Opinion by
Jennifer Rubin
Columnist
Today at 12:05 p.m. EDT
Political cliches are cliches because they are true. Among the truest: Winning election campaigns are about the future. President Barack Obama’s formulation was “hope and change”; President Bill Clinton asked voters “to build a bridge to the 21st century.” Democrats must now do the same under President Biden.
Republicans’ 2016 nostalgic appeal was an anomaly. They bet that disgruntled Whites longed for an America where toxic masculinity was celebrated, where a college education was not needed to sustain a comfortable middle-class lifestyle, where Whites could take refuge in de facto (if not intentional) segregation in the suburbs, and where Whites and Protestants dominate the country and our collective history.
The disconnect between 21st-century America and Republicans’ agenda and demographics could not be more striking. Census figures reveal that White and rural populations are declining. Extreme weather is ravaging Americans (whether they acknowledge climate change or not). A pandemic is tearing through states governed by reckless charlatans inveighing against mask and vaccine mandates. A plutocratic-friendly tax code is aggravating persistent income inequality. And Americans wonder why they do not have basic benefits other advanced societies enjoy (e.g., decent public transportation, subsidized child care, paid sick leave).
ADVERTISING
Republicans are so determined to scare the shrinking White electorate and cast their opponents as foes of “real Americans” that they are adopting positions the vast majority of the electorate (even many Whites) reject. In the swirl of controversy over the end of the war in Afghanistan, Republicans have seized on the two most unpopular positions: Keep the war going, and keep Afghan refugees out. The Post recently reported that “the nativist wing of the party that backed President Donald Trump’s ‘America First’ agenda is warning that the Afghan refugees could pose a security threat and is stoking fears about where they would settle in the United States.” Prominent MAGA Republicans “have characterized the arrival of Afghans as part of their broader ‘replacement theory’ warning — the idea that immigrants and particularly undocumented ones are ‘replacing’ natural-born Americans.” Yet Republicans also denounce Biden for leaving Afghans behind. Their capacity for inconsistency and hypocrisy is jaw-dropping.
As hospitalizations and deaths from covid-19 soar in red America, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) have become poster boys for the “you’re not the boss of me” politics that rejects mask and vaccine requirements despite the threat that this poses, including to children. DeSantis’s disastrous approach to the coronavirus has set the standard for MAGA candidates such as Glenn Youngkin, the Republican nominee for Virginia’s governor who wants the commonwealth to follow Florida’s lead into the abyss. Meanwhile, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), an ophthalmologist, is urging the study of ivermectin, a drug used to treat worm infections, as a treatment for covid-19 — a reminder that like governors, doctors also can be dangerous cranks.
“Make America Great Again” was a racist appeal to the fantasy that Whites could retain their social, economic and political dominance. It was also a promise of revenge against their perceived enemies (e.g., immigrants, scientists, elites, urban dwellers). It is now clear that the reactionary appeal is returning the worst aspects of our past — not only voter suppression but also ugly nativism, unrestrained pandemics, disregard for the environment and Gilded Age economics. What is “great” about all that?
Democrats, once they stop sniping at one another and jostling for the high ground in the Afghanistan war drawdown, might think constructively about an overarching theme for the future. “Build Back Better” in future-oriented campaign parlance is really about “Building a Better Future” — one in which an increasingly diverse country fully participates in democracy; science combats climate change and pandemics; U.S. leadership in the world does not depend on endless wars; and middle- and working-class families’ lives are easier thanks to affordable child care, paid sick leave, cheaper prescription drugs and a generous child tax credit.
Democrats are fortunate enough to have opponents who are embracing much about the past that is disagreeable to most Americans. The key to Democrats’ success might lie in contrasting that nostalgia trip for resentful Whites with an America greater than ever before.
Jennifer Rubin
Columnist
Today at 12:05 p.m. EDT
Political cliches are cliches because they are true. Among the truest: Winning election campaigns are about the future. President Barack Obama’s formulation was “hope and change”; President Bill Clinton asked voters “to build a bridge to the 21st century.” Democrats must now do the same under President Biden.
Republicans’ 2016 nostalgic appeal was an anomaly. They bet that disgruntled Whites longed for an America where toxic masculinity was celebrated, where a college education was not needed to sustain a comfortable middle-class lifestyle, where Whites could take refuge in de facto (if not intentional) segregation in the suburbs, and where Whites and Protestants dominate the country and our collective history.
The disconnect between 21st-century America and Republicans’ agenda and demographics could not be more striking. Census figures reveal that White and rural populations are declining. Extreme weather is ravaging Americans (whether they acknowledge climate change or not). A pandemic is tearing through states governed by reckless charlatans inveighing against mask and vaccine mandates. A plutocratic-friendly tax code is aggravating persistent income inequality. And Americans wonder why they do not have basic benefits other advanced societies enjoy (e.g., decent public transportation, subsidized child care, paid sick leave).
ADVERTISING
Republicans are so determined to scare the shrinking White electorate and cast their opponents as foes of “real Americans” that they are adopting positions the vast majority of the electorate (even many Whites) reject. In the swirl of controversy over the end of the war in Afghanistan, Republicans have seized on the two most unpopular positions: Keep the war going, and keep Afghan refugees out. The Post recently reported that “the nativist wing of the party that backed President Donald Trump’s ‘America First’ agenda is warning that the Afghan refugees could pose a security threat and is stoking fears about where they would settle in the United States.” Prominent MAGA Republicans “have characterized the arrival of Afghans as part of their broader ‘replacement theory’ warning — the idea that immigrants and particularly undocumented ones are ‘replacing’ natural-born Americans.” Yet Republicans also denounce Biden for leaving Afghans behind. Their capacity for inconsistency and hypocrisy is jaw-dropping.
As hospitalizations and deaths from covid-19 soar in red America, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) have become poster boys for the “you’re not the boss of me” politics that rejects mask and vaccine requirements despite the threat that this poses, including to children. DeSantis’s disastrous approach to the coronavirus has set the standard for MAGA candidates such as Glenn Youngkin, the Republican nominee for Virginia’s governor who wants the commonwealth to follow Florida’s lead into the abyss. Meanwhile, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), an ophthalmologist, is urging the study of ivermectin, a drug used to treat worm infections, as a treatment for covid-19 — a reminder that like governors, doctors also can be dangerous cranks.
“Make America Great Again” was a racist appeal to the fantasy that Whites could retain their social, economic and political dominance. It was also a promise of revenge against their perceived enemies (e.g., immigrants, scientists, elites, urban dwellers). It is now clear that the reactionary appeal is returning the worst aspects of our past — not only voter suppression but also ugly nativism, unrestrained pandemics, disregard for the environment and Gilded Age economics. What is “great” about all that?
Democrats, once they stop sniping at one another and jostling for the high ground in the Afghanistan war drawdown, might think constructively about an overarching theme for the future. “Build Back Better” in future-oriented campaign parlance is really about “Building a Better Future” — one in which an increasingly diverse country fully participates in democracy; science combats climate change and pandemics; U.S. leadership in the world does not depend on endless wars; and middle- and working-class families’ lives are easier thanks to affordable child care, paid sick leave, cheaper prescription drugs and a generous child tax credit.
Democrats are fortunate enough to have opponents who are embracing much about the past that is disagreeable to most Americans. The key to Democrats’ success might lie in contrasting that nostalgia trip for resentful Whites with an America greater than ever before.
