Racism has been a plague on our nation from its founding. It has flared and ebbed over the years. It has been directed at different groups, at different times, but it has always been passed down from generation to generation to ensure its ugliness never dies. A child has to learn to be racist.

Despite the fairy tale told by Chief Justice John Roberts nearly three years ago, when he sought to justify the striking down of the key component of the Voting Rights Act, racism in our country is far from a thing of the past.

“Our country has changed,” Roberts wrote in his opinion, Shelby County v. Holder. It has wiped away so much of its racist past that the “extraordinary measures” employed by a key provision of the Voting Rights Act could no longer be justified.

The very next day, after this “extraordinarily” horrid decision, states that had been covered by the Act started proposing legislation to make it harder for certain folks, mostly the poor and African-Americans, to exercise their constitutional right to vote!

What’s truly astounding is that nearly a half dozen states immediately moved ahead with restrictive voter ID laws, some of which had already been rejected as discriminatory under the Voting Rights Act!

You didn’t have to be a constitutional scholar to know what an abomination the Supreme Court’s decision was.

But it wasn’t until the emergence of Donald J. Trump that we truly discovered exactly how wrong was the Court.

Donald Trump launched his bid for the presidency by labeling Mexicans “rapists, criminals and drug dealers.” Of course he did not stop there. His hate speech soon covered Muslims, Asians, and blacks. His rhetoric became so popular with his supporters that he just kept doubling down with his racist rants.

And now he is the presumptive Republican presidential nominee! Even some stalwart Republicans have started to decry Trump’s over-the-top racist rhetoric.

What helped Trump most in securing the Republican nomination was that no other candidate spoke in such pure, overtly racist language. No more dog whistles here! Of course, Trump loyalists just eat up all the bile that emanates from the “billionaire’s” pie hole.

Trump is a man, say his supporters, who “tells it like it is” and who is unconcerned with political correctness. This, apparently, is what the Republican base had been wanting for so long.

It was only a matter of time before Trump supporters felt comfortable enough to show their inner, latent racism. What had been kept in check – concealed – was now on proud display.

Trump, in a real way, signaled it was OK for racists to come out of the closet.

The ‘n’ word has been popping up more frequently on social media and in public discourse lately. Latinos, Muslims and African- Americans are often beaten at Trump rallies for daring to protest the racist hero… all with the blessing of the dear leader.

“If you get sued ‘knocking the crap’ out of protesters,” Trump promised, “I will pay your legal bills.

Hey, if the man who might become our next president thinks it’s all right to call a spade a spade (no pun intended), why shouldn’t I be free to express my sincere, deeply-held hatred?

Donald Trump has single-handedly set back race relations in this country to the 1960s. I fear what he has uncovered and unleashed could take decades to repair … even with the inevitable loss Trump will suffer at the polls in November.

While Trump may soon be removed from the national political stage, his many loyal followers will still be around displaying their newly green-lighted “open carry” racism.

Photo | cnn.com

What happens when you cook up a scheme that will make you some easy money, through failure, but instead, your hoped-for bust turns into a booming success?

Of course I have just described the plot of Mel Brooks’ “The Producers,” a play and movie exploring the hilarious consequences of unintended success.

“The Producers” is the story of two theatrical producers, Max Bialystock and Leo Bloom, who scheme to get rich by setting out to produce the worst play ever written,  getting rich old ladies to back it and then skipping town with the money once the show is a total flop. Complications arise, however, when the play, “Springtime For Hitler,” unexpectedly turns out to be a hit!

I can’t help but think of Herr Trump when I reflect on Brooks’ comedic masterpiece.

I am convinced Donald Trump entered the Republican presidential race as an easy and inexpensive way to promote the Trump brand. He had not intention of seriously contending for the Republican presidential nomination. Trump’s own former strategist, Stephanie Cegielski, confirmed the con.

Said Cegielski, “Trump never intended to be the candidate. But his pride is too out of control to stop him now… What was once Trump’s desire to rank second place to send a message to America and to increase his power as a businessman has nightmarishly morphed into a charade that is poised to do irreparable damage to this country if we do not stop this campaign in its tracks.”

Could Trump have made the non-seriousness of his campaign clearer from day one? No genuine candidate for the presidency has ever kicked off his presidential run by calling Mexicans, “rapists, drug dealers and criminals.”

But a funny thing happened after Trump threw his sombrero into the presidential ring. Instead of his offensive comments costing him support, his poll numbers skyrocketed. And that has been the story all the way up to Trump’s securing enough delegates to become his party’s presumptive nominee.

Like Bialystock and Bloom, Trump failed miserably at failing.

But, in the end, Trump will get his intended result … he will not be president. Intentionally or not, he sabotages his campaign with each passing day. There is hardly any voting bloc left Trump has not dissed or offended.

Unfortunately for Trump, instead of enhancing his brand’s reputation, it has been severely tarnished. Talk about ironic, unintended consequences!

The brand that Trump has fought so hard to make synonymous with luxury, glitz and glamour is now one drenched in bigotry, hatred and exclusion.

Photo | thehardtimes.net