Democrats have a problem. Trump has a winning issue, but Democrats can fix it.
This is no dog whistle. It is a provocation. Trump says white people are under attack.
Trump: "Allowing the immigration to take place to Europe is a shame."
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| Joe Biden, Democrat |
Trump is in Europe and has told them that immigration from the Near East and Africa is destroying them. “I think it changed the fabric of Europe and, unless you act very quickly, it’s never going to be what it was and I don’t mean that in a positive way.. . . I think you are losing your culture. Look around."
Democrats read this and are provoked into self-destructive messaging. They would be better off not taking the bait.
Democrats and well educated people read Trump's comments and perceive it as racist talk. It targets dark skinned people, many of whom are Muslim. Republicans and less well educated perceive it as simple racial self-preservation, and not racist. It is tradition. It is familiar. It is protecting a status quo from demographic and cultural erosion. Nothing wrong with that.
Democrats feel entitled to call it out: racist talk. Republican Trump supporters think they know racism when they encounter it--David Duke and the KKK for example--but this isn't racism. It is just liking things being "normal," and an affirmation of their own identity.
Democrats would do well to learn something and perhaps tattoo it onto the back of their hands to help remember it: People who do not think they are racist hate being called racist.
It backfires badly. It defines the Democratic Party as the party that "hates whites" and the current culture of Western Civilization, and who call white people deplorable. White people took it seriously and personally. The effect was powerful enough that white women voted for Trump, not Hillary Clinton, notwithstanding Trump's record with women.
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| Click: NY Times |
Thomas Edsall of the NY Times wrote about two polls that asked about whether opposition to immigration constituted "racism" or simple identity self-interest. The difference between Trump supporters and Hillary supporters was profound. Democrats might learn and integrate the data into their political messaging. People who want to slow immigration do not consider themselves racists.
Understanding that, Democrats might consult the tattoo on their hand: don't call immigration opponents racist.
Trump is confident he has a winning issue on immigration because the issue provokes Democrats. They are so insistent on being anti-Trump they have moved to the "left" on immigration, and Democratic spokespeople are reluctant to speak in favor of border security or immigration rules, lest they appear Trump-like. The result is that Democratic messaging conflates border security with racism, and concerns about poorly regulated immigration with racism.
Working class whites hear the message. They are deplorable racists, and they don't like it. The political result is that Democrats lose blue states and swing congressional districts.
Trump is intentionally trolling Democrats, waving a red flag of provocation. Immigration is bad! Immigrants are knife-wielding murderers and rapists! What do you Democrats have to say about it? Go ahead, call me racist!
What can Democrats do?
If they understand their peril, they can, as a group, stop apologizing for border and immigration control. A majority of voters support controlled and enforced immigration. Native born Americans have a legitimate interest in how well people assimilate and what the country will look like in their children's lifetimes.
The second thing they can do is push forward a nominees who clearly represents, in his or her biography and tone and message, the interests of white working men, who currently feel dissed by Democrats. It need not dis people of color nor oppose immigration, and indeed must not. But the message and messenger must communicate that her or she is not hostile to the white working class. Joe Biden comes to mind.
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| GOP Websites cherish this video. |
An Elizabeth Warren or Kamala Harris could represent a "we don't need you" message to men and whites. Either could be the nominee, but they can avoid implying that white men are deplorable only if they took a stronger anti-immigrant message than could Biden, which they are unlikely to do. Joe Biden can be more pro-immigrant than other candidates because he would represent assurance that Democrats respect old school white Catholic men and traditions.
If Democrats want to win elections they need white votes. There is no shame in affirming white people be part of the American tapestry. it is not anti-black to say that white people are ok, too. Democrats can communicate inclusion of all, not affirmative action payback. If they want the message to be "payback" and "someone else's turn" they are free to do so, but the result will be more disappointing election nights like the one they experienced in 2016.
Trump and Republican love watching Rachel cry on TV.
8 comments:
No racist considers themselves racist, just as a misogynist or otherwise bigoted person can justify their prejudices with one flimsy excuse after another.
Progressives are tolerant to a fault, but the rise of white supremacy, now associated with the Republicans, is something that is dangerous for the survival of the democracy. The American Ideal is far from perfect but dehumanizing, rejoicing at human suffering, that's not who we aspire to be.
Every country has their own culture. Every country. The culture in America is different than that found in Africa, or Asia, or South or Central America, or even Europe. America's culture is defined by blacks, whites, Hispanics AND Asians, but it's an American culture. It's not a WHITE culture. It's a rainbow-blended culture. As a white guy, I have more in-common with a black American than I do with a white European from Scandinavia.
Culture is usually defined by the majority. The Chinese, the East Indians, and the Russians all define their own cultures.
There are 330 million Americans. There are 1.3 billion Chinese, and 1.4 billion East Indians in the world. If you were to import 1 billion Chinese into America tomorrow, how long do you think American culture would last? Not very long. The culture of the majority would soon dominate. That's why you need orderly immigration, so that it can be assimilated.
Democrats (and progressives) are too stupid to understand that this isn't a racial issue. You embarrass yourself when you call your opponents racists. Do you even know what the dictionary definition of racism is? I doubt it. Nobody is discriminating against people of color. Almost 1/2 of America already has color. This is about an orderly immigration process, where we get to vet who comes into the country.
Do you call the Chinese, or the Russians, or the East Indians, or the South Americans racist? NO! Yet they all have more strict immigration policies than America does. America allows plenty of people of color to immigrate into America. However, it's our country's right to regulate immigration, so that it can be properly vetted, absorbed, and assimilated. The fact is that most of these illegal aliens are coming here for financial reasons, and a lot is due to America's overly-generous social (welfare) programs.
If we're going to get down to whom is a racist, then there is more racism in liberal Ashland that anywhere else in the Rogue Valley. Progressives categorize everyone into racial groups, and they specialize in identity politics. Affirmative action and quotas are racist, and they are embraced by progressives.
I was married to an Asian woman (just like Peter is), I've dated a slew of minority women, and I've had more minority co-workers, minority customers/clients, and minority professional mentors than you can count. I ain't no stinkin' racist, yet when liberals can't discuss the issues, then they revert to calling people "racists" because they have nothing else to sell, and they deserve to be scorned.
Trump is not a racist, and I have yet to see any racist policies coming from him. Democrats have nothing to sell to the public, so they've gone into the gutter with false accusations.
As far as I'm concerned, Democrats have sold blacks down the river (you're the racists). Open borders brings-in more cheap, unskilled labor, which competes with blue-collar blacks for jobs, and reduces their wage levels, and creates unemployment for them. Even legal, Hispanic-Americans oppose illegal Hispanic immigration. Under Trump, the black unemployment rate has dropped to historic lows. How racist is that?
Yeah....conservative like me don't like being called "racists' because we aren't, and you have no evidence to prove that we are. The Democrat party is desperate for a win, because the public has rejected them, and now they've gone into the gutter again. How's that Russia investigation going? Four months ago, that's all that idiot Ron Wyden could talk about.
Republicans (and Trump) are no more racists than progressives are. As soon as progressives make the charge, then they lose the debate.
For once, Curt is making sense.
"Republican Trump supporters think they know racism when they encounter it--David Duke and the KKK for example." I'm a little confused here. I believe that David Duke congratulated Trump via Twitter when Trump won the election. I never heard Trump distance himself from Duke. In my opinion, that's about as racist as you can get and I'm going to assume most Trump supporters were indifferent or comfortable with that.
Anonymous....spare us with the inferences. Trump denounced David Duke and the KKK many times. You must have not been listening. Beside, the KKK is the child of the democrats.
As for associating with racists, you don't get much more racist than Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson, and both are card-carrying members of the democrat party, and heartily embraced. Even your messiah Barry Obama is a racist. Barry don't like Whitey.
Conservatives I know don't even think about race. In my mind, everyone is just a person. Democrats are obsessed with race and identity politics, and how it can promote their cause.
Yes, Curt. The KKK was a child of the Democrats. However, back then, the parties were reversed. Abe, Teddy were both Republicans. And very progressive. That changed around the time of Hoover. You should know that.
So glad the voters have rejected Ankerburg, again.
I agree that name calling attacks a person's identity and we should go high. It seems to work for 45, sadly. His followers love it.
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