"Appeals to racial division work for him, going back to birtherism. Going back to Judge Curiel. The Muslim ban. The Mexican rapists. Each time there was the 'Oh my God', this is divisive, but it has worked for him."
Charles Sykes, political columnist, the Bulwark
Trump attacked Four Congresswomen. It is all about who is IN and who is OUT. Cynical. Smart.
Trump knows two things. One is that there is uneasiness over immigration. There is always some threat. Before this it was communism, before that Japan and Germany, before that Catholics, before that Free Masons. And always the black threat to white America.
The second is that Democrats are their own worst political enemies.
He tweeted: "So interesting to see 'Progressive' Democrat Congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world (if they even have a functioning government at all), now loudly and viciously telling the people of the United States, the greatest and most powerful Nation on earth, how our government is to be run. Why don't they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came."
The world erupted. Bingo!
1. Trump is back in the center of attention. Briefly, people were talking about Nancy Pelosi and the disunity of Democrats. He is the star of the Trump show, and he stepped back into center stage.
2. Democrats called Trump supporters "racist" and his supporters resent it. When Democrats call Trump "racist" for tweets like this one, GOP voters who identify with Trump hear it and take it personally. As Trump put it, "A lot of people agree with me."
3. It got Democrats to close ranks behind the four Congresswomen. Democrats had been demonstrating that there is a range of points of view and that those four people in The Squad did not speak for all Democrats. A Vietnam combat veteran, who spent thirteen months carrying a rifle in the jungle, wrote this blog to say he was happy Democrats were putting distance between themselves and AOC:
"The Squad is rebuked as vapid 'like me' goofballs by the majority of the caucus. The better military metaphor is when rank and file GI's beat the crap out of a loudmouth whose going to get everyone killed."
4. The wronged and indignant Four could be counted on to express the weakest position for Democrats in a fight with Trump: Open borders, everybody in.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, gave predictably powerful, compelling sound bite comments. She looked good on TV and she spoke directly and with passion. She is a natural leader:
"This country belongs to you, and it belongs to everyone."
That is the very point that Trump is using to frighten Americans. He says America does not belong to everyone. It belongs to Americans.
He is saying that the progressive talk of inclusion and celebration of diversity has no boundaries at all, as crazy Democrats see it. He says they think American borders are open to everyone, making us suckers, because we are paying for the disfunction of others. He says that this generosity is endangering us with crime and drugs, and impoverishing us by taking our jobs and welfare benefits. It is a contest between us and them, and he chooses Americans, real Americans.
AOC's telegenic comments become the voice of Democrats, and any Democrat who backs off of her position looks like a fellow traveler of Trump, the racist bully, which is anathama.
Trump has his ideal opponent.
Race, or boundaries. There is a non-racist way to think of the issue of immigration.
Democrats are inclined to see this primarily as a matter of race, but Trump and his supporters deny the racial text or subtext, and perceive it rather as a matter of boundaries and self preservation.
Consider oneself to be standing on a sidewalk when one is approached by a stumbling man, dirty and smelling of alcohol, standing very close and asking for money. Trump says the AOC position is to give the drunk man--and the millions like him standing behind him, and more everyday--all he asks for.
Trump says no, we need the money ourselves. We could give him a dollar but our generosity has limits, especially when we look up and see he is one of a huge crowd, all of them also seeking money. Wait, one might think, I cannot give money to all these people. In this frame, it isn't about the race of the stumbling man. It is about the fact that his problems are his responsibility to fix and that the need is endless and overwhelming. Giving him money for alcohol is pointless and expensive.
Trump says no, we need the money ourselves. We could give him a dollar but our generosity has limits, especially when we look up and see he is one of a huge crowd, all of them also seeking money. Wait, one might think, I cannot give money to all these people. In this frame, it isn't about the race of the stumbling man. It is about the fact that his problems are his responsibility to fix and that the need is endless and overwhelming. Giving him money for alcohol is pointless and expensive.
Trump's tweets treat the four dark skinned Congresswomen as stand-ins for immigrants, therefore as outsiders, and he tells them to go home and fix their own totally broken systems first--i.e. to sober up. Trump says we need boundaries.
AOC says this country belongs to everyone.
Americans will be uneasy with that.
5 comments:
The problem with the Trump immigration view is that it is fundamentally based on skin color, aside from being a complicated issue with several components that are tangental to race, for instance the refugee crisis or those that overstay visas.
I've never heard him or any other Regressive talk about the fact that 10 million+ immigrants work for the most part for substandard wages at jobs provided illegally by American employers.
That's a big reason they are coming here, and the more that come the less they will work for.
Now all of a sudden, "Oops, too many!"
They are not drunken panhandlers, they pay taxes and purchase goods and services, but are not eligible for Social Security. They buy cars and hopefully car insurance, but generally can't get health insurance. They pay rent to landlords but can't get a mortgage. In short they live like most Americans lived in the 1800s, at the mercy of whatever might befall them, but also unable to progress. Yet, facing all of this many have children who not only are succeeding, but have American values when by all rights they should be disillusioned.
Regressives are happy to look the other way while getting a roof done, but won't pay the extended costs of having a disadvantaged workforce.
Trump attacked the four congresswomen because of their extreme political comments and beliefs. They just all happened to be non-white. Is it against the law to criticize non-whites? Like many progressives, they don't have a leg to stand on policy-wise, so they revert to screaming racism because they can't debate the topic. That's a typical progressive response. "You're racist". You're a homophobe". "You're a misogynist". The truth is, those women are communists who hate America, and they want America to be like Venezuela. When it comes to true racism, then the Democratic Party has a monopoly on it. Jim Crow and the KKK were their creations.
~Nancy Pelosi~
This episode could have the consequences you state- uneasy middle Americans, but it might otherwise be helping the second problem, the tendency for democrats to form circular firing squads to harm themselves. There is generally a rift in the House with Pelosi and the four progressive women who are under trump's fire, but that has closed a bit. Biden speaks out against trump's brain fart, as do the other candidates. Democrats can have a moment of unity over this episode.
And Democrats in unity, with high voter turnout, especially with Blacks and other minorities, could pull off a win in 2020. Wishful thinking, I know!
Trump gets smeared daily, because he's the only person on the stage.
Put Biden, Harris, or Warren under a high-powered microscope, and critically dissect each one of them, and none of them will have a chance to be left standing afterwards versus Trump.
Every time I read or hear someone say “the truth is....” my reaction is to disregard as otherwise. Sort of like when someone says “a great many people.(think or believe)...” as though this is relevant, verifiable or compelling.
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