Democrats' Phony Cries of Racism Won't Work in 2020
COMMENTARY
By Steve Cortes
Propagandists throughout history have long known that repetition acts as the propellant of falsehoods. Thus, the Democrat media narrative machine incessantly infects our political dialogue with the unsubstantiated smear that President Trump and his supporters are racists.
Last week, actor Jeff Daniels, of “Dumb and Dumber” fame, appeared on MSNBC and delivered an all-too-typical elitist rant against the concerns of working-class Americans whom, they portend, are largely motivated by racial animus. He assailed the Republican agenda as inherently bigoted:
“At the end of the day, aside from, ‘Yeah, I don’t want to pay taxes,’ it’s race. It’s race. This is about the Republican Party or a wing of it going, ‘This is our last chance to save the party and if we don’t, it’s the end of the Republican Party.’ The only way they can do that was to tap the race button and say, ‘Go ahead, it’s okay.'”
Anchor Nicolle Wallace proclaimed Daniels’s current Broadway role as Atticus Finch in “To Kill a Mockingbird” as relevant to the present moment. While the lessons of that esteemed Harper Lee story will always be illustrative, Wallace’s contention was clear: 2019 America resembles the 1930s in the fictional Maycomb, Alabama.
Really?
In point of fact, while racism of course still exists and poisons the hearts of some, the kind of institutional, systemic oppression that marked the South of 100 years ago has been largely eradicated by decades of legal protections for previously abused groups. If anything, as I can attest as a minority myself, the laws and policies of today provide actual advantages to citizens of color in critical areas like higher education and government contracting. But aside from laws, our cultural progress on these issues stands out even more impressively. Interracial relationships are now totally unremarkable. This country, which once viewed black men as property, elected one to the presidency -- twice in fact. His wife, former first lady Michelle Obama, was named in a Gallup poll as America’s most admired woman for 2018, with another black woman, Oprah Winfrey, taking second place.
Again, none of these advancements prove that racism does not exist in our imperfect world. But the reality of present-day America totally contradicts the propaganda scare tactics of race hustlers in the media and politics. Those activists want us to fear racists around every corner and Klansmen under every bed. In actuality, a roundup all of the neo-Nazis and KKK members in America would scarcely fill a high school gymnasium. For example, linking to a news story about a white supremacist rally over the Memorial Day weekend in Dayton, Ohio, actress Alyssa Milano tweeted out, “I don’t recognize my country anymore.” The collection of degenerate racists that so worried Ms. Milano: a grand total of nine hateful malcontents seeking attention.
Why, then, does the left insist on this racist smear? First, they view minority communities as political captives. For example, Donald Trump’s comparative success in 2016 among Hispanics, besting Mitt Romney’s Latino vote percentage from 2012, enraged activist liberals. Since taking office, Trump’s popularity among Hispanics has soared, per recent polling. Hispanic citizens, it seems, care far more about Trump’s growth agenda accelerating wage gains and small business growth rather than the false narrative that he dislikes brown people. But in response, the liberal outrage propaganda apparatus shifts into higher gear, attempting to both scare minorities and shame whites into turning away from the allegedly racist Republicans.
Instead of fear-mongering, progressives might well consider some introspection and policy reforms, because the track record of Democrats in actually enhancing the prosperity and well-being of Americans of color reveals abject failure. For example, in my home city of Chicago, where the Democratic Party has exerted near total political control for almost a century, a staggering 47% of young black men age 20-24 are neither in school nor employed, per a University of Illinois study.
But rather than address policies that actually work for minorities, 2020 Democratic hopefuls like South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg would rather cast aspersions. When the Washington Post asked him on Thursday if President Trump is racist, Mayor Pete responded: “If you do racists things, and say racist things, the question of whether that makes you a racist is almost academic.”
When I press such Trump attackers on television to actually produce evidence of his racism, they normally default to two topics: Charlottesville and the border. Regarding the tragic incidents of Charlottesville in 2017, as I have documented, President Trump never called neo-Nazis “very fine people” and, in reality, he “totally condemned” the supremacists who attended. On immigration, enforcing our borders and protecting American citizens is not bigoted, as our nation is not a race, and in fact is full of incredible diversity, among both native-born and legal immigrant citizens. Moreover, the American citizens who suffer the worst consequences of lax policies on illegal immigration are actually black and brown Americans who face totally preventable crime from dangerous illegal aliens and must compete with unfair, illegal competition in labor markets.
If the howling activists like Jeff Daniels and Alyssa Milano want to sincerely effect material change to improve the lives of minorities in America, they should follow the lead of fellow celebrity Kim Kardashian, who funds a team of lawyers that uses President Trump’s landmark prison reform First Step Act of 2018 to free nonviolent offenders from lengthy or lifetime prison sentences. Many of the 17 ex-inmates released so far by her efforts are minorities, with many more to come.
Ultimately, Democrats’ racism scare tactics will not prevail. People understand the manipulations of the biased media and increasingly disbelieve the press. Even more importantly, they know their own reality – a life of more opportunity under the leadership of Donald J. Trump. As he proclaimed in his inaugural address: “When you open your heart to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice.” Amen.
Steve Cortes is a contributor to RealClearPolitics and a CNN political commentator. His Twitter handle is @CortesSteve.
COMMENTARY
By Steve Cortes
Propagandists throughout history have long known that repetition acts as the propellant of falsehoods. Thus, the Democrat media narrative machine incessantly infects our political dialogue with the unsubstantiated smear that President Trump and his supporters are racists.
Last week, actor Jeff Daniels, of “Dumb and Dumber” fame, appeared on MSNBC and delivered an all-too-typical elitist rant against the concerns of working-class Americans whom, they portend, are largely motivated by racial animus. He assailed the Republican agenda as inherently bigoted:
“At the end of the day, aside from, ‘Yeah, I don’t want to pay taxes,’ it’s race. It’s race. This is about the Republican Party or a wing of it going, ‘This is our last chance to save the party and if we don’t, it’s the end of the Republican Party.’ The only way they can do that was to tap the race button and say, ‘Go ahead, it’s okay.'”
Anchor Nicolle Wallace proclaimed Daniels’s current Broadway role as Atticus Finch in “To Kill a Mockingbird” as relevant to the present moment. While the lessons of that esteemed Harper Lee story will always be illustrative, Wallace’s contention was clear: 2019 America resembles the 1930s in the fictional Maycomb, Alabama.
Really?
In point of fact, while racism of course still exists and poisons the hearts of some, the kind of institutional, systemic oppression that marked the South of 100 years ago has been largely eradicated by decades of legal protections for previously abused groups. If anything, as I can attest as a minority myself, the laws and policies of today provide actual advantages to citizens of color in critical areas like higher education and government contracting. But aside from laws, our cultural progress on these issues stands out even more impressively. Interracial relationships are now totally unremarkable. This country, which once viewed black men as property, elected one to the presidency -- twice in fact. His wife, former first lady Michelle Obama, was named in a Gallup poll as America’s most admired woman for 2018, with another black woman, Oprah Winfrey, taking second place.
Again, none of these advancements prove that racism does not exist in our imperfect world. But the reality of present-day America totally contradicts the propaganda scare tactics of race hustlers in the media and politics. Those activists want us to fear racists around every corner and Klansmen under every bed. In actuality, a roundup all of the neo-Nazis and KKK members in America would scarcely fill a high school gymnasium. For example, linking to a news story about a white supremacist rally over the Memorial Day weekend in Dayton, Ohio, actress Alyssa Milano tweeted out, “I don’t recognize my country anymore.” The collection of degenerate racists that so worried Ms. Milano: a grand total of nine hateful malcontents seeking attention.
Why, then, does the left insist on this racist smear? First, they view minority communities as political captives. For example, Donald Trump’s comparative success in 2016 among Hispanics, besting Mitt Romney’s Latino vote percentage from 2012, enraged activist liberals. Since taking office, Trump’s popularity among Hispanics has soared, per recent polling. Hispanic citizens, it seems, care far more about Trump’s growth agenda accelerating wage gains and small business growth rather than the false narrative that he dislikes brown people. But in response, the liberal outrage propaganda apparatus shifts into higher gear, attempting to both scare minorities and shame whites into turning away from the allegedly racist Republicans.
Instead of fear-mongering, progressives might well consider some introspection and policy reforms, because the track record of Democrats in actually enhancing the prosperity and well-being of Americans of color reveals abject failure. For example, in my home city of Chicago, where the Democratic Party has exerted near total political control for almost a century, a staggering 47% of young black men age 20-24 are neither in school nor employed, per a University of Illinois study.
But rather than address policies that actually work for minorities, 2020 Democratic hopefuls like South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg would rather cast aspersions. When the Washington Post asked him on Thursday if President Trump is racist, Mayor Pete responded: “If you do racists things, and say racist things, the question of whether that makes you a racist is almost academic.”
When I press such Trump attackers on television to actually produce evidence of his racism, they normally default to two topics: Charlottesville and the border. Regarding the tragic incidents of Charlottesville in 2017, as I have documented, President Trump never called neo-Nazis “very fine people” and, in reality, he “totally condemned” the supremacists who attended. On immigration, enforcing our borders and protecting American citizens is not bigoted, as our nation is not a race, and in fact is full of incredible diversity, among both native-born and legal immigrant citizens. Moreover, the American citizens who suffer the worst consequences of lax policies on illegal immigration are actually black and brown Americans who face totally preventable crime from dangerous illegal aliens and must compete with unfair, illegal competition in labor markets.
If the howling activists like Jeff Daniels and Alyssa Milano want to sincerely effect material change to improve the lives of minorities in America, they should follow the lead of fellow celebrity Kim Kardashian, who funds a team of lawyers that uses President Trump’s landmark prison reform First Step Act of 2018 to free nonviolent offenders from lengthy or lifetime prison sentences. Many of the 17 ex-inmates released so far by her efforts are minorities, with many more to come.
Ultimately, Democrats’ racism scare tactics will not prevail. People understand the manipulations of the biased media and increasingly disbelieve the press. Even more importantly, they know their own reality – a life of more opportunity under the leadership of Donald J. Trump. As he proclaimed in his inaugural address: “When you open your heart to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice.” Amen.
Steve Cortes is a contributor to RealClearPolitics and a CNN political commentator. His Twitter handle is @CortesSteve.
