This is from an opinion piece in Poytner Organization’s news. It was written by Michael Bugeja in a piece titled “How Trump abuses language to push for an American ethnicity.”
Former President Donald J. Trump, an American citizen of German-Scottish descent, misuses the terms “nationality” and “ethnicity” when making racist comments about undocumented migrants, political opponents and prosecutors and judges.
The news media subtly reinforce this linguistic error by not noting the distinction between ethnicity and nationality. Nationality is defined as “the status of being a citizen or subject of a particular state.” Ethnicity refers to “a group regarded as ultimately of common descent.”
When Trump misuses these terms, he can decide who is and is not a real American. It’s a common microaggression. American citizens of Asian descent are routinely asked, “Where are you from, really?” People of Latino, Middle Eastern and African heritage are excluded in certain communities by skin color alone.