I am not an uncritical fan of the 1619 Project, but I do believe that the basic DNA of our country is fully embedded in a savage racial hierarchy, just as the basic DNA of most countries is not. I will write down the following. The arrival of significant numbers of non-Europeans to EU countries and the rise in these countries of certain overtly racist and xenophobic tendencies that are unfortunately as American as apple pie. It is only now that it can be seen.
Of course, historically, in the absence of immigrants from Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and the Caribbean, Europe has had to make do with anti-Semitism, but this need for an “other” to scapegoat I think this shows that gender is common across a wide range of areas. of the people and the nation.
America, a nation of immigrants, is also regularly a nation of xenophobia. Benjamin Franklin’s condemnation of German immigration in Anglo Pennsylvania in the mid-18th century is as good a starting point as any. The Irish came, and then came the Yankee Protestant backlash. The arrival of Italians and Jews led to a reaction that took the form of the Second Klan and, in 1924, a 40-year ban on immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe.
Other works by Harold Meyerson
Our different immigrant groups have not always been united either. Having achieved majority or near-majority power in most American cities by the end of the 19th century, the Irish used existing patronage systems to control metropolitan politics and metropolitan employment. In New York, Ms. Tammany didn’t hold up a sign that read “Non-Irish people need apply,” but there weren’t many entry points for Gotham’s Italians and Jews. Fiorello La Guardia, the son of Italian and Jewish parents, fluent in both Italian and Yiddish, and previously elected to Congress on both the Republican and Socialist voting lines, is the city’s Italian It became necessary to unite the people and the Jews. We used to be united. They worked with anti-Irish Protestant Brahmins to elect LaGuardia mayor in 1933, defeating an Irish candidate in Tammany. At the national level, the Irish, Italians, and Jews all supported Franklin Roosevelt, and all of his political skills believed they had a hand in his electoral success. (In fact, they were).
But at any level of government, out-group solidarity is highly perishable. Black people are eternally eccentric, and the rift between blacks and Italians in New York’s working class is the stuff of history, legend, Spike Lee movies, and current politics (and not just in New York).
For decades now, politicians who think about demographics (and demographers who think about politics) have been pondering the political course of the third wave of immigrants, especially from Mexico and Central America. Will Latinos, like Italians, move in the right direction as the children and grandchildren of immigrants move a little higher up the economic and social ladder? Or will they maintain a politics of victimhood of racism and exclusion, and therefore vote like black people?
Will Kamala Harris be able to counter the rightward shift of many Latinos in Arizona, Nevada and other battleground states on which elections will depend?
The answer to this question could be a deciding factor in next month’s presidential election, as Latinos now make up about 15 percent of the electorate and their votes lean to the right. In 2012, Barack Obama won 71 percent of the Latino vote. In 2016, Hillary Clinton won 65 percent. In 2020, Joe Biden won 59 percent. And an NBC/Telemundo poll from September of this year found that Kamala Harris’ Latino approval rating reached 54%, putting her behind Trump among young Latino men. Ta.
At the very least, Trump is a skilled “other.” When he ran for office in 2016, he threatened every real American he claimed to be, and the “others” he passionately attacked were disproportionately Black and Latino. They were Mexican “rapists” whom he attacked as soon as they descended the escalators in Trump Tower. The other “others” he attacked have become targets of right-wing populists since Alabama’s racist governor, George Wallace, began attacking “pointy-headed” bureaucrats in the federal government and on college campuses. They were an amorphous group of “elites.” They never understand that defending American civilization requires defeating the dangerous Other.
But in 2024, Trump showed he can adjust his demonization and “othering” to suit a changing electorate. Many working-class Americans who are forced to make ends meet in low-paying jobs in non-unionized (or under-unionized) production and service sectors are forced to denigrate “others.” He knew that they would accept his promise to banish or lock them up. ” he would blame for their plight. “I am your revenge,” he swore.
But Trump could no longer “otherize” himself solely on the basis of race. Too many historical racial minorities, especially young black and Latino working-class men, are now joining the ranks of young working-class white men who are susceptible to the same politics of misguided grievances. Ta. That’s why immigrants were President Trump’s target (as well as the current generation of pointy-headed Democrats). And it is hard to believe that the extent of the harm that Trump, J.D. Vance, Elon Musk, FOX News, and far-right social media are inflicting on immigrants is not just hypothetical (though it is, of course). Trump and his compatriots claim that they have steadily increased the number of illegal immigrants in case they ever get arrested. The actual number is around 11 million, but Trump and Vance now regularly say it’s 20 million or even 25 million. As Joseph Goebbels convincingly demonstrated, if you’re going to lie, you better lie big.
The Goebbels-like characteristic of President Trump’s daily rants is not just the magnitude of his lies. Recently, he has said that these criminals/immigrants (the two identities are combined in Trump talk) have “bad genes” that contaminate America’s bloodstream. Of course, the genes of these Haitian and Mexican immigrants are not that different from those of the Haitian and Mexican immigrants who came here legally and became citizens, some of whom became Republicans. But science has never been Trump’s strong suit. (What’s more, it’s clearly not the strongest theme for Republicans today.)
Will Kamala Harris be able to counter the rightward shift of many Latinos in Arizona, Nevada and other battleground states on which elections will depend? All polls suggest that the issues that matter most to Latinos are the same economic issues that matter most to working and middle-class Americans of all races. Her proposals to increase the child tax credit and make Medicare cover home health care for the elderly would certainly help. Her proposal for the government to provide $25,000 for starter homes is also sensible, but she should also highlight the number of new homes she will encourage to be built and the number of new construction jobs it will create. Having the government cover more of the costs of caring for young children and elderly grandparents should boost the government’s support among female voters. Getting the government to create more construction jobs could shrink Trump’s margins among working-class men.
It’s also good that Harris has promised to create tax breaks for new small businesses. She should also focus on raising the minimum wage. She helps these new businesses get off the ground. In return, she will help her employees earn a living wage.
In the final weeks of the campaign, Harris focused on strengthening her main platform plank. She needs to try a little harder. President Trump has intensified his “othering” to a level not seen in a major party presidential candidate’s campaign since the mid-19th century Democrats who ran against “black Republicans,” especially Abraham. . Lincoln. The choices in this year’s election are as stark and fundamental as they were then.
