In a column for the Daily Beast, commentator and Sirius radio host Dean Obeidallah claims that all signs point to Donald Trump doubling down on racist rhetoric in an effort to rally his base as his internal polling shows him losing the key states that propelled him to the White House.
As Trump officially launches his re-election bid in Orlando on Tuesday night, Obeidallah notes Trump is falling back on what helped him appeal to disgruntled white workers in the Midwest and that he will likely ramp up attacks on undocumented immigrants — including official actions.
The morning after Trump threatened mass arrest of “millions” of immigrant families via ICE round-ups, the columnist wrote that Americans are about to see the president at his most hateful.
“When President Donald Trump officially kicks off his re-election campaign in Orlando Tuesday night, expect the worst,” he wrote. “Trump knows he won in 2016 by spewing racism and bigotry; now he’s behind in the 2020 polls and has the power of presidency to amplify his vicious messaging. This will be more hateful than anything we’ve seen yet, or than most of us have even imagined.”
Obeidallah noted that the president has been giving hints of what is to come recently while pointing out that his extremist rhetoric has gone up as his poll numbers have floundered.
“If Trump made occasional efforts to in 2016 to expand his base, he’s now committed only to them—and to discouraging others from showing up at all,” he wrote. “Before the 2016 campaign, few people foresaw a candidate calling was going to call for a total ban on Muslims, retweet white supremacists, refuse to denounce David Duke, etc. and still win. To get a sense of what Trump might do in 2020, we need a political version of Hannibal Lecter to predict the unthinkable.”
The radio host added that Trump is even more dangerous now because, as president, he can back up his attacks with action.
“What makes Trump more dangerous in 2020 is that he can go beyond just demonizing minorities by way of executive order and turn his hateful rhetoric into policy to deliver red meat to his base,” he warned. “If Trump continues to remain down in the polls, he will double down, again and again, on fear and hate to animate his base. As ugly as things have been, they’re about to get much uglier.”
You can read more here (subscription required).
Shares