Yahoo News Donald Trump Torched Over ‘Gone With The Wind' Lament: ‘The Doggiest Dogwhistle'
President Donald Trump reminisced about the 1939 movie “Gone With The Wind” during his rally in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Thursday and faced an immediate backlash on social media.
Trump asked to bring “back” the film — heavily criticized for its racist language, demeaning stereotypes of Black characters and its romanticization of slavery before the Civil War ― as he railed against the awarding of the Oscar for Best Picture to South Korean movie “Parasite,” directed by Bong Joon Ho.
“I’m looking for like … let’s get ‘Gone with the Wind,’ can we get ‘Gone with the Wind’ back, please?” asked Trump. “‘Sunset Boulevard.’ So many great movies,” he continued. “The winner from South Korea, I thought it was best foreign film. Best foreign movie. No … did this ever happen before?”
Charlotte Clymer, of the LGBTQ advocacy group Human Rights Campaign, described Trump “openly pining” for the film starring Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh as “the doggiest dogwhistle that ever dogwhistled.”
Max Boot, a conservative columnist for The Washington Post, noted how Trump “talks far more harshly about South Korea than North Korea” and said the president’s love for the “pro-Confederate” film was “very telling.”
I’m sorry but this is SENDING me. The racist audience cheered for “what happened to Gone With the Wind” but then was quiet for “Sunset Blvd.” Too gay for us!!!!!! https://t.co/uVSF7eXN7h
— Ira Madison III (@ira) February 21, 2020
Trump literally just asked, "Can we get like 'Gone With The Wind' back please?" That's really saying the quiet part out loud isn't it.
— Hunter Walker (@hunterw) February 21, 2020
Trump openly pining for "Gone with the Wind" is the doggiest dogwhistle that ever dogwhistled.
— Charlotte Clymer 🏳️🌈 (@cmclymer) February 21, 2020
Gonna put this out there, and I mean every word of it: "Gone with the Wind" has a run time of nearly four hours and is jam-packed with scenes of adults talking to each other in thick dialogue. Even if it is Citizen Kane for racists, I'll bet you anything Trump has never seen it.
— Charlotte Clymer 🏳️🌈 (@cmclymer) February 21, 2020
MAGA rallies are not only a safe space for xenophobia, but his audience shows up hungry for that kind of red meat. That's why Trump reached and whined about a foreign movie winning Best Picture, and also why he picked a very telling choice as an alternative -- Gone With the Wind.
— Adam Best (@adamcbest) February 21, 2020
Trump talks far more harshly about South Korea than North Korea. And of course he loves pro-Confederate “Gone With the Wind.” Very telling. https://t.co/FPfrPkx7hg
— Max Boot (@MaxBoot) February 21, 2020
Gone with the Wind is a romanticized white wash of slavery and the antebellum South and the author Margaret Mitchell had tremendous "economic anxiety." Of course Trump would prefer it over PARASITE, a brilliant movie commenting on classism and income inequality.
— Wajahat Ali (@WajahatAli) February 21, 2020
Ok... “Gone with The Wind”?! #Trump tells us who he is every single day. https://t.co/CQvjGMOh5h
— Maya Wiley (@mayawiley) February 21, 2020
Racist xenophobic Trump knows exactly what he is doing asking to bring back “Gone With The Wind” which romanticized slavery & for decades was most popular account of The Civil War. Like MAGA slogan, he always speaks to his audiences inner white supremacy pic.twitter.com/3t4douGqmu
— ChuckModi (@ChuckModi1) February 21, 2020
The most revealing part is that Trump asked for ‘Gone with the Wind’ back. Patriarchy, slavery, celebrating the Old South. Yikes. Trump really does signal to his voters’ worst instincts https://t.co/9xeKW70lcj
— Robert E Kelly (@Robert_E_Kelly) February 21, 2020
Trump loves Gone With The Wind but he prefers to watch it backwards to see the slaves learn their place.
— John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) February 21, 2020
He thinks “Gone with The Wind” and “Sunset Boulevard” should be honored again. Because: America or something.
Who wants to tell him Vivian Leigh, Olivia de Havilland, Leslie Howard were foreign workers; Billy Wilder an immigrant?— ALLISON ADATO (@editgirlnyc) February 21, 2020
Saw the clip of Trump talking about Parasite, Gone With The Wind, and Sunset Boulevard. But I refuse to believe he's seen any movie except Home Alone 2, because he's in that one.
— Sean Thomason (@TheThomason) February 21, 2020
Totally on brand for Trump to complain about the South Korean movie Parasite winning Best Picture at the Academy Awards over a 1939 film like Gone With The Wind. One is about the struggles of the Asian working class. The other is a Confederate sob story about a racist white lady.
— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) February 21, 2020
Apparently, the racist in chief thinks movies like Gone With the Wind, chock full of docile slaves, is what makes America great.
Frankly, @realDonaldTrump, we don't give a damn.— BrooklynDad_Defiant! (@mmpadellan) February 21, 2020
A few years ago I went with a couple members of my family to see Gone With the Wind in this hellish suburban multiplex. Every Boomer there walked out really quietly whispering basically, “that was racist as shit”.
Yeah, no kidding.— Yeti or Not, Here I Come (@gitagovinda) February 21, 2020
Me: Classic movie lover sees "Gone with the Wind" is trending. <clicks on tab to see why> pic.twitter.com/lfTbLNbKaX
— Maureen Lee Lenker (@themaureenlee) February 21, 2020
Trump complains that South Korean films are winning Oscars and that we need more like "Gone With The Wind," a movie that even in 1939 was recognized as being racist as hell https://t.co/1pv7KOv8U2 pic.twitter.com/vagYfs1CUy
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) February 21, 2020
"Was it good? I don’t know. Let’s get ‘Gone With the Wind.'”
This is not a comment on Parasite. It's white identity politics. It's a signal of group identity & romanticism of an entertainment age before non-whites were socially prominent/influential.https://t.co/pYcw2oSSt2— Luke Thomas (@lthomasnews) February 21, 2020
When I saw Gone With The Wind was trending I assumed another part of Trump's wall had fallen. pic.twitter.com/o3XOfwOyiX
— CK (@charley_ck14) February 21, 2020
It's bringing up Gone With the Wind that raises this from simple xenophobic ignorance to real dada racism. https://t.co/xRSYEFMlam
— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) February 21, 2020
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