By Stacy M. Brown
Black Press USA Senior National Correspondent
Donald Trump’s latest tirade against a prominent Black media figure is drawing fresh scrutiny of his long-documented history of racist behavior. In a Truth Social post, the former president called Charlamagne tha God a “racist sleazebag” and “low-IQ individual” after the popular radio host criticized Trump’s return to the White House during an interview with Lara Trump on Fox News. “I don’t want to say that I think he did a terrible job, but if he’s doing a terrible job, I gotta call it like it is,” said Charlamagne, whose real name is Lenard McKelvey. “All we want is somebody in those positions that’s going to do a good job. I’m not a party person, in no way, shape or form”. Trump, clearly enraged, blasted Charlamagne’s moniker: “Why is he allowed to use the word ‘GOD’ when describing himself? Can anyone imagine the uproar there would be if I used that nickname?” He added that the host “has no idea what words are coming out of his mouth and knows nothing about me or what I have done”. While Trump claims he rebuilt the economy and closed the southern border, data shows core inflation is rising, and Black unemployment has reached its highest level since the pandemic.
A Decades-Long Pattern
Trump’s reaction to Charlamagne follows a pattern of racist attacks stretching back decades. According to PBS News, Trump has repeatedly used dehumanizing language to describe Black prosecutors, calling Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg a “Soros-backed animal” and referring to New York Attorney General Letitia James as “Racist A.G. Letitia ‘Peekaboo’ James” — a term experts say echoes racist slurs. He also accused Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis of being “racist” and a “rabid partisan,” running a campaign ad falsely suggesting she had a romantic relationship with a gang member — an ad she called “derogatory and false”. “He’s taking that historical racialized language that was offensive and insulting, and the subordinating of Black persons, applying it in a contemporary space,” said Dr. Bev-Freda Jackson of American University.
Research Confirms Trump’s Rhetoric Has Real Impact
Trump’s language has had measurable consequences. A 2023 peer-reviewed study in Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology found that Trump’s 2016 election increased dehumanizing views among white Americans who supported him. Trump voters were more likely to rate Black people as less “evolved” after the election than before. The study confirmed what many already suspected: Trump didn’t just reflect racism—he amplified it. “Trickle-down racism” became a reality, validating fears expressed by figures like Mitt Romney, who warned Trump’s rhetoric would legitimize hate.
Systemic Efforts to Erase Black History
Beyond rhetoric, Trump has taken deliberate action to erase and distort Black history. In 2025, the National Park Service attempted to scrub references to Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad from exhibits, a move the Trump administration reversed only after public outrage. Around the same time, Trump issued an executive order targeting the National Museum of African American History and Culture as “divisive,” prompting director Kevin Young’s resignation. He also created the 1776 Commission, an effort to push “patriotic education” that whitewashed America’s legacy of slavery and racism. The move was a direct attack on initiatives like The 1619 Project, which Trump called “toxic propaganda”. Historians say the goal is clear: to rewrite and sanitize history. “It seems like we’re headed in the direction where there’s even an attempt to deny that the institution of slavery even existed,” one historian told POLITICO regarding Trump’s order targeting the Smithsonian’s African American museum.
From Housing Discrimination to Charlottesville
Trump’s racially charged behavior isn’t new. In 1973, he was sued by the U.S. Department of Justice for discriminating against Black renters. During the investigation, Trump allegedly told a DOJ attorney, “You know, you don’t want to live with them either”. In 1989, he took out full-page newspaper ads calling for the execution of the Central Park Five—five Black and Latino teenagers later exonerated. Even after DNA evidence proved their innocence, Trump maintained they were guilty. His political rise was fueled by the racist “birther” conspiracy against President Barack Obama, and he infamously referred to the white supremacists in Charlottesville as “very fine people”.
Cliff Albright of Black Voters Matter has previously reminded the world that, “This is who Donald Trump is. He’s been this way all his time in public life.”
