Donald Trump has been blasted by critics on the left and the right for his divisive language and policies. But in a video posted to his Facebook page Thursday, Trump claims he's the one that can unite the country.
"I will unify and bring our country back together," Trump says in the video. "We will be unified. We will be one. We will be happy again."
The 43-second video shows images of people protesting the 2012 shooting of Trayvon Martin, protesters outside the White House protesting the detention of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay and the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014 after the police shooting of Michael Brown (That photo, naturally, was used without the photographer's permission)
"Our president was a terrible unifier," Trump's voiceover proclaims as the images roll.
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Not only does Trump exploit the deaths of unarmed black men, he implies that President Obama was responsible for the events that followed, calling Obama a "divider."
Trump is right about one thing: The nation does suffer from a racial divide and the deaths of Treyvon Martin and Michael Brown (and Eric Garner and Tamir Rice and Akai Gurley and Freddie Gray and...) highlight the gulf of that split.
Lost on Trump is the irony that he's exploiting these killings to promote his ability to unify the country even as he tours the country, espousing his divisive proposals, in blocking immigrants from entering the country based solely on their religion. And that's not to mention the treatment of protesters at Trump rallies across the country.
This is, after all, the man who claimed the "gangs" responsible for unrest on Ferguson and Baltimore were full of illegal immigrants a year after claiming the media was ignoring the "racial angle" of the same unrest.
Even as Trump preaches unity, he's guilty of having taken direct part in the division he laments.
And about ten minutes into the Trump rally, this happens. pic.twitter.com/65pXHjsJ3x— McKay Coppins (@mckaycoppins) December 15, 2015
And, as is typical of Trump, he uses the divisive images to promote his ability to unify without really offering details about either side of his argument. How is Obama to blame for the killings of Martin and Brown? And how does Trump himself plan to unite the country once more?
Maybe it wouldn't be so galling if Trump didn't have a long history of racist comments, racial discrimination at work, and a knack for tweeting out racially-charged false data.
Our great African American President hasn't exactly had a positive impact on the thugs who are so happily and openly destroying Baltimore!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 28, 2015
By continuing to exploit the deaths of these young men, using them as a means to degrade a president who had no involvement with their deaths or the racist culture that has seeped in to certain corners of law enforcement, Trump continues to widen the divide even as his rhetoric plays lip service and, as with his business dealings, write checks he can't cash.