It's a difficult call. If someone blasts out racism against non-White citizens of the United States, is it best to ignore it, or expose it? Do you give publicity to that kind of hate in the interest of rejecting it, or walk away knowing that any publication of such nonsense only encourages people to think and act that way?
American-born CEO Navin Gandhi decided to publish the voicemail of an anonymous caller after he wrote a CNBC editorial against Donald Trump in which he said in part:
...I saw what happened last weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia. I saw the president of the United States cowardly signal tacit support of white supremacists and Nazis. Every time Trump reworked his response in subsequent days, he dug a deeper hole that revealed more and more. I realized the deep wisdom in Maya Angelou's statement: Donald Trump has now shown us who he really is, and it's time to believe it.
...But calling the president names will change nothing. Trump is a reflection of the USA today, and we must ask why there is such an appetite for dog whistle politics. I'm not smart enough to know, but I am certain banning Muslims wholesale isn't the answer. I am certain cutting immigration by 50 percent with an offensive points system ("Do you have a Nobel Prize?" and "Do you have an Olympic medal?" are real questions on the new form) isn't the answer. I am certain taking health care away from 20+ million poor people isn't the answer.
...With this in mind, I have a message for our president: Mr. Trump, the only thing necessary to "Make America Great Again" is ensuring you are a one-term president, and I'm excited to start working toward that goal.
The voicemail was only a single sample of the racist outrage that confronted Mr. Gandhi (who, by the way, was born in the United States).
Chris Hayes and Navin Gandhi agree that this caller doesn't represent all Trump supporters (I don't know why it was necessary to say that except that the suits upstairs at MSNBC get skittish anytime it's clear we're travelling in "one side is just so much worse than the other.") What I found striking about the voicemail was her add-on of Nikki Haley as a target of her hatred.
It's clear that loyalty to Trump and his chosen surrogates is outweighed by loyalty to racist bigotry, at least with this woman. And that being a Trump surrogate weighs not a jot if you're not White with at least one (yeah) Trump defender.
PS Newsweek has determined that this is the same voicemail warrior who left a similar message for Tony Schwarz, ghostwriter of Trump's book "Art of the Deal," earlier this month. She's got lots of time on her hands and great resources for getting phone numbers. You can listen at the link.
