There was a constant theme in the #Resistance litigation during President Trump's first term in office: he is a bigot, and everything he does is tainted by bigotry. The prime example was the travel ban. Federal judges in Hawaii, Maryland, Brooklyn, and elsewhere gleefully cited President Trump's tweets to show that he had animus against Muslims. As I wrote at the time, they tarred Trump with the brush of bigotry. Similar reasoning was raised in the challenge to the cancellation of DACA. The New York Attorney General argued that the policy could not be wound down due to Trump's animus against Hispanics. The AG cited Trump's interview with Jorge Ramos, lines about "bad hombres," and countless other tweets. At the time, I wrote that even if these "comments should have given pause to his voters, courts cannot properly consider them in evaluating this policy."
Now, as the second term begins, the #Resistance is already starting to whirl again. But will these same animus arguments work? Can California and New York and Maryland once again argue that everything Trump does is tainted by bigotry against Hispanics and Muslim people? Is Trump perpetually tainted? I'm sure they'll try to make that argument. But there is some countervailing evidence. The 2024 election returns!
For starters, Trump won the most votes in Dearborn, Michigan, the city with one of the highest Arab populations in the country!
