“Joe Biden became mentally impaired. Kamala was born that way. She was born that way. And if you think about it, only a mentally disabled person could have allowed this to happen to our country,” – Donald Trump, at a rally in Prairie du Chen, Wisconsin.
Fifth Grade Playground
“You’re stupid. You’re Dad’s stupid too, but at least he was smart once. He just got old. You were born stupid”. I could’ve heard it on the 5th grade playground while I was sub-teaching at school. But, to be honest, I’d expect better from fifth graders. After all, they are one step away from the emotional crucible of middle school. The insults should be more creative. And the whole parent side, “your Dad’s stupid too”, is just dumb, carefully answered by, “You don’t even know my Dad” or the ultimate payback, “My Dad’s dead!!!!”. So, like any good teacher, I’d break up the insults, both for being mean, and for lacking in creativity. That’s never going to work next year in the Middle School.
Or at least I would, but it’s not happening on the fifth grade playground in the shadow of the geodesic climbing dome. And it’s not an argument about who got “knocked out” in “Gaga Ball” (now all the rage, a cross between four square and dodge ball in an enclosed octagon). In fact, it’s happening on America’s greatest “debate” stage, the campaign for the Presidency of the United States.
Seriously
You’d think the first thing a candidate for President would want to be is serious. I mean, no one wants the most powerful person, the avowed leader of the free world, the person in charge of the weapons to destroy the entire planet, to be “un-serious”. That doesn’t mean candidates can’t laugh, enjoy the show, and even dance to the rally music. But when it comes down to it, to the issues and crises of our times, it’s not a laughing matter. This is serious stuff, for serious people. The “you’re stupid” argument should have been left on the playground, actually, the second grade playground.
Oh wait, we “adulted up” the language. Instead of “stupid”, it’s now “mentally disabled”. That “adulting” doesn’t really change the issue, but it does manage to insult not only the other party, but everyone who actually suffers from mental disabilities; from brain cancer survivors to stroke victims. And many of them can vote; so, nice job there.
All’s Fair
There are legitimate differences between the Presidential candidates. Issues like immigration, abortion, managing the economy, tariffs and taxation, handling a complex world situation, and the growing diversity of the American population and life; all require serious solutions. In a “West Wing” world, the candidates would layout their plans, and the voters would decide.
But, my “West Wing” reference is dated, and so is my hope that our politics could rise above personal insult. Michelle Obama used to say, “When they go low, we go higher” back in the day. But that day, at least for one side of the election, is long gone. Both sides learned the other lesson of American politics: “All’s fair in love and war…and politics”. So in our current era, our politics trends to the lowest common denominator. Even the network news is giving up on accuracy: CBS won’t factcheck tonight’s Vice Presidential debate. Facts are too “controversial”, I guess.
The Context
So we are left with a campaign where one side uses childish insults, and makes things up out of whole cloth. I’ve already written about “eating the pets” (Scared Dogs). But after some consideration, I don’t think “eating the pets” was some leap of Facebook fancy that JD Vance picked up by happenstance. It’s too “convenient” to be a mistake. As Vance himself said, he needed to create (his words) a “context” to raise the issue of immigrants.
But the Trump/Vance ticket is making inroads into the Latino vote. They couldn’t afford to have Vance’s “context” built around Central or South American migrants; that might offend their new Latino Republican friends in Florida, Texas, Nevada and Arizona. So they had to “find” a different migrant group, even if they were LEGAL migrants,INVITED to Springfield, Ohio to help fill jobs in that the hollowed-out post-industrial town. Springfield was dying; the Haitian migrants help in the recent revitalization.
Strategic Racism
Haitians aren’t Latino, they’re Creole. Their native language is based on French, not Spanish. And they are Black, not the mixture of Spanish, Native American and African of many Latinos. So attacking them was a “safe” bet for the Trump/Vance campaign. They would only offend those that weren’t likely to support them anyway (though they offended the Haitian vote in Florida, another key state in a potential Trump victory).
My point: attacking the Haitians in Springfield was a strategic decision, not just some Trump “word salad” (he’d call it a “weave”). It even took precedence over the Latino gangs in Aurora, Colorado. That makes it all the worse: the Trump/Vance team aren’t fools, they’re racists.
And if you want to say I’m “name calling” too; damn right. But at least I’m doing it at the high school level, not like some second grader.
