up category. Go ask a mixed race Mexican from a border town if he has anything in common with a White Argentinian in Buenos Aries.
The President of argenitina is a white guy who wants to be Jewish. He's "hispanic" and so is an Indian in Guatamala.
Not sure which "Hispanics" can survive falls. Maybe Trump will tell us.
Can survive falls. Wow, those are fighting words. I can it now.
Me: You look like can survive falls better than me.
Mexican: Goddamn Gringo, put up your hands. No one insults me like that!
Because he said it about "Hispanics", Trump will get no more blowback than a few "funny" jokes on TV. And if it was the Irish or the English - nothing.
But what if he'd made a remark about jews? Well, we all know what would happen. A 3-alarm fire on page one - all over the world.
I dont get iit m latino, but i dont much of kleooers work
Shorter Althouse: "That's not funny!"
The first thing I thought of when I read this was a segment from the George Harrison documentary “Living in the Material World.”
During the segment, multiple people are recounting the time an intruder who, in 1999, entered Harrison’s home and attacked him. During the attack, Harrison’s wife Olivia struck the attacker with a fireplace poker as he assaulted Harrison with a kitchen knife.
Tom Petty recounted a conversation he was having with Harrison during Harrison’s recovery. He jokingly asked Harrison, “aren’t you glad you married a Mexican girl?” I always took that as a somewhat light-hearted commentary that Mexicans, perhaps Mexican women in particular, possessed a particular kind of toughness.
So when I read the Trump quip, that’s immediately what I thought of. You gotta be tough to survive “that fall.”
For the record, I do think it was ultimately a weird joke. The Tom Petty remark carries a different sort of meaning/context.
If no one has ever heard the stereotype before, how does it get to be called a stereotype?
Asking for a friend with a mostly logical brain.
You don't know what it means. But you know it's racist. Sure.
Lighten up, Frances.
I’m glad I’ve been happily married to a “Mexican girl” for 51 years this coming January.
She’s the best.
Congratulations
The only interpretation that makes any sense at all is that he was with a group of Hispanics. He was saying--Hispanics are tough, survivors. A compliment. Or "platinum level racism." Your call.
"Only a Hispanic could survive that fall"
I could see Trump believing he was being complementary. At 80 it might be impossible to curb his enthusiasm.
What matters in the end, is how much stock does attention put on the speaker?
"Only a trans can understand".
He's saying they're resilient. It's a complement by formula - only people from city/state/country or who are profession/branch of military or any group you think that person identifies with and is proud of, can do XYZ. I bet it worked well with tradesmen and union members that he dealt with in construction. I bet it works well MOST of the time in politics.
I dunno. I suppose it is racist. Perhaps he watched someone survive a fall from that height and they were Hispanic, and that's what prompted the comment. Maybe this is one more thing that people look for to be outraged, because they need to be outraged about something today.
"For the record, I think Trump's "joke" is racist."
For the record, I don't care.
Thanks, narciso!
Maybe if you worked Construction your whole life you could get it, maybe?
Oh noes, tRumP diD a rAciSm!!!! Boo Hoo Hoo! Now I'm going to vote for the party of baby killers, pedophiles, child mutilaters, traitors, anti-White bigots, misanthropes, open borders anti-Americans, vote cheats, thieves, Treasury looters, welfare frauds, public service grifters, and domestic terrorists! Grrrrr, Trump!!!1111!!!!
The not racist take: not racist if the vast majority people you see working construction(roofing in my area) are hispanic, thus having the expert knowledge to avoid getting hurt at the end of the fall. Factual, no. Racist because it asserts that race confers ability, no. His can only be considered racist because he referred to a common category of people during that categories "racist" special month.
When I pick up an Uber rider, and they say "This is a nice car" or "Your car really smells nice", I don't go negative on that. Because the oposite of that is silence. And I rather have engagement, pleasantries, chitchat and the extra effort may go a long ways towards contributing to that. Why I might even get a tip.
Trump is not a racist. That is a leftist built lie.
Only a Hispanic could survive that fall.
That's a compliment.
Desperate radical leftwing soviet TeeVEE fake comedians/ leftwing propagandists are lame.
Isn't it just a joke about Hispanics prevalent at a place Trump knows: construction sites, where men fall off ladders, roofs, etc.?
Seems folks are being obtuse on this one.
As for a joke about the joke:
"That's why Trump's border wall never got finished: Trump deported all the Hispanics and white guys don't bounce."
It's akin to the indian man who could track. The black man who could jump. The white man who could not. Yes, it's Diversitist.
Japanese Judo experts know how to fall without being hurt, so the insult must have been to say that Hispanics are like the Japanese.
The tall nam who could dunk. The shorrt man who could dribble.
Perhaps the pilot who could fly, too. Self-evident.
Only a woman could become pregnant. Wait. The last one, with a male partner, is Diversitist, maybe, baby, baby, maybe, and unequivocally true.
Deciphering the babbling of a demented husk is a real Rorschach test.
If you've already checked your reasoning for this long and stayed a dyed in the wool MAGAt, then you guffaw like a donkey when grandpa sundowns in public, and hail his stream of concious ramblings as " the weave".
"It's like a comment based on the notion that black people have a special ability to toil in the hot sun."
Well, call me a Kleagle but that is at least in part true. See the history of slavery in the Caribbean for reference.
I’ve seen Mexican jumping beans and Speedy Gonzales, but I’ve never seen a falling Hispanic.
Trump had built an electoral coalition that included young Hispanic men and young black men that won him elections, three by my reckoning, and threw it all away at the behest of people who hated him, he is now surrounded by people who were avowed anti-Trumpers in 2016, and now are using him just like Biden used Ukraine, as an expendable battering ram who prosecuted the wars that even the neocons knew would be unpopular and as a side benefit, they not only destroy Trump, but his movement.
Bugger off, fortheloveofLICE.
But I was reliably informed that 'Hispanic' is not a racial term.
The Democrats have no answers, no plans, no policy ideas that they wish to share with voters. They got nothin’…
I guess we are only half way to "If everything is racist, nothing is" destination. Kind of stuck at, "everything is racist." At least with President Trump. Of course there is the fact that in the eyes of some people, it does not matter what Trump does or says; he is simply wrong. Or evil. Or both. Always. But it is disappointing that Our Hostess has fallen into the thought pattern that the left has been pushing in order to splinter American society. No matter what is said or how it is intended, everything is racist. Personally, I am at the point where my response is, "Thank you for noticing."
No, I don't think it's racist. Everything one says about an identified racial or cultural group is no, per se, racist. Remember, Trump isn't the usual Long Island swells who never actually have personal interactions with Hispanics. Trump is a builder who is known for his interactions with his workers. His comment was probably based on his experiences with his employees. Those of us in TX have seen Hispanic construction guys just things we'd never attempt.
Is it raciss? Wow, let have a seminar on it! Maybe take 4-6 hours of real talk to decide. How exciting!
Drill down, and all this "is it raciss?" talk is just "does this follow the party line?"
How we got along in the USA before without having endless discussion of "is this racist?" or "Wow, is this anti-semitic?" is beyond me But evidently, we did.
I can vaguely remember as a kid in the 70s everyone mocking Andrew Young our UN ambassador for calling everyone - Swedes, English, Chinese, Russians, paraguayans - "raciss".
But today, he'd be given a nobel prize. Or at least a MacArthur Fellowship.
I wonder if the left gets as tired of parsing every, fucking word Trump says - and turns it into outrage - as I get tired of hearing the left parsing every, fucking word Trump says and turning it into outrage.
“For the record, I think Trump's "joke" is racist. It's like a comment based on the notion that black people have a special ability to toil in the hot sun.”
In evolutionary terms, that is literally why they are black.
Jeez, he would have said it about any group he was escorting around the site.
Only a Shriner could survive that fall.
Only a Fuller Brush Man could survive that fall.
Only the US Olympic Team could survive that fall.
Only a 2026 Girl Scout Cookie Sales Champeen could survive that fall.
&c. It's WWII-era humorous courtesy, from a Boomer who grew up hearing it.
Biden would have made the same joke. CC, JSM
He’s 80 years old. He’s allowed a fuckup.
“Min
“ Poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids.” after all.
Lived experience.
It was a joke based on how, if you know construction and rehab, you know that that you're primarily going to see Hispanics on such spots, and so if you (ahem) assume fair hiring practices, then the non-Hispanics must be routinely perishing.
BLS estimates that 60-68% of roofers are Hispanic and that roofers are 15 times as likely to have a fatal accident. 3-5 times the rate of other construction workers.
If Trump was a comedian, that may pass as dark humor. But apparently that doesn’t apply here.
And I may be judged a racist for writing “dark humor”. Science tells us that humans have issues with critical thinking.
"I think Trump's "joke" is racist"
Your limited experience in diverse working environments leaves you with this simplistic explanation based on soft racism. It's a perfectly normal joke for anyone with experience in the trades working with other races. We make those jokes back and forth among people who see each other as human beings, friends, and colleagues. We don't treat each other like we're handicapped based on race, as if skin color makes some people delicate and unable to handle race-based humor. In other words, we treat each other like full-fledged adults. I've worked side by side with thousands of Hispanics and even gifted my company to five of them. They would take this as a compliment, and your suggestion that they should be insulted as a slur.
If saying this is racist, then saying the opposite must be anti-racist, right?
I can't imagine anyone would be insulted by being told "You people sure are tough".
I can't believe people are still surprised that Trump talks like a normal American rather than a posing politician whose language is designed to obfuscate rather than communicate or relate to people. The truth is, they do understand that, but the easy dishonesty of politics in service of partisanship makes them pretend otherwise.
FWIW our house was re-roofed a few years ago. 100% Hispanic crew. I heard, "Aieee, yee" then thud.
I ran out to see if I should call 9-11.
I was greeted by the sight of the remainder of the crew pointing at and laughing at the guy who fell. He got up and headed straight for the ladder to resume work.
Bouncy!
But if Trump said this, it calls for impeachment straight away.
/sarc
Maybe it's more absurdist than racist - or as Terry Jones in drag would say, "It's zany, madcap humor."
So the people offended were the writers for Daily Show, Late Night, the NYT and Althouse.
We're any of the "Hispanics" in the audience offended? We'll never know.
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