Peter Sage introduction: My goal is to offer a cold eyed look at the election, describing political craftsmanship and messaging. I try to be fair, reliable, objective. Frequent Guest Poster Thad Guyer has a little different intention: to share a "swing for the fences" brutally honest--as he sees it--view of the hypocrisy underlying the posturing of both parties. He lives overseas currently and perceives the conflicts among cultures mor acutely than do those of us living here in the states. He calls out racial hypocrisy more sharply than I do, perhaps because he sees it more acutely than I do. His insights on Trump's appeal, and the difficulty Hillary has had in engaging working and middle income Americans, have been prescient in anticipating Trump's success and her woes.
I am traveling to Florida and am at a midway stop at LAX, so this post will likely format differently than others.
THAD GUYER GUEST POST
Will Trump Inherit Sanders’ Racist Base, or Will They Join Hillary’s Racist Hordes?
The law of primogeniture holds that Hillary should inherit most of Bernie’s white racist supporters when he is gone. It would be unfair for Hillary to be denied her share of Bernie white racists, since she was Bill’s H.R. Halderman in their white racist war room at the White House. They used the invidious guise of welfare reform (“Clintons’ rise was premised on repudiating black voters”, Salon http://goo.gl/ZVgFEF), and stiff drug sentencing laws. (“The Clintons’ War on Drugs: When Black Lives Didn’t Matter”, New Republic https://goo.gl/EwGplZ) On national tv the milky white Hillary rattled white America with the threat of little Black “super predators”. “Hillary Clinton’s ‘super-predator’ concession”, Washington Post https://goo.gl/BY1zG5.
We all know the rules: He whose base is large white voter blocks is a racist candidate—and so are all his white supporters. This law of Trump will now be applied to Bernie and his supporters.
Because Hillary can shrug off almost anything, there is no sustained focus on her racist record during the 1990’s. But Bernie and his supporters aren’t used to innuendo against them as white racists. We all know the code: Trump’s rallies are all white, his support base is all white, he has virtually no Black support, so he is a white racist. Democrats have uncritically embraced this as ipso facto truth. Bernie has become a general election threat to Hillary, so now the establishment is slamming down the race card to neutralize him. See, “Sanders still has a non-white voter problem”, Washington Post https://goo.gl/gbB44P, “Bernie’s Revolution Is Too White”, New Republic, https://goo.gl/t8i212, and “All States Sanders Has Won Have This Thing In Common [They’re White]”, http://goo.gl/yMUYFE. Bernie and his supporters got to live in a little white bubble for six months or so, but no more. They are going to be called white racists if they don’t disavow Sanders soon.
The axiom is that whomever supports a racist is himself a racist. In “An Open Letter to My Friends”, Huffington Post http://goo.gl/I7EjzQ, the author pleads with everyone he loves to accept that if they support Trump, then they are themselves racists. But-- he says if they turn away from Trump now, then they won’t bear the moral responsibility for his candidacy. A more scholarly view of this philosophy is “On Racism and White Privilege”, Southern Poverty Law Center http://goo.gl/tDrOGm. The axiom applies to Sanders and Hillary and Trump supporters alike.
So what keeps the body politic on its feet through the onslaught of white racism indictments? Denial and outrage. Hillary supporters, like their hero, are habituated to denial of everything from her husband’s debauchery to Black child “super predators”. They won’t even watch the “super predators” video of their candidate in the 1996 C-Span program. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0uCrA7ePno. Denial works well for establishment candidates like Hillary and her supporters. But denial won’t likely work for anti-establishment Bernie or his supporters. Like the Trump revolutionaries, they are sure to combust in outrage when the white racism inuendo is reloaded in Clinton superpac artillery and fired at them as as explict racism charges. They got close today as Hillary’s people cried “very distubing” when Bernie stumbled in a briar thicket of politcal correctness on black ghetto life. See, “Clinton Campaign Slams Sanders’ on Racial Blindspots”, http://goo.gl/Me04Zl. Her supporters smashed him to pieces on Facebook. “Sanders Clarifies ‘Ghetto’ Remark that Prompted Social Media Outcry”, WSJ http://goo.gl/j5Kwms.
So when Bernie is done-in as a white racist, I think his supporters will choose outrage over denial. And many of them will, by secret ballot, join the Trump racists in mutual outrage. It’s called the law of unintended consequences.
Posted by Thad Guyer to Up Close, with Peter Sage at March 8, 2016 at 5:49 AM
I am traveling to Florida and am at a midway stop at LAX, so this post will likely format differently than others.
THAD GUYER GUEST POST
Will Trump Inherit Sanders’ Racist Base, or Will They Join Hillary’s Racist Hordes?
The law of primogeniture holds that Hillary should inherit most of Bernie’s white racist supporters when he is gone. It would be unfair for Hillary to be denied her share of Bernie white racists, since she was Bill’s H.R. Halderman in their white racist war room at the White House. They used the invidious guise of welfare reform (“Clintons’ rise was premised on repudiating black voters”, Salon http://goo.gl/ZVgFEF), and stiff drug sentencing laws. (“The Clintons’ War on Drugs: When Black Lives Didn’t Matter”, New Republic https://goo.gl/EwGplZ) On national tv the milky white Hillary rattled white America with the threat of little Black “super predators”. “Hillary Clinton’s ‘super-predator’ concession”, Washington Post https://goo.gl/BY1zG5.
We all know the rules: He whose base is large white voter blocks is a racist candidate—and so are all his white supporters. This law of Trump will now be applied to Bernie and his supporters.
Because Hillary can shrug off almost anything, there is no sustained focus on her racist record during the 1990’s. But Bernie and his supporters aren’t used to innuendo against them as white racists. We all know the code: Trump’s rallies are all white, his support base is all white, he has virtually no Black support, so he is a white racist. Democrats have uncritically embraced this as ipso facto truth. Bernie has become a general election threat to Hillary, so now the establishment is slamming down the race card to neutralize him. See, “Sanders still has a non-white voter problem”, Washington Post https://goo.gl/gbB44P, “Bernie’s Revolution Is Too White”, New Republic, https://goo.gl/t8i212, and “All States Sanders Has Won Have This Thing In Common [They’re White]”, http://goo.gl/yMUYFE. Bernie and his supporters got to live in a little white bubble for six months or so, but no more. They are going to be called white racists if they don’t disavow Sanders soon.
The axiom is that whomever supports a racist is himself a racist. In “An Open Letter to My Friends”, Huffington Post http://goo.gl/I7EjzQ, the author pleads with everyone he loves to accept that if they support Trump, then they are themselves racists. But-- he says if they turn away from Trump now, then they won’t bear the moral responsibility for his candidacy. A more scholarly view of this philosophy is “On Racism and White Privilege”, Southern Poverty Law Center http://goo.gl/tDrOGm. The axiom applies to Sanders and Hillary and Trump supporters alike.
So what keeps the body politic on its feet through the onslaught of white racism indictments? Denial and outrage. Hillary supporters, like their hero, are habituated to denial of everything from her husband’s debauchery to Black child “super predators”. They won’t even watch the “super predators” video of their candidate in the 1996 C-Span program. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0uCrA7ePno. Denial works well for establishment candidates like Hillary and her supporters. But denial won’t likely work for anti-establishment Bernie or his supporters. Like the Trump revolutionaries, they are sure to combust in outrage when the white racism inuendo is reloaded in Clinton superpac artillery and fired at them as as explict racism charges. They got close today as Hillary’s people cried “very distubing” when Bernie stumbled in a briar thicket of politcal correctness on black ghetto life. See, “Clinton Campaign Slams Sanders’ on Racial Blindspots”, http://goo.gl/Me04Zl. Her supporters smashed him to pieces on Facebook. “Sanders Clarifies ‘Ghetto’ Remark that Prompted Social Media Outcry”, WSJ http://goo.gl/j5Kwms.
So when Bernie is done-in as a white racist, I think his supporters will choose outrage over denial. And many of them will, by secret ballot, join the Trump racists in mutual outrage. It’s called the law of unintended consequences.
Posted by Thad Guyer to Up Close, with Peter Sage at March 8, 2016 at 5:49 AM
1 comment:
Oh no, is Trump stealing the Hitler-like supporter “pledge” from Hillary and Bernie?
The media is alight today with the news that Trump has been asking supporters to take a pledge supporting him. It is Hitler-like we are warned. Some party poopers tried to tamp down the hysteria, or what some of us call the fun of watching our fellows on the left self-immolate. “Trump: It’s ‘ridiculous’ to compare his pledge to a Nazi salute”, Washington Post https://goo.gl/h77hjS. Yesterday it was Bernie the white racist and his white racist supporters. Yet today, this may be Hillary being cheated out of Hitler credit just like white racist credit. See, “Hillary Demands Loyalty Pledge”, Newsmax, http://goo.gl/XD2lza, reporting her campaign demanded that “attendees at a Cleveland, Ohio, event to sign a loyalty pledge before being allowed to enter, writes Salena Zito at Real Clear Politics”. More coverage followed at “Hillary Clinton Makes Voters Sign Loyalty Pledge Before Entering Event”, Mediaite
http://goo.gl/4F33X5.
Thankfully, Trump and Hillary aren’t the only ones pandering to the pledge vote. See voter pledge coverage at “Don’t Assume Bernie Sanders Supporters Will Back Hillary Clinton If She’s The Nominee”, Huffington Post, http://goo.gl/mfVUYu, and “Bernie supporters: Will you take the Bernie Pledge?”, Daily Kos http://goo.gl/zhfBqz. So if you are at a Clinton or Sanders rally, no matter what, if they ask you to raise your hand for anything, don't do it! Wait, wait, note of caution-- if its the pledge of allegiance you better stand and say it or else--"Hillary Clinton Supporter Refused to Stand for Pledge of Allegiance", Free Beacon, http://goo.gl/rM268u. Maybe Larry David is right on Curb Your Enthusiasm: "You can't even leave your house". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1MneRzGuaE.
Meanwhile, the absurd leftist hype in the media and social media continues to drive Trump to victory after victory.
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