Author Ta-Nehisi Coates is treated like he’s something of a big deal. He received a MacArthur “Genius Grant” in 2015. Based on comments he made at the University of Pennsylvania, though, one really has to question if “genius” should be applied to him.

From The College Fix:

In a speech at the University of Pennsylvania’s Irvine Auditorium yesterday, popular author Ta-Nehisi Coates referred to President Donald Trump as “professionally stupid” and claimed that if Trump were black, he’d never have been elected. Coates departed some from the subject of his talk, his new book “We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy,” to slam the president, much to the delight of those assembled. As reported by The Daily Pennsylvanian, the award-winning writer said “Trump is professionally stupid. You cannot convince me that someone who was black and that politically unqualified would even make it as governor […] if Donald Trump was black he wouldn’t have made it off the block.”

First, this is the same nation that just elected a black man to the White House.

Twice.

If this nation is racist, how did Obama get elected even once? How did Obama finish off both Mitt Romney and John McCain?

If being white is an advantage, how did Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio defeat all those other white candidates in the primary?

There are plenty of legitimate criticisms one can make against Trump and how he won, but that’s not what Coates wants to talk about. No, he has to find a way to discuss race even when it’s a ridiculous charge.

Do you want to know why Trump actually won? Because people like Ta-Nehisi Coates make everything about race. Americans are sick of being called racists. That’s why Trump won, not because he’s white.