Media 'distorting' Trump picks as racist

A prominent African American leader contends that figures in the mainstream media are distorting President-elect Donald Trump’s picks for his administration as they continue to label them as racist and bigoted – claims that are said to be unfair and inaccurate.

Even though many in the media have said that Trump’s early personnel choices will comprise a racially insensitive administration, Project 21 National Advisory Board Co-Chair Horace Cooper maintains that double standards are being employed by Leftists. He argues that the Obama administration has been guilty of being much more divisive on racial issues than Trump’s conservative picks have ever been.

When Trump divulged five choices for top positions – with two requiring U.S. Senate confirmation – the media focused its scrutiny on attorney general pick Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) and CEO Steve Bannon as the incoming president’s favorite for chief strategist and counselor. Because of their histories on race, the media is allegedly trying it hardest to make a controversy over their being selected.

Double standard

However, Cooper – who served as the general counsel under the former House Majority Leader Richard Armey (R-Texas) – contends that playing the race card is not a wise or fair decision by the media on numerous counts.

“We are distorting the conversation, generally, about public policy by randomly throwing around epithets that this person or that person – either a supporter or and individual affiliated with Mr. Trump – must in some way be bigoted, racist or sexist,” Cooper told WND. “The idea that a person is for a tax cut or against a tax cut, is for a construction project or against a construction project, can only be viewed from the prism of ‘Does that make you a racist, a sexist, or some other ‘ist’?’ is completely unhelpful.”

A double standard was also mentioned by Cooper, who expressed frustration about the media paying no heed to Obama’s current counselor Valerie Jarret or the president’s former Attorney General Eric Holder – both of whom the conservative black leader says played major roles in increasing the racial tensions in America during the commander-in-chief’s administrations.

“These two individuals helped to encourage and promote what could only and honestly considered to be racially divisive policies by President Obama, and yet none of these questions were being considered,” Cooper asserted. “I bring those two names up because I want to highlight the contrast where the media has played no role and where voices that claim they are interested in encouraging America to come together have been completely silent – even to this day – about the role that those two individuals provided in the Obama administration.”

Cooper argues that Sessions and Bannon pale in comparison to Jarret and Holder when it comes to igniting racial tensions.

“I don’t see any similar record with regard to the designate for attorney general, Mr. Sessions, or to Mr. Bannon as a key strategist and counselor in the office of the White House,” the African American leader continued.

Equal coverage?

In an attempt to bolster their arguments, those in the anti-Trump camp have been seen emblazoning the news with statements made by avowed racists who commended Trump’s picks.

“Bannon, Flynn, Sessions – Great!” former Ku Klux Clan leader David Duke posted on Twitter after abysmally losing in Louisiana’s recent U.S. Senate primary race. “Senate must demand that Sessions as AG stop the massive institutional race discrimination against whites!”

On the other hand, Cooper points out how relatively no media coverage was given to another avowed KKK member who publicly endorsed and contributed to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. But he insists that focusing on endorsements should never be a major issue.

“I actually don’t care whether (Louis) Farrakhan or whether the Klan issues an endorsement in the election,” Cooper maintained. “What I care about is what are policies and characteristics of the individual in question who is asking for our vote.”

Unfair treatment

Cooper is disappointed that the media makes no attempt to give conservatives the same treatment as liberal.

“This has not been an even-handed assessment on the part of the media,” Cooper pointed out. “If they would like us to have this more expansive view – that supporters of given a given entity or individual are as important or more important than the candidate him or herself – then they needed to have been saying or doing that over the last eight years. And they didn’t.”

The black conservative then blasted journalists for insinuating that Trump is ushering in a new age of black oppression for America.

“The mainstream media is working hand in glove with progressives to create this false impression.” Cooper added. “This is not good for the country. It is not helpful to pretend that a record in America that existed during the era of Jim Crow is the functional equivalent of a 21st-Century Trump transition team. If we are serious about looking at the rhetoric, we need to match the rhetoric with the reality. Nothing in Donald Trump’s commentaries is the equivalent of that old evil of segregation and racism.”

Room for improvement

Confident that Trump can deliver on his promises to the black community, Cooper advised that the project should begin with giving African American children the same access to school choice – in both public and faith-based schools – as other groups have enjoyed across the country.

“We’ve absolutely got to stop the union stranglehold over our schools and allow our young people – particularly in the inner city – to have the option of leaving poorly functioning public schools or threaten to be able to leave them,” Cooper impressed. “That’s a key ingredient in the black community that will instill the kinds of achievement values that are biblically based. That would go a long way to assuring that young black men and women who graduate from failed public schools – and [who are] not able to read their diploma – would be able to not only read their diploma but be able to compete.”

WND’s Greg Corombos reported on Cooper’s take on the financial hardships that the black community faces, beginning with how to deal with immigration.

“On the economic side, Cooper said enforcing and even tightening immigration policy would greatly help improve employment in black neighborhoods – since illegal immigrants can easily underbid American citizens for work,” Corombos recounted.

Cooper explained how local economies can be revitalized when entrepreneurship is encouraged through government policies.

“If you want to incentivize employers, then you create a right regulatory regime and the right tax regime so that it is possible that jobs in the community – close to where inner-city residents live – can develop,” Copper concluded.

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