I meant Stirling But probably equally applicable to Trump, the big baby.

I think that's his thought process but you could be right....who knows.

Your 'white congressman' situation is a valid parallel....I can see how you'd think that is 'racist', while I just don't view it like that.

For example, for Trump to be racist he would also want to tell people like Candace Owens to pop on back to Africa....but because she buys into his idea of American civic nationalism he sees her as on his side.

A 'racist' can't think like that....only a civic nationalist can.

How I see it Trump is ethnocentric, it doesn't exclude on skin colour but in reality the majority of people who are going to sign up to it will be from the same in-group......though it isn't a requirement.

Edited by Stirlingsays (17 Jul 2019 3.41pm)

'Who are you and how did you get in here? I'm a locksmith. And, I'm a locksmith.' (Leslie Nielsen)

Trump would've never told a white American congresswoman holding the exact same views with ancestors from elsewhere to "go back to" their country. He brought race into it.

If your non answer to a racist trope comment is "The 10% (of minorities) are making life for the 90% less pleasant every year." then you're very much on the same page as him anyway, so there's little to add or to be said.

Edited by dollardays (17 Jul 2019 8.18pm)

It's not even 'I don't think he would....'. It's blindingly obvious that he wouldn't.

As I said before, he attacked and hated a symbol of Americanism, John McCain, mocking his capture and in doing so his torture by a foreign nation. He greeted Putin's murder of journalists, not with condemnation, but with “I think our country does plenty of killing also, Joe", and defended Russia hacking and interference over the findings of his US security services on multiple occasions, suggesting that the countries should have a joint cyber security team.

How people interpret what that means, much the same as how they may interpret the attitudes and comments of each of these women (since surprise to some, although they hold similar views they are not one big non white blob, they are individual people) is down to them. However, for those who may have viewed his comments as unpatriotic I don't recall any impassioned cries of GO BACK TO SCOTLAND!! It wouldn't been an absurd thing to say, based on a difference of opinion and direction to the nation, much as it was here. He clearly only said what he said due to race. A calculated move too, a 2020 strategy to frame the party around these women. If other people don't realise that's why he said it, I very much doubt it has escaped the man himself.

As the Guardian writes: "Trump set a trap and they walked right into it... Suddenly, Pelosi is shoulder-to-shoulder with AOC, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley. Rather than letting Democrats tear each other apart, and enter the 2020 election divided, Trump has brought them together. And yet that superficial setback for Trump conceals his larger strategic objective." [Link]

4D chess at play.

Edited by Penge Eagle (17 Jul 2019 8.41pm)

Here I do agree with you, and this is what I stated. It was very clearly a strategy. As I said in my first post of the day, democrats somewhat desperately reel off every race going, because they have an upper hand at gaining those votes. Trump, in his own abrasive 'style', is attempting to shore up his votes too.

It's clearly a racist statement, but not some off the cuff mistake. He wants to frame these women as being the totality of what the democrat party is. As a strategy it's unfortunate but may well work. It's also worth adding that the view held by some Dems that if you're white, you're ultra privileged by default is also racist. If you're poor and struggling with a sh!t job, with zero opportunities, being told how dreamy and easy your life has been, clearly does not reflect who you are in any real sense. Polarised parties seek to simplify the lives of those whose votes they probably won't get anyway, while paying lip service to those that will. He does it, they do it. In neither case does it particularly help anyone or anything, but right now that's the game.

Edited by dollardays (17 Jul 2019 9.20pm)