Much like their cult leader, Trump supporters are a special kind of stupid.
We saw that stupidity manifest itself in the form of angry white chaos at the Capitol in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, but, honestly, that event was just a culmination of all the idiocracy that has plagued the last four years of American politics, and the idiot train doesn’t stop at the Capitol.
An offensive line coach at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga was fired for crying the saltiest of white tears over the victories of Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock in the Georgia Senate runoff. Of course, neither Warnock nor Ossoff was the specified target of the coach’s white rage. Instead, he went after Stacey Abrams—the Democratic nominee in Georgia’s 2018 gubernatorial race and the woman who had been working like hell for years to flip the Peach State blue. And because Abrams is a Black woman, the coach’s criticism came in the form of racism, misogynoir and fatphobia—pretty much bigotry Bingo all in one tweet.
The Washington Post reports that UTC’s athletic director and football coach, Mark Wharton, confirmed Thursday that now-former coach Chris Malone has been fired over his “appalling” and “unacceptable” Tuesday tweet.
“Congratulations to the state GA and Fat Albert @staceyabrams because you have truly shown America the true works of cheating in an election, again!!!” Malone wrote in the now-deleted tweet. “Enjoy the buffet Big Girl!! You earned it!!! Hope the money is good, still not governor!”
So, before we get into the obvious racism here (not that I should need to explain why a white man referring to a Black person as “Fat Albert” for any reason constitutes racism), I just want to point out the sheer caucasity of making allegations of “cheating” in the runoff while, in the same tweet, writing “still not governor” in reference to Abram’s loss against Georgia’s governor of making Black votes disappear, Brian Kemp.
Anyway, using every appropriate descriptor except “racist”—and without using Malone’s name—both Wharton and Coach Rusty Wright released statements denouncing Malone’s tweet.
“Last night, a totally inappropriate social media post by a member of our football staff was brought to my attention,” Wharton said. “The entire post was appalling. The sentiments in that post do not represent the values of our football program, our athletics department or our university. With that said, effectively immediately, that individual is no longer a part of the program.”
“Our football program has a clear set of standards,” Wright wrote in his statement. “Those standards include respecting others. It is a message our players hear daily. It is a standard I will not waiver on. What was posted on social media by a member of my staff is unacceptable and not any part of what I stand for or what Chattanooga football stands for. Life is bigger than football and as leaders of young men, we have to set that example, first and foremost. With that said, effective immediately, that individual is no longer a part of my staff.”
Seriously, I would have more respect for statements like these if they were more candid about calling the offense bigotry and calling the bigot out by name. It’s almost like they’re offering obligatory condemnation while downplaying the fact that their colleague was basically Rush Limbaugh in a college-level coaching position.
But whatever, at least the bigot lost his job.