The American Human: Trump, the Champion of the Angry White, Should Court the Black Vote?

Sunday, September 6, 2015

Trump, the Champion of the Angry White, Should Court the Black Vote?

The African-American voter: Trump's ace in the hole?

Okay, um, no. But Bruce Bartlett -- a rational Republican voice -- believes otherwise:

Sooner or later, Republicans will recognize that the party’s negative image among Hispanics will keep it out of the White House indefinitely unless a new source of non-white votes can be found to replace the declining share of whites in the population. The original idea of Republican leaders was to enact immigration reform to neutralize Hispanic hostility, but Trump’s success, as well as the endorsement of his immigration views by other GOP candidates such as Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, makes that impossible for now. So if Republicans are stuck with an anti-immigrant message, they may as well use it to their advantage by reaching out to the black community, where it could resonate in an election in which the nominees of both parties will almost certainly be white.

I get it, I really do, that blacks might think that Latinos steal their jobs. Could a GOP candidate, presumably Donald Trump, successfully court the black vote by using a harsh immigration stand as proof that he's on the side of the blacks as far as jobs go?

Sure, in one of those alternate universes I've been hearing about.

Maybe it's feasible, but it would take a few election cycles of trashing Latino immigrants while actively working to convince a very dubious African-American community that the GOP -- not the Democrats -- are their true friends. Good luck with that.

Especially after what Steve Schmidt -- another relatively sane Republican -- said to NPR last Friday:

How is Trump getting so far in GOP? Steve Schmidt tells @MaraLiasson it's not about the issues. @MorningEdition @NPR pic.twitter.com/FEBFhmmEXc
— Steve Inskeep (@NPRinskeep) September 4, 2015

That contempt and anger is primarily white. It's what greases the grooves of Trump's appeal. Openly court blacks and keep the angry white vote on your side? That's a coalition too far, if you ask me. But, hey, go for it.

No comments:

Post a Comment

My General Principles

1. Civilized societies require the rule of law.
2. Science is my preferred method for examining and understanding reality.
3. Religion is superstition.
4. An educated society is a healthy society.
5. Democratic governments are by their very nature socialist.
6. Market economies are by their very nature capitalist.
7. Markets are not (entirely) efficient or rational and thus require regulation.
8. Don’t confuse politics with public policy.
9. Civil discourse requires rational argument, even if yelling or stomping your feet or name-calling is more fun.
10. If you consider making stuff up a viable tactic, you are disallowed from civil discourse.
11. Puritanism is America’s original sin.
12. Income redistribution is good for society, hoarding is not.
13. Everybody, from time to time, needs help.

About the American Human

The American Human is written by Calvin Ross, a retired teacher who at various points in life has been a musician, woodworker, restaurateur, narrator, English teacher in Japan, novelist, technology journalist, and private tutor to Japanese children here in the U.S.

Happily residing in the wine country of Sonoma County north of San Francisco, Calvin has lived in the Philippines, the Netherlands, and the aforementioned Japan, as well as in Chicago, Colorado, Georgia, and many different towns in California, including, of all places, the Mojave Desert.

Calvin, you may note quickly, is a liberal progressive who doesn't think being called a socialist is all that bad, especially since he sort of would like living in Denmark if it weren't so cold. He blogs because he can.