Trump-hatred may be good business for some, but the failure of Democrats to accept electoral defeat in 2016 and the escalation of violent imagery and rhetoric, the attempted coup via the Russia hoax, and the escalating violence against Trump-supporters are corrosive to the political health of the Republic.  There are still a few leaders among the Democrats — far too few — who are willing to stand against the insanity.

Given the smashing economic success of the president (remember James Carville's slogan, "it's the economy, stupid"?), Trump-haters have descended to race-baiting, claiming that Donald Trump is a racist, white nationalist, white supremacist...with future insults to be invented once these go stale.

One of the Democrat office-holders who knows Trump, the man, best is Andrew Stein, the longtime borough president of Manhattan.  Taking to the pages of The Hill, he writes of the overwhelming evidence of Trump's true attitudes on race.  It is a must-read, for it relies on facts, not just opinions.

Andrew Stein at the Tribecca Film Festival in 2009 (source).

Donald Trump is no racist. I have known him since 1973 and have never seen any indication or any form of racism. In fact, quite the contrary.

When I was Manhattan Borough president and president of the New York City Council, I asked him numerous times to help black or Hispanic groups, and he always came through, many times without publicity. When a hurricane ravished Puerto Rico in the mid 1980s, I asked many big companies to give various forms of assistance — but the problem was how to get all of this aid down to Puerto Rico. I called Donald Trump, and he provided us with a 727 jet to take all of the donated material down to the island, and he didn't ask for any publicity for that generous act.

My friend, Rev. Floyd Flake, the minister of the largest black church in Queens, asked for some help for his senior center. Again, I called Donald Trump and he wrote a big check.

One day I met an African American woman on the street with her two adorable young kids. She was homeless, and I gave her some money — and then asked Donald to get her into some low-income housing in Queens. He came through, and did so without any fanfare.

When President Trump recently attacked Congressman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), he was not doing so because Rep. Cummings is black but because the president is a counter-puncher. And he is right that Cummings has been a congressman for 22 years and that Baltimore, part of which is in his congressional district, is a mess. The city has gotten worse during his tenure: more poverty, more drugs and more crime.

There is much more.  Read the whole thing.

It's time for the grown-ups among the Democrats to save their party from madness.

Hat tip: Roger Luchs.