His only tool is racism: why Trump's bigoted tirade
could be a vote winner
The president seems to regard
divisive, nativist rhetoric as his best chance of staying in the White House.
Analysts say he may be right
Trump’s
vicious attacks on Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley and
Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, all women of colour, may be an example of a cynical
and warped strategy for self-preservation. Photograph: Erin Scott/Reuters
It was foul and repugnant. But was
it a vote winner?
Donald Trump’s bigoted tirade
against four congresswoman of colour, telling them to “go back” to the
countries they came from, prompted widespread revulsion – the comments “drip with
racism,” said the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer – and yet will not
necessarily damage his chances of reelection.
On the contrary, the US president
seems to regard divisive and nativist rhetoric as his best chance of clinging
on to the White House next year. And, analysts say, he may be right.
Ben Rhodes, a former national
security adviser to Barack Obama, tweeted: “Trump
launched his political brand 8 years ago saying the first African American
President was born in Africa. It has always been about racism, and the fact
that this has ever been a controversial thing to say is part of the problem.”
Trump is a minority president after
winning 46% of the popular vote in 2016, less than Hillary Clinton’s 48%, only
to prevail in the electoral college. All the signs of his nascent reelection
campaign so far suggest that he hopes to repeat the trick in the key
battleground states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin – all of which are
have predominantly white populations.
From this perspective Trump’s
vicious attacks on Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New
York, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, all women
of colour, may be an example of a cynical and warped strategy for
self-preservation.
Q&A
What
did Trump say in his racist ‘go back’ tweets?
John Zogby, an opinion
pollster and author, said: “You’d have to conclude anyone who gets to a
position of leadership has a level of rationality: Kim Jong-un in North Korea
and Saddam Hussein in Iraq knew enough not to start a nuclear war. Trump is a
guy obsessed with winning and a guy who has demons. I have to assume there
would be some sort of personal restraint if he thought this would harm him.”
'Go
back home': Trump aims racist attack at Ocasio-Cortez and other congresswomen
Read more
From questioning Obama’s birthplace
to calling for a Muslim ban to promising to build a border wall, Trump has
found no racist dog whistle is too incendiary. In fact he has been egged on by
a fervent base and never been held to account for his outrageous words or
deeds.
Advertisement
Zogby said: “Going for the base has
worked for him. Is he right? In a moral sense, it’s vile and reprehensible –
‘go back’ to your country is not a subtle, unconscious form of racism; that’s
the real thing. But will it hurt him? I don’t know. If the election were held
today, Trump would lose in a landslide. But the election is not today and the
Democrats have only just begun to tear each other apart.”
Along with his hardcore support,
Zogby noted, Trump will also point to a strong economy with low unemployment.
“This time around the white middle class is arguably doing better. What do the
Democrats have to offer? That is the question they will ask.”
Trump is breaking from every
previous incumbent president in modern times by not even attempting to reach
across the divide and broaden his coalition. He seems to be betting on turning
out his mainly white, male, ageing and lower educated support in the places
that matter to the electoral college. Immigration and border security is set to
be the defining issue.
Ron Brownstein, a senior
editor at the Atlantic, told CNN: “Under Trump, the Republican coalition has
become overwhelmingly centered on the voters and the parts of the country that
are most uneasy with demographic change.”
Brownstein cited research
by the Public Religion Research Institute showing two in three Republicans
say the growing number of immigrants threaten traditional American values and
traditions, compared to six in 10 of the country overall saying that immigrants
strengthen society.
Trump's attempt to win through
divide and rule tactics offers an unflinching look into America’s soul
Trump is centering Republicans
“primarily on the parts of the country that are least comfortable with all of
these changes”, Brownstein added. “And everything we are seeing – from the
wall, which is symbolic in its own way of standing against change –to these
raids, to the openly racist tweets, is an acknowledgment of that. And what’s
striking is how few Republicans, however much they may grumble privately, have
been willing to stand up against this redefinition of the party.”
Indeed, the Republican response
was muted with only a small number of current and former office holders
stepping forward to condemn Trump’s behaviour. Many seem willing to ride this
tiger into the 2020 contest.
3:50
'We will not be silenced': squad
Democrats decry Trump attacks – video
Advertisement
At
a joint press conference on Capitol Hill on Monday, the four Democratic
congresswoman – dubbed “the squad” – vowed that they would not allow Trump’s
predictable outbursts to distract them from addressing what they described his
draconian, life-threatening and family-separating policies. But Trump’s tweets
did deflect national attention from the mass round-ups and arrests of
undocumented immigrants and uncomfortable images of the vice-president, Mike
Pence, visiting overcrowded and unsanitary migrant detention facilities.
The
latest major Trump resignations and firings
Read more
A common refrain in the age of Trump
is: “This is not who we are”. A common riposte is to point to America’s long
history of slavery, segregation and violence and contend, “This is exactly who
we are”. The president’s attempt to win reelection through divide and rule
tactics in 2020 is set to offer an unflinching look into America’s soul.
Kurt
Bardella, a political commentator and former Republican congressional aide,
said: “Since the moment Trump entered on the political scene questioning the
first black president’s birthplace, his only tool is racism. Of course that’s
going to continue in 2020. The American people have a simple choice: either you
support racism or you don’t. We’re about to find out how racist America really
is.”
The outcome should not be taken for
granted. Michael
Steele, the former chairperson of the Republican National Committee, said:
“There are people out there who believe what Trump says. Before there was Trump
they felt that way; all he has done is give manifestation to this feeling in
public and political discourse.
“In the past they would have would
not have been given the time of day but you have someone who has given voice to
it, legitimised it. You have white nationalists applauding it and Republican
leaders who are silent. That’s the space we’re in.”
According to Steele, Trump is
motived by gut reaction rather than grand strategy. “I don’t put this in
politics or a presidential election: this speaks to our history, how we look at
each other, how we view people who are not from here and people who are from
here. It’s a sad statement about the state of America that some of our
political leaders are silent because they are afraid of Donald Trump.”
