Donald Trump's racial discrimination problem

By Justin Elliott

AP

Donald Trump in 1994

In an episode early in Donald Trump's career, his New York real estate company was sued by the federal government for discriminating against potential black renters. After a lengthy legal battle, it ultimately agreed to wide-ranging steps to offer rentals to nonwhites.

The little-remembered case provides crucial context for the current discussion centering on Trump and race. The celebrity businessman made news last month when he declared, "I have a great relationship with the blacks. I've always had a great relationship with the blacks."

He has recently come under fire for attacks on President Obama that critics have described as racially tinged. CBS anchor Bob Schieffer, for example, said Wednesday there is "an ugly strain of racism" in Trump's recent (baseless) accusations that President Obama should not have been admitted to Columbia. Also yesterday, Trump told a black reporter, unprompted, "Look I know you are a big Obama fan."

The discrimination case began in the earliest days of Trump's career, when he was still in his 20s.

Fred Trump, Donald's father, was, unlike his son, a self-made man. He made his fortune by building thousands of units of middle-class housing in Brooklyn and Queens. But in the early 1970s, Donald was made president of the family company.

One of Donald's first challenges came in October 1973, when the Justice Department hit the Trump Organization with a major discrimination suit for violating the Fair Housing Act. The Times reported:

... the Government contended that Trump Management had refused to rent or negotiate rentals "because of race and color." It also charged that the company had required different rental terms and conditions because of race and that it had misrepresented to blacks that apartments were not available.

The journalist Gwenda Blair reported in her 2005 Trump biography that while Fred Trump had sought to combat previous discrimination allegations through "quiet diplomacy," Donald decided to go on the offensive. He hired his friend Roy Cohn, the celebrity lawyer and former Joseph McCarthy aide, to countersue the government for making baseless charges against the company. They sought a staggering $100 million in damages.

A few months after the government filed the suit, Trump gave a combative press conference at the New York Hilton in which he went after the Justice Department for being too friendly to welfare recipients. He "accused the Justice Department of singling out his corporation because it was a large one and because the Government was trying to force it to rent to welfare recipients," the Times reported. Trump added that if welfare recipients were allowed into his apartments in certain middle-class outer-borough neighborhoods, there would be a "massive fleeing from the city of not only our tenants, but communities as a whole."

A federal judge threw out Trump's countersuit a month later, calling it a waste of "time and paper."

Writes Blair in her book:

Donald testified repeatedly that he had nothing to do with renting apartments, although in an application for a broker's license filed at the same time he said that he was in charge of all rentals.

In 1975, Trump ultimately came to a far-reaching agreement with the DOJ in which he and the company did not admit guilt but agreed not to discriminate and to take steps to open its housing stock to more nonwhites. The company agreed to submit a weekly list of vacancies to the Urban League, which would produce qualified applicants for a portion of all vacancies.

But it didn't end there. In 1978, the government filed a motion for supplemental relief, charging that the Trump company had not complied with the 1975 agreement. The government alleged that the Trump company "discriminated against blacks in the terms and conditions of rental, made statements indicating discrimination based on race and told blacks that apartments were not available for inspection and rental when, in fact, they are," the Times reported. Trump again denied the charges.

It's not clear what happened with the government's request for further action (and compensation for victims), but in 1983, a fair-housing activist cited statistics that two Trump Village developments had white majorities of at least 95 percent.

At the very least, the case is something for reporters to ask about next time Trump touts his "great relationship with the blacks."

(Hat tip to reader Linda Reynolds)

• Justin Elliott is a Salon reporter. Reach him by email at jelliott@salon.com and follow him on Twitter @ElliottJustin More: Justin Elliott

Is Trump a Registred Voter? Has He Voted in the Past?

April 26, 2011 at 11:42:47

Has Donald Trump Voted In Past Elections?

By Rob Kall (about the author)

This morning, Morning Joe dug up some footage from NBC sister show, Access Hollywood, which showed that in 2004, in what was supposed to be a puff piece, Donald Trump didn't know where he was supposed to go to vote.

He showed up with camera crew and entourage in tow, precinct workers fawning, but they couldn't let him vote. He was at the wrong precinct location.

Billy Bush, who hosted the Access Hollywood piece, told the Morning Joe team that Trump tried two other precincts, but they didn't have him listed.

Trump, moments before being told they don't have his name as a voter.

Here's the video from the Morning Joe Show:

Trump got nasty after the first frustrating and embarrassing scene. Apparently, Trump and Access Hollywood blamed his "bodyguard" for him going to the wrong polling station three times. He spit at his bodyguard, "You figure out where the bleep you're going...." as he petulantly strode angrily back to his limo.

This raises some interesting questions. In 2004, was Trump even registered to vote? (see update) Has he been an engaged citizen, voting in his life, in the past 20 years, even the past few years?

It would seem that Donald Trump, in light of this twist in the plot, is obligated to prove he's even a registered voter, when he was registered and when he's voted.

Update:

Dailymail online reports that Donald Trump did not vote in a primary for the past 21 years. The article states:

But according to City Board of Elections documents, Trump failed to show up at the primaries after that for 21 years.

Among the presidential primaries he missed were 1988 when George Bush Sr was nominated and Bob Dole in 1996.

Mr Trump became a Democrat in 2001, and documents show he ignored that party's primaries as well, missing the 2001 and 2005 primaries for mayor.

In 2002, not only did Mr Trump miss the Democratic primaries for statewide offices, but records show he also skipped the general election, the Associated Press reports..

There is also no evidence that Trump voted in the presidential primary between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, even though he voiced support for Mr Obama after Mrs Clinton took New York State.

It IS possible that Trump voted by absentee ballot every time up until the 2004 election shown on the video. That could explain his not knowing where to go to vote.

Rob Kall is executive editor, publisher and site architect of OpEdNews.com, Host of the Rob Kall Bottom Up Radio Show (WNJC 1360 AM), President of Futurehealth, Inc, more...)

The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.

Trumpomania: At the Intersection of Reality and Madness

Method in Trump's madness

Phil Quin

Published 7:06 AM, 6 Apr 2011 Last update 10:33 AM, 6 Apr 2011

After a great deal more is said and done, billionaire property developer and TV host Donald Trump will not make a serious run for President. In the end, he will find the requirement to divest himself of complex investments, and divulge the rest in granular detail, too much to endure. But the showman-mogul's shameless flirtation with a White House bid makes for compelling viewing.

In recent days, Trump's foray into birtherism (the theory that President Obama is a Kenyan usurper) has caused consternation and some disgust among the chattering classes. Comic Bill Maher said on Friday, "you can't have the world's most famous comb-over and accuse someone else of hiding something". Christian conservatives are similarly unimpressed with Trump's checkered marital history and suspected social liberalism.

Jokes and doubts aside, there is a smidgen of method to Trump's madness. Ever an astute marketer, Trump has spotted a powerful and as-yet unmanned aircraft in the Republican hangar – straight-forward economic nationalism. The field of mainstream GOP hopefuls share a basic adherence to conservative economic principles: lower taxes, lower spending, free trade and free markets. But Trump senses, correctly in my view, that such a platform will fail to excite a large number of the US voters beset by economic uncertainty. Cue 'The Donald', raging populist.

Neither Republicans nor Democrats have devised a means to turn the prevailing economic angst reliably to their advantage. Panic and uncertainty in the wake of the global financial crisis played into Obama's hands in 2008; by the 2010 mid-term elections, however, his policy response to the crisis had earned a backlash of equivalent magnitude. The Tea Party emerged from the maelstrom to become an outlet for profound if generalised feelings of anxiety and disgust with the way power and wealth are distributed in America. Rage was aimed at bankers as much as politicians, greed on Wall Street as much as government over-reach in DC. And while it directed its activism squarely against Obama and the Democrats at the polls, the Tea Party's appeal was that it appeared to spring from outside the partisan mire. It was, by vibe at least, a genuine populist insurgency.

Support for the Tea Party has dwindled (halved, according to a recent CNN poll) as its message has narrowed from emotive generalities to a specific form of unbending fiscal hawkishness. Since arriving in DC, Tea Party freshmen have focussed exclusively on spending and deficit cuts while joining old-school Republicans to defend subsidies for big oil, slash unemployment benefits and defund Wall Street regulators. It exhibits no interest in tackling middle-class income stagnation or reversing the tide of outsourcing, two rich seams of voter unease. It has also lined up with conservative governors in what now seems to be an ill-advised campaign against public sector employees.

As with all economic nationalists, Donald Trump's pitch speaks as much to pride as disaffection. He threatens to punish China for their currency policy with a 25 per cent tariff on imports. He urges ongoing occupation of Iraq in order to secure the country's oil reserves at a good price, and blames OPEC corruption for "decimating" the US economy. He hates government debt but dismisses calls for draconian budget cuts as feeble and defeatist. With his leadership, he argues, economic growth would reach fever-pitch and government revenues would flourish beyond the point where such measures would be necessary. Always the salesman, Trump offers punters an irresistible deal – a cost-free recovery, outsourcing pain to enemies in faraway places

A poll this week shows Donald Trump second only to local favourite Mitt Romney in the key early state of New Hampshire. This is a headache for Republican powerbrokers, but they needn't worry too much. Trump cannot withstand the scrutiny, and lacks the patience and discipline, to survive the marathon primary season. But there remains scope – either within the Republican race or as an independent bid – for a contender who brings to the table Trump's chest-thumping populism as well as his capacity to underwrite a billion-dollar campaign.

Hard as it is to see past his bloated and obnoxious persona, as well as his attention-seeking birther talk, Trump's "America-First" message seems likely to far outlast his fleeting candidacy.

Phil Quin, a former ALP adviser, is a writer and consultant based in New York. He blogs at www.thenewtasman.com.