Chapter 26: “Not Racist”

114       “I don’t have any genetic conception of races”  Renaud Camus quoted in Thomas Chatterton Williams, “The French Origins of ‘You Will Not Replace Us,’” New Yorker, December 4, 2017, accessed via Wayback Machine, November 27, 2017 capture, web.archive.org/web/20171127102119/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/12/04/the-french-origins-of-you-will-not-replace-us.

114       “I don’t use the word ‘superior’”  Camus quoted in Williams, “The French Origins of ‘You Will Not Replace Us,” web.archive.org/web/20171127102119/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/12/04/the-french-origins-of-you-will-not-replace-us.

114       prospective voter tourists in Romania “[E]thnic Hungarians” living “in neighboring countries like Romania and Serbia,” “a constituency whose votes Mr. Orban has courted for years,” are the only Hungarian citizens who can vote via mail-in ballot. This “a mail-in equivalent” of voter tourism, discussed in Chapter 2. Matt Apuzzo and Benjamin Novak, “In Hungary, Viktor Orban Remakes an Election to His Liking,” New York Times, March 31, 2022, updated April 3, 2022, www.nytimes.com/2022/03/31/world/europe/hungary-viktor-orban-election.html.

114       “. . . we do not want to become peoples of mixed-race”  “Speech by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán at the 31st Bálványos Summer Free University and Student Camp, July 23, 2022,” About Hungary, International Communications Office of the Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister, abouthungary.hu/speeches-and-remarks/speech-by-prime-minister-viktor-orban-at-the-31-st-balvanyos-summer-free-university-and-student-camp.

114       global outrage  Rick Noack, “Hungary’s Viktor Orban Faces Outrage After Saying Europeans Shouldn’t Become ‘Mixed Race,’” Washington Post, July 27, 2022, wapo.st/3DZSW3i.

114–115 resigned . . . “a pure Nazi text” “Prime Ministerial Appointee Zsuzsa Hegedüs Resigns Over Orbán's ‘Pure Nazi Text,’” Heti Világgazdaság (HVG), July 26, 2022, hvg.hu/itthon/20220726_Orban_Viktor_Hegeds_Zsuzsa_lemondas, via Google Translate; and “Hungary PM Viktor Orban Adviser Hegedus Resigns Over ‘Pure Nazi’ Speech,” BBC News, July 27, 2022, www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62313579.

115       “This is not a race issue for us . . .”  Viktor Orbán quoted in Krisztina Than, “Hungary's Orban Says His Anti-Immigration Stance Not Rooted in Racism After Backlash,” Reuters, July 28, 2022, www.reuters.com/world/europe/hungarys-orban-says-his-anti-immigration-stance-not-rooted-racism-after-backlash-2022-07-28/.

115       against Black and Brown immigrants Jussi Halla-aho has specifically expressed his opposition to immigrants from Africa and the Middle East. See Tuomas Äystö, “Insulting the Sacred in a Multicultural Society: The Conviction of Jussi Halla-aho Under the Finnish Religious Insult Section,” Culture and Religion 18, no. 3 (2017), 191-211. Access the journal article at www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14755610.2017.1365736.

115       “harmful to Finland”  Jussi Halla-aho quoted in Anne Kauranen, “Finns Party Mastermind Defends Long-Term Goal to Leave the EU,” Reuters, August 12, 2023, www.reuters.com/world/europe/finns-party-mastermind-defends-long-term-goal-exit-eu-2023-08-12/.

115       “If someone thinks that is racism . . .”  Halla-aho quoted in Kauranen, “Finns Party Mastermind Defends Long-Term Goal to Leave the EU,” www.reuters.com/world/europe/finns-party-mastermind-defends-long-term-goal-exit-eu-2023-08-12/.

115       “Let them call you racist” Euronews, “Bannon Joins Le Pen at Front National Congress,” YouTube, March 11, 2018, youtu.be/qcdzD6CbLJg?si=3lBV6KvZxB6NpDNN, 0:25–0:26.

115       “Let them call you xenophobes . . .”  Euronews, “Bannon Joins Le Pen at Front National Congress,” youtu.be/qcdzD6CbLJg?si=3lBV6KvZxB6NpDNN, 0:28–0:41.

115       “Do you want more or fewer Moroccans . . ."  Minettifun, “PVV Geert Wilders scanderen minder Marokkanen—English subs,” YouTube, March 19, 2014, youtu.be/CGy-CYhZczo?si=ZyWixZq_IWLeuoEq, 0:37–0:42, via Google Translate; and Geert Wilders quoted in Charlotte McDonald-Gibson, “Fall of the Dutch Far-Right: How a Racist Speech Too Far Cost the Flamboyant Geert Wilders His Chance at the EU,” The Independent, April 3, 2014, www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/fall-of-the-dutch-farright-how-a-racist-speech-too-far-cost-the-flamboyant-geert-wilders-his-chance-at-the-eu-9236348.html.

115       “Fewer! Fewer! Fewer!”  Minettifun, “PVV Geert Wilders scanderen minder Marokkanen - English subs,” 0:42–0:50, youtu.be/CGy-CYhZczo?si=ZyWixZq_IWLeuoEq; and Wilders quoted in Charlotte McDonald-Gibson, “Fall of the Dutch Far-Right,” www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/fall-of-the-dutch-farright-how-a-racist-speech-too-far-cost-the-flamboyant-geert-wilders-his-chance-at-the-eu-9236348.html.

115       “We’ll take care of that” Minettifun, “PVV Geert Wilders scanderen minder Marokkanen - English subs,” 0:51–0:52, youtu.be/CGy-CYhZczo?si=ZyWixZq_IWLeuoEq; and Wilders quoted in Charlotte McDonald-Gibson, “Fall of the Dutch Far-Right,” www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/fall-of-the-dutch-farright-how-a-racist-speech-too-far-cost-the-flamboyant-geert-wilders-his-chance-at-the-eu-9236348.html.

115       charged with inciting hatred  “Wilders Tells Hate Speech Trial ‘I Am No Racist,’” Deutsche Welle (DW), November 24, 2016, www.dw.com/en/wilders-tells-netherlands-hate-speech-trial-i-am-no-racist/a-36499213.

115       “I am not a racist and my supporters are not racists either” Geert Wilders quoted in “Wilders Tells Hate Speech Trial ‘I Am No Racist,’” www.dw.com/en/wilders-tells-netherlands-hate-speech-trial-i-am-no-racist/a-36499213.  

115       “In the name of all those Dutch citizens . . .” Geert Wilders quoted in “Wilders Tells Hate Speech Trial ‘I Am No Racist,’” www.dw.com/en/wilders-tells-netherlands-hate-speech-trial-i-am-no-racist/a-36499213.

115       Wilders was initially found guilty Gordon Darroch, “Geert Wilders Found Guilty of Inciting Discrimination,” The Guardian, December 9, 2016, www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/09/geert-wilders-found-guilty-in-hate-speech-trial-but-no-sentence-imposed.

115       overturned by another court in 2020 “Geert Wilders: Dutch Far-Right Leader Cleared of Inciting Hatred,” BBC News, September 4, 2020, www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-54029993.

115       “If I was racist, what would I have done . . .”  Jair Bolsonaro quoted in “Bolsonaro Denies He’s a Racist and That Racism Is a Problem in Brazil,” MercoPress, May 9, 2019, en.mercopress.com/2019/05/09/bolsonaro-denies-he-s-a-racist-and-that-racism-is-a-problem-in-brazil.

116       “France is the least racist country in the world” Marine Le Pen quoted in Joseph Bamat, “Far-Right Leader Says France Is ‘Least Racist Country,’” France 24, November 11, 2013, www.france24.com/en/20131111-france-least-racist-country-far-right-le-pen-taubira-national-front.

116       compared France’s Minister of Justice . . .to an ape  Anne-Sophie Leclere, the Front National candidate in Rethel for the 2014 local elections, “compared Christiane Taubira to an ape on French television and posted a photomontage on Facebook that showed the justice minister, who is from French Guiana, alongside a baby chimpanzee. The caption under the baby ape said ‘At 18 months,’ and the one below Taubira's photograph read ‘Now.’” Around the same time, Leclere said on television that she would rather “see Taubira ‘in a tree swinging from the branches rather than in government.’ ‘She is wild,’ Leclere said, adding: ‘I have black friends and it doesn't mean I call them monkeys.’” In July 2014, “a court in Cayenne, French Guiana's capital, sentenced her to nine months in jail, banned her from standing for election for five years, and imposed a €50,000 (£39,500) fine. French Guiana is an overseas département of France.” Agence France-Presse (AFP) in Cayenne, “Front National Politician Sentenced to Jail for Ape Slur,” The Guardian, July 16, 2014, www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/16/french-national-front-politician-sentenced-to-jail-monkey-slur-christiane-taubira.

116       predominantly Black Baltimore Baltimore City was 58 percent Black in 2020. Baltimore City Department of Planning, “Baltimore City 2020 Decennial Census Results,” accessed January 15, 2025, planning.baltimorecity.gov/sites/default/files/BaltimoreCity2020CensusResultsSummary.pdf.

116       “a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess”  Donald J. Trump, Twitter, July 27, 2019, 7:14AM, x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1155073965880172544, archived at archive.today, February 9, 2026 capture, archive.ph/m2SG6.

116       “no human being would want to live” Donald J. Trump, Twitter, July 27, 2019, 7:24AM, x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1155076476930338816, archived at archive.today, February 9, 2026 capture, archive.ph/ulvLX.

116       described this comment as racist  “Trump Slammed as Racist After Labelling Black-Majority Baltimore ‘Rat-Infested,’” France 24, July 28, 2019, www.france24.com/en/20190728-usa-trump-racist-tweet-baltimore-elijah-cummings-criticism.

116       “I am the least racist person there is anywhere in the world” Associated Press Archive, “Trump: ‘I’m the Least Racist Person There Is,’" YouTube, August 4, 2019, youtu.be/RupqphgPxqg?si=K3pvuv9ZzkP5q1DV, 0:47–0:51.

116       Trump’s circulation of racist videos from Britain First  For the full exchange between Morgan and Trump, see “Trump: ‘I’m the Least Racist Person Anybody Is Going to Meet,’” BBC News, video, January 26, 2018, www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-42830165, 0:13–3:23. On Trump’s circulation of the video, see “Donald Trump Retweets Far-Right Group's Anti-Muslim Videos,” BBC News, November 29, 2017, www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-42166663.

116       “I am the least racist person that anybody is going to meet” “Trump: ‘I’m the Least Racist Person Anybody Is Going to Meet,’” www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-42830165, 1:24–1:29.