Dem
51
GOP
49
Yesterday, we had an item about Democratic efforts to attract a traditionally Republican constituency (small-government Republicans) with the argument that today's GOP is engaged in wild, anti-civil-liberties overreach on the issue of abortion. Well, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. And so, Republicans have launched an effort to attract a traditionally Democratic constituency (Black voters, particularly Black men), with the argument that immigrants are stealing Black jobs.
To this end, former Trump White House official William W. Chip, who is an outspoken anti-immigration activist, has formed a group called Black America for Immigration Reform. Chip is white, incidentally, and not in any way a part of "Black America." However, he does have Black friends, namely T. Willard Fair and Frank Morris. Chip says he's just doing the legwork, and that Fair and Morris are eventually going to take over, along with three other Black directors, who have yet to be identified/recruited.
If Chip wants to found an anti-immigrant group, why not do it in his own name (and his own race)? He says that when white people complain about immigration, they get called racist. He thinks that won't happen if Black people are running the show. He explained: "And so the feeling was, if we had a legitimate, African-American organization, whose board consisted of prominent African Americans, they might get more credibility."
In particular, Chip believes it is important that Black Americans be made aware of research indicating that the jobs taken by undocumented immigrants tend to be those that otherwise are filled by uneducated people. In other words, he's building his messaging around the notion that Black people are stupid (and thus unable to recognize a sham organization when they see it), and at the same time know they are ignorant (and so understand that they are the victims when "uneducated people" lose jobs).
That level of "sensitivity" is not terribly surprising from someone whose social media is full of messages talking about how the people who need to pay slavery reparations first are African tribes and Muslim traders, how "White Gentiles" are the real victims of Affirmative Action, and how Joe Biden is a bigot because he's used the phrase "Neanderthal thinking." Although we do understand why Chip would be personally offended by slurs against Neanderthals.
We are somewhat skeptical that Democratic efforts to reach libertarian-leaning Republican voters will bear much fruit, but at least it's not impossible. On the other hand, if William W. Chip and his ilk are the best that the GOP can come up with when it comes to making the tent bigger, then the Party is looking at yet another "get as much of the base as is humanly possible to the polls and hope for the best" election for them in 2024. (Z)