Trump is only living US president not descended from slaveholders, report says
FOX NewsJul 03, 2023
The Facts
A Reuters investigation has found that a bipartisan group of at least 100 sitting members of the US Congress, and all but one living US president, are the direct descendants of slave owners.
Donald Trump, whose family immigrated to America after slavery was abolished, was the lone ex-president not descended from slaveholders. Former Pres. Barack Obama was related to slaveholders through his white mother’s side.
The Spin
Republican narrative
This study obliterates the Democrats’ efforts to present themselves as untarnished defenders of Black people and other minorities while painting Trump to be a racist and white supremacist. As it turns out, relationships to slavery don’t adhere to political bounds. It’s going to be difficult to take Democrats who use racial division for political gain seriously anymore.
Democratic narrative
Republicans shouldn’t be celebrating like this study absolves Trump of his sins. Even though his family moved to America late enough to avoid slavery, he still can’t be forgiven for defending symbols of the Confederacy and declaring that the white nationalists who killed a woman during the Charlottesville protests were "very fine people."
Narrative C
People living in the US today, even some of the country’s most powerful leaders, aren’t responsible for what happened a century-and-a-half ago, and all this study does is magnify the lie that people should make amends for something they didn’t do. This leads to people backing unconstitutional policies, namely reparations, and makes Reuters look like a politically partisan actor when it’s supposed to be a neutral journalistic endeavor.
