Posted on 07/16/2019 5:37:40 AM PDT by Kaslin
President Donald Trump's playground taunt Sunday that "the Squad" of four new radical liberal House Democrats, all women of color, should "go back and help fix the totally broken and crime-infested places from which they came," dominated Monday morning's headlines.
Yet those headlines smothered the deeper story.
The Democrats are today using language to describe their own leaders that is similar to the language of the 1960s radicals who denounced Democratic segregationist governors like Ross Barnett and George Wallace.
Consider what the four women have been saying.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has accused Speaker Nancy Pelosi of attacking "newly elected women of color." Was she calling Pelosi a "racist"?
"No!" protested AOC. But it sure sounded like it.
AOC's chief of staff Saikat Chakrabarti attacked Native American Rep. Sharice Davids for her vote on a Pelosi-backed bill that sent $4.6 billion in aid to the border but lacked the restrictions on Trump policies progressives had demanded.
Chakrabarti described Davids' vote as "showing her ... enable a racist system," adding that some Democrats "seem hell bent to do to black and brown people what the old Southern Democrats did in the '40s."
The House Democratic Caucus ripped Chakrabarti, "Who is this guy and why is he explicitly singling out a Native American woman of color?"
At a Netroots Nation conference this weekend, African American Rep. Ayanna Pressley declared: "We don't need any more brown faces that don't want to be a brown voice. ... We don't need any more black faces that don't want to be a black voice."
This comes close to calling members of the Black Caucus "Uncle Toms."
Monday, the president doubled down, tweeting:
"We all know that AOC and this crowd are a bunch of Communists, they hate Israel, they hate our own Country, they're calling the guards along our Border (the Border Patrol Agents) Concentration Camp Guards, they accuse people who support Israel as doing it for the Benjamin's"
The "Benjamins" recalls the accusation of Somali-born Ilhan Omar of Minnesota that the Israel Lobby buys the votes of members of Congress. "It's all about the Benjamins baby."
Rashida Tlaib of Michigan is the other congresswoman in Trump's sights. Together, the four have achieved a prominence that almost exceeds that of Majority Leader Steny Hoyer or Majority Whip James Clyburn.
The four -- AOC, Tlaib, Pressley, Omar -- have no clout in the Democratic caucus. But because of the confrontations they have caused and the controversy they have created, they have a massive media following.
Paradoxically, their interests in winning cheers as the fighting arm of the Democratic Party coincide with the interests of Donald Trump. He entertains and energizes his base by answering in kind their attacks on him and by adopting incendiary rhetoric of his own. He is now assuming the old "America! Love it or Leave it!" stance in going after the four women as anti-American ingrates.
They, by calling Trump a criminal, racist and fascist for whom impeachment proceedings should have begun months ago, elate and energize the outraged left of their party.
Among the presidential candidates, some have begun to side with the four, with Bernie Sanders saying Pelosi has been "a little" too tough on them.
On "Meet the Press," Bernie added: "You cannot ignore the young people of this country who are passionate about economic and racial and social and environmental justice. You've got to bring them in, not alienate them."
Trump's Sunday attack forced Pelosi to stand with her severest critics, and she re-elevated the race issue with this tweet: "When Trump tells four American Congresswomen to go back to their countries, he reaffirms his plan to 'Make America Great Again' has always been about making America white again."
Do Democrats believe that refighting the racial battles of the 1960s that were thought to have been resolved is a winning hand in 2020?
Does Pelosi think that demeaning white America is going to rally white or minority Americans to Democratic banners?
The race issue had already arisen in the first debate when Sen. Kamala Harris called out front-runner Joe Biden for befriending segregationist Senate colleagues in the '70s and '80s, and for colluding with them to block court-ordered busing to achieve racial balance in the public schools.
Observing the clash between Trump and these women, the rank and file of the Democratic Party are being forced to take sides. Many will inevitably side with the fighters, as Democratic moderates appear timid and tepid.
Trump is driving a wedge right through the Democratic Party, between its moderate and militant wings. With his attacks over the last 48 hours, Trump has signaled whom he prefers as his opponent in 2020. It is not Biden; it is "the Squad."
Sunday, Pelosi recited again her mantra, "Diversity is our strength; unity is our power." It sounded less like a proclamation than a plea.
We see the diversity. Where is the unity?
Oops sorry about that. Thanks for posting the link
“On “Meet the Press,” Bernie added: “You cannot ignore the young people of this country who are passionate about economic and racial and social and environmental justice. You’ve got to bring them in, not alienate them.” “
Bernie is making a mistake “bringing them in.” He assumes that once he brings them in, they will be his to use. Wrong. They will take the microphone from him and shove him aside. (As happened at one of his 2016 campaign appearances when a black woman just walked up and took his mic away to berate the crowd with her voice. He stood meekly by and let it happen. Ain’t diversity and unity grand?)
Trump has them on their heels. They are playing defense not offense. They are defending the banner of the least popular and most radical among them - not a good strategy.
These four were sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution, yet they support illegal immigration and even want to give them voting status. Are they NUTS! How many other foreign countries would let us vote in their elections? Time to do what they swore an oath to do: Uphold and defend the Constitution! If you are not doing that, you should be forced to resign your office.
Please be careful. You might be labeled a concern troll with that kind of lucid comment.
Satan’s Squad
Even if they know Trump’s playing them, they can’t help but respond. He knows that and is using it against them. He is absolutely masterful at this.
I love and adore our President more and more every day! He has lived the American dream and is taking on the “Four Stooges” tweeking them like a fine tuned violin. They are indeed products of s***hole countries. God Bless President Trump and God Bless America! The great OZ has spoken.
‘Women of Color’? With a light tan I have more color than half that group of squatters.
Why aren’t Rednecks considered people of color?
Thanks. It's happened more than once.
Yes, but unify them around what? Nancy got pushed into momming the squad and now the whole lot of them are pushed further left. Unified to the left when they are deciding which candidate to finance against Trump. It’s a long way until Nov. 2020.
“What Trump’s comments did was unify the Democrats, however briefly.”
The ones in DC, maybe. But out here in flyover country the old school white working class Dems I know are pretty much horrified.
L
But they are unifying behind them not because of their positions, which I agree are unpopular, but because of the personal attacks on them. It's easy for any Democrat to explain that as their reason for supporting them.
It would give the Dems a chance to talk about him instead of the fight they were having and give Pelosi a chance to get on with her work. It could in theory work out for Nancy and help keep her in power. The thing I’m noticing though is that there are a lot of Democrat 2020 campaigns on deaths door and Warren is getting a lot more money than her polling should indicate. I think he may be swinging them Left and that’s what this is all about.
They're certainly all talking about Trump today. And Pelosi seems to me moving on with her work, once the non-binding resolution condemning Trump for his attacks on members of Congress is out of the way today.
I think he may be swinging them Left and that’s what this is all about.
They don't need Trump's help to swing to the left. Candidates always move to the extreme of their party during primaries because it's the base that votes in them. Then they try to move towards the middle for the general. This is not at all unusual.
If Warren wins the money race, she polls about the worst against Trump on RCP.
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