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> In a strikingly Trumpian fashion, President Wilson himself helped sow suspicion of anything German. Trump is tame and politically correct compared to Woodrow

> In a strikingly Trumpian fashion, President Wilson himself helped sow suspicion of anything German. Trump is tame and politically correct compared to Woodrow Wilson. Wilson was an unabashed racist, who screened "Birth of a Nation" in the White House, a pro-KKK film that portrayed the Klan as a heroic force to control hordes of savage black males that wanted to rape white women.

pavlov 9y ago
Birth of a Nation is a restrained work of art compared to the ceaselessly flowing vitriol of Breitbart and Infowars — and those people have the highest levels of endorsement from Trump. Steve Bannon’s film career was directly inspired by Leni Riefenstahl, according to his former colleagues. Watching Birth of a Nation in the White House is tame compared to making the propaganda director the chief strategist.
- stryk 9y ago
  I can't speak on Breitbart, but as far as Infowars goes -- he makes a killing on those supplements he schleps out, and apparently there are a _lot_ of people who buy them[0]. Sure he acts like a wackjob conspiracy theory nut -- but my guess is, judging by 'former employees' cited in articles and especially by the episode of the Joe Rogan Podcast with author Jon Ronson (both know him personally), he doesn't believe most of the nonsense coming out of his mouth, but that's his character/persona niche; catering to those that would be entertained by it. 0: https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/08/alex-jones-infowars-supplements-are-overpriced-mundane-vitamins-watered-down/ https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/08/alex-jones-infowars-...
  - pavlov 9y ago
    I’m not sure how commercial intent makes him any more palatable? Trump chooses to listen to him regardless.
- Aloha 9y ago
  I dont like breitbart or infowars - but I think you're possiblly in a different universe than I am.
sriram_sun 9y ago
You are correct. Here (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodrow_Wilson#Race_relations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodrow_Wilson#Race_relations) is the Wikipedia section adding more context to the above comment. Note below that photographs became a requirement for application to federal jobs. The level of discrimination and suppression Black folks suffered over centuries is just appalling. "Several historians have spotlighted consistent examples in the public record of Wilson's overtly racist policies and political appointments, such as segregationists he placed in his cabinet.[274][275][276][277][278] According to scholars, Wilson believed that slavery was wrong on economic labor grounds, rather than for moral reasons.[278] They also argue that he idealized the slavery system in the South, viewing masters as patient with "indolent" (i.e. lazy) slaves.[278] In terms of Reconstruction, Wilson held the common southern view that the South was demoralized by Northern carpetbaggers and that overreach on the part of the Radical Republicans justified extreme measures to reassert Democratic national and state governments.[279][280][281] WWI draft card,the lower left corner to be removed by men of African background to help keep military segregated While president of Princeton University, Wilson had discouraged blacks from applying for admission, preferring to keep the peace among white students and alumni.[282] Wilson's History of the American People (1901) dismissed lynchings committed by the Ku Klux Klan of the late 1860s as a lawless reaction to a lawless period. The President defended them, writing that "[the Klan] began to attempt by intimidation what they were not allowed to attempt by the ballot or by any ordered course of public action".[283] Wilson's War Department drafted hundreds of thousands of blacks into the army, giving them equal pay with whites, but in accord with military policy from the Civil War through the Second World War, kept them in all-black units with white officers, and kept the great majority out of combat.[284] When a delegation of blacks protested the discriminatory actions, Wilson told them "segregation is not a humiliation but a benefit, and ought to be so regarded by you gentlemen." In 1918, W. E. B. Du Bois—a leader of the NAACP who had campaigned for Wilson believing he was a "liberal southerner"—was offered an Army commission in charge of dealing with race relations; DuBois accepted, but he failed his Army physical and did not serve.[285][286] By 1916, Du Bois opposed Wilson, charging that his first term had seen "the worst attempt at Jim Crow legislation and discrimination in civil service that [blacks] had experienced since the Civil War."[286] Cabinet heads appointed by President Wilson re-segregated restrooms and cafeterias in their buildings. During Wilson's presidency, the film The Birth of a Nation (1915) became the first motion picture to be in screened in the White House.[287] The film, while revolutionary in its cinematic technique, glorified the Ku Klux Klan and portrayed blacks as uncouth and uncivilized. After seeing the film, Wilson felt betrayed by his old friend Thomas Dixon Jr., who wrote two books the movie was based on, and did not like or endorse the film; he tried to stop its showing during the World War.[288] Biographer Cooper rejects the claim first made in 1937 by a magazine writer who said that Wilson remarked: "It is like writing history with lightning, and my only regret is that it is all so terribly true"; an eye witness reports that Wilson said nothing.[289][290] During Wilson's term, segregation was ordered in the Washington offices of the Navy, the Treasury, and the Postmaster General. Then suddenly, photographs became required for all new federal job applicants. After black leaders pressed him, President Wilson explained he was trying to "reduce friction," and that he "sincerely believe[d] it to be in their interest."[291] Under Wilson, racial segregation was quickly implemented at the Post Office Department. Many African American employees were downgraded and even fired. Employees who were downgraded were transferred to the dead letter office, where they did not interact with the public. The few African Americans who remained at the main post offices were put to work behind screens, out of customers' sight.[292]"

pavlov 9y ago

Birth of a Nation is a restrained work of art compared to the ceaselessly flowing vitriol of Breitbart and Infowars — and those people have the highest levels of endorsement from Trump. Steve Bannon’s film career was directly inspired by Leni Riefenstahl, according to his former colleagues. Watching Birth of a Nation in the White House is tame compared to making the propaganda director the chief strategist.

stryk 9y ago
I can't speak on Breitbart, but as far as Infowars goes -- he makes a killing on those supplements he schleps out, and apparently there are a _lot_ of people who buy them[0]. Sure he acts like a wackjob conspiracy theory nut -- but my guess is, judging by 'former employees' cited in articles and especially by the episode of the Joe Rogan Podcast with author Jon Ronson (both know him personally), he doesn't believe most of the nonsense coming out of his mouth, but that's his character/persona niche; catering to those that would be entertained by it. 0: https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/08/alex-jones-infowars-supplements-are-overpriced-mundane-vitamins-watered-down/ https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/08/alex-jones-infowars-...
- pavlov 9y ago
  I’m not sure how commercial intent makes him any more palatable? Trump chooses to listen to him regardless.
Aloha 9y ago
I dont like breitbart or infowars - but I think you're possiblly in a different universe than I am.

sriram_sun 9y ago

You are correct. Here (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodrow_Wilson#Race_relations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodrow_Wilson#Race_relations) is the Wikipedia section adding more context to the above comment. Note below that photographs became a requirement for application to federal jobs. The level of discrimination and suppression Black folks suffered over centuries is just appalling. "Several historians have spotlighted consistent examples in the public record of Wilson's overtly racist policies and political appointments, such as segregationists he placed in his cabinet.[274][275][276][277][278] According to scholars, Wilson believed that slavery was wrong on economic labor grounds, rather than for moral reasons.[278] They also argue that he idealized the slavery system in the South, viewing masters as patient with "indolent" (i.e. lazy) slaves.[278] In terms of Reconstruction, Wilson held the common southern view that the South was demoralized by Northern carpetbaggers and that overreach on the part of the Radical Republicans justified extreme measures to reassert Democratic national and state governments.[279][280][281] WWI draft card,the lower left corner to be removed by men of African background to help keep military segregated While president of Princeton University, Wilson had discouraged blacks from applying for admission, preferring to keep the peace among white students and alumni.[282] Wilson's History of the American People (1901) dismissed lynchings committed by the Ku Klux Klan of the late 1860s as a lawless reaction to a lawless period. The President defended them, writing that "[the Klan] began to attempt by intimidation what they were not allowed to attempt by the ballot or by any ordered course of public action".[283] Wilson's War Department drafted hundreds of thousands of blacks into the army, giving them equal pay with whites, but in accord with military policy from the Civil War through the Second World War, kept them in all-black units with white officers, and kept the great majority out of combat.[284] When a delegation of blacks protested the discriminatory actions, Wilson told them "segregation is not a humiliation but a benefit, and ought to be so regarded by you gentlemen." In 1918, W. E. B. Du Bois—a leader of the NAACP who had campaigned for Wilson believing he was a "liberal southerner"—was offered an Army commission in charge of dealing with race relations; DuBois accepted, but he failed his Army physical and did not serve.[285][286] By 1916, Du Bois opposed Wilson, charging that his first term had seen "the worst attempt at Jim Crow legislation and discrimination in civil service that [blacks] had experienced since the Civil War."[286] Cabinet heads appointed by President Wilson re-segregated restrooms and cafeterias in their buildings. During Wilson's presidency, the film The Birth of a Nation (1915) became the first motion picture to be in screened in the White House.[287] The film, while revolutionary in its cinematic technique, glorified the Ku Klux Klan and portrayed blacks as uncouth and uncivilized. After seeing the film, Wilson felt betrayed by his old friend Thomas Dixon Jr., who wrote two books the movie was based on, and did not like or endorse the film; he tried to stop its showing during the World War.[288] Biographer Cooper rejects the claim first made in 1937 by a magazine writer who said that Wilson remarked: "It is like writing history with lightning, and my only regret is that it is all so terribly true"; an eye witness reports that Wilson said nothing.[289][290] During Wilson's term, segregation was ordered in the Washington offices of the Navy, the Treasury, and the Postmaster General. Then suddenly, photographs became required for all new federal job applicants. After black leaders pressed him, President Wilson explained he was trying to "reduce friction," and that he "sincerely believe[d] it to be in their interest."[291] Under Wilson, racial segregation was quickly implemented at the Post Office Department. Many African American employees were downgraded and even fired. Employees who were downgraded were transferred to the dead letter office, where they did not interact with the public. The few African Americans who remained at the main post offices were put to work behind screens, out of customers' sight.[292]"