Once again, President Donald Trump‘s opponents and his constant critics in the news media are calling him a racist. It’s been the go-to response to him from Democrats and even several Republicans who have thought this is a foolproof weapon against him since he first announced his candidacy for president in 2015.
How’s that working out for them?
The fact is the charge of racism doesn’t work very well on Trump. But folks keep trying it anyway.
It still seems to be the strategy right now in the battle over the budget and the special DACA protections for the children of illegal immigrants. That’s how it’s playing out after Illinois Democrat Sen. Dick Durbinaccused Trump of making the now-infamous “s—hole” comment about Haiti and African countries last week. Frantic depictions of those comments as definitive proof of Trump’s racism have dominated the news cycle ever since.
The goal now seems to be to use this racism-branding tactic in order to shame Trump into bending to the Democrats’ will. On Monday, Durbin revealed he’s pursuing that shaming strategy, telling the Chicago Sun-Times that, “if President Trump is not a racist, he can prove it” by making a deal on the DACA legislation.
Good luck with that.
The reason the shaming strategy is a long shot this time and has failed in the past is because it’s nearly impossible to shame or even scare Trump at all. It’s even harder to shame him into doing anything.
Look at the president’s tweets and public statements every time he is criticized. Does he ever sound or act like a guy who even considers contrition? Donald Trump is a man who almost never chooses to stay above the fray no matter who is attacking him and how they do it. This was his well-documented behavior before he was a candidate, when he was a candidate, and even as president.
The shaming game has its own special hall of shame when it comes to its ineffectiveness. The highlights are:
- It not only failed to get then-candidate Trump to stop talking about Mexican illegal immigration after his first speech as a candidate, the issue became the hallmark of his campaign.
- Calling Trump anti-Muslim because of his immigration ban on several predominantly Muslim countries produced only the slightest tweaks to the policy and no real backing down. Legal challenges to the ban have only enraged and hardened Trump’s resolve even more as they continue to be upheld by the Supreme Court.
- Even when racism isn’t a factor, shaming Trump doesn’t work. The many critics of the GOP tax reform bill found that out the hard way when he continued to push for the bill and eventually got it across the finish line. That was despite the constant depiction of the bill by its opponents as a shameful boon to the rich. Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers even said 10,000 people will die per year in America because of the tax bill. That didn’t deter the president at all.
So, predictably, Trump is responding the opposite way to this latest shaming attempt. He’s now toggling back and forth between taking a harder line on immigration policy and insisting he’s no racist in his public comments and tweets.
We must have Security at our VERY DANGEROUS SOUTHERN BORDER, and we must have a great WALL to help protect us, and to help stop the massive inflow of drugs pouring into our country!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 16, 2018
Unemployment for Black Americans is the lowest ever recorded. Trump approval ratings with Black Americans has doubled. Thank you, and it will get even (much) better! @FoxNews
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 16, 2018
That’s a far cry from Trump’s statement before the “s—hole” controversy when he said he’d sign and DACA compromise bipartisan congressional leaders came up with.
If the Democrats really are concerned about protecting the so-called “Dreamer” immigrants, there’s really no excuse for them to be surprised by what’s occurred over the last few days. Now, the chances are much greater that the Democrats will have to move to shut down the government when the budget deadline passes on Friday. Worse for them, their bargaining position on behalf of the DACA recipients is weakened now that the focus on the vulgar comments in a closed door meeting has flipped the president from compliant to defiant.