Tag Archive: racism

The great Republican translator machine

We’ve got your Republican Translator right here

We have been talking since Day One about the Republican Party’s vast messaging machine, which encompasses everything from Fox “News” to the Wall Street Journal, NewsMax, and more. Before and during the 2024 elections, we learned that this great propaganda apparatus also includes online platform Twitter (now X), popular podcasts like the Joe Rogan Experience, and sadly, once-respected newspapers like the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times, now owned by billionaires such as Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. When Republican politicians including Donald Trump speak, they often merely parrot what the Republican Messaging Machine wants them to say, and vice versa.

Now, however, Democrats can point to a machine of our own. Here at Messaging Matters, we have developed the Great Republican Translator Machine. Whenever a Republican talks, we run what they say through the machine, and out comes the truth of what they really mean. Let’s try some examples:

“We believe in freedom” = “We believe in the heavy hand of government”

“Egg prices are too high” = “I’m a racist”

I’ve never heard of ___” = “I’m heavily involved with ____”

“We’re okay with the rape allegations against Pete Hegseth” = “Those allegations are a feature, not a bug”

“Those immigrants/trans people/blacks/etc. are causing all the problems in this country” = “Look at that shiny object over there while we pick your pockets and harm your health”

“We want judges who will interpret the Constitution” = “We want activist judges who will legislate from the bench”

Government should be run like a business” = “Let’s remove important health, safety and environmental regulations on Big Business”

“We’re pro-life” = “Kids killed in school shootings and women dead from untreated miscarriages are fine with us”

Party of smaller government” = “We want government to invade your bedrooms, your bathrooms and your wombs”

“Rule of Law” = “Republicans are above the law”

“Party of family values” = “Elect a serial liar/cheater/philanderer/felon/rapist”

Do you have any other Republican statements that need translating? Please send them in your comments, and we will add them to the list.

Photo by Jim Linwood, used under Creative Commons license. https://is.gd/CaDwHd

 

 

 

Nikki Haley’s Civil War views demonstrate what is at stake in the 2024 elections

Nimarata Nikki Haley

This past Wednesday, Republican presidential candidate Nimarata Nikki Haley (née Randhawa) caused a political firestorm at a New Hampshire town hall event when she gave a shockingly evasive answer to a question about the U.S. Civil War. Specifically, a voter in the audience asked Haley, “What was the cause of the United States Civil War?” The following exchange then occurred:

Haley: Well, don’t come with an easy question or anything. I mean, I think the cause of the Civil War was basically how government was going to run. The freedoms and what people could and couldn’t do. What do you think the cause of the Civil War was?
Q: I’m not running for president. I wanted to hear your view on the cause of the Civil War.
Haley: I mean, I think it always comes down to the role of government. We need to have capitalism, we need to have economic freedom, we need to make sure that we do all things so that individuals have the liberties, so that they can have freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom to do or be anything they want without government getting in the way.
Q: Thank you. In the year 2023, it’s astonishing to me that you’d answer that question without mentioning the word “slavery.”
Haley: What do you want me to say about slavery?
Q: You’ve answered my question. Thank you.
Haley: Next question.

Approximately 12 hours later, after sharp criticism from many quarters, including from President Joe Biden, Haley’s campaign tried to correct her blunder, releasing a Thursday morning radio interview in which Haley said, “Of course the Civil War was about slavery,” further calling the war “a stain on America.” Haley went on to reiterate that “freedom matters. And individual rights and liberties matter for all people.” However, the damage was done. Now Haley either looks like a racist, or just another mealy-mouthed politician saying different things depending on the audience and their reaction, rather than based on her own principles. In deciding which is the true Haley, the following quote from poet Maya Angelou comes to mind:

When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.

Florida and the myth of Republican “smaller government”

Republican idea of smaller government

At least since the days of Ronald Reagan, the Republican Party has tried to brand itself as the party of “smaller government.” Sometimes they add “and lower taxes.” Indeed, Republican anti-tax activist and Reagan ally Grover Norquist once famously stated that:

I don’t want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.

Presumably, such an identification tests well among GOP faithful, including today’s MAGA base, who sadly vote against their own self-interests based on race-baiting and other cultural hot-buttons such as abortion and guns. As an initial matter, however, plenty of polls indicate that most Americans don’t want small government. Rather, they like a full-size, robust “good government,” as we like to call it. That includes, for example, Social Security, Medicare, good highways, public schools, the U.S. Postal Service, a competent FEMA to assist with major emergencies such as hurricanes, universal background checks for gun sales, and more. Likewise, most Americans oppose federal government shutdowns, and correctly blame Republicans when they occur.

But even if most Americans wanted smaller government, the Republican myth that they are the ones who deliver that is false. A perfect case in point is Florida, which is almost entirely Republican-run under Governor (and likely 2024 GOP presidential candidate) Ron DeSantis, along with a state Senate that is 70 percent Republican and a state House that is similarly 71 percent GOP. In Florida, far from the Republican myth of “smaller government,” the GOP state government is huge and extremely intrusive. Here are some examples:

Gabby Petito disappearance, homicide becomes politicized

Awareness for missing Native American women and girls

It seems everything in America nowadays gets politicized, from the food we eat to the movies we watch to our responses to a worldwide pandemic. So perhaps it’s not too surprising that the case of formerly missing travel blogger Gabrielle Petito, whose body has been found in what the FBI calls a homicide, has become politicized too. Specifically, after weeks of intense media coverage, including frequent discussion and wild speculation in social media, about the blonde, blue-eyed 22 year old Petito, some folks began mentioning that there are a lot of people of color also missing, who are not receiving a modicum of media coverage in comparison. For example, here’s Joy Reid of MSNBC talking about this yesterday:

Other examples of this media phenomenon include the following:

https://twitter.com/hjelle_brian/status/1440381994475552781

Biden inauguration: America gets a reboot

One thing we’ll have less of in the Biden Oval Office

With a new year and the inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris tomorrow, many Americans are looking forward to getting a fresh start. In modern terms, we can call it a “reboot” for America. Here are some areas where we will get a much-needed reboot with President Biden:

COVID — we hardly need to recount the Trump administration’s failures to address the COVID pandemic. Those failures continue today, with vaccine distribution woefully inadequate, and Trump officials predictably lying to cover their negligence (or worse). However, Joe Biden and his team have a plan to hit the ground running, from better vaccine distribution to a nationwide mask mandate. There can be little doubt that Biden will improve the Coronavirus situation.

A great way to reframe a Republican argument

Black Lives Matter protest, Columbus, Ohio, June 2020

As we know, Donald Trump, Fox News and many Republicans right now are trying to distract from the COVID disaster by complaining about Black Lives Matter. Specifically, these Republicans are framing the Black Lives Matter protests as the big problem in America, rather than the police killing of black civilians that led to such protests. That is why it was noteworthy when a discussion with Republicans a few days ago contained a wonderful moment of Democratic reframing of a major Republican  argument.

Watch what Trump and the Republicans do, not just what they say

Everyone is in a tizzy this week because Donald Trump wrote racist tweets. The story is all over every type of media, from TV news to Twitter to Facebook to news media websites, and more. However, this has to be one of the biggest non-news events of the year. Trump already has a well-known history of public racism dating back at least to the 1970s with housing discrimination, continuing through the 1980s and beyond with the Central Park Five case, and which was on full display in Trump’s 2015 presidential campaign announcement speech, where he came out of the gate attacking immigrants from Mexico and Central America.

If you’re still wondering why Trump deliberately creates distractions with shiny objects regarding immigration and race, here are a few things that Trump has been distracting us from while the whole country obsesses over his racist tweets:

Facebook to ban white nationalism hate speech — will it work?

Facebook, under fire for right wing extremism

Yesterday, Facebook announced that, beginning next week, it will begin enforcing “a ban on praise, support and representation of white nationalism and separatism on Facebook and Instagram.” Facebook’s statement indicates that, while the company has always sought to target “white supremacy,”

[w]e didn’t originally apply the same rationale to expressions of white nationalism and separatism because we were thinking about broader concepts of nationalism and separatism — things like American pride and Basque separatism, which are an important part of people’s identity.

The difference between George H.W. Bush and Donald Trump

Former President George H.W. Bush

Former President George H.W. Bush, who died last Friday night at the age of 94, was a Republican through and through. Accordingly, Democrats would rightfully take issue with almost all of Bush’s presidential actions and policies. Yet, virtually all leading Democrats, including Bill and Hillary Clinton, Barack and Michelle Obama, Jimmy Carter, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Adam Schiff and others, have released messages of sincere and glowing praise for Bush. What’s going on?

Trump and Republicans fire up the Culture War

Philadelphia Eagles training camp, 2015 Military Appreciation Day

God, Guns and Gays. Illegal immigration. These are Culture War issues that Donald Trump and Republicans are pushing to stir up Republican voter interest as the 2018 midterm elections approach. The latest Culture War topic is Trump’s revocation of his White House invitation to the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles football team, after Trump heard that some Eagles team members were planning to skip the event over political disagreements with Trump. Moreover, Fox News falsely ran photos of Eagles players kneeling to pray (approved behavior by the GOP) with captions about kneeling in protest (such as in support of Black Lives Matter, a protest against police violence which is disapproved behavior by Republicans). Fox had to apologize hours later for its misleading photos and captions.