As many parents may know, making excuses on behalf of your child will only teach them that they do not have to take responsibility for their actions. In light of the president’s recent racist comments and the many women accusing him of sexual assault, it seems the White House and the Trump administration have made a terrible parenting mistake with their child.
It’s very easy to get lost in Trump’s offensive remarks and actions; so much so that it is difficult to focus on his successes (of which there are few). The president rang in the new year by making racially charged comments towards Haiti, El Salvador, and various African countries, calling them “s**thole countries.” Of course, Trump denied such a comment and the White House followed up with their own excuses.
Their words, however, cannot even begin to make up for such a disrespectful comment. This, of course, is not the first time the White House has had to clean up the president’s messes. The most significant case is of course, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders saying that the twenty women accusing Trump of sexual assault are lying.
Trump blatantly ignoring his worst offenses raises a serious issue regarding the president’s and the White House’s willingness to hold him accountable for his heinous actions. What has this presidency come to if sexual assault allegations and comments like “s**thole countries” are just additions to a long list of offenses? More so, what has this presidency come to if none of these actions and statements have been properly reprimanded?  
Trump’s lack of accountability and subsequent messy presidency illustrate the weight white privilege and institutional racism have played in his win. In an interview with the Daily Show, author and national correspondent for The Atlantic Ta Nehisi Coates said, “To be president, Obama had to be scholarly, intelligent, . . . the product of some of our greatest educational institutions, capable of talking to two different worlds. . . Donald Trump had to be rich and white. . .That’s the difference.”
Coates’s explanation of the way racism and the way it clearly played a role in Trump’s ascent to the presidency can also be applied to how little Trump is being held accountable for his actions. At this point, it seems Trump and his administration are covering up one scandal with another, but the it’s always the same pattern: Trump makes a mistake, makes a limp excuse, and has the White House fix the rest.
A president who has blatantly made racist comments on multiple occasions and has been accused of sexual assault by twenty women should not be what the U.S. represents. Trump’s views say a lot about what the American people wanted in a president, but more so, it shows our country’s and our government’s inability to hold our president accountable for his atrocious comments and actions.
There is no point in putting hope in Trump’s role as a leader if he can’t take responsibility for himself. In fact, it only pedals white privilege and racism within the presidency. Trump is not a child, but he is acting like one; and as parents, the White House and his administration need to stop making excuses for him.