Trump’s Racism Alienates a Growing Voting Bloc

The former president’s insults of Asian Americans are not just repugnant, they are also politically stupid.

The secretary of transportation and president in June 2017, before he started insulting her.

Photographer: Pool/Getty Images North America
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As their only declared presidential candidate holds his first public event of 2023, Republicans need to ask themselves a question: If you’re too afraid to confront Donald Trump on ideological or moral grounds, how about doing it for crass political purposes?

Former Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao this week made one of the strongest denunciations yet of her former boss’s racism — specifically, a series of blatantly racist comments directed at her. Chao had tried ignoring Trump, and urged the media to do so as well. But for whatever reason, Chao decided that she couldn’t stay quiet any longer.