"Trump is not racial. He is against bad folks. Crooks. People that want to kill all of us. Get over it. You think too racially."
Comment by a prominent southern Oregon car dealer
What if he is right? Maybe it's about more than race. Maybe it's about age.
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| Young |
Today's news is digesting the story of Donald Trump in North Carolina. The crowd chanted a response to Trump: "Send her back! Send her back!"
Political commentary is settling in on a conclusion: It's really all about race. People of color aren't really Americans, in the eyes of Trump Nation.
Hillary Clinton said that racial prejudice was endemic, and condemned it.Trump took the smarter, more cynical approach. He denied people were racist--certainly not him--and then profited from exploiting what he denied. In this understanding, Trump is the symptom, not the problem. The crowd loved what Trump was feeding them.
But notice something:
Trump kicked off his re-election campaign in Florida. And now he is attacking four young women of color. Four young women.
Hillary Clinton said that racial prejudice was endemic, and condemned it.Trump took the smarter, more cynical approach. He denied people were racist--certainly not him--and then profited from exploiting what he denied. In this understanding, Trump is the symptom, not the problem. The crowd loved what Trump was feeding them.
But notice something: Trump kicked off his re-election campaign in Florida. And now he is attacking four young women of color. Four young women.
Florida is Trump country. The Silent Generation--people over age 75--are Trump voters. Boomers--especially age 60-75--also skew toward Trump. Make America Great Again means great like Trump's post WW2 youth, the 1950's:
When coal and fossil fuels were just dandy.
When this was an unquestionably white dominated country.
When men were strong and aggressive and women were submissive.
When darker skinned people were out of sight and in low status positions.
When the US had overwhelming manufacturing advantages.
When people didn't worry much about industrial pollution, and certainly not "climate."
When blacks knew their place.
When immigration numbers were small, and primarily from western Europe.
When Christianity was the assumed, default American religion.
Trump is governing toward the mindset and interests of older Americans..
He opposes Medicare for the young. His tax cuts create a budget deficit to be paid by the next generation. His climate denial has risks for young people later. He opposes reorganizing college loans. He jawbones the Fed for low interest rates, which inflates asset prices, including homes owned by older people at the expense of young people trying to buy them.
Young people grew up in a different world, where there were black people on TV, both in shows and in ads, and where Reagan-era changes in the immigration laws created growing ethnic diversity. The young do not see the four congresswomen of color to be as "foreign" as does Trump or his base of older voters. To the young, the Squad does "look like America." Trump defines their policies as socialistic and anti-American. There is another way to look at them. The policies benefit young people. Medicare for all, a New Deal on climate, affordable college, wealth redistribution, and a higher minimum wage are the concerns of the young.
The Squad is more than the voice of racial justice. They are the voice of a new generation. Trump is betting they won't turn out to vote.
9 comments:
Hey, Peter, don't generalize too much about the old folks, either! I am 76 and hate trump, and could be considered fairly progressive. I have not mellowed a bit over time!
He did not pick on Sanders or Merkley, or even Warren, here. Nor other young and white legislators. Just four women of color. Young, yes. Appearing to look like immigrants is what he was going after, I believe. Adding a new chant to the Hillary lock-up one, - "send her back". All for his base and the immigration issue.
I think the GOP and Cheeto are praying the young don't turn out to vote and I think they are going to be sorely disappointed. He is so offensive, he and his followers are figuratively reaching into people's homes and psyches and pulling them off the fence, or their couches, and assuring that they will make their voices heard.
Either Peter Sage is in living in a fantasy world, or he's a propagandist.
Come-on, now.......Trump doesn't hate people because they are young or old, or fat or skinny, or black or white, or Christian or Muslim. Trump is an evolving conservative, and he's a nationalist who loves America, and he opposes socialists and communists, which all of these four women openly are. If they were old and Christian, then he'd still oppose them. Trump is not a Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders fan either.
All four of these women hate America. Their values are not the values of the majority of Americans. They openly hate America. None are that bright, either.
Just this week, US Rep. Ilhan Omar proposed a resolution supporting the right to boycott Israel, likening the boycott of the Jewish state to boycotts of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. So....she wants to liken Israel to the Nazis? She's a sick woman.
Omar also supports radical terrorists. She may have immigrated to America from Somalia, but she's still a Somalian communist at heart who hates America and its allies.
And you want these four women to be the voice of the Democratic Party? Good luck! (just kidding)
If the Democrats want to become the party of extreme leftists/socialists/communists, then they'll get beat worse than George McGovern did. November, 2020 will be a bloodbath for the Democrats.
Activists in Congress! What next!
We've had Tea Partiers pushing their agendas for 25 years, to the point where they now effectively control the GOP, certainly Sen. McConnell keeps an eye on them at all times. Now, with Trumplicans attempting to drag the country back to the glorious 1950s, (or is it 1850s?), it's only logical there would be a backlash from those who have no interest in a mythical past that only exists in the minds of the few who benefitted from a society that oppressed women and minorities.
OF COURSE racists deny their racism. They know it's not acceptable anymore so they can't act out their bigotry like the good old days. That's progress-at least they know it's wrong and make up rationalizations.
They embrace Trump because he says "there are good people on both sides", forgetting that it's not a debate.
The four young women (aka "The Squad") are the vanguard of the new Democratic party. The old party, with its neoliberal economic agenda, sold its soul during the Clinton years and continued on that road during the Obama years. These four women LOVE our country but they get criticized, even enduring death threats, for challenging us to live up to our most cherished ideals. In that sense they are the real nationalists, espousing ideals that jibe with the Roosevelt and Johnson administrations. Sarah Palin famously quipped, "How's that workin' for ya'" when she referred to the "hopey-changey thing" promised by Obama. I could ask the MAGA folks a similar questions..."Are ya feelin' great yet?" Probably not, considering that they are mostly not part of the investor class getting all the tax breaks thanks to their misplaced anger and addiction to FAUX News. Supporters of both mainstream parties vote against their own best interests as long as they continue to support the cronies of Big Business monopolies.
RIP, Justice Stevens:
The United States Supreme Court held (5–4) on January 21, 2010 that the free speech clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution prohibits the government from restricting independent expenditures for communications by nonprofit corporations, for-profit corporations, labor unions, and other associations.
"The Court's ruling threatens to undermine the integrity of elected institutions across the Nation. The path it has taken to reach its outcome will, I fear, do damage to this institution...A democracy cannot function effectively when its constituent members believe laws are being bought and sold." - Justice John Paul Stevens (dissenting opinion)
Democrats are hypocrites. They call their opponents "haters", yet they are the ones consumed by hate.
A good illustration is George Kramer's comment above, where he calls Trump a "Cheeto". I've heard others with Trump Derangement Syndrome use that same derogatory term. What would Democrats say if someone were to hypothetically call a black democrat politician a "Coco Puff"? Democrats would be freaking-out, and calling for the offenders neck, and they'd call that person a racist. Well....in contrast, George Kramer is a true racist and a bigot and a hater. Thanks for showing us, George.
Peter Sage for Art Baden
Leaving aside my own belief that Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar is at best passionate and naive, and at worst a bigoted fool; it remains that anti-Zionism, anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism are three separate and distinct things,
Some believe that Israel is a totalitarian and racist state. Others believe that it is the only true democracy in the Middle East and America’s most reliable ally.
Similarly, some people believe that Saudi Arabia is a feudal murderous misogynistic regime. Others believe it is an essential economic and military ally.
Believing the worst of Saudi Arabia makes one neither an Islamophobe, nor anti-American. Believing that Saudi Arabia foments terrorism and should be subject to economic sanctions and denied access to state-of-the-art American military equipment does not make one Anti-American,
Why then can’t one be critical of Israel’s government, even to the point of advocating an economic boycott, without being labeled an anti-Semitic America hater? Trump and his ilk accuse anyone who does not support the current Netanyahu regime as anti-Semitic and anti-American while his son in law and advisor Jared Kushner pals around with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, who ordered the murder of an American journalist.
Art Baden
Do we really need to point out to Curt that referring to trump as “Cheeto” has to do with his unfortunate and embarrassing personal spray tan and makeup choices that leave him orange tinted. It has nothing to do with his race or ethnicity. Therefore, it is not a racist statement. Calling a black individual a “coco puff” would be a racial slur and yes - people/Democrats should “freak out” or at least call it what it is.
George Kramer is not a bigot or a racist of using the term “Cheeto”. It appears Curt isn’t as bright as he claims to be. Nor is he accurate on the communist, socialist, and other demeaning labels he likes to throw around. Per usual, he’s not contributing anything substantive to the discussion.
Get real! You're dishonest, Mr. No-Name. Would you call an Asian "Cheeto"? How about a black person? How about a Hispanic? The answer is NO!! The ONLY ethnicity that you'd call a "Cheeto" would be a Caucasian with red/blond hair. You wouldn't even call a Caucasian with dark brown hair a "Cheeto". Quit with the cute denials. "Cheeto" is a racist and derogatory comment directed at a small population of Caucasians. You don't get to define individual words in order to accommodate your politics. "Cheeto" is derogatory, period. George is a bigot for using the term.
As for the term "socialist", both Rashida Talieb, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Ilhan Omar all identify themselves as socialists. That's what they call themselves. Even Bernie Sanders calls himself a socialist. That's where the democratic party is going.....socialism. Don't kid yourself.
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