My husband and I live in the downtown core of Indianapolis, having downsized from a previous home in a nearby historic district. We are urban folks who love being able to walk to the grocery, the dentist, the bank and multiple restaurants and bars.
A recent report from Indianapolis Downtown suggests we’re not alone–our downtown’s residential population has grown nearly 50% since 2010, to almost 30,000, more than 50 new businesses have opened since last year, and $9.5 billion in development is in the works. Despite the fears and misconceptions of suburban and rural folks, crime downtown decreased 34% in the past year, and downtown is the safest district in Marion County. We were only 5% of all crime in the county.
Obviously, not everyone shares our love for urban living, and that’s fine–to each his own. What isn’t fine is the current Republican war on cities and those of us who choose to live in them.
Donald Trump portrays city neighborhoods as feral places, deranged by Democrats. “The crime is so out of control in our country,” Trump charged at a Michigan campaign stop during the recent Democratic National Convention. “The top 25 [cities] almost all are run by Democrats and they have very similar policies. It’s just insane. But you can’t walk across the street to get a loaf of bread. You get shot, you get mugged, you get raped. … We have these cities that are great cities where people are afraid to live in America.”
This is, of course, a ludicrous caricature, as numerous bread-fetching city dwellers could attest. Yet to understand the significance of this seething anti-cities rhetoric — both its political potency and the unique opportunity it presents for Democrats — requires a brief look at a deep-seated tension in how conservatives have talked about urban areas across recent decades.
The article noted that the GOP conservative wing has run against cities for years, with an animus rooted in nativism and religion. Initially, they appealed to Protestant voters by attacking heavily Catholic cities as sites of “popery, demon rum, and corrupt Irish politicians.” Later, Nixon appealed to white voters by focusing on urban crime and civil uprisings.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, however, leading conservative politicians and intellectuals modified Nixon’s rhetoric, adding elements aimed at corralling new urban and urban-adjacent Republican voters. During his 1980 presidential campaign, Ronald Reagan explicitly placed the social functions played by local neighborhoods at the heart of his urban commentary. Tender odes to the beauties of the human-scale city neighborhood — paired with condemnation of government programs for undermining community self-help capacities — infused national GOP communications output. Crucially, this often lent the party’s outreach efforts a pro-urban veneer. Propelled partly by this neighborhoods appeal, Reagan attracted key support from traditionally Democratic “white-ethnic” inhabitants of older city and suburban areas.
Donald Trump and MAGA have returned to the earlier portrayal of urban areas as dangerous hellholes that endanger an “American Dream” anchored in (White) suburban and rural America.
The central metaphor Trump uses when talking about cities is “war.” Normally, war occurs between sovereign nations. For Trump, however, the war is within our nation. War requires two sides that are clearly differentiated and physically distinct. For Trump, the two sides are cities and suburbs. In the cities, as Trump tells it, you will find one of America’s enemies: foreigners who presumably look different from native-born Americans. They have infiltrated urban neighborhoods, in his telling, fueling a conflict between alien cities and native suburbs.
This rhetoric depends on racism and xenophobia for its effectiveness. For that matter, Trump’s entire appeal–and MAGA’s philosophy (if one can call fear and hatred a philosophy)– is firmly rooted in racism.
Trump uses terms such as “living hell,” “total decay,” “violent mayhem,” and “a disaster” to describe cities. Cities are foreign outposts within American society. In this view, the hordes of “illegal aliens” invading the southern border have taken over city neighborhoods.
These attacks aren’t simply wildly inaccurate and hateful, they are evidence of MAGA’s pathological racism.
A few days ago, I suggested that Americans are engaged in a “cold” Civil War, and that it is being fought over essentially the same issue as the last one–whether people who aren’t White Christian males are entitled to be seen as human beings who deserve equal civic status with the White guys. The rhetoric employed by Trump–and increasingly by other Republicans–underscores that observation.
A vote for Trump and those who support him is a vote to return to the Confederacy. I hope Harris is right when she says “we’re not going back”
White Christian males and females seem to be his base. I wish the media would look into just how large that base is, and how likely it is that the majority of them will go to the polls. Perhaps seeing those numbers would stimulate the sensible people in the country to be sure to vote next month.
MAGA’s pathological racism.
Excellent choice of words. Thank You
I’m betting that cold Civil War will be heating up, now that too many so called Republican leaders are saying that their “enemy’ (read Democrats), might just be trying to kill him. He knows no bounds and he has no shame and no, Mr. Welch, he has no decency. He’ll watch gleefully as many of his MAGGOTS die in his name.
Well; my comments received an “OOPS’ message so isn’t being posted. I won’t bother repeating myself in hopes it was due to a posting problem Sheila reported on Facebook.
What I find curious is if Republicans hate urban centers, why do they bother running for political offices in these cities? Are they going to rescue the city dwellers?
What irritates me is Republicans divert urban taxpayer monies to build roads for the suburbanites so they can commute into the urban businesses. Look at Indianapolis, for instance. It has been a commuter’s nightmare for decades. It’s always under construction as suburbia grows.
The all-white neighborhoods in the surrounding counties/districts (donut-ring) in Indianapolis live there because they don’t want to live and raise a family among the black and poor-white urban dwellers who have a plethora of low-income housing and transportation options.
As I mentioned the other day, our Indiana community used neighborhood associations and realtors to keep black families out of certain neighborhoods. These were written as the city was being developed (during the KKK days), and blacks were confined to the east side of town where the industries were located, and nobody wanted to live there anyway.
Anybody of color and poor-white trash lives in “hellholes and shitholes.” Instead of addressing the institutionalized racism, the Republicans address the effects or outcome. Our first Tea Party elected Mayor was an absolute disaster for our small city. Her racism and classism were glaring in every decision she made.
Texas – Blue – Houston, Dallas-Ft Worth, Austin, San Antonio
Red State – 2020 I think Houston may have had a Single Polling Space
Republicans – organized since the 1960’s – state legislators + apportionment for Congress as well
Myths – Republicans are “Good for the Economy” – bought by so, so many – non-well off people – not all of whom are white
Myth – Many Latina/o – People – “we are white” – yes you may not be Black, but – you are fooling yourself if you think that – Trump cares about you
Democrats – and Those on The Left – Ridicule – Trump and Vance – BUT – often Don’t Organize – don’t acknowledge the Fears – that People have – some rational, some irrational – A LOT of People – who live pay-check-to-paycheck – are Paying MORE for Food and Gasoline and Medical Care Costs and Housing- WHEN – Dems Tell them that THEY “are doing better” – Republican votes build Republicans are often Clever and Crafty – Dems – when they Think rationally – Talk “Facts” – Facts only matter if people see them – as “real” Meanwhile – today October 7th – 1 Year Anniversary – Netanyahu – wants – Donald Trump to be President – Lebanon-Iran-Gaza – all are NOW – helping Trump and Hurting Harris – attention – taken away from – the inane things – Vance and Trump and other Reps say – focus – on the REAL dangers of – Expanded, Dangerous War – Fear – in Israel – will NEVER end – through INCREASED War. I could go on and on ….
The Republicans are not in favor of having a republic, period, that is all!
The flip side of the myth of cities full of criminals is the myth of rural areas inhabited by gun-toting xenophobes. It’s true that most country dwellers own guns in the interests of self defense or hunting. It’s not true that most of them are ignorant, racist, gullible cultists who are looking for a reason to shoot someone.
The propaganda that encourages both myths harms all of us. The bad news is that ignorant, racist, gullible cultists can be found anywhere. The good news is that they have always been and still are in the minority.
We are among the safest, most comfortable humans ever inhabiting this planet—almost all of us are. You wouldn’t know it from our news entertainment. Often, there is no news of national relevance, but we take the same dose daily from our screens. Some screens have to fill 24 hours a day with no news.
All of that is a means to sell us more stuff, promising to fix whatever can be portrayed as the most minor discomforts in our lives. Perhaps we are not stunningly attractive; they can fix that. What if our transportation says we are just ordinary; they can fix that, too. No matter what we can imagine, there’s a fix for it.
MAGA takes the opposite approach. They ignore our ultimate safety and comfort and make it disappear like magic. They proclaim that our absolute safety and comfort are an illusion. In reality, we are all in terrible danger all of the time from progress and foreigners.
Those who live outside the screen entertainment Disneyworld, in the world of honest work, books, and purpose, wonder what is happening.
Nothing but politics, folks, nothing but political circus.
I live in a city that is dealing with this problem- Madison Wisconsin is the capital of Wisconsin and the home of the biggest university, and it’s pretty much always been that way. And thanks to the extreme polarization brought to the state by former governor Walker, “fuck Madison” has become a policy of our gerrymandered GOP. And they have targeted the university system, the state government, the city and county, because apparently the 600,000 people who live in Dane County don’t count as real people and why not just make their lives miserable?
At a certain point you have to ask why is the GOP OK with economically shooting itself in the foot? Or to use another metaphor, why is it official policy to cut off one’s nose to spite one’s face?
Our cities are huge economic engines and if one looks at the stats, it’s where close to 80% of our population lives- why does this angry 20% that honestly would not like it if we moved where they lived get to make life worse for the rest of us?
he hates all of the all of the above. as i see every news journal now has trump this and that, lies, bullshit, and etc.etc.etc. hes managed to suck the air outta the world to his use. almost every journal online like huff etc, has his nasty face plastered as some sort of whatever hes raising a tiraid about,glaring at the reader. now, ive written some of these free ad posts for his whatevers.
no answer. i guess they are devoting all the time they can to anything about him. and ignoring where Harris is going,other some bland tidbits about her and G,Walz. i sure were seeing the obvious where commercial(with investments kissin some sort of private equity hoard) are just makin sure trump is relected. and showing us how the halfwits and ignorants will rule America, like a Charlie Chaplin like dictator movie… sad part its our Ametica being sold down the sewer to someone/some enity with trumps face on it. trump will gleefully give all this to his rich buddies to run. look whos standing in the shadows. few if any news wire mentions anything like leo,jankowski,thiel,musk,etc. dinning with the mrs. in Bismarck sat nite,asked 5 people about project 2025,nope no one ever heard of project 2025..these are voters…
DJT feeds prejudice to his mostly small town/country supporters with lies about “others” stirring up fear so he “alone” can save them. He’s the pied piper of Americans caught in media propaganda silos leading them to vote against their own self-interests and away from their own inherent power and freedoms.
In Indianapolis over relatively recent years a lot of business have relocated from downtown to offices located around the interstate and suburbs. Also, with the recent relocation of the Justice Center complex to the near east side, more space has opened for housing and restaurants. These changes are making Downtown a more residential area.
To keep progress going in positive and just direction for everyone’s sake, electing democrats for Democracy this election is needed.
I miss downtown Indianapolis before Circle Centre Mall destroyed it. A prime example of the control of corporate money; locally Mel Simon & Associates, the current condition of Washington Square Mall is a prime example of what happens when they fail. And the Indianapolis Star print factory the Circle Centre Mall anchor now.