CBS analyst: There’s no such thing as a good Trump voter
CBS News political analyst and Slate’s chief political correspondent Jamelle Bouie made headlines Tuesday afternoon with his inflammatory article titled, “There’s No Such Thing as a Good Trump Voter.”
The subtitle reads, “People voted for a racist who promised racist outcomes. They don’t deserve your empathy.”
In the article, Bouie asserts:
Whether Trump’s election reveals an “inherent malice” in his voters is irrelevant. What is relevant are the practical outcomes of a Trump presidency. Trump campaigned on state repression of disfavored minorities. He gives every sign that he plans to deliver that repression. This will mean disadvantage, immiseration, and violence for real people, people whose “inner pain and fear” were not reckoned worthy of many-thousand-word magazine feature stories. If you voted for Trump, you voted for this, regardless of what you believe about the groups in question. That you have black friends or Latino colleagues, that you think yourself to be tolerant and decent, doesn’t change the fact that you voted for racist policy that may affect, change, or harm their lives. And on that score, your frustration at being labeled a racist doesn’t justify or mitigate the moral weight of your political choice.
In a one-sided recollection of events, Bouie insists that President-elect Trump propelled xenophobia and white nationalism to the White House, and that anyone who voted for him is “perverse, bordering on abhorrent.”
Bouie makes no mention of Trump’s opponent, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, or any of her own racial missteps, including her campaign using the phrase “needy Latinos,” which was only uncovered by a batch of Wikileaks emails released to the public.
He also does not mention the violent rhetoric or actual violence toward Trump supporters that has been widely reported in the media, including a white man attacked by Trump protesters on video.
Instead, he glosses over any discrepancies and ends with a comparison of Trump supporters and lynch mobs. Bouie writes that people who voted for Trump are handing “power to a demagogic movement of ignorance and racism” and that treating them otherwise is clearing them of any moral responsibility for whatever happens next, including violence against communities of color.
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