Donald Trump understands that talk of race is a winner for him. He is baiting the trap and Democrats are falling for it.
Democrats should be talking jobs, not race. There is no fixing the past. Democrats win on race when they fix the present and future.
Democrats have the false idea that they are winning when they are on the popular side of an argument on race. They understand that the KKK is very unpopular, so they think they have Trump on the ropes since he didn't denounce them very clearly. They think the defections of businessmen from the Business Councils are signs of winning, what with non-politicians disassociating themselves from Trump.
Democrats are wrong.
The whole subject of race is a loser for them. There is no safe, be-on-the-right-side discussion on race that helps them. When Democrats talk about race they are making a difficult subject the centerpiece of who they are.
"Winning" an argument on race would force Americans of every race to consider the imperfections of their own histories and behaviors. Everyone has a history. White slavery, Jim Crow, immigrant parents, Chinese Exclusion, Native American displacement, crimes committed, justice given and denied, breaks given, breaks denied. Everyone has areas of benefit and loss, some more than others. Everyone exists as the beneficiary and victim of the histories of their parents and grandparents.
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| Lots of history, lots of guilt |
White people have privileges from the far and near past, but they do not want to feel guilty about them and dislike being told they should feel guilty. Democrats do not "win" when they rub the noses of white people in the sins of the past and present. There is no fixing the past.
There is only the potential of fixing the present and future.
Democrats should be talking about jobs, and strengthening the economy for everyone, and about access of all people into the middle class if they work hard and play by the rules. That is the present and future.
Democrats rise to the Trump bait on race because it seems to them to be so obvious and attractive an issue. Trump and KKK: a winner, for sure. But let me give a non-political analogy. Imagine one has a friend who is overweight. The health benefits of losing weight are apparent. The friend would be more attractive, which might mean better social and occupational success. Clothes would fit better. But most people know better than constantly to bring up the subject of weight in front of the friend. Even comments that would be supposedly about third parties--"look at how much weight Martha has gained"--are off limits. The entire subject of weight is best left unsaid.
Democrats understand the perils of mentioning weight to an overweight friend but forget that lesson when it comes to race. Trump understands white discomfort with race so he brings it up so that Democrats will fall back to scolding. It is the equivalent of Trump saying to that overweight mutual friend, "You look great but the Democrats think you are fat. Really fat." Democrats rise to start talking BMI charts and diabetes--a loser subject. Trump may be wrong on the facts, but dead right on the politics.
Steve Bannon was quoted saying that whenever Democrats are taking about race, they lose, and that Trump will be talking about jobs instead. Democrats should listen. Let Trump talk about monuments. Democrats are the ones who should be talking jobs.
Elections are about the future, if Democrats can remember that.
2 comments:
So well said, Peter and I couldn't agree more. My experience with those folks who are still all in on trump is that they glory in his apparent repudiation of "the man" and the media.
In my opinion, the D's have really dropped the ball in their messaging as regards not only race, but women's choice as well, letting the R's label themselves as pro-life and labeling the Democrats as pro-abortion.
And as your blog so aptly points out, Bill Clinton's entire modus revolved around "It's the economy, Stupid". Should the "Better Deal" Democrats not wake up, the Repub's will continue their destruction of everything Progressive of the last 100 years into the indefinite future.
Race is an eternal subtext in American politics. The analogy is apt, but I think we DO talk about it hence the constant turmoil as we struggle towards a solution that eludes consensus.
The idea of race has been shown to be a myth. All humans are alike and separating by skin color is as dumb as separating by big toe length. The fundamental problem is simple ignorance. When the Constitution stated "all men are created equal", it was expressing a truth that goes beyond ideas of fairness and intuitively foresaw what we know now is scientific fact.
That said, discrimination is a reality that most thinking people feel holds back progress and causes unnecessary pain. Progressives need to dispel the underlying misunderstandings about skin color and use those facts as a foundation to build a set of policies that preserve the progress made and continue it forward. Perhaps if 4th grade science introduced an better understanding of how DNA determines physical characteristics we could get to a truly "color blind" society a bit sooner.
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