# Republicans are doubling down on bigotry and demonization as a strategy **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 17, 2018, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-are-doubling-down-on-bigotry-and-demonization-as-a-strategy/823092 "2018-10-17T12:43:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mr.Nylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/77aa72/32.png) [@Mr.Nylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Nylock)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2018, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-are-doubling-down-on-bigotry-and-demonization-as-a-strategy/823092/21 "2018-10-18T01:25:19Z")
> [@Lamoral](#): > > I think this is true, and that “class warfare” type rhetoric doesn’t really work in America. The lower classes look up to the upper classes, they want to _be_ them, they’re not in the main jealous of them for having more money than they “need”. They don’t look at billionaires and think, “god dammit, they’re hoarding all the wealth”, they think “that’s badass.” Similarly, most people don’t actually give a fuck that Trump cheated on his taxes. Everyone hates taxes. People don’t look at taxes as a necessary evil, they just look at them as an evil, and admire anyone who can cheat the system. The lower classes in the U.S. don’t usually want to be the upper classes in my experience. They want the money, but they are usually not very interested in changing anything else about themselves; it’s not really any different than British people in my experience. The problem with the class warfare rhetoric is that rich ends up meaning 30% to 40% of the population and starts to sound like an attempt to bring middle class people down rather than lower class people up. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2018, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-are-doubling-down-on-bigotry-and-demonization-as-a-strategy/823092/22 "2018-10-18T12:36:05Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Glad to see you acknowledging this. Republicans scare voters by telling them lies. Democrats scare voters by telling them the truth. Not in this instance. Democrats are trying to scare voters by saying “the economy isn’t doing well” and simultaneously “the economy is doing well because of Obama”. Which isn’t particularly scary - just incoherent. I mean this kind of thing - > [@](#): > > I emphasized that because it is so very significant: the GOP has owned two (and arguably three) branches of our government for nearly two years, and yet has accomplished only a) further enriching the rich, and b) putting into place judges who will prioritize further enriching the rich. > > They have literally done nothing to help the ‘average Trump voter,’ let alone the average American. Essentially full employment and an economic boom has “literally done nothing to help”. Black unemployment is at an all-time low. That ‘only further enriches the rich’ - how, exactly? > [@](#): > > Look at the list Velocity wrote. Which of those items would you dispute is part of the conservative agenda? This item is true, if that is what you mean > [@](#): > > For decades, Democrats have been running on a platform of “Conservatives would repeal Roe, damage the environment, worsen our education, keep the poor poor and the rich rich, allow gun violence to continue and suppress gays and lesbians.” Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2018, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-are-doubling-down-on-bigotry-and-demonization-as-a-strategy/823092/23 "2018-10-18T12:38:44Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > It is a fundamental error of the Democrats IMO to fixate on the rich getting richer. I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: they need to concentrate on helping the poor out of poverty. A poor person doesn’t worry about Bill Gates being worth $100 Billion; a poor person worries about the next rent cheque. And more jobs means that a poor person is likely to be earning - and earning more - and thus have to worry less about that rent cheque. Like it or not, the two are deeply connected. Political power strongly tends to follow economic power. There may be years like this one seems to be shaping up to be, where small contributions from many donors are swamping the political system. But big money doesn’t sleep, doesn’t depend on changes in the political mood. The Koch brothers, Sheldon Adelson, the Mercers, the deVos family, and other multibillionaires with an interest in keeping the rich on top by keeping workers powerless - they can and do hire people and create organizations to move the political system to do their bidding, year in and year out, at levels where it’s easy to see, and at levels that the public and press largely miss. Their money will be pushing hard during _every_ electoral cycle, and in between elections as well. And the more money they have, the more money they can push with. This is why the GOP continues to try to gut Obamacare, even after public opinion has swung massively in its favor. This is why the GOP will try to cut Social Security and Medicare in order to pay for its $2T in tax cuts for the rich. This is where the opposition to raising the minimum wage or paying workers for overtime comes from. This is where the gutting of protections for union organizing comes from. There is simply no way of separating what happens on top from what happens on the bottom. They’re strongly connected. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2018, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-are-doubling-down-on-bigotry-and-demonization-as-a-strategy/823092/24 "2018-10-18T15:32:27Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Not in this instance. Democrats are trying to scare voters by saying “the economy isn’t doing well” and simultaneously “the economy is doing well because of Obama”. Which isn’t particularly scary - just incoherent. > > I mean this kind of thing -Essentially full employment and an economic boom has “literally done nothing to help”. > > Black unemployment is at an all-time low. That ‘only further enriches the rich’ - how, exactly? > This item is true, if that is what you mean > > Regards, > Shodan Are these jobs paying anything above minimum wage? Are they paying enough to keep with the standard of living in the area? Are the people actually enjoying this “economic boom” or are they on food stamps despite having a new job? These are question that MAGA! doesn’t answer. ---
**Author:** ![Drum\_God](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drum_god/32/44_2.png) [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2018, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-are-doubling-down-on-bigotry-and-demonization-as-a-strategy/823092/25 "2018-10-18T15:39:11Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Black unemployment is at an all-time low. That ‘only further enriches the rich’ - how, exactly? > > Regards, > Shodan It enriches the rich the same way the employment of other poor people does. What we have now is a large labor force in low-paying jobs. Their wages are not increasing to keep pace with inflation. So, from the employer’s perspective, those employees keep getting cheaper. So, hire more of them. Sure, it’s great to have a job, but it would be nice if that job had some advancement possibilities as well. Or, at the very least, didn’t have me moving backwards. I think people lose sight of the cost of employment, too. This summer, I was unemployed and desperately looking for work. I needed a job in my field that would pay between $60K and $70K. I wasn’t finding one. I was about to settle for a job that would pay less than half that. This would have been financially disastrous, but some money is better than no money. Except, the low-paying job, being full-time, would have prevented my searching for a job in my field. By giving up, I would have been completely giving up and not be able to get back into my industry. I doubt I am the only one who experienced that dilemma. Fortunately for me, I found an appropriate job at the very last minute. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2018, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-are-doubling-down-on-bigotry-and-demonization-as-a-strategy/823092/26 "2018-10-18T16:48:47Z")
You make $60 large per year as a drummer? Shit, maybe you guys aren’t so dumb, after all… ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2018, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-are-doubling-down-on-bigotry-and-demonization-as-a-strategy/823092/27 "2018-10-18T17:24:41Z")
Perhaps it’s the “God” status that garners extra salary? ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2018, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-are-doubling-down-on-bigotry-and-demonization-as-a-strategy/823092/28 "2018-10-18T21:33:43Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > Are these jobs paying anything above minimum wage? Are they paying enough to keep with the standard of living in the area? Are the people actually enjoying this “economic boom” or are they on food stamps despite having a new job? > > These are question that MAGA! doesn’t answer. That’s because they are dumb questions that rich people don’t care about. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2018, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-are-doubling-down-on-bigotry-and-demonization-as-a-strategy/823092/29 "2018-10-18T21:59:43Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > Are these jobs paying anything above minimum wage? Are they paying enough to keep with the standard of living in the area? Are the people actually enjoying this “economic boom” or are they on food stamps despite having a new job? > > These are question that MAGA! doesn’t answer. Regardless, some money is \> no money. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2018, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-are-doubling-down-on-bigotry-and-demonization-as-a-strategy/823092/30 "2018-10-18T23:02:09Z")
The real strategy is coming through changes to immigration rules and voter suppression. Immigration rules will make blue states a little whiter, and voter suppression will simply eradicate minorities as a voting constituency. Just as important as the congressional races - and maybe more so - will be what happens in governors races. Progressives have to play the state and local-level elections game, not just the congress and presidency. ---
**Author:** ![Wolf333](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf333/32/3460_2.png) [@Wolf333](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolf333)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-are-doubling-down-on-bigotry-and-demonization-as-a-strategy/823092/31 "2018-10-19T09:46:01Z")
Pastor Who Compared Obama To The Antichrist Says Liberals Must Stop Demonizing Republicans > **[Pastor Who Compared Obama To The Antichrist Says Liberals Must Stop...](https://trofire.com/2017/06/16/pastor-compared-obama-antichrist-says-liberals-must-stop-demonizing-republicans/)** > > Megachurch pastor Robert Jeffress said that the recent violence against Republicans is all due to the angry rhetoric from the Left. This is coming from a man who once said that Obama and the LGBT community would usher in the era of the Antichrist. It... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-are-doubling-down-on-bigotry-and-demonization-as-a-strategy/823092/32 "2018-10-19T12:24:21Z")
> [@Drum\_God](#): > > What we have now is a large labor force in low-paying jobs. Their wages are not increasing to keep pace with inflation. Do you have a cite that, on average, wages are not keeping pace with inflation? That is, that wages are getting smaller in constant dollars. TIA. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-are-doubling-down-on-bigotry-and-demonization-as-a-strategy/823092/33 "2018-10-19T13:00:10Z")
> [@Wolf333](#): > > Pastor Who Compared Obama To The Antichrist Says Liberals Must Stop Demonizing Republicans LOL! A link somewhat higher up the food chain: > **[Pastor who demonized Obama as the antichrist calls for end to political...](https://www.rawstory.com/2017/06/pastor-who-demonized-obama-as-the-antichrist-calls-for-end-to-political-demonization-of-republicans/)** > > A right-wing pastor who literally demonized former President Barack Obama as a precursor to the antichrist responded to the shootings of two Republican lawmakers with a call for political civility.Megachurch pastor Robert Jeffress, who said he'd vote... ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-are-doubling-down-on-bigotry-and-demonization-as-a-strategy/823092/34 "2018-10-19T13:59:53Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Do you have a cite that, on average, wages are not keeping pace with inflation? That is, that wages are getting smaller in constant dollars. TIA. > > Regards, > Shodan Here’s one. [Wages aren’t growing when adjusted for inflation, new data finds](https://www.marketwatch.com/story/wages-arent-growing-when-adjusted-for-inflation-new-data-finds-2018-07-17) ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-are-doubling-down-on-bigotry-and-demonization-as-a-strategy/823092/35 "2018-10-19T14:08:14Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Like it or not, the two are deeply connected. Political power strongly tends to follow economic power. > > There may be years like this one seems to be shaping up to be, where small contributions from many donors are swamping the political system. But big money doesn’t sleep, doesn’t depend on changes in the political mood. The Koch brothers, Sheldon Adelson, the Mercers, the deVos family, and other multibillionaires with an interest in keeping the rich on top by keeping workers powerless - they can and do hire people and create organizations to move the political system to do their bidding, year in and year out, at levels where it’s easy to see, and at levels that the public and press largely miss. > > Their money will be pushing hard during _every_ electoral cycle, and in between elections as well. And the more money they have, the more money they can push with. > > This is why the GOP continues to try to gut Obamacare, even after public opinion has swung massively in its favor. This is why the GOP will try to cut Social Security and Medicare in order to pay for its $2T in tax cuts for the rich. This is where the opposition to raising the minimum wage or paying workers for overtime comes from. This is where the gutting of protections for union organizing comes from. > > There is simply no way of separating what happens on top from what happens on the bottom. They’re strongly connected. Yes but for many poor people, that connection is a distant or nonexistent one in their minds. They are much less concerned about whether Bill Gates gets an extra $3 billion and more concerned with whether they get an extra $3,000. It doesn’t win many votes to focus on the former rather than the latter. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2018, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-are-doubling-down-on-bigotry-and-demonization-as-a-strategy/823092/36 "2018-10-19T14:19:12Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Yes but for many poor people, that connection is a distant or nonexistent one in their minds. They are much less concerned about whether Bill Gates gets an extra $3 billion and more concerned with whether they get an extra $3,000. It doesn’t win many votes to focus on the former rather than the latter. OK, but that’s a different issue. I was talking policy; you’re talking campaigning. (FWIW, **Quartz** wasn’t clear about the nature of Dems’ fixation, but since I don’t see evidence that more than a few Dems have been running against the super-rich in their campaigns, I assumed he meant a policy fixation.) Not that the two are unconnected over time: with respect to _policy_, I think it’s essential that Dems fixate on it because otherwise at _campaign_ time, they’ll be perpetually rolling the stone uphill against an avalanche of billionaires’ campaign money. Not that it would be that hard to make the connection in people’s minds between the wealth of the rich and their own circumstances: when Bezos has $100B, but his workers are dropping from heatstroke in his warehouses because he’s too cheap to air-condition them, that drives the point home nicely. And that was just the first example off the top of my head; there are plenty more out there. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2018, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-are-doubling-down-on-bigotry-and-demonization-as-a-strategy/823092/37 "2018-10-20T21:30:01Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > Here’s one. > > [Wages aren’t growing when adjusted for inflation, new data finds](https://www.marketwatch.com/story/wages-arent-growing-when-adjusted-for-inflation-new-data-finds-2018-07-17) That isn’t a cite for what was claimed. Do you have a cite that, on average, wages are not keeping pace with inflation? That’s the claim that was made. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2018, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-are-doubling-down-on-bigotry-and-demonization-as-a-strategy/823092/38 "2018-10-20T23:24:42Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > That isn’t a cite for what was claimed. Do you have a cite that, on average, wages are not keeping pace with inflation? That’s the claim that was made. > > Regards, > Shodan In the cite that you apparently didn’t read: > [@](#): > > According to the Labor Department, median weekly earnings fell 0.6% in inflation-adjusted dollars in the second quarter, compared to the same time period of 2017. > > That’s now the third straight quarter where inflation has outpaced wage growth. Do you somehow think that inflation outpacing wage growth is not synonymous with wages not keeping pace with inflation? Please explain your reasoning. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2018, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-are-doubling-down-on-bigotry-and-demonization-as-a-strategy/823092/39 "2018-10-21T17:45:05Z")
> [@](#): > > The difference lies in which measures of both pay and inflation are used. Powell was citing average hourly earnings, and not median weekly earnings. He was also referring to inflation as measured by the PCE price index, and not the consumer price index, which the BLS uses to compute real average wages. > In a report last week, the BLS said real average wages were unchanged over the previous 12 months. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2018, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-are-doubling-down-on-bigotry-and-demonization-as-a-strategy/823092/40 "2018-10-21T21:57:26Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > For decades, Democrats have been running on a platform of “Conservatives would repeal Roe, damage the environment, worsen our education, keep the poor poor and the rich rich, allow gun violence to continue and suppress gays and lesbians.” What do you call that, if not “painting Republicans as the enemy, as dangerous to the country?” Too bad the Democratic platform was ignored, since the Republicans persistently work to overturn or bypass _Roe v Wade_, and are damaging the environment, worsening our education, keeping the poor poor and the rich rich, allowing gun violence to continue and attempting to suppress gays and lesbians. None of that, of course, has been portrayed as working with our enemy (as the Republicans appear to have actually done in regard to Putin). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-are-doubling-down-on-bigotry-and-demonization-as-a-strategy/823092.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-are-doubling-down-on-bigotry-and-demonization-as-a-strategy/823092.md?page=3)