The Moment America Stopped Caring About the N-Word

Bill Pruitt, a former producer of The Apprentice, alluded to the so-called “n-word” tape back in 2016. Shortly after The Washington Post released the now infamous Access Hollywood tapes of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump bragging about sexual assault, Pruitt tweeted, “As a producer on seasons 1 & 2 of #theapprentice, I assure you: when it comes to the #trumptapes there are far worse. #justthebeginning.” Later, in a 2017 interview with NPR, Pruitt claimed Trump said some “unfathomably despicable words” and that it was “very much a racist issue.”

But outtakes of Trump shooting The Apprentice never surfaced, and their questionable existence was pushed to the backburner of a relentless news cycle that included Muslim bans, a ban on transgender military members, an attempt to strip healthcare from an estimated 13 million people, Twitter rants attacking prominent black people, attempts to defund Planned Parenthood, the president claiming there were “fine people on both sides” of a racist #UniteTheRight rally, a discussion of certain “shithole countries,” and the decision to take immigrant children away from their parents and put them in cages.

But now talk of the “n-word” tape has resurfaced as a result of Omarosa Manigault and her book Unhinged: An Insider’s Account of the Trump White House. In the prologue, Omarosa claims that she was fired by White House Chief of Staff John Kelly because of her knowledge of the tape’s existence. According to Omarosa, she has had direct contact with an individual in possession of the tape, she has heard the tape, and the tape records Trump allegedly saying the n-word not once but multiple times.

Last week, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders couldn’t unequivocally deny the existence of those tapes, either. While Trump called Omarosa a dog via Twitter and claimed “I don’t have that word in my vocabulary, and never have,” Sanders said she couldn’t guarantee a tape of the president saying the n-word doesn’t exist, but assured us all that Trump “fights for all Americans.”

Now actor Tom Arnold claims he has the tapes, Trump claims Mark Burnett, a former producer of The Apprentice, called to confirm there are no tapes, and all the while the majority of the American people are hoping that if these tapes exist, and they are released to the public it will, somehow, mark the end of Trump’s presidency.

It won’t.

Leaked audio of Trump bragging about sexual assault didn’t keep him from securing the White House. The man laughed about grabbing women by the pussy and kissing them without their permission, and, still, 53 percent of white women voted for him. A debate on what constitutes sexual assault and what is considered harmless “locker room talk” took hold of this country, not frightening statistics about the prevalence of sexual assault and harassment. (For the record, one out of every six American women are raped, and 81 percent of women have experienced sexual harassment.) In 2017, Trump inexplicably denied the tapes were real.

After Trump defended Nazi protesters in 2017 at the deadly #UniteTheRight rally in Charlottesville that claimed the life of Heather Heyer, his approval rating among Republicans was still an astounding 79 percent. Sure, prominent Republican leaders sent out 140-character tweets condemning the president’s claim that there were “fine people on both sides” and “blame on both sides,” and, yes, talk of impeachment reemerged with what felt like a new vigor, but Trump’s PR nightmares always eventually come to a close. Because, in the end, that’s all they are.

The majority of Republicans were just fine with the American government forcefully separating immigrant children from their parents. A reported 55 percent of Republican voters supported Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy that took at least 3,000 children from the arms of their mothers and fathers. More than 500 children have yet to be reunited with their parents, and more than 360 of those immigrant children’s parents have already been deported by the U.S. government.

The majority of GOP lawmakers weren’t upset when Trump claimed all Haitians have AIDS, implored Nicaraguans to “go back to their huts,” and called other predominantly black countries shitholes. And according to a White House senior official, his “shithole” comments were of no concern to White House staff, as most assumed his remarks would “resonate with his base.”

The Department of Justice sued Trump and his family for refusing to rent to individuals based on race and color. Fifty-seven percent of white people still voted for him.

Former Trump Plaza Casino president John O’Donnell claims Trump told him he “hates black guys counting his money,” and another former employee claims black staff were hidden from Trump when he visited his hotels. Fifty-seven percent of white people still voted for him.

The Central Park Five. Trump’s “birther” conspiracy theory. His constant comments about the IQs of leaders in the black community. Fifty-seven percent of white people voted for him, and a reported 82 percent of Trump voters claim they’d vote for him again.

So, if anything, a tape of the president of the United States calling black people the “n-word” will help him. It will rejuvenate his base and solidify him as the rogue leader supporters see him as—a man capable of saving them from “the other,” from the black and brown people of this country who are the cause of all their economic problems, the “Mexican rapists” and the “Muslim terrorists,” and the son-of-a-bitch black athletes that have the audacity to protest racial injustice. Racists are not bothered by other racists. Acts of racism beget other acts of racism.

If the majority of the American public wants to see an end to the Trump presidency, they need to avoid the temptation to rely on a cure-all and, instead, vote. Because there’s only one White Knight in this scenario, and it’s spelled with two more Ks.