Nobody was surprised when the opening salvo in Donald Trump`s 2016 presidential campaign was a blatantly racist attack on Mexican immigrants, branding them criminals and rapists.
For decades Trump has fanned the flames of racial controversies, in the 70`s a young Trump and his KKK-loving father were sued over discriminatory rental practices in their New York apartments.
In 1989, after black and Latino teenagers from Harlem were accused of assaulting and raping a white woman in Central Park, Trump spend thousands placing full-page ads in the four daily newspapers in New York City, demanding their execution.
A decade and a half later when their sentences were overturned based on DNA evidence and the confession of the real rapist, Trump refused to apologize.
Trump ran a racist campaign, demonizing Muslims and Hispanic immigrants to appeal to his racist white evangelical base, and his presidency has been marked by racist tweets, comments and policies.
Once again I`m not surprised, very few racists ever have an epiphany.
But I am somewhat surprised by Trump`s anti-gay sentiments and policies since he became president. Trump has been a life-long racist, but as a businessman and as a reality TV star he never expressed any homophobic views. As an entertainer he had contact with many gays and lesbians in the entertainment industry, and he was friendly with many of them.
But when he made common cause with white evangelicals in order to win the presidency he adopted their anti-gay agenda. Hence his choice of the anti-gay bigot Mike Pence as his vice president and the banning of transgender soldiers from the military.
Pence is explicitly anti-LGBTQ, and has been throughout his political career. Pence uses his extreme brand of Christianity to justify his right to discriminate. He quotes scripture to justify treating women and gays and lesbians as second-class citizens.
Trump recognizes Pence as an anal-retentive religious zealot, but he gives his second-in-command free rein to treat gays and lesbians with disdain, because he realizes it solidifies his support with his evangelical base.
Trump and Pence are the most damaging one-two punch democracy has suffered in our lifetimes, and everyone who loves freedom and democracy must devote their lives to the impeachment and removal from office of both of them.