The 2016 Food Fight (excuse me, presidential election campaign) has moved into the "you're a racist" phase with Hillary Clinton giving a speech denouncing Trump. Trump, for his part, calls Clinton a bigot. It's stupid nonsense, but why have we gotten here? There seem to be three reasons:
1. The biggest reason is that by throwing charges (and baseless ones) of racism at Trump now, Clinton hopes to change the subject of coverage from the corrupt Clinton foundation and her corrupt actions as Secretary of State. Without a doubt, most of the media will follow that change in the story line. Hillary Clinton and her advisers know that there's nothing that grabs the attention of the US media like charges of racism. To explain the way that Hillary sold access to her office at the State Department takes work; it's not an easy task. On the other hand to report how Hillary is leveling charges of racism is very easy. In short, the charges of racism are just another typical cynical ploy from the campaign.
2. The next reason for making the charges now is that it enables Clinton to avoid talking about policy. The vast majority of the American people understand that things in this country are on the wrong track and going in the wrong direction. Nothing is getting better. Hillary's plans for her time in office should she get elected are to continue what Obama has been doing or to go even further down the road travelled by Obama. Every time Hillary talks about those plans, she loses voters. There just isn't a majority among the public for "more of the same". Each day we talk about who is a racist, it is another day we don't talk about policies for the future.
3. The last reason for the attack may surprise some people. Hillary Clinton and her staff are terrified of Trump's appeals to African American voters. Trump has been pointing out that for fifty years plus, the Democrats have claimed to be the ones who will help African Americans, but in reality that is just something that they say every four years. In between elections, the Democrats do precious little to help blacks. All one has to do is to look at the results. Black employment, income, home ownership and other signs of economic success have all declined under Obama. Trump says that African Americans should give something else a try by voting for him. He even says, "what have you got to lose?" Now black votes have been almost exclusively cast for Democrats for a while. Obama got over 95% of them. If Trump can swing the vote to just 80% for Hillary and 20% for him, it will be enough to win the election for Trump if the vote is otherwise like it was in 2012. In other words, the stakes are very high. Hillary and her advisers know that the Democrats have failed the black community. Photo ops and symbolic gestures just don't cut it. That's why Hillary is back calling Trump a racist. If black voters accept that Trump might be a racist, then they will not vote for him and won't even listen to him. Hillary is trying to inoculate herself against the charges that she and her party have abandoned the African American community.
1. The biggest reason is that by throwing charges (and baseless ones) of racism at Trump now, Clinton hopes to change the subject of coverage from the corrupt Clinton foundation and her corrupt actions as Secretary of State. Without a doubt, most of the media will follow that change in the story line. Hillary Clinton and her advisers know that there's nothing that grabs the attention of the US media like charges of racism. To explain the way that Hillary sold access to her office at the State Department takes work; it's not an easy task. On the other hand to report how Hillary is leveling charges of racism is very easy. In short, the charges of racism are just another typical cynical ploy from the campaign.
2. The next reason for making the charges now is that it enables Clinton to avoid talking about policy. The vast majority of the American people understand that things in this country are on the wrong track and going in the wrong direction. Nothing is getting better. Hillary's plans for her time in office should she get elected are to continue what Obama has been doing or to go even further down the road travelled by Obama. Every time Hillary talks about those plans, she loses voters. There just isn't a majority among the public for "more of the same". Each day we talk about who is a racist, it is another day we don't talk about policies for the future.
3. The last reason for the attack may surprise some people. Hillary Clinton and her staff are terrified of Trump's appeals to African American voters. Trump has been pointing out that for fifty years plus, the Democrats have claimed to be the ones who will help African Americans, but in reality that is just something that they say every four years. In between elections, the Democrats do precious little to help blacks. All one has to do is to look at the results. Black employment, income, home ownership and other signs of economic success have all declined under Obama. Trump says that African Americans should give something else a try by voting for him. He even says, "what have you got to lose?" Now black votes have been almost exclusively cast for Democrats for a while. Obama got over 95% of them. If Trump can swing the vote to just 80% for Hillary and 20% for him, it will be enough to win the election for Trump if the vote is otherwise like it was in 2012. In other words, the stakes are very high. Hillary and her advisers know that the Democrats have failed the black community. Photo ops and symbolic gestures just don't cut it. That's why Hillary is back calling Trump a racist. If black voters accept that Trump might be a racist, then they will not vote for him and won't even listen to him. Hillary is trying to inoculate herself against the charges that she and her party have abandoned the African American community.
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