Confederate flags, suburban fair housing, unrest in cities — over the past week, President Trump has pitched a series of political issues that could have fit easily into the presidential campaign that George C. Wallace, the late segregationist governor of Alabama, ran more than a half-century ago.
Indeed, in the issues he has stressed, Trump more closely resembles Wallace, who won five states of the former Confederacy in 1968, than any major-party nominee since. Richard M. Nixon, for example, stressed “law and order” in response to the widespread civil unrest of that year, but also positioned himself as a relative moderate on civil rights, a balancing act foreign to the current president.
Oddly, Trump has staked out that turf just as the political ground has shifted sharply in the other direction: Polls consistently have shown Americans — especially whites — moving toward greater acceptance of Black claims for equality and fair treatment.
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Trump’s approach stems in part from his basic political instinct to hold his supporters together at all costs rather than risk reaching beyond his adopted political tribe. But he’s also taking a gamble that the apparent shift in white attitudes is neither as profound, nor as long-lasting as progressives hope. On that, he could be right.
A historic, but limited, shift
For now, at least, multiple sources show evidence of a major shift in public attitudes.
An even larger share of white people, 62%, said that Black people and other people of color do not receive equal treatment in the criminal justice system. That’s a question which has been asked since the late 1980s, and for many years drew agreement from about 40% of white Americans. The current poll marked the first time a majority of white respondents had agreed.
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Numerous other surveys in the weeks since late May, when George Floyd, a Black man, died in custody in Minneapolis, have shown similar results. Floyd’s death and the sustained protests his killing sparked appear to have catalyzed a sudden and striking shift in public attitudes.
A much larger share of white people has come to accept what Black Americans have long known — that police systematically treat people of color more harshly and more violently than they treat white people. And that has sparked a more general acceptance of the continued reality of entrenched racial discrimination.
Other surveys show the share of Americans who support the display of Confederate symbols in public places has dropped, the number who say Black Americans, Latinos and other people of color face discrimination in housing and jobs has increased and support for at least some remedial policies pushed by progressive groups has grown, although others, notably “defunding” of police, remain unpopular.
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But there’s an important caveat that shapes the politics of the issue: The change in white attitudes has not occurred across the board.
In the ABC/Washington Post poll, for example, three-quarters of white Democrats said that Black residents in their communities faced discrimination. Among Republicans, it was 29%.
Similarly, an NBC/Wall Street Journal survey, also released this week, found 72% of white Democrats, but 19% of white Republicans, said that racism was “built into U.S. institutions.” Asked if Black Americans face discrimination, 89% of white Democrats said yes, just 25% of white Republicans agreed.
Trump’s threat to veto a defense bill because it calls for removing the names of Confederate leaders from military bases like Ft. Bragg and Ft. Benning might seem to be flying in the face of public opinion: Both houses of Congress have passed the defense bill by potentially veto-proof margins, although a final version still needs to be worked out between the two houses.
But among white Republicans — and remember white people make up the vast majority of the GOP’s ranks — only 14% support removing Confederate symbols, the NBC/Wall Street Journal poll found.
Among Republicans, belief that white Americans face discrimination, opposition to removing Confederate symbols and negative reactions to Black Lives Matter are most common among those who identify as the most conservative and among those who strongly support Trump.
So Trump likely stands on solid ground in believing that his positions will cement the loyalty of his core supporters. Their perception of him as a fighter who will do battle with people they see as threats — liberals, secularists, immigrants, Black activists — plays a big role in why they continue to support him.
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Trump’s hard-core backers aren’t close to numerous enough to win an election, of course, as has become increasingly obvious as he has slid far behind Joe Biden in polls and his campaign has poured money into efforts to shore up previously secure red states.
That’s where the other part of Trump’s gamble comes into play: White Americans may voice greater empathy with Black Americans on issues of discrimination, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into support for progressive policies.
That’s why, for example, Trump and his campaign surrogates have so often tried to link Biden to calls from some on the left for defunding police agencies.
Opponents of police reform hope that widespread opposition to taking money away from police will help them block moves toward police reform, much as conservatives in the 1970s were able to use opposition to busing as a way to slow the move toward widespread school integration.
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By the same token, tagging Biden as a supporter of “defunding” could further the Trump campaign’s overall effort to portray the former vice president as a captive of his party’s left.
The evidence so far shows no sign of success for that backlash tactic. Convincing the public that Biden is a radical is a challenging task, especially after the Democratic left spent 2019 berating him as too conservative. And the fact that a large share of the public, including even many of his supporters, see Trump as a liar, makes it even harder for him to sell such a case.
But for Trump, far behind in the polls and continuing to slide, a long-shot gamble may be his best remaining bet.
Congress still stalled on economic aid
With crucial help to the unemployed scheduled to end in a week, Congress remains stalled in efforts to put together another package of aid for the U.S. economy. Republicans continue to be badly divided among themselves and have barely begun to negotiate with Democrats.
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Some parameters of the next deal are clear, however. A bill almost certainly will include another round of coronavirus stimulus checks, Jennifer Haberkorn wrote, although the amount remains under debate, as does the number of people eligible.
Both sides also agree that Congress should extend some of the extra unemployment payments people currently get. But Republicans want to stop far short of the $600 per week that Congress adopted in March, which expires at the end of this month. Republican lawmakers rejected Trump’s call for a cut in payroll taxes. And congressional Republican leaders and the White House continue to disagree on a range of new spending proposals.
Many economists believe the $600-per-week benefit has played a key role in keeping the economy afloat. But it also provides an incentive to some workers not to return to low-paying jobs. So what happens to the U.S. economy if the benefit ends? Don Lee took a look at the evidence.
While Congress debates the next bill, federal prosecutors are starting to ramp up cases against coronavirus PPP loan fraud allegations. But as Sarah Wire wrote, some companies may fight back and may have a good chance of winning.
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For weeks, Trump loudly insisted that pandemic or no, he wanted to give his acceptance speech to the Republican convention this summer in front of a full, packed house. That insistence led him to pull the convention out of Charlotte, N.C., last month and move it to Jacksonville, Fla., and sent Republican operatives on a month-long scramble to try to come up with a workable plan.
On Thursday, he abruptly gave up, as Noah Bierman and Eli Stokols wrote. The decision caught party and campaign officials by surprise, but came after weeks of mounting coronavirus hospitalizations in Florida, which is now one of the country’s worst hot spots for the illness.
Republicans have no clear backup plan. “We’ll have a very nice something,” Trump said.
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The rest of Trump’s week was taken up with a series of appeals to racial animus.
About those deployments of federal agents to Portland, Chicago and other cities: Is that legal? David Savage took a look at what the law says and what the limits are on Trump’s authority.
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Quite apart from the substance of what he’s pushing, many ethics experts accuse Trump of “hijacking” White House events for partisan gain, Melissa Gomez wrote. As president, Trump is exempt from the Hatch Act and other laws that forbid overt politicking by government officials, but he’s definitely stretched the limits of what previous presidents considered acceptable.
California Republican leaders plan to consider ousting two anti-Trump Republicans — longtime strategists Mike Madrid and Luis Alvarado, because of their work on the anti-Trump Lincoln Project, Seema Mehta reported.
“It’s the active fomenting for the opposite side that violates party discipline and party unity,” Harmeet Dhillon, one of California’s two representatives on the Republican National Committee, told Mehta.
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Biden’s VP process shifts
With a big lead in polls, Biden’s search for a running mate has changed, Janet Hook wrote. Once, Biden supporters thought their major need was to find a running mate who would inject excitement into the race.
Now, “do no harm” appears to be the watchword.
The change seems to have boosted the prospects of a couple of lower-key candidates, Rep. Karen Bass of Los Angeles and Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois. It’s hurt the chances that the nod will go to Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. A lot of people still think that Sen. Kamala Harris, who has done repeated campaign appearances for Biden, has the inside track.
U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein on Thursdayordered officials to release Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, from prison.
The judge accused the government of “retaliation” against Cohen for planning to publish an unflattering book about Trump, Megerian wrote. In court filings, Cohen’s lawyers have said the book will accuse Trump of having made racist and anti-Semitic remarks.
NEW YORK (AP) — In a new video posted early Election Day, Beyoncé channels Pamela Anderson in the television program “Baywatch” – red one-piece swimsuit and all – and asks viewers to vote.
In the two-and-a-half-minute clip, set to most of “Bodyguard,” a four-minute cut from her 2024 country album “Cowboy Carter,” Beyoncé cosplays as Anderson’s character before concluding with a simple message, written in white text: “Happy Beylloween,” followed by “Vote.”
At a rally for Donald Trump in Pittsburgh on Monday night, the former president spoke dismissively about Beyoncé’s appearance at a Kamala Harris rally in Houston in October, drawing boos for the megastar from his supporters.
“Beyoncé would come in. Everyone’s expecting a couple of songs. There were no songs. There was no happiness,” Trump said.
She did not perform — unlike in 2016, when she performed at a presidential campaign rally for Hillary Clinton in Cleveland – but she endorsed Harris and gave a moving speech, initially joined onstage by her Destiny’s Child bandmate Kelly Rowland.
“I’m not here as a celebrity, I’m not here as a politician. I’m here as a mother,” Beyoncé said.
“A mother who cares deeply about the world my children and all of our children live in, a world where we have the freedom to control our bodies, a world where we’re not divided,” she said at the rally in Houston, her hometown.
“Imagine our daughters growing up seeing what’s possible with no ceilings, no limitations,” she continued. “We must vote, and we need you.”
Harris used the song in July during her first official public appearance as a presidential candidate at her campaign headquarters in Delaware. That same month, Beyoncé’s mother, Tina Knowles, publicly endorsed Harris for president.
Beyoncé gave permission to Harris to use the song, a campaign official who was granted anonymity to discuss private campaign operations confirmed to The Associated Press.
Outside of sports and a “Cold front coming down from Canada,” American news media only report on Canadian events that they believe are, or will be, influential to the US. Therefore, when Justin Trudeau’s announcement, having finally read the room, that Canada will be reducing the number of permanent residents admitted by more than 20 percent and temporary residents like skilled workers and college students will be cut by more than half made news south of the border, I knew the American media felt Trudeau’s about-face on immigration was newsworthy because many Americans would relate to Trudeau realizing Canada was accepting more immigrants than it could manage and are hoping their next POTUS will follow Trudeau’s playbook.
Canada, with lots of space and lacking convenient geographical ways for illegal immigrants to enter the country, though still many do, has a global reputation for being incredibly accepting of immigrants. On the surface, Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver appear to be multicultural havens. However, as the saying goes, “Too much of a good thing is never good,” resulting in a sharp rise in anti-immigrant sentiment, which you can almost taste in the air. A growing number of Canadians, regardless of their political affiliation, are blaming recent immigrants for causing the housing affordability crises, inflation, rise in crime and unemployment/stagnant wages.
Throughout history, populations have engulfed themselves in a tribal frenzy, a psychological state where people identify strongly with their own group, often leading to a ‘us versus them’ mentality. This has led to quick shifts from complacency to panic and finger-pointing at groups outside their tribe, a phenomenon that is not unique to any particular culture or time period.
My take on why the American news media found Trudeau’s blatantly obvious attempt to save his political career, balancing appeasement between the pitchfork crowd, who want a halt to immigration until Canada gets its house in order, and immigrant voters, who traditionally vote Liberal, newsworthy; the American news media, as do I, believe immigration fatigue is why Kamala Harris is going to lose on November 5th.
Because they frequently get the outcome wrong, I don’t take polls seriously. According to polls in 2014, Tim Hudak’s Progressive Conservatives and Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals were in a dead heat in Ontario, yet Wynne won with more than twice as many seats. In the 2018 Quebec election, most polls had the Coalition Avenir Québec with a 1-to-5-point lead over the governing Liberals. The result: The Coalition Avenir Québec enjoyed a landslide victory, winning 74 of 125 seats. Then there’s how the 2016 US election polls showing Donald Trump didn’t have a chance of winning against Hillary Clinton were ridiculously way off, highlighting the importance of the election day poll and, applicable in this election as it was in 2016, not to discount ‘shy Trump supporters;’ voters who support Trump but are hesitant to express their views publicly due to social or political pressure.
My distrust in polls aside, polls indicate Harris is leading by a few points. One would think that Trump’s many over-the-top shenanigans, which would be entertaining were he not the POTUS or again seeking the Oval Office, would have him far down in the polls. Trump is toe-to-toe with Harris in the polls because his approach to the economy—middle-class Americans are nostalgic for the relatively strong economic performance during Trump’s first three years in office—and immigration, which Americans are hyper-focused on right now, appeals to many Americans. In his quest to win votes, Trump is doing what anyone seeking political office needs to do: telling the people what they want to hear, strategically using populism—populism that serves your best interests is good populism—to evoke emotional responses. Harris isn’t doing herself any favours, nor moving voters, by going the “But, but… the orange man is bad!” route, while Trump cultivates support from “weird” marginal voting groups.
To Harris’s credit, things could have fallen apart when Biden abruptly stepped aside. Instead, Harris quickly clinched the nomination and had a strong first few weeks, erasing the deficit Biden had given her. The Democratic convention was a success, as was her acceptance speech. Her performance at the September 10th debate with Donald Trump was first-rate.
Harris’ Achilles heel is she’s now making promises she could have made and implemented while VP, making immigration and the economy Harris’ liabilities, especially since she’s been sitting next to Biden, watching the US turn into the circus it has become. These liabilities, basically her only liabilities, negate her stance on abortion, democracy, healthcare, a long-winning issue for Democrats, and Trump’s character. All Harris has offered voters is “feel-good vibes” over substance. In contrast, Trump offers the tangible political tornado (read: steamroll the problems Americans are facing) many Americans seek. With Trump, there’s no doubt that change, admittedly in a messy fashion, will happen. If enough Americans believe the changes he’ll implement will benefit them and their country…
The case against Harris on immigration, at a time when there’s a huge global backlash to immigration, even as the American news media are pointing out, in famously immigrant-friendly Canada, is relatively straightforward: During the first three years of the Biden-Harris administration, illegal Southern border crossings increased significantly.
The words illegal immigration, to put it mildly, irks most Americans. On the legal immigration front, according to Forbes, most billion-dollar startups were founded by immigrants. Google, Microsoft, and Oracle, to name three, have immigrants as CEOs. Immigrants, with tech skills and an entrepreneurial thirst, have kept America leading the world. I like to think that Americans and Canadians understand the best immigration policy is to strategically let enough of these immigrants in who’ll increase GDP and tax base and not rely on social programs. In other words, Americans and Canadians, and arguably citizens of European countries, expect their governments to be more strategic about immigration.
The days of the words on a bronze plaque mounted inside the Statue of Liberty pedestal’s lower level, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…” are no longer tolerated. Americans only want immigrants who’ll benefit America.
Does Trump demagogue the immigration issue with xenophobic and racist tropes, many of which are outright lies, such as claiming Haitian immigrants in Ohio are abducting and eating pets? Absolutely. However, such unhinged talk signals to Americans who are worried about the steady influx of illegal immigrants into their country that Trump can handle immigration so that it’s beneficial to the country as opposed to being an issue of economic stress.
In many ways, if polls are to be believed, Harris is paying the price for Biden and her lax policies early in their term. Yes, stimulus spending quickly rebuilt the job market, but at the cost of higher inflation. Loosen border policies at a time when anti-immigrant sentiment was increasing was a gross miscalculation, much like Trudeau’s immigration quota increase, and Biden indulging himself in running for re-election should never have happened.
If Trump wins, Democrats will proclaim that everyone is sexist, racist and misogynous, not to mention a likely White Supremacist, and for good measure, they’ll beat the “voter suppression” button. If Harris wins, Trump supporters will repeat voter fraud—since July, Elon Musk has tweeted on Twitter at least 22 times about voters being “imported” from abroad—being widespread.
Regardless of who wins tomorrow, Americans need to cool down; and give the divisive rhetoric a long overdue break. The right to an opinion belongs to everyone. Someone whose opinion differs from yours is not by default sexist, racist, a fascist or anything else; they simply disagree with you. Americans adopting the respectful mindset to agree to disagree would be the best thing they could do for the United States of America.
PHOENIX (AP) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent proponent of debunked public health claims whom Donald Trump has promised to put in charge of health initiatives, said Saturday that Trump would push to remove fluoride from drinking water on his first day in office if elected president.
Fluoride strengthens teeth and reduces cavities by replacing minerals lost during normal wear and tear, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The addition of low levels of fluoride to drinking water has long been considered one of the greatest public health achievements of the last century.
Kennedy made the declaration Saturday on the social media platform X alongside a variety of claims about the heath effects of fluoride.
“On January 20, the Trump White House will advise all U.S. water systems to remove fluoride from public water,” Kennedy wrote. Trump and his wife, Melania Trump, “want to Make America Healthy Again,” he added, repeating a phrase Trump often uses and links to Kennedy.
Trump told NBC News on Sunday that he had not spoken to Kennedy about fluoride yet, “but it sounds OK to me. You know it’s possible.”
The former president declined to say whether he would seek a Cabinet role for Kennedy, a job that would require Senate confirmation, but added, “He’s going to have a big role in the administration.”
Asked whether banning certain vaccines would be on the table, Trump said he would talk to Kennedy and others about that. Trump described Kennedy as “a very talented guy and has strong views.”
The sudden and unexpected weekend social media post evoked the chaotic policymaking that defined Trump’s White House tenure, when he would issue policy declarations on Twitter at virtually all hours. It also underscored the concerns many experts have about Kennedy, who has long promoted debunked theories about vaccine safety, having influence over U.S. public health.
In 1950, federal officials endorsed water fluoridation to prevent tooth decay, and continued to promote it even after fluoride toothpaste brands hit the market several years later. Though fluoride can come from a number of sources, drinking water is the main source for Americans, researchers say.
Officials lowered their recommendation for drinking water fluoride levels in 2015 to address a tooth condition called fluorosis, that can cause splotches on teeth and was becoming more common in U.S. kids.
In August, a federal agency determined “with moderate confidence” that there is a link between higher levels of fluoride exposure and lower IQ in kids. The National Toxicology Program based its conclusion on studies involving fluoride levels at about twice the recommended limit for drinking water.
A federal judge later cited that study in ordering the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to further regulate fluoride in drinking water. U.S. District Judge Edward Chen cautioned that it’s not certain that the amount of fluoride typically added to water is causing lower IQ in kids, but he concluded that mounting research points to an unreasonable risk that it could be. He ordered the EPA to take steps to lower that risk, but didn’t say what those measures should be.
In his X post Saturday, Kennedy tagged Michael Connett, the lead attorney representing the plaintiff in that lawsuit, the environmental advocacy group Food & Water Watch.
Kennedy’s anti-vaccine organization has a lawsuit pending against news organizations including The Associated Press, accusing them of violating antitrust laws by taking action to identify misinformation, including about COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines. Kennedy is on leave from the group but is listed as one of its attorneys in the lawsuit.
What role Kennedy might hold if Trump wins on Tuesday remains unclear. Kennedy recently told NewsNation that Trump asked him to “reorganize” agencies including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration and some agencies under the Department of Agriculture.
But for now, the former independent presidential candidate has become one of Trump’s top surrogates. Trump frequently mentions having the support of Kennedy, a scion of a Democratic dynasty and the son of former Attorney General Robert Kennedy and nephew of President John F. Kennedy.
Kennedy traveled with Trump Friday and spoke at his rallies in Michigan and Wisconsin.
Trump said Saturday that he told Kennedy: “You can work on food, you can work on anything you want” except oil policy.
“He wants health, he wants women’s health, he wants men’s health, he wants kids, he wants everything,” Trump added.
