One of the many things that exasperate me about what currently passes for political dialogue is the substitution of labels for efforts to communicate. (And yes, I find myself engaging in that practice from time to time–it’s easier to call the administration “fascist” than to carefully describe the behaviors that lead me to affix that label. Mea culpa.)
Although people on all sides of the political divide indulge in this dismissive exchange of epithets, there’s one particularly dishonest label that is increasingly employed by MAGA and the Right: Identity politics. The accusation is a companion to the “woke” label and the persistent attacks on DEI and similar efforts meant to erase the bigotries that have made life more difficult for women and minorities.
If there is one tactic that the MAGA movement has perfected, it is calling out its opponents for behaviors that are actually its own. A recent article from the New Republic pointed out that it is the Right, not the Left or Center Left, that is consistently engaged in “identity politics.” The article was a conversation with Kimberle Crenshaw, a noted scholar of America’s various forms of bigotry and their interrelationship.
Crenshaw began by discussing the anti-Black animus that is the core of Trump’s agenda and appeal–an animus that has become too obvious for the rest of us to ignore–and the way in which anti-Black and anti-woman bias worked to defeat Kamala Harris.
I found one observation especially “on target,” because it gets to the root of the way labeling often deflects reality. Crenshaw points out that when the Right screams “identity politics” it defines identity politics in “terms of women, queer people, and Black folks.”
When Trump and MAGA world say things like, If you want to get anything done, you have to put white men in charge, they don’t call that identity politics. When they take all the books off the shelves that they think are about identity politics and leave Mein Kampf on the shelves at the Naval Academy, that’s identity politics that they don’t talk about. So the identity politics that is at the core of the anxiety that MAGA builds itself into is never named.
So it’s clear that there’s a particular kind of identity politics that they are willing to wrap themselves in. And that’s an old-school, long part of the American faction that wanted to think about the United States as a white, male, Christian country, which has now shown up in white Christian nationalism. That is the identity politics of the moment.
It is in pursuit of protecting the prerogatives of that identity–White Christian male identity–that MAGA and the Trump administration are attacking any and all efforts to promote equity in what is, despite their hysterical denials, a multiracial society.
That is their identity politics now. It’s called the assault on improper ideology. And if you want to see what it looks like in real time, look at their assault on DEI. The assault on DEI is basically if people of color, if women, if any people who don’t look like us, are in any way involved in something that is bad, we can say that they are the fault of it.
And what does that mean? If you happen to be the mayor of Baltimore when a ship collides into your bridge, because you’re Black and you are there, we can pin the responsibility on you. If there’s an air disaster over Washington, D.C., we can pin it on DEI. No proof, no nothing. All we have to do is claim it.
When I read this, my first thought was “of course! Why didn’t I see this before?” When I thought about that question–why I hadn’t recognized the real identity politics–I had to (grudgingly) give the Right credit for learning the lessons taught years ago by Frank Luntz and first employed by Newt Gingrich.
Luntz advocated using vocabulary that was carefully crafted to produce a desired political effect (an effect that didn’t include descriptive accuracy). He counseled GOP strategists to use the term death tax instead of estate tax, for example. Luntz has described his specialty as “finding words that will help his clients sell their product or turn public opinion on an issue or a candidate.”
I don’t know whether Luntz was personally involved in the (mis)use of the term “identity politics,” but that tactic–accusing opponents of something you yourself are doing–certainly bears his hallmark.
And that hallmark is misdirection, not communication.
Excellent thought provoking article!
If only it would reach those who need to understand that is exactly what Republicans are using to appeal to their base
There is a reason the right-winged MAGA reads Mein Kampf; it’s because of the propaganda that they get from it. Hitler and Goebbels knew they couldn’t tell the German people the truth, so they used the subconscious. Sigmund Freud’s work in psychoanalysis had just enlightened them. It enlightened his nephew, Edward Bernays, too!!
I love the clip of a less dementia-riddled Trump saying that if he ever ran for office, “He would run as a Republican because they’ll believe anything (gullible).” Believe it or not, but Trump was a registered Democrat at the time. Hitler also didn’t think much of the masses. This is why both have pressured academia. They don’t want to be psychoanalyzed by smart people. 😉
I watched Ball State University eliminate its DEI office almost immediately when Trump started threatening schools with losing federal funds. We don’t need the stinking Department of Equity and Inclusion because we’ve always hired based on merit. LOL With one can of spray paint, they eliminated hundreds of years of racism and sexism.
They also enjoy Ayn Rand, who basically wrote about her resentment against communism because the Russians stole her daddy’s business. She hated any form of the collective, yet as an older woman, she was broke and relied on our SS to live. Ironic, huh!
I know Tucker Carlson was a Fox News host, but he’s been moving toward reality lately. He obliterated Ted Cruz and his schtick. He just broke an insider’s account of the mishandling of the Thomas Crooks assassination attempt in PA. He’s also questioning the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Both cases are falling apart, and Kash Patel (a foreign-looking dude) is on the hook. 😉
The national insanity of MAGA calls up the hatred in the weakest minds among us.
Speaking of weak minds: How about Howard Lutnick (bag of doorknobs), Botox Barbie (pile of rocks), Secretary Brylcreem (one-celled bacteria) and Secretary Smack (Chemistry gone bad).
Their own identity politics is hidden behind the misnomer “Republican” and the term “conservatives”; neither of which correctly identifies any of them. We could replace Fascism with evil and/or inhumanity but why not stick with what history has identified what we are living with in America today; in all 50 states and our territories. When the president doesn’t know that Puerto Ricans are in actuality American citizens who pay taxes and live by our democracy, Rule of Law and the Constitution he is naming them as the enemy along with the cities now invaded by our own military. What is the accepted name for that action?
One of Trump’s first firing victims from his first impeachment in his first presidential term was one of our top military officers, now VA Representative Vindman who used the term “counter factual”, I doubt Trump would realize he is being called a liar by that term and it would confuse some of his highest appointed Cabinet members. He and Hegseth are calling their murder on the high seas as preventing drug suppliers from reaching our shores. This is a change from accusing Mexico of being our drug source till the Mexican President, a woman, called him on it and made her own threats to protect her citizens. He is attempting to save face by targeting another Hispanic country of unfounded crimes as his criminal activities escalate against this country daily and sometimes by the hour.
I will call the Fascist a Fascist and am wondering what it will take to run him and his closest followers underground, hoping for another Fascist mass suicide, as the only solution to be rid of them.
I love your end-game, JoAnn.
Ditto, Vernon.
The MAGA people, and GOPIGGIES, have a thing about projection, which they do with intensity.