President Donald Trump recycled a common insult and resurfaced a consistent grudge in comments made on Thursday after signing a proclamation removing environmental protections for marine national monuments in the Pacific Ocean. It started with a benign comment complimenting the contributions of farmers and fishermen to the country — and then things took a turn.
"These people built the country, not the complainers. They built the country, whether it's fishermen, farmers or anything else ... me? Guys like me, they built the country," Trump proclaimed. "I watch all these ingrates, they're always complaining, complaining, they didn't build anything. They couldn't build anything," he continued, before bringing up the state of Minnesota for no discernible reason.
"Look at what's happened in Minnesota. Somalia, all these people came in from Somalia, they ripped off our system," he continued, showcasing his longstanding disdain for both Minnesota and Somali immigrants in the United States, with a specific fixation on Somali American Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.).
What 'Ingrate' Reveals About Trump's Leadership
Experts say there's something in Trump's "ingrate" insult that is particularly telling about his attitude as a leader. "Ingrate" is an insult that suggests people should be grateful to the speaker.
"Well, when Donald Trump says this quote, what I hear is someone saying that there are makers (guys like him) and takers — and that the latter should be grateful to the former for basic necessities of life or basic functions of government," said Edwin Battistella, author of "Dangerous Crooked Scoundrels: Insulting the President from Washington to Trump." "Two things stand out to me: What are the supposed ingrates ungrateful for? And the second is, what is the power relation that allows someone to label them as ingrates?"
This isn't Trump's first time using this term, Battistella noted, as he's lobbed the insult at Ukraine and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "It seems to reflect his 'transactional' world view, that if he does something for you, you owe him gratitude and should express it."
Racist Elements of the Attack
There is also a racist element to this attack. "When he refers to entire populations as ingrates, as he did with the population of Puerto Rico in his first term and has recently done with Somalis, it certainly smacks of a racial and class paternalism," Battistella said, noting that it "feeds" the larger racist narrative that marginalized people are somehow "ungrateful or undeserving."
This piece also stands out to Koritha Mitchell, a literary historian and author of "From Slave Cabins to the White House: Homemade Citizenship in African American Culture." This kind of commentary crosses the line into what Mitchell coined as "know-your-place aggression," which describes "the flexible dynamic array of forces that answer the achievements of marginalized groups such that their success brings aggression as often as praise."
"One reason this absolutely qualifies as know-your-place aggression is that it emerges in response to the success of marginalized groups (and to success that benefits marginalized groups)," Mitchell told HuffPost.
In Trump's case, these comments work to cement the racist narratives built into white American mythology, which many Americans unquestioningly absorb. "United States citizenship operates with the support of the most basic education everyone gets. No matter how well or poorly we did in school, we all got the message that white people built this country," Mitchell explained. "We all 'know' that Native Americans were savages who weren't using land and resources well. We all 'know' that Black people needed the guidance of white people."
These larger narratives can make it harder to correct systems that promote inequity. "When Trump says vile things, he's saying what we've all been taught anyway," she said.
Success of Marginalized Groups Triggers Aggression
Mitchell said the insult is really about the success of the people being demonized. Citing the killings of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and George Floyd as catalysts, she notes that "more people have awakened" to the lies behind white supremacist narratives. "Consider the lesson from the musical 'Hamilton' that immigrants 'get the job done.' That's an example of the kind of success that know-your-place aggression never leaves unchecked."
"Typically demonized populations were being recognized for having contributed, despite all the inescapable lies about their being leeches," she continued. "More people recognizing the contributions of anyone who isn't a cisgender straight white male is an example of the success that Trump and his allies and followers want to see undone."
Ultimately, that is one of the roots of Trump's "ingrate" insult and continued attacks on immigrants and people of color. "When he casts women and folk of color in an ugly light, he's just reinforcing the education none of us can avoid," Mitchell said.
