How Trump's Attacks On Prosecutors Build On His Racist History

LOADING ERROR LOADING NEW YORK — Donald Trump’s aggressive response to his fourth criminal indictment in five months follows a strategy he has long used against legal and political opponents: relentless attacks, often infused with language that is either overtly racist or is coded in ways that appeal to racists. Trump spokesman Steven Cheung pushed back against the idea that the former president attacks people based on race, saying in an emailed statement that Trump “doesn’t have a racist bone in his body and anyone saying otherwise is a racist and bigot themselves.” “He garnered record-breaking votes from ethnic minority voters in 2020 and it will be even bigger in 2024,” Cheung said. The former president also claimed Bragg was a “degenerate psychopath” who “hates the USA.” In a message last September on Truth Social, Trump referred to New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is Black, as “Racist A.G. Letitia ‘Peekaboo’ James.” The nickname is similar to a term used to insult Black people. Cheung didn’t say what Trump meant when he said “peekaboo,” but wrote in an email that “anyone who thinks peek-a-boo is a racist phrase is obviously sick in the head and their assertion strains credulity and should not be taken seriously.” The former president’s comments and actions toward people of color have been criticized for decades. Earlier this year, Bragg’s office was sent a powdery substance with a threatening letter that said “Alvin, I am going to kill you.” Since the Georgia indictment, racist stereotypes about Willis have surged online.