Trump has now dropped all pretenses and shown himself to be a rank racist. By telling four American politicians to get back to the countries they came from, he has shown to the world one of the most common tropes used by Whites against people of color.
Unfortunately, not one Republican politician of any consequence has condemned Trump’s behavior. What’s more, Trump’s insults are working very much the same way his insults worked during the primary that got him elected: it is rising his stature among the disaffected Whites that make up his coalition of religious zealots, gun-nuts and Confederacy apologists.
The “squad” is far from being a perfect vessel of all that is good and proper. For starters, they need to channel their defiance, not against Nancy Pelosi, but against Trump himself. Defiance of authority is a most American trait, but it should be exclusively addressed against Trump.
Secondly, the members of the squad need to recognize that not one of them has been re-elected: while they may have won their seats through primaries, they have yet to make the case to their own electorates that they are worthy of being in Congress. Re-election focuses the attention of politicians because they need to think of tangible achievements while in office. Until they have won re-election they must admit to themselves that a Twitter following a mandate does not make. The squad is foolishly facing against Pelosi, who’s been re-elected more times since before most of them were born.
But even with their faults, Trump’s demonization of the squad demonstrates his plan for re-election: paint Democrats as being open borders-loving, Israel-hating, and racist (against Whites) socialists.
Trump may not have gotten his wall, but he sure is getting what he wants by placing children in cages to deter their families from seeking refuge in the United States. Similarly, Trump will go unconventional in his re-election campaign because common decency does not apply to him.
The Democratic party must quickly conclude that they are not dealing with a normal person. Trump is deranged and there is no limit to his ability to wreck lives and in the process tear away at the fabric of American society. Trump does not care about America as an ideal, he cares only about re-election. We must never forget that being in office makes Trump immune from prosecution for crimes he is known to have committed. Just as Silvio Berlusconi found in Italy, being an elected politician has legal immunity as one of its advantages.
As Carol Anderson’s excellent piece on Time shows, Trump is ready to destroy America in order to achieve his re-election at all costs. Even if these costs include the democratic ideal of E Pluribus Unum. And if Trump prevails, the future of the republic looks grim.
Democrats must act with haste and not wait until after Mueller’s upcoming testimony to fight Trump back. Fighting back includes declarations that Democrats have never been for open borders. Trump is winning the argument as he has pitted refugees against the notion of America as a country of laws. Never mind that accepting refugees is part of the legal convention that the United States is party to. But try putting that in a bumper sticker: it won’t work. Democrats must stop trying to ask the electorate to come to its senses at a time when racial hatred is being inflamed by Trump. Democrats must appeal to base emotions and counter that Trump is a danger to America.
One way is to force statements from Republican politicians past and present to go on the record on whether they believe Trump is a racist. Imagine the weight of a denunciation of Trump by Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell or Massachusetts Republican Governor Charlie Baker.
Another way is to remind the electorate about health care and pre-existing conditions and how Trump and his acolytes are prepared to gut Obamacare with no replacement for it. Democrats can also speak about even more mundane things that matter. Such as the deficit.
It is also time for the Democratic party to decide whether they will impeach Trump in the House. Trump has met the bar of high crimes and misdemeanors as evidenced in the Mueller report: at least ten instances of obstruction of justice. Keeping their powder dry is a terrible idea: Trump must be provoked into further racist rants and Democratic decorum is unwarranted. We must get Trump’s tax returns and any evidence of financial malfeasance; impeachment is the only method by which to get this done. Trump must be further provoked and one telling way would be to begin impeachment proceedings.