Former GOP strategist Steve Schmidt didn’t hold back on Tuesday when describing Donald Trump’s new favorite slogan: law and order.
“Let’s be clear about it: What he’s saying is he’s going to crack down on black people,” Schmidt said during an interview with MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle. “That’s what he’s saying.”
“It’s the law and order of an age in this country that is not ever going to come back, but it has very little to do with justice,” he added.
Video:
“What he’s saying is he’s going to crack down on black people,” Steve Schmidt said of Trump’s ‘law and order’ slogan. #ctl #p2 pic.twitter.com/dypBox2NSC
— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) June 10, 2020
Schmidt said:
Well, it is the most corrupt administration in American history, bar none. And there is that aspect to it. But specifically, what Donald Trump is saying when he says he’s a law and order president. Let’s be clear about it: What he’s saying is he’s going to crack down on black people. That’s what he’s saying. So when he defines law and order as what? Standing on the neck of an African American for eight minutes watching him die on television? Does he mean launching violence against peaceful protesters outside the White House so he can walk across to St. John’s and desecrate the Bible? His law and order is the law and order of Bull Connor. It’s the law and order of an age in this country that is not ever going to come back, but it has very little to do with justice. He has incited, he has divided, he has assaulted the rule of law. He has weakened our essential institutions. And at every moment during this rancid presidency, when there has been a time when he could heal the country, when he could try to bring people together, what he has done instead is stoked the cold civil war that he has capitalized on for his political career of these last years. Starting with the birther movement, right up through today with his attacks on a 75-year-old man who was viciously assaulted by a police officer that the president has now put in the middle of his wild conspiracy theories.
Trump thinks he can use the same racist playbook to win a second term
According to public opinion polling, the vast majority of the country supports those who have been marching in the streets following George Floyd’s killing.
But Donald Trump has never represented the majority, nor has he even tried.
Since he launched his campaign in 2015 and every day since, Trump has been playing to the minority of those in this country who already support him. He seems to believe he can dog whistle his way to the presidency a second time.
The problem for the president’s campaign is that the ground is shifting beneath its feet. The country appears to be changing before our eyes as multiple crises turn the political discussion upside down.
The same racist playbook Donald Trump used to eke out an Electoral College victory in 2016 likely won’t be enough to give him a second term in the White House.
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