The epic battle to lose the 2020 election
Well, maybe P.J. O'Rourke or Christopher Buckley.
But that is what we have. The President of the United States may or may not be a racist, but he can't seem to stop himself from opening his mouth and saying things which, while they might not be intended that way and could be taken otherwise if one is strongly enough inclined to do so, certainly sound racist. Or at the very least, can be plausibly understood as racist- which, from a political point of view, is close enough.
And he can't seem to learn his lesson. And his supporters and well-wishers defend it rather than trying to influence him to cut it out, if only for the sake of his own political well-being, and theirs.
Except that there's good reason to think that at least in some administration and Republican party circles, it's seen as a politically smart way to motivate the base and thus a sound re-election strategy.
I've written before about the political damage done by the overuse of the word "racist." It's a word which ought to shock, to appall, to elicit a strong visceral reaction of disdain and loathing from decent people. But it doesn't anymore. The Left has become so fond of tossing it around and accusing almost anyone who disagrees with them about any issue even remotely touching on race relations of being "racist" that the word has pretty much lost its impact. We've become numb to it- and that is not a good thing.
As I've written before, it's an open question as to whether and to what extent President Trump is a racist. Certainly, his rhetoric and behavior invite that conclusion. His vendetta against the four women of color in the U.S. House known collectively as "the Squad" invites suspicion simply because they are all women of color, although their radical politics (they're probably the most prominently far-left members of the House) provides plausible deniability. Less defensibly, their ethnic origins suggest that the xenophobia which is a large part of Mr. Trump's appeal may be at work.
Rep. Elijah Cunmings is an African-American. Though some have drunk enough of the Kool-Aide to react to any criticism of him as inherently racist, there are fewer of them than Mr. Trump and his supporters would like us to believe. Still, a president who might be suspected of having a racially-motivated agenda on other grounds would ordinarily be careful to avoid leaving the impression that any criticism he might make of an African-American had anything to do with race. Instead, Mr. Trump has gone out of his way to attack not just Rep. Cummings- who, after all, has been vocally and severely critical of Mr. Trump, something which in the president's eyes is always a grievous wrong- but the district Rep. Cummings represents- and, by extension, his constituents.
Is the president a racist, or- as is at least equally plausible, is he simply so clueless about race relations that he is unaware that he's making himself look like one? To what extent is all of this about outright racism, and to what extent is it about racial insensitivity? And whose? The president's, or to certain of his politically more sophisticated handlers, who see all this as a strategy for motivating a base considerably more racist than any Republican or Trump supporter is willing to acknowledge?
Meanwhile, on the other side of the political divide, it isn't enough that sentiment is running so strongly in favor of single-payer healthcare and other programs of debatable economic plausibility among Democrats, who are already committed to a strict and somewhat extreme ideological lockstep on a whole range of divisive social issues which separate them from a large number of voters who would really like to vote against Mr. Trump. The sentiment is increasing for an attempt to impeach the president which, even though arguably justified by his behavior, would result in an absolutely certain acquittal by a Republican Senate dominated by Trump supporters and provide a very serviceable argument that our snowflake president is being picked on by those mean, insanely-partisan, radical, Trump-hating Democrats.
It's almost funny that Donald Trump, who is the quintessential bully as well as the quintessential whining "snowflake," should accuse Rep. Cummings of being a bully. But he has. The president has played the "poor, picked-on me" card over and over as regards the Mueller investigation and pretty much whenever anybody has tried to hold him accountable. I can't for the life of me understand why the Democrats would make it easier for him when there is absolutely no chance of his conviction and removal from office by the Senate even if he were to be impeached.
A president who is a classic bully accuses one of his critics of being a bully, while his supporters rail against campus "snowflakes" even as he whines like a puppy every time somebody tries to hold him accountable or even criticizes him. A rabid puppy, that bites.
Remarkable.
A president whose entire political brand is based on setting American against immigrant and American against American accuses his critics of seeking to divide America without being laughed at by all but his most fanatical partisans.
Astounding.
But even more remarkable and astounding is that the Democrats seem hell-bent on making the implausible seem as reasonable as they possibly can, and on snatching defeat out of what ought to be a slam-dunk victory in 2020.
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