Three big issues confront the country right now: the coronavirus epidemic, which rages out of control in the United States; the stalled economy, with businesses shuttered and millions unemployed, that the epidemic has brought; and protests across the country that have shifted Americans’ attitudes (at least for a time) regarding deeply rooted racial injustices.
Regarding the first and foremost issue, the President made one reference to the virus in his speech – in the fourth paragraph, wedged between thank yous to “the very talented Blue Angels,” and to the two Republican senators and the Republican Congressman from South Dakota. “Let us also send our deepest thanks to our wonderful veterans, law enforcement, first responders, and the doctors, nurses, and scientists working tirelessly to kill the virus. They’re working hard.”
Apart from the phrase, “working hard,” Trump didn’t reference the economy at all, much less the economic hardship Americans confront right now.
Regarding the reckoning over race, the President stood fast with his base, (mostly white) folks who are culturally anxious about demographic change in America, and rigidly opposed to predominantly young, multiethnic street protesters who welcome change. The President’s remarks validated the separation of Americans into these two camps, and extolled one and vilified the other.
THE PRESIDENT: … as we meet here tonight, there is a growing danger that threatens every blessing our ancestors fought so hard for, struggled, they bled to secure.
Our nation is witnessing a merciless campaign to wipe out our history, defame our heroes, erase our values, and indoctrinate our children.
AUDIENCE: Booo —
THE PRESIDENT: Angry mobs are trying to tear down statues of our Founders, deface our most sacred memorials, and unleash a wave of violent crime in our cities. Many of these people have no idea why they are doing this, but some know exactly what they are doing. They think the American people are weak and soft and submissive. But no, the American people are strong and proud, and they will not allow our country, and all of its values, history, and culture, to be taken from them. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE: USA! USA! USA!
THE PRESIDENT: One of their political weapons is “Cancel Culture” — driving people from their jobs, shaming dissenters, and demanding total submission from anyone who disagrees. This is the very definition of totalitarianism, and it is completely alien to our culture and our values, and it has absolutely no place in the United States of America. (Applause.) This attack on our liberty, our magnificent liberty, must be stopped, and it will be stopped very quickly. We will expose this dangerous movement, protect our nation’s children, end this radical assault, and preserve our beloved American way of life. (Applause.)
In our schools, our newsrooms, even our corporate boardrooms, there is a new far-left fascism that demands absolute allegiance. If you do not speak its language, perform its rituals, recite its mantras, and follow its commandments, then you will be censored, banished, blacklisted, persecuted, and punished. It’s not going to happen to us. (Applause.)
Make no mistake: this left-wing cultural revolution is designed to overthrow the American Revolution. In so doing, they would destroy the very civilization that rescued billions from poverty, disease, violence, and hunger, and that lifted humanity to new heights of achievement, discovery, and progress.
To make this possible, they are determined to tear down every statue, symbol, and memory of our national heritage.
[White House transcript; emphasis added.]
Should there be any doubt that champions of the Confederacy (who, in defense of their right to own slaves, waged war against the United States of America) are to be remembered as part of “our national heritage,” the President has done his best to offer confirmation.
Trump opposes renaming Fort Bragg and other military bases named after Confederate Army officers, and removing Confederate statues and monuments.
He demands that the only prominent Black driver in NASCAR apologize, though he doesn’t say what he should apologize for, and White House press secretary Kayleigh McEneny doesn’t know either.
He threatens to undermine a rule designed to end residential segregation.
He tweets a video of a Trump supporter calling out, “White power.”
He asserts that a sign proclaiming, ‘Black Lives Matter’ is “a symbol of hate.”
Trump is waging a cultural war against an internal enemy. It’s us vs. them. Just in case the sides weren’t clear enough, he namechecks the opposition party. “The violent mayhem we have seen in the streets of cities that are run by liberal Democrats, in every case, is the predictable result of years of extreme indoctrination and bias in education, journalism, and other cultural institutions.”
While Trump’s address at Mount Rushmore is crafted in a way that appears, in places, as a call for unity, that’s rhetorical gaslighting. The point is to divide: “In the face of lies meant to divide us, demoralize us, and diminish us, we will show that the story of America unites us, inspires us, includes us all, and makes everyone free.” And, as we can see from the broader context (the Trump we see and hear every day, not just on July Fourth when he reads from a teleprompter) – from Trump’s leading role in the birther conspiracy to his tweet celebrating racially offensive names for NFL and MLB teams, the animus toward Black people (past and present), people of color, and their allies, is abundantly clear.
The subtext is racial. And the folks cheering him on in the Black Hills of South Dakota understand perfectly well what he is communicating. (CSA! CSA! CSA!) From Mitch McConnell to Bill Barr to John Roberts – every Republican in Washington understands perfectly well what he is communicating.
Richard Nixon developed the Southern Strategy, but ran as a centrist (wedged between Humphrey and Wallace) in 1968, as someone who could calm the country. Pat Buchanan wrote a memo to Nixon in 1971 that recommended ways to exploit racial tensions among Democrats. They could, he wrote, “cut the Democratic Party and country in half; my view is that we would have far the larger half.”
Donald Trump — determined to split the country in half — has amplified fear, hostility, and racial conflict more openly than any president in my lifetime (post-WWII) has done. In 2020, Joe Biden and his multiracial coalition may well claim “the larger half.”
So I hope.
(Image of the shackles at the feet of the Statue of Liberty: National Park Service. “In 1886, The Statue of Liberty was a symbol of democratic government and Enlightenment ideals as well as a celebration of the Union’s victory in the American Civil War and the abolition of slavery.“)