New lines of division
Messaging for 2020: ‘Racist’ vs. ‘socialists’
This week, President Donald Trump and House Democrats have managed to sharpen the emotionally raw contours of the 2020 campaign.
Trump’s aggressive attacks against women of color in Congress have allowed Democrats to mend, for now, their own political divisions as the House put the president on record with a resolution condemning his words as racist. But by pushing the House majority into the arms of the squad of liberal freshmen women, Trump added to his narrative that Democrats have a “socialist” agenda.
– With tweets and a vote, President Donald Trump and House Democrats established the sharp and emotionally raw contours of the 2020 election campaigns.
In the process, they have created a fraught political frame: “racists” vs. “socialists.”
Trump’s aggressive condemnation of women of color in Congress has allowed House Democrats to mend, for now, their own political divisions as they put the president on record with a resolution condemning his words as racist.
But by pushing the House majority into the arms of the squad of liberal freshman women, Trump also adds to his narrative that Democrats have a “socialist” agenda, a story line he started to bring into focus during his State of the Union address.
On Wednesday, it was all set to escalate as Trump was jetting off for a campaign rally in Greenville, North Carolina, and the House prepared a symbolic vote on impeachment, though it was not expected to pass.
The state of affairs offers “a very clear choice,” said Ronna McDaniel, the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee on Wednesday.
“The Democrat party is now a socialist party, and these four women have become the de facto speakers of the Democrat House,” she said on Fox. “So he’s saying, do you want socialism or do you want what we’re delivering with higher jobs, higher wages, more jobs, a strong economy.”
But the four freshmen, in their own appearance together, portrayed the president as a bully who wants to “vilify” not only immigrants, but all people of color. They’re fighting for their priorities to lower health care costs, pass a Green New Deal addressing climate change, they say, while his thundering attacks are a distraction and tear at the core of America vales.
“America has always been about the triumph of people who fight for everyone versus those who want to preserve rights for just a select few,” said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, perhaps the most recognizable of the newcomers.
“And there is no bottom to the barrel of vitriol that will be used and weapWASHINGTON onized to stifle those who want to advance rights for all people in the United States,” she said on “CBS This Morning.”
The Democratic-led U.S. House voted Tuesday to condemn Trump’s “racist comments” against the congresswomen of color after he told them to “go back” to their own countries.
The women, Ocasio-Cortez and Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, all were born in the U.S. except for Omar, who became a U.S. citizen after fleeing Somalia as a refugee with her family.
Democrats eased the resolution through the chamber by 240-187, joined by four Republicans and one Republican-turned-independent congressman.