Trump’s Psychological War

In a recent article, I discussed how Trump has expanded on the GOP’s Southern Strategy which became the Republican’s electoral strategy beginning in the 1970s. A good portion of that discussion involved explaining how its consistently been employed over the last four decades and continues today. Here, we expand on that discussion providing some additional context.

We’ve heard it all before.

“Go back to where you came from!”

“This is ‘murica, speak ‘anglish!”

No, they’re typically not the most eloquent of speakers. Most don’t even know Africa is a continent or that not all Latinos are ‘Messicans’. Trump ran an entire campaign that appealed to the willfully ignorant as detailed by his own words. Even though we called out his racism, bigotry, and misogynoir. It would not be enough to sway tens-of-millions of voters. We pointed out that he was a danger to marginalized communities. That didn’t work either. For Trump supporters, racist or not, none of these things were enough to convince them that he was bad for America.

They voted for him because of their overwhelmingly narrow-minded view of the need for self-preservation. Because of that thinking, we now have a sitting president who regularly expresses his blatant hate for people of color to the public at large. His language getting only more vile with every statement, every tweet. Its dangerous rhetoric on a level this country hasn’t seen in over a century; racist tropes many younger generations likely have never heard. His dog-whistles, more meaningful to those who await them.

When he lashes out at migrants, we see spikes in hate crimes against people of color — many of whom are perceived to be immigrants. When he lashes out at politicians, we see threats and terrorism directed at those politicians. As we watched him lash out at four women of color, who are elected representatives, he put a bullseye on their backs. Because of his speech, we have seen a rise in death threats and attacks on people of color. Trump has made Rep. Ilhan Omar, who is a Black Woman and Muslim Immigrant, the primary target of many of his attacks. Because of this Omar has had to beef-up security for her protection and she’s not alone. Many others have had to do the same because of Trump’s dog-whistled rhetoric.

Now his cult is spreading hateful and disgusting lies about all of them — proving that the far-right knows no bounds. Trump and his cohorts support this behavior by sharing and retweeting these lies. Using social media as a platform for coded language isn’t new. It’s just never had a daily following of 50 million people who subscribe to that type of hateful rhetoric. If you want to know why hate spreads so fast today, look no further than the fascists in the White House.

“I don’t know if it’s good or bad politically — I don’t care.” — Donald Trump

But, this is not just about Trump’s hateful language and racist policies. It’s about how when used in concert they become a vital tool in the psychological warfare this administration has deployed as its foundation. For a perfect example of this, look no further than the speech he gave at Turning Point USA’s “Teen Student Action Summit” last week where he told teens to direct their anger at Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), also known as “The Squad.”

These are dog-whistles. Coded language that seems bad enough on the surface because of its caustic nature, yet, it’s still seen as a call to action by others. Don’t be fooled. When pundits say he isn’t using dog-whistles anymore because he blurted out “go back to where you came from,” they couldn’t be more wrong. When he tells these kids what to think and where to direct their anger, he’s also sending a message to the heavily-armed wackos out there just waiting for “the call.”

The Russian Connection

Forget everything Trump/Russia for a second. Now look back at the history of our relationship with Russia. It’s not a good one. The most well-known strategy of Russian intelligence is to interfere internally with other nations, particularly the United States. Sowing discord among its people and creating doubts about the integrity of their electoral systems. The idea is to weaken their enemies (us) from within, thus placing themselves in a position of prominence on the world stage. In other words, Russia has been more successful in the restructuring of the world order during Trump’s presidency than at any other time in modern history. Not a good thing.

“We will take America without firing a shot. We do not have to invade the U.S. We will destroy you from within” — Nikita Khrushchev

Now, take Russia out of the equation again, and it’s time for some serious introspection. Yes, we’ve heard this type of language before. Trump is successfully exploiting racism, misogyny, xenophobia, and extremism to drive wedges in communities across the country. This is not about healthy debates on Twitter discussing who stands the best chance of ousting Trump. That’s the kind of civil discourse that should happen. There is a clear distinction between the two and this is of the utmost importance. We know what’s at stake when the 2020 election rolls around. Bickering about bickering isn’t going to change that.

Our bigger problem is addressing the growing problem of bigotry in America and how it’s being utilized to divide us. It’s clear that Trump exploited the racial anxieties of conservative white America. He appealed to the white extinction mentality of rural white voters with great success. Those same people who say they aren’t racist because they voted for Obama twice, then voted for Trump, are the same people who say since Obama was elected, there should be no need for civil rights laws anymore. This is all part of the same strategy that’s been in place for decades.

Trump’s campaign, whether Russia helped or not (they did), is attacking the interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender. This interconnection is widely regarded as the intersectionality of multiple forms of oppression. People like Stephen Miller, who holds views similar to that of the Ku Klux Klan, are using Donald Trump as a puppet to espouse those same views striking at the heart of intersectionality. Attempting to inflict the most amount of damage while feeding into the frenzy of protecting the white race.

To be clear, if Trump didn’t believe such things, there is no way he would allow someone to put him in that position. These are Trump’s views. Stephen Miller simply helps Trump express them while creating polices to enforce those ideals of oppressing every marginalized group in America.

While it may be clear to some why racists and hate groups love Donald Trump, others may have only recently begun to see it. It’s sometimes hard to believe that there are folks out there that don’t believe Trump and his cronies are bigots. It’s also interesting to see so many go out of their way to defend his racism. Discounting decades, sometimes centuries, of the very same language used by racists, with racist motivations. Now, in all their white privilege they try to convince us that suddenly the language isn’t racist when it comes from Trump. Do you know who does that? Racists.

Hint: They’re not fooling anybody.

Why You Hating on the South, Bro?

The biggest thing that upset most people about my previous article was that they took it as I was bashing the South. Which is funny because had they read it, they would know I wasn’t. When I discussed Donald Trump’s expansion of the Southern Strategy I was suggesting that it isn’t too far off from the Republican electoral strategy that preceded him. Because it isn’t. In fact, it’s the exact same strategy of the last 40 years. The only difference is using blatantly hateful rhetoric towards people of color instead of just quietly appealing to the racial tensions of white folks

Rather than use coded-language like “states’ rights” as Reagan and others used in their campaigns, Stephen Miller has Trump using much more direct hateful rhetoric. Forget talking about “white working-class voters” as Republicans once did. Now they just call Black athletes “sons of bitches,” while referring to all Latinos “Mexicans,” and suggesting that we’re all “animals” and “criminals and rapists.” They gleefully refer to our homelands as “shitholes” in an effort to dehumanize anyone of color in America. Citizen or not.

Many Americans are familiar with the Southern Strategy. Historians especially know that it is a Republican electoral strategy designed to increase political support among white voters by appealing to their bigotry. Likewise, the Trump administration’s electoral approach has adopted the same divisive ideology. By playing on those same racial tensions, while using blatantly racist and hateful rhetoric, Trump has been successful in driving a wedge of hate between conservative white voters and people of color.

Yes, the United States has taken a turn for the worse.

No, this language isn’t new.

But, when was the last time a president publicly spoke like this?

As a society, we can not allow this hateful language to be normalized. We must never allow anyone to tell us that racist comments aren’t racist. And most importantly, never let anyone tell you that you shouldn’t be outraged by language like this.

Because you totally should be.