who and WHAT he/THEY are.

NOT that most of us needed ANOTHER clue.

...

Racism is a generational challenge.

Not everyone 'knows' this. That's why these racist tropes persist. He's not the only one using them, he's just making them socially acceptable for many (more than you may believe), and that influence from the highest office in the land is an insidious and pernicious permission structure for countless acts of racism to occur mimicking him and marginalizing Black Americans.

Let's not get caught up in percentages. This is how racism persists. It's also how it receded with leadership from the WH down, beginning with JFK and Johnson, and never exploited anything like this president, even with the racism of Reagan and other republicans in the time passed.

Having it up front, instead of more whispered, and mostly amongst the racists who believe such vile, false ideas.

Trump's using a metaphorical bullhorn so everyone hears him. He's not using anything that might be termed as coded language anymore than calling women piggy is coded language for his misogyny.

FAWK, FAWK, FAWK, FAWK, FAWK HIM AND ALL HIS RACIST ADMINISTRATION!!!!!!!!

I agree with the sentiment of this post. Undermining the humanity of the marginalized has been the quiet part of the GOP platform and has been downplayed as mere political disagreement by both its pundits and the press at large for most of my lifetime. Calling out racist undertones is more worrisome than thinly disguised racist speech in many spheres. Cheers to those who call out the dog whistles. Jeers to those that foster them under guise.

It’s a fucking bullhorn.

Overt racism

...identify his politics with the reactivated klan to keep his white supremecist cult intact.

From the elevation of his office, it's a appeal for others to think and speak like this. It just is. It's how racism persisted through generations before leaders at the highest levels of government did the opposite.

but Thomas thinks they love him

Trump's entire shtick is that he's either too stupid or too demented to speak in dog whistles and coded language.

Of a better person that worked twice as hard against a system made to benefit the success of white people of which the Felon failed, every step of the way.
That's why he is a caricature of himself. He has to be louder, more flamboyant and tell great big lies about himself and his success. He has to believe his lies.
His demeaning of others is because of his own failures. He will NEVER be a happy man because he will always be a failure and now his constituency knows it.
It's his own personal HELL.

I heard they switched out the giraffe for a puppy, which you’ve never had, you miserable, fat, post-pubescent infant and child rapist.

that we stopped inviting to Thanksgiving dinner years ago.

Correct me if you know of a white person described by Republicans as a thug.

It's infuriating that no one in the mainstream media ever calls him on this dog whistle. Oh, wait...

When he says "low IQ" he means "black," only the word he hears in his head ain't "black."

...which is a substitution of an agreeable or inoffensive expression for one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant.

It's code for the pejorative of black.

For it to be a dog whistle, it needs to be a coded message to one group which goes unnoticed or without backlash from the opposition.

This fails the second prong. It does not passed unnoticed. He is called out on its usage every time. Everyone knows what he is doing when he says that, and there is public discourse about it.

It's just racist. It is his favored slur, just a flat out racist slur. Calling it a dog whistle is a soft peddle or sane wash of a sort. It is a racist slur. He's a racist using a slur. That is what it is.

...it just is; no matter how well understood it is to you; how inept; or how obvious or overt you feel it is.

A political dog whistle can be overt. In fact, there are instances where dog whistles are used in a way that is more explicit than subtle. For example, during the Civil Rights Movement, politicians like George Wallace and Richard Nixon used coded language to appeal to white voters who were resistant to racial integration and social change. Terms like "law and order" were used to subtly convey anti-black sentiments without being overtly racist. This strategy allowed them to mobilize their base without alienating moderate voters.

In 1981, former Republican Party strategist Lee Atwater, when giving an anonymous interview discussing former president Richard Nixon's Southern strategy, speculated that terms like "states' rights" were used for dog-whistling. Atwater was contrasting this with then-President Ronald Reagan's campaign, which he felt "was devoid of any kind of racism, any kind of reference". However, Ian Haney López, an American law professor and author of the 2014 book Dog Whistle Politics, described Reagan as "blowing a dog whistle" when the candidate told stories about "Cadillac-driving 'welfare queens' and 'strapping young bucks' buying T-bone steaks with food stamps" while he was campaigning for the presidency.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_whistle_(politics)

He speaks in the language of a bigoted white supremacist who wants to handover the burning cross to his son.
The only candidate ever endorsed by the Klan is "you know who."

I don’t see any outrage from the people who keep saying things will be okay if we just campaign on economics.