There are moments in close elections where historians point and say, "Yep, that's where [insert name here] lost the election. That moment. Right there.
Such a moment took place last Sunday at a Trump rally in Madison Square Garden. The racism exhibited there was rampant, flagrant, and undeniable.
In a way, it reminds me of that defining moment on October 16, 2012, when a video was leaked onto social media showing Mitt Romney insulting lower income Americans (what he called "the lower 47% who pay no taxes") and nakedly placating to the ultra-rich who were attending that particular fundraising dinner. It was a close election, but that particular October surprise did him in, and there was no recovering from it.
Now, we have the Madison Square Garden debacle. Let's run down the list of the impossible-to-excuse occurrences there:
"Comedian" Tony Hinchcliffe torpedoed Trump's campaign with a bevvy of racist "jokes." He started by saying that he currently lives in Texas, a state with a "wide open border." Then he said, "Where are my Latinos here tonight?" (Some cheers from the audience responded to him.) "You guys see what I mean?" he answered. "It's wide open. There's so many of them."
Ouch! Talk about tone deaf!
He didn't even try to walk it back. He went on to say, "Believe it or not, people, I welcome migrants to the United States of America. I welcome them with open arms. And by open arms I mean..." Here, he waves his arms in a gesture that indicates, 'No, no, go back.'
And that wasn't even the worst of it. He then said, "And these Latinos, they love makin' babies, too. Just know that. They do. They do. There's no pulling out. They come inside. Just like they did to our country."
He tried laughing it off by saying, "Republicans are the party with a great sense of humor."
No, Tony, it obviously really isn't. You're the prime example of that.
It descended from there. "I don't know if you guys know this, but there's an island of garbage out in the ocean right now. I think it's called Puerto Rico?"
Wow! Jesus H. Christ!
I'm not sure if any Latino voters walked out just then, but I certainly would have!
Now, some might say, "Oh, those comments don't reflect the attitudes of the Trump campaign. That was just a comedian being a comedian."
Oh yeah? Then why has the story been confirmed that his jokes were vetted beforehand? And that the only joke removed was one where he called Kamala a "cunt?"
Seriously! That was in there! And at least they cut that one, but the fact that they left the others in is an indication of just how racist the Trump campaign truly is at heart!
And Trump might win Hispanic voters back over if he apologizes. But he won't. Because, as we all know, he doesn't apologize for jack shit, no matter how egregious.
That isn't all. At this rally Dr. Phil (Bwahahahaaaa! Dr. Fucking Phil???!!!) said, “We didn’t choose the name [Diversity Equity Inclusion] for that by random… this country was built on hard work, added value and talent. Not on equal outcome, not on DEI, this country was built on hard work.”
Oh, brother.
And there were other lowlights:
Stephen Miller, in a breathtakingly racist moment, actually dared to say, "America is for Americans and Americans only!"
Hello? 1930's Nazi Germany called. They want their slogan back.
Tucker Carlson (Bwahahahaaa! Tucker Fucking Carlson?!) actually said Kamala Harris was a, "Samoan, Malaysian, low-IQ former California prosecutor." (Wrong on all counts.) Certainly, Kamala is far smarter than anyone who would say something like that!
Some clown named David Rem actually called Kamala "the Antichrist." (A flip-universe comment if I ever heard one.)
And, of course, because there was no shit-burger these people wouldn't eat, the lie was repeated that Harris has imported criminal migrants from "prisons and jails, insane asylums and mental institutions from all around the world, from Venezuela to the Congo."
If I'm working for the Harris campaign, I'm replaying those Hinchcliffe insults to Hispanics on every Spanish-language radio station and TV channel I can buy air time on. Trump stuck to them, and now they're going to stick to him. I'm playing it over and over again on a loop!
The Right-Wing Media Machine is going to have one hell of a time overcoming this one. Even with Elon Musk teaming up with Vladimir Putin. (Oh, yeah, that happened too! Elon is now a national security threat!)
This rally has taken the Latino vote, lit it on fire, danced triumphantly around it, and then urinated on the ashes. How can any self-respecting Latino voter approve of this?
Now, I'm not going to say it's over. I've seen this cult of personality bounce back from one scandal after another. But once again, I'm going to insist that it should be. In a sane world, it is.
Let's find out how sane we are, and specifically how sane Latino voters are, on November 5th.
Eric
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