It saddens me but I simply don't agree that hammering Trump harder over racism is going to help us defeat him in 2020.
Trump launched his 2016 campaign with a blatantly racist attack on Mexicans. He then proceeded to run a blatantly racist, white supremacist campaign. Dem and GOP strategists were all over cable news insisting such blatant racist attacks would doom Trump.
He won the GOP nomination.
Some GOP strategists feared dropping their decades-long tactic of hiding behind thinly veiled racist "dog whistles," would cost them dearly in the general election.
Contrary to the recent attempts to rewrite history, Hillary Clinton actually did repeatedly attack Trump's racism.
Trump lost the popular vote but won the electoral college. While the GOP did lose some seats in Congress, they also retained control.
His racism wasn't a deal breaker many of us hoped it would be. Parts of the Obama Coalition stayed home or voted 3rd party instead of standing up to this disgusting "birther."
Some blame Hillary Clinton's high negatives, poor campaign organizing, MSM, Comey, Russia and a perfect storm for the 2016 presidential loss and the failures down-ballot.
As someone who has heartily disliked the Clintons for decades, I admit I heaped plenty of blame on her, too, after that 2016 debacle. How could anyone lose to this openly racist, sexist PIG I thought and said.
Charlottesville was my eye-opener.
It should have been the eye-opener for every Democrat and left-leaning voter and candidate in this country.
The unthinkable happened, an American President defended Nazis as very fine people. His Presidency should have been doomed on that day. His attempt to spin it as defending the Confederate statues only made it clearer he was a white supremacist!
But, Trump's numbers rebounded.
If defending the white supremacist Nazis isn't even a deal breaker anymore, then what is?
Children in cages caused Trump and the GOP far more, lasting damage than Dems hammering him over blatant racist attacks.
The suburban, white women who didn't blink an eye at Trump promising to abuse brown adults at the border, did recoil over the images and reports of caged, brown children. These are the type who donate to Unicef and Save the Children causes but too often vote GOP. For them, caged children is something that only happens in "shithole countries" where children are prey. To see it happening here in America in front of their eyes did break through the noise. I know a die-hard Trumpster Latina senior who dismissed his every racist attacks on Latinos, but actually cried for those caged little kids. Hammering home Trump abusing children does break through.
In 2018, the GOP suffered heavy losses in the suburbs due to women swinging towards the Dems. Dems hammered GOP over trying to take away pre-existing conditions and ran on protecting the ACA. Many smart Dems pointed out the many children with pre-existing conditions and who suffered from life-time caps prior to ACA.
When Trump led the GOP fearmongering over the scary caravans, many a smart Dem counter-attacked with promises their own sensible border security plans expressly forbade caging innocent children like animals. That's a killer counter-attack VA's Spanberger delivered to loud cheers.
Far too many white men may be okay with hurting children to punish brown people, but many women do draw the line at abusing children.
Doug Jones defeated Roy Moore in the 2017 Alabama Senate Race, because enough white women drew the line at voting for an accused child molester. Credit to the incredible mobilization efforts by black women who did care about real "family values” candidate.
Child abuse and molestation can be a deal-breaker and Trump knows it. That’s why he's trying so hard to distract us from Epstein.
Trump isn't very smart, but he IS a long-time predator who has honed his self-preservation skills. Epstein's arrest and Acosta's corrupt deal was headline news all over the country. Papers were reprinting Trump/Epstein old photos and journalists were digging more of the them. More victims were coming forward. Alan Dershowitz couldn't even defend Trump this time because he was under barrage of attacks himself.
The sharks were having a feeding frenzy and a Trump was back on his heels, super-defensive about his long friendship with another PEDOPHILE.
He's preyed on women for decades. He defended and supported Roy Moore the child molester. He promoted the corrupt Acosta who let pedophile Epstein escape charges so he could prey on dozens more children. Predators stick together is what I expected to hear from the Squad and every Democratic candidate and activist.
Instead, Trump successfully wiped the Epstein news off the front pages by launching another of his patented racist distractions. He's sitting in the White House laughing his ass off at MSM and us for falling for his same old, trick.
For those that insist don't worry Epstein's case isn't going away, they're missing my point. You defeat your opponents by hammering them over and over with one killer message, which is why “Crooked Hillary” proved so successful.
Elijah Cummings ripped into DHS chief over reports caged children were sitting in their feces, treated like dogs, and it's NOT leading the cable news shows nor are Dems talking about it on those shows. Epstein was denied BAIL and NBC found damaging footage of a very friendly Trump/Epstein partying together.
But, Trump's racism still dominates news and even dKos coverage today.
The very definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome.
My heart is with those who believe hammering Trump harder on racism will work. But my head knows racism isn’t a deal-breaker and the GOP understand this all too well. My head believes we’ve seen evidence these are deal-breakers we must hammer home:
A President who cages children abuses children.
A president who supported Roy Moore stands with those who molest children.
A president who pal'ed around with a notorious pedophile and promoted the corrupt prosecutor who let the pedophile skate, is a friend of pedophiles who abuse our children.
I want to hear Dems hammering home we must defend our precious children from this predator!
The TrumPredator.