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Can Hate Win an Election?
Townhall.com ^ | October 31, 2020 | John C. Goodman

Posted on 10/31/2020 4:58:59 AM PDT by Kaslin

I don’t understand why this election is even close.

Donald Trump draws huge crowds whose energy and enthusiasm is palpable. When Joe Biden ventures from his basement, the handful of onlookers not only look bored, they look like they may have been paid to be there.

In a normal election, even a hint that a presidential candidate is showing signs of dementia would be lethal. A credible accusation that a candidate may have traded access for dollars would be impossible for the candidate to ignore.

So why are polls showing Joe Biden in the lead?

The answer, I am told, is that no one is actually for Joe Biden. They are against Donald Trump. They’re so much against Trump that they are willing to overlook almost any Biden deficiency or transgression.

For the first time in the history of American politics, an entire presidential campaign is being managed by a strategy of sitting on the sidelines. Why is Biden not campaigning? Because it appears that nothing he can say or do would change a single vote.

At Trump rallies, adoring supporters are now yelling “We love you.” Biden supporters don’t attend Trump rallies. But if they did, they would be yelling “We hate you.”

Is hate enough to win?

The politics of hate is closely connected to the politics of identity.

The Democratic Party has a long history of race baiting as elections draw near. No, Trayvon Martin was not killed by a white assailant with an animus toward blacks. No, Michael Brown did not say “hands up, don’t shoot.” No, George Bush did not side with the racists who chained James Byrd to a pickup truck and dragged him to his death

But if you are an African American, you have probably heard these myths repeated time and again – on black radio, on black TV, and perhaps even in church. They are repeated often at election time. Hillary Clinton even had the mothers of Martin and Brown sitting on the stage with her at the national convention when she was nominated to be the Democratic candidate for president.

No, Donald Trump did not say white supremacists are good people. But that doesn’t stop the latest message conveyed by the hatemongers: If Donald Trump and the Republicans have their way, you could end up like George Floyd.

All this rhetoric has one and only one purpose: to make black voters angry enough to vote for Democrats.

And it has one very sad side effect. It completely distracts us from a rational look at public policies that need change.

Consider two statements:

There is systemic racism. There are public policies that systematically harm low-income minorities.

The first statement is false. The second statement is true.

Low-income black families in inner cities all too often must send their children to the worst schools. They tend to live in the worst housing. They tend to receive the worst city services. They are subject to the worst environmental harms.

Yet, as Donald Trump has repeatedly reminded everyone, almost all these cities are run by Democrats. Often by black Democrats. The idea that black city managers are harming fellow blacks because they are racist is simply not credible.

Here is what is true. Liberal Democrats believe in special interest government. Their whole approach to politics is based on it. The idea is that each interest group agrees to support the outcome as a whole so long as the group receives benefits that are especially important to it.

Here is what that means in practice. In return for support of the teachers’ union, the political leaders agree not to fire bad teachers. In return for the support of the police union, the leaders agree not to fire bad cops.

Agreeing to pay higher salaries is hard. Money is scarce. Budgets are tight. But it’s easy not to fire bad apples. Well, it’s easy unless a mishap gets on national TV.

Other policies follow the same pattern. The reason why California has the highest homeless population in the country is because liberals in San Francisco and other California cities want zoning laws that protect their wealthy enclaves from inexpensive housing that threatens to arise next door.

The reason why environmental externalities are not evenly spread throughout the city is because the wealthy liberals have more influence over public decisions than low-income blacks.

No one sets out to harm poor people. Politicians are merely pursuing their own interests. Inner-city minorities get the short end of the stick because they are the least influential special interest around.

In the current race, Donald Trump is approaching black voters with a different message: school choice, safe neighborhoods, enterprise zones, liberating the job market, etc. This message is focused on public policies, not on race-baiting rhetoric.

In fact, Trump is the first Republican candidate in modern times to seriously compete for black votes at all.

Will that strategy work? We’ll see.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: blackamericans; blackvoters; donaldtrump; hate; joebiden
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1 posted on 10/31/2020 4:58:59 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

With help from Ignorance, Stupidity, and Fraud, sure.


2 posted on 10/31/2020 5:02:31 AM PDT by gundog ( Hail to the Chief, bitches!)
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To: Kaslin

4 years of Democrat hate


3 posted on 10/31/2020 5:04:45 AM PDT by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold ......)
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To: Kaslin

Whether it be fear, hatred, anger, or love, intense emotion motivates.

Today Trump is speaking on a farm 45 minutes outside Philadelphia. He’s going after the suburban woman vote by creating “reality” and fear of the Philly riots coming to them.


4 posted on 10/31/2020 5:06:13 AM PDT by tired&retired (Blessings)
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To: Kaslin

I hate to say it, but that’s the world works today.


5 posted on 10/31/2020 5:09:24 AM PDT by Cornfed21
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To: SaveFerris

I think a permanent one-party totalitarian state awaits American voters, many of whom are gullible and uninformed. Hope they choose wisely


6 posted on 10/31/2020 5:09:34 AM PDT by Theodore R.
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To: Kaslin

Holding onto hatred and anger is like drinking poison hoping to hurt your enemy.

Thus Trump Derangement Syndrome.


7 posted on 10/31/2020 5:09:54 AM PDT by tired&retired (Blessings)
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To: Kaslin

No hate is not enough, but fear is.

Fear of the violence that is being threatened by the left as we watch stores being boarded up in every large city across the nation. Being boarded up not because of crazy Qanon people, but because of young leftist people unable to cope with being mislead by their party’s leaders...for decades. Unable to cope that a vast majority of fellow citizens reject their ideological goals. Unable to cope that we don’t want what they are peddling.


8 posted on 10/31/2020 5:10:22 AM PDT by EBH (My family fought for Liberty in 1776 and we will do so again. God Save the Republic.)
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To: gundog

It won the last one. I see no reson why biden cant win on tds this election.


9 posted on 10/31/2020 5:12:04 AM PDT by Ikeon (Render unto Ceasar what is Ceasar's.)
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To: Kaslin

It’s quite possible


10 posted on 10/31/2020 5:12:16 AM PDT by Stravinsky (Politeness will not defeat the Marxist revolutionaries)
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To: Stravinsky

Any RE developer knows, whether it is Vegas or some old town in the rust belt, safety and security are essential in an area before investment will flow. Most cities are filled with wonderful people, who are poor. They love their families, they work hard, they keep their place nice, they want the best for their kids. This is the same all over the world.

It takes one bad house on the block to screw the whole thing up.


11 posted on 10/31/2020 5:21:15 AM PDT by SteelPSUGOP
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To: Kaslin

My wife and her friend brought up and interesting question. They didn’t understand why all these people hated Trump, because they assumed that everyone got a tax cut and economic benefits.

I explained that to get a tax cut, you have to first pay taxes. And, to get an economic benefit, you have to first pay bills.

It was somewhat of an eye-opening moment.


12 posted on 10/31/2020 5:23:02 AM PDT by eastexsteve
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To: Kaslin

The leftist Democrat Party platform is built on hate and envy.


13 posted on 10/31/2020 5:23:58 AM PDT by ptsal (CVote R.E.D. >>>Remove Every Democrat ***)
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To: Kaslin

I happened to watch Sleepy Joe yesterday evening on Fox, covering Live one of his 50 car extravaganzas...

With his dark Biden aviator sunglasses, Joe just spouted one Anti-Trump slander after another...(e.g. he’s still pushing the Trump called my son Beau and military people all “losers”...followed by music and heartstrings for Beau the “Patriot” on his deathbed)...

BTW, his teleprompter reading was pathetic and uninspiring...he’s really bad on the stump...

At one point he was making some comment about Covid...”we’re going to take care of Covid”...long hesitation...”19”...the prompter must have flipped a page on old Joe...

Just reading the lifeless words...and numbers...

Prompter: Now: Say good-bye...

Joe: “Now say good-bye”

God willing, we can say goodbye to this dope next week...


14 posted on 10/31/2020 5:24:44 AM PDT by MCEscherHammer
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To: Kaslin
Why it's close? Think of the number of people employed by local, state, and the federal governments.

Think of the numbers of retired public employees.

The vast majority of them are likely loyal to the state, not the republic.

It's not like we haven't seen this before...

Bureaucracy Kills: A Lesson from Rome

15 posted on 10/31/2020 5:27:19 AM PDT by mewzilla (Break out the mustard seeds.)
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To: Kaslin

Trump enthusiasm makes much better company than hatred enthusiasm.


16 posted on 10/31/2020 5:27:57 AM PDT by mikelets456
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To: Kaslin

The vote “against a guy” election never works out.

Didn’t in 84, 96, 04, 08, or 12.

If the other guy is someone people are just “meh” about, there isnt the energy to win with them.


17 posted on 10/31/2020 5:29:12 AM PDT by VanDeKoik
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To: MCEscherHammer
Prompter: Now: Say good-bye...

Joe: “Now say good-bye”

Bwahaha, You have got to be kidding. What a dope

18 posted on 10/31/2020 5:32:15 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

I’ve asked this very question of the lefties in my own family.

“What is it you hate about Trump?”

The best answer they can give to sum all of this up is “Orange Man Bad.”

Nothing more.

They can’t come up with any specifics, actions, EOs or other policies that Trump has done to upset them so much.

When I try to explain to them the GOOD Trump has done, that is dismissed outright with: “Yeah, but Orange Man Bad.”

They are slaves to the msm and leftist subversives who have brainwashed them into believing “Orange Man Bad” - without a scintilla of evidence.

They have no idea the hell they are voting in by believing “Orange Man Bad.”


19 posted on 10/31/2020 5:41:39 AM PDT by Bon of Babble (In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, Baby!)
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To: Kaslin

The Ministry of Propaganda is still holding sway with half the population, keeping them in the dark and feeding them lies.


20 posted on 10/31/2020 5:43:58 AM PDT by Lurkinanloomin (Natural Born Citizens Are Born Here of Citizen Parents|Know Islam, No Peace-No Islam, Know Peace)
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