(07-04-2020 02:24 PM)illiniowl Wrote:  

(07-04-2020 08:17 AM)ausowl Wrote:  

(07-04-2020 07:08 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(07-03-2020 04:49 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  Mexico closes border
When Trump closed this border, the Dems decried it as racist. Is it still racist when the other side does it?

I have never quite seen the racist aspect of this. Is it racist when virtually every other country in the world is more strict about borders than we are? Are there no legitimate reasons for wanting to enforce borders as part of national security? Was it racist when the Obama administration put children in cages?

Trump's rhetoric from the day he rode his escalator down to his Mt Rushmore rally last night.

Part of his appeal to some I suppose, but he's going to reap the consequences. Alienating persuadable moderates and absolutely driving up the vote. I read somewhere that the black vote will be at 2008 levels.

If the black vote is at 2008 levels I'll eat my hat. Won't happen.

As another matter of pure political science, Trump doesn't need to appeal to the middle, at least in the conventional way, in order to win. His entire strategy is based on making people who dislike both candidates/parties -- so-called "double haters" -- hate his opponent more. This group comprised around 18% of the electorate in 2016 and Trump "won" it (perhaps more accurately, Hillary lost it) 47%-30%. That basically explains the 2016 election result. Wasn't enough to win the popular vote but it won in the EC where it matters.

With that said, some poll showed Biden currently winning this group 60% to 10% (and Trump is behind in basically every battleground state).

Now, I wouldn't put this down to "racist" immigration rhetoric (we're not going to agree on that) so much as to (1) the "the alternative would be worse than me" strategy is obviously much harder to pull off as an incumbent; (2) even harder for an incumbent amidst a pandemic-caused depression that simply makes people want to vote for "change" in any form; (3) open and relentless media hatred of Trump; (4) certainly, Trump shooting himself in the foot on innumerable occasions; and (5) the Biden "campaign" quite obviously and intentionally hiding their candidate away behind locked doors so as not to remind anyone why they might be hesitant to vote for him.