Posted on 12/20/2018 2:18:54 PM PST by Drango
Donald Trump has had success at using identity politics. Ohio's Mahoning Valley is a place where a conservative version of identity politics — tied to race and class — is flourishing.
NOEL KING, HOST:
For years, Republicans have insisted that they don't engage in identity politics. But many political science researchers disagree. And they point to Donald Trump's success as proof. NPR's Asma Khalid brought us this story. It's about the transformation of Mahoning Valley in eastern Ohio. This is a place where a conservative version of identity politics, tied to race and class, is flourishing.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
ASMA KHALID, BYLINE: When I walked into the GOP office in Mahoning County, there was a festive feeling - and not just 'cause it was the annual Christmas party but because Republicans in Ohio dominated the midterms. This area hasn't had a GOP state legislator for as long as anyone can remember. But in November, two Republicans won seats in the state house. Paula Muir is one reason this county's changing. She used to be a Democrat. But when Donald Trump joined the presidential race, she officially became a Republican.
PAULA MUIR: I felt that he truly always seemed to be, you know, just American all the way. And that - I liked that he wasn't politically correct.
KHALID: According to a new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist Poll, three-quarters of Republicans are upset that there are too many things people cannot say anymore. For Muir, there was another thing that drove her to the GOP - immigration.
MUIR: We are a land of opportunity, but don't storm our borders. And the Democrats seem to be pushing those storming the borders in front of those that are waiting that came in the right way.
KHALID: I asked her why she thinks the Democrats are doing this.
MUIR: I think they look at them as voters. Honestly - honest to goodness (laughter), I do.
KHALID: To be clear, Democrats are not encouraging people who've entered the country illegally to vote.
The Mahoning Valley is about an hour-ish east of Cleveland. It's a blue-collar place, but the factory work is not as plentiful as it used to be.
DAVID BETRAS: And the Democratic Party has lost its voice to speak to that pain.
KHALID: That's David Betras. He heads the Mahoning County Democratic Party. Like a lot of local Democrats, he feels the national party has become too coastal, too elite. Betras says people around here just want job security.
BETRAS: The impression that I'm getting is that our volume is too loud on identity politics.
KHALID: But Democrats aren't the only ones talking about identity.
MICHAEL TESLER: We've found that much of the rise of Trump can be explained through the lens of identity politics.
KHALID: Michael Tesler is a researcher at the University of California, Irvine.
TESLER: This idea of white grievance and white identity, that whites are the ones who have it worst in society, was a really powerful resource for Trump to tap into in a way that other politicians haven't.
KHALID: Tesler studies voters over time and has noticed that their attitudes on immigration, race and Muslims are essentially predictors for how they'll vote. But here in Ohio, sometimes those feelings are mixed in with a nostalgia for when this area was prosperous. That's how it is for Connie Kessler, the 78-year-old former hairdresser who volunteers every day at the local GOP headquarters.
CONNIE KESSLER: You go to Youngstown, you have boarded-up houses, sidewalks that haven't been changed since I was going to school. It's ridiculous.
KHALID: We talked for almost an hour about the economy, immigration, her frustration that people don't want to play the song "Baby, It's Cold Outside" anymore. And eventually, our conversation took a personal turn.
KESSLER: You're probably a Muslim. I don't care for them. I'm sorry.
KHALID: I am a Muslim from the Midwest. I've interviewed Kessler twice before, so maybe she felt she could be more open with me. I asked her why she doesn't care for Muslims.
KESSLER: Because they want to take over America. Why can't they just come here and live like us? I want you to be an American, do what we do. We were here first. OK? You're second.
KHALID: Local Democrats are convinced that fears over immigration are misplaced and the only way to win Trump voters back is to talk to them about jobs. David Betras says the worst thing his party could do is to write this part of the country off.
BETRAS: You can never get anyone to vote for you if you insult them. You know, if you say to someone - oh, you're a Trump supporter; oh, you're a racist - if the Democratic Party is going to take that route, I don't think they're going to win in 2020.
KHALID: Political science researchers are warning that partisanship is increasingly about our identities, not about the issues. And what that means is that when your team loses an election, it feels like you're personally under attack.
Must be well hidden if it requires researchers to find it.
How it is that NPR still gets federal funding is beyond me. They might deliver the lies in a softer voice than you might find on MSNBC, but they’re no less false.
Skimmed this but it is pure tripe. Researcher from UC Irving — really. The Left are experts at identify politics and continue to push the idea that if someone doesn’t like someone’s policy or attitude toward the U.S. then that person is guilty of racis or other ism’s and phobias. Like with Obama — I hated the SOB because he was anit-American, was a Socialist and hated the Constitution — not because he was black. But of course to the Dems and the Left if you didn’t like Obama it had to be because you were a racist. This article perpetuates that tripe.
Other things you can always be sure of are 'blah blah blah, report says' and 'bleh bleh bleh, study finds' and 'blah blah blah, sources say.'
Also, experts know everything.
To arrive at this conclusion, the researchers had to redefine what ID Politics means.
Meanwhile, we are subjected to this, a statement "with no factual basis", to coin a liberal phrase:
"KHALID: To be clear, Democrats are not encouraging people who've entered the country illegally to vote."
I don't think that every democrat is encouraging illegals to vote, but I think it is obvious that there are democratic operatives that are doing everything they think they can get away with to "lead" illegal immigrants and frankly legal ones as well into voting, even when they are not allowed to. California registers everybody to vote unless they actively opt out, and the new ballot mining makes it easy to get the votes of illegals cast.
NPR: National Propaganda Radio
Sounds like Asma is vying for the new job opening in Der Spiegel.
How it is that NPR still gets federal funding is beyond me. They might deliver the lies in a softer voice than you might find on MSNBC, but they’re no less false.
****************
Well said. If the Republicans wanted to defund NPR they have had more than enough opportunitity to do it by now. But just like with the Wall, they don’t want to do anything their constituients want. Its another example of an outrageous betrayal by the Gutless Old Party.
“Accuse your enemies of that which you are guilty.”
The left is defined by its use of identity politics. And NPR uses it shamelessly.
NPR?
Bwahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaah!
That set my blood boiling too. Leftists always seem to think the can manifest truths into existence just by believing or stating them. Just like how they believe they can criminalize school shootings (or whatever) and the existence of a law will cause reality to change course. Infuriating.
When they're not committing this claptrap, they "research" climate change.
The GOP *should* engage in identity politics.
That it doesn’t shows just how clueless and ill-prepared to deal with the near-term future it has become.
‘Studies’ show that LEFTist lie with smiles and winks and will do research for taxpayer’s money to get foregone conclusions!
Please pay me $100 k for my efforts!
FU you subjugated puke.
Have some freakin’ respect for yourself and
take that scarf off your head!
(Well that’s what you used to tell nuns and
Aunt Jemima, right?)
It's a disgrace. They are Leftists from top to bottom, and we help pay for it.
Pray for America.
Muslim are possibly the biggest victim group in history.
They get offended at the slightest..or often perceived ..offense.
Never mind they do not get along with any other culture on the planet.
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