OPINION:
There comes a point when calling a spade a spatula becomes a bit worn and wearying, and the public starts to catch on and actually notice and say, hey, that’s a spatula, not a spade.
In other words: People start to doubt the message is actually true.
So goes the Democrats’ non-stop toss of the “racist” label President Donald Trump’s way. The label has grown both old and ineffective. It’s becoming a boy-cried-wolf type of narrative.
Yet Democrats, suffering from some sort of anti-Trump Tourette Syndrome, apparently can’t stop themselves.
Look at what Sen. Elizabeth Warren said from her Martin Luther Kind Day podium, at a breakfast in Boston.
“We face the challenge of an openly racist president of the United States,” she said, Boston Magazine reported. “Donald Trump is a racist bully, and we know how to deal with bullies. We don’t back down. We don’t shut up. We fight back.”
Racist, racist, racist — Marcia, Marcia, Marcia.
And then came the other Democratic go-to jab — the Hitler reference.
“When a racist bully talks about people who march with white supremacists and Nazis as ’very fine people,’ when he refers to ’sh—hole’ countries in Africa, and when he uses that hateful rhetoric to push discrimination in America, you better believe: We will fight back,” Warren went on.
Somebody give that lady a peace pipe. She’s got to tone it down a bit, yes?
But Warren is hardly an anomaly. In fact, by Democratic Party standards, she’s pretty tame. At least she’s not wielding a baseball bat, taking to the streets to prowl for MAGA cap-wearing Trump supporters.
From Rep. John Lewis, on “This Week” on ABC, about Trump and his reported “s—-hole” remarks about certain countries: “I think he is a racist.”
From Sen. Dick Durbin, to reporters in Chicago, about Trump and the reported “s—-hole” remark: “He said things which were hate-filled, vile and racist,” CNN reported.
From Hillary Clinton, on Twitter, again about Trump’s reported remarks: “The anniversary of the devastating earthquake 8 years ago is a day to remember … Instead, we’re subjected to Trump’s ignorant, racist views of anyone who doesn’t look like him.”
From House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, over the same Oval Office meeting: “If you use racist rhetoric, if you pursue policies based on a racial premise, I consider that to be a definition of a racist. I think the president articulates racist language and pursues policies based upon race.”
And then there’s Sen. Cory Booker’s epic nine-minute emotionally charged rant to Trump’s Homeland Security pick, Kirstjen Nielsen, who said she couldn’t recall the president using that exact “s—-hole” word during the now-famous White House meeting, but that tough language was indeed used by many.
Booker, near tears, went off: “I sit here right now because when good white people in this country heard bigotry or hatred, they stood up. What went on in the White House, what went on in the Oval Office, is profoundly disturbing to me. … I’ve been in the Oval Office many times and when the commander-in-chief speaks, I listen. I don’t have amnesia on conversations. … Why am I seething with anger?. … You and others in that room that suddenly cannot remember. … Your silence and amnesia are complicity.”
Apparently, to Booker, it’s not just Trump but also Nielsen who’s racist. Many outside the political world have happily boarded this same bus.
“President Trump is a white racist!” philosophy professor George Yancy wrote in the New York Times.
“Trump is a Racist. Period,” wrote columnnist Charles M. Blow, also for The New York Times.
“Martin Luther King III: Trump’s Vulgar Comments Are ’Extremely Racist,’” blasted a CNN headline.
That’s all fine and dandy — everyone’s entitled to an opinion. But one has to wonder, are Democrats seeing the bigger picture on this line of accusation?
There’s only so much steam this “Trump is racist” rhetoric can blow before the people start to tire and doubt not just the messenger, but the message. And Americans, by and large, aren’t a stupid people. If Democrats think they’ll win the upcoming elections on a platform of “Vote me, I’m not racist like Trump,” they’re living in a dream world. Ask Clinton; she already tried the “Not Trump” approach.
Fact is, Democrats, after all this losing campaigning time, still don’t have a message that unites, a message that solves, a message that counters the substantive policy reforms put forward by this White House — and that’s what scares them. All they have is a desperate name-calling, mudslinging mode of politicking and this whole “Trump is a racist” schtick fits that bill. But the nonstop toss of the race card won’t prove fruitful. Come election time, voters will be more than sick of the negativity. And honestly, that’s just good news for conservative candidates.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley.
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