Trump's cruelty and hate are creating a defining moment for Democrats
By Greg Sargent
July 13 at 11:02 AM
President Trump’s rampaging and destructive international tour has taken yet another turn in an interview with a London tabloid, in which he blasted British Prime Minister Theresa May as soft on Brexit and as an added bonus went full white nationalist, not with a dog whistle but with a clanging, blaring sound truck.
Trump savaged the Muslim mayor of London for doing a “terrible” job on terrorism, and he claimed that “immigration” to Europe — not illegal immigration, mind you — is changing Europe’s “fabric.” Addressing European audiences, Trump said that due to “millions and millions” of immigrants, “you are losing your culture.”
This sends a strong message to white nationalists all over the world, but it’s also likely aimed at domestic audiences as well: It is about keeping immigration in U.S. headlines, out of a belief that Republicans can win the midterms on the issue. The architect of Trump’s white-nationalist agenda, Stephen Miller, has said the White House strategy is to cast Democrats as the party that loves open borders and coddles tattoo-festooned immigrant gang members, in contrast with the allegedly pro-American-worker posture of Trump’s immigration agenda (cuts to legal immigration included).
Many House Republicans would be uncomfortable with Trump’s explicit rhetoric about immigration as a threat to “culture.” But as Ronald Brownstein has pointed out, House Republicans are increasingly getting pulled into Trump’s vortex, with most of them now supporting deep cuts to legal immigration. Republican candidates have employed the same sort of race-baiting attacks around MS-13 that Trump relishes. And right now, House Republicans are pushing forward with plans to force Democrats to vote on an “Abolish ICE” measure, which House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) says will help Republicans this fall — thus taking up the same “open borders” attacks on Democrats that Trump’s chief white nationalist adviser has employed.
All of this sets up a defining moment for Democrats. Many House Democrats are likely to vote against the “Abolish ICE” measure. As I’ve argued, individual Democrats can and should tailor their stance on “Abolish ICE” to their own policy beliefs, values and districts. But they should not police their left flank on this issue, because that actually plays into Trump’s hands by projecting weakness and lack of conviction. Indeed, doing that risks distracting Democrats from the urgent task of mounting the kind of defense of immigrants that this historical moment demands.
There are intense internal debates underway among Democrats about how to get this right in the context of the midterms, according to Frank Sharry, the executive director of America’s Voice. Sharry tells me that many House Democrats he talks to agree that Trumpism has created the need for Democrats to defend immigrants in a kind of party-defining manner. At the same time, Democrats also want to talk about other issues — such as health care — so they have come to view the challenge this way: Democrats must unequivocally defend immigrants, while not allowing the midterm elections to only be about immigration, as Trump appears to want.
Sharry, for his part, has recommended to Democrats that they do this by pointing to the cruelty of Trump’s policies, while also linking the Republican attacks over immigration to the failure of their plutocratic agenda. “They want to define Democrats as for ‘illegals’ and against you,” Sharry told me. “Democrats have to say, ‘Trump is putting children in cages and breaking up immigrant families. We’re going to stand up for immigrants and for you. Republicans are dehumanizing immigrants to distract from the fact that they’re screwing all of us, by lining the pockets of billionaires with tax cuts and threatening health care and education for all.’
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2018/07/13/trumps-cruelty-and-hate-are-creating-a-defining-moment-for-democrats/
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