Anita Chabria is a highly opinionated, downright cheeky, political columnist for the Los Angeles Times. Her take on the Trump-Vance shitshow is delicious.
The Trump campaign has long seemed to function on the belief that it could scurry around under the garbage of racism and misogyny, nibbling at ideas such as the Great Replacement Theory (that immigrants are “hordes” that will destroy America), then run for cover when the spotlight flips on.
“Fake news!” they cry when caught in the glare. “Liberal media!”
It’s a cynical strategy of barfing ugly all over the rug, then blaming it on the dog, to switch critters on you.
It skitters underneath the “cat lady” claims, as well as the false “chameleon” narrative that Kamala Harris does not equally embrace her Indian and Black heritages.
Both assertions are about putting women and minorities in their place with venomous dog whistles of resentment and rancor that ring clearly in the ears of a certain set of voters, ones that have long made up Trump’s most loyal following — angry young white men.
But a funny thing happened when the Democratic ticket became a California stepmother with Hindu and Jewish influences and a salt-of-the-earth Midwesterner with two IVF kids.
The dog whistles changed frequency and we all could hear them clearly.
It turns out the average voter — the swing state undecided who is critical to victory — doesn’t believe “childless cat ladies” are a subset of sociopaths. Or that being mixed race is somehow too confusing to comprehend.
Hate is a lot harder to hide — or embrace — when it’s directed at particular people. When the Trump playbook found itself unexpectedly facing Harris and Walz, the bitterness against diversity, equity and inclusion morphed.
The derided acronym — DEI — switched from being a dog whistle into shorthand for values most of us respect, and that many families embody everyday simply through their complicated, varied existences.
California values. American values. Family values.
What’s the Trump campaign to do?
... the problem for Trump-Vance is that their family values have long been grounded in white Christian nationalism — controlling women, ending rights for the LGBTQ+ community — and backing away from the hate is freaking out that base. That is especially true for those angry men.
“Tonight I declared a new Groyper War against the Trump campaign,” white nationalist Nick Fuentes wrote recently. “We support Trump, but his campaign has been hijacked by the same consultants, lobbyists, & donors that he defeated in 2016, and they’re blowing it. Without serious changes we are headed for a catastrophic loss.”
Groypers, for those with better things to consider, are a bunch of far-right white supremacists who count Fuentes as their leader.
Right-wing podcaster Joe Rogan also signaled defection from Trump, seemingly endorsing Robert Kennedy Jr. before backing away from that. Ditto for hard-right YouTuber Tim Pool.
Trump is feeling that heat enough that Monday night he did a social media interview with Elon Musk, child-king of petulant men. That call drew more than 1 million listeners.
During that conversation — calling it an interview is an insult to anyone who has ever asked a sentient question — Trump gave the usual rants, including his promise to close the U.S. Department of Education. “Not every state will do great” with giving their kids the foundation for success, he conceded. But it will be So Great for the far-right. As for Musk, it was serious fanboy energy
Not all of those listening were fans, to be sure (I was one of those million). But it turns out angry men really do like Trump, and he really does like that adoration — Sally Field at the ’85 Oscars type of like.
They like the Trump who calls immigrants murderers and rapists. They like the Vance who slams women for not procreating according to his standards.
They don’t want to be moderate.
And so Trump-Vance has a problem. Going for the middle may gain some votes. But it may also lose the hate-based base.
I wonder how long it will be before some more national outlet swoops up a writer of Chabria's caliber? For the sake of the LAT's long suffering fans, I hope she gets a good run in the southland.
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