| |
GOP Conflates Mayhem With Protests 07/10 06:35
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Apocalyptic images of blazing buildings and
window-smashing protesters pop up on the TV screen as a caller to a 911
emergency line reaches voicemail. The computer offers to take reports of rapes,
murders or home invasions, adding, "Our estimated wait time is five days."
The 30-second ad by President Donald Trump's reelection campaign ends with
"You won't be safe in Joe Biden's America," emblazoned across a flickering
hellscape. It blames a push by some progressive activists to defund the police
as "violent crime has exploded."
With recent shootings that have killed children and dozens of other people
in cities with large Black populations like New York, Atlanta and Chicago, the
GOP is trying to play offense, ominously. Ads like Trump's and other Republican
messaging insinuate that the rare looting and violence that marred largely
peaceful social justice protests are spreading and foretell a wave of mayhem
that they claim Democrats would abet with anti-police policies.
Trump emphasized that menacing theme at the White House on Thursday, calling
proponents of defunding the police "crazy." Noting to a visiting group of
Hispanic Americans that many immigrants had fled dangerous countries, Trump
added, "They know what happens when the police cannot protect the innocent,
when the rule of law is destroyed."
Democrats call the GOP drive an obvious diversion from issues they say
voters care most about: the coronavirus pandemic that Trump has failed to
control, the economic shutdown, recession-level unemployment, racial justice
and health care.
They say Biden, the party's presumptive presidential nominee, has a
well-honed moderate record that makes Republican efforts to cast him as a
radical fruitless. And they say the GOP is fanning the flames of racism,
preying on white suburbanites worried that televised scenes of burning
buildings mean their neighborhoods are next.
"It's not even subtle. We're well beyond dog whistle," said Ian Russell, a
Democratic consultant.
The GOP spearhead comes with polls showing that Trump's reelection and
Republican control of the Senate may be in jeopardy in November's voting. It
also follows weeks of protests following the killing of George Floyd by
Minneapolis police and during a period that's seen Trump call the phrase "Black
Lives Matter" a "symbol of hate," defend Confederate commanders and retweet a
supporter yelling, "White power!"
Biden supports overhauling police practices and budgets but has repeatedly
disavowed calls for defunding the police, as have most congressional Democrats.
Republicans often suggest the term means that proponents want to abolish entire
departments --- and some far-left Democrats do --- but most in the party
consider it a call to shift some police resources to social welfare and other
agencies.
Biden aides say it's a fantasy to cast the former vice president as seeking
to dismantle police departments or ready to heed those who would. "Donald Trump
is a chronic liar" who is "desperate to run against a fictitious opponent
instead of Joe Biden," said Biden spokesperson Andrew Bates.
Trump campaign spokesperson Tim Murtaugh called it "ridiculous" for
Democrats to say the GOP tactic is racist.
"All Americans, no matter who they are or where they live, should be
concerned about the anarchists and lawless mobs roaming the streets with the
tacit approval of Joe Biden and the Democrats," Murtaugh said.
Republican strategists say the issue will help woo suburban voters, a
pivotal bloc that's abandoned Trump over his caustic divisiveness. "They want
to be able to call 911 and know someone's coming," said Sarah Chamberlain,
president of the centrist Republican Main Street Coalition.
But they also acknowledge that the tactic is designed to reorient what's so
far been a difficult campaign season. "It gets us away from a referendum on the
president, and more to a contest between the two parties," said GOP consultant
Robert Blizzard.
Experts say there is scant evidence to connect the protests or activists'
calls to "defund the police" to recent city shootings. Sen. Kelly Loeffler,
R-Ga., has done just that in one of the few congressional races in which
Republicans have pressed the issue so far.
"The radical movement to defund the police is creating havoc for the safety
of our communities," Loeffler, embroiled in a difficult reelection campaign,
said this week on "America's Newsroom" on Fox News. "And what's happened is
it's resulted in the death of a child."
Loeffler was referring to 8-year-old Secoriea Turner, who was fatally shot
last weekend as she rode in a car near the site of recent protests in Atlanta.
Police are seeking the shooter.
Homicides and shootings routinely rise in the spring and summer as days get
longer and people spend more time outdoors, academics say. Other factors in
killings include gang violence, and this year's spike could be fed by stress
related to the virus, sky-high unemployment, stay-at-home orders and anger over
police brutality.
"It's just speculation" and more data is needed, David Abrams, a University
of Pennsylvania economist who studies crime, said of broadly attributing recent
shootings to underlying causes.
Recent polling suggests Republicans have work to do to win over large swaths
of the public.
About 3 in 4 people believe "defund the police" means revamping how police
departments work, not erasing them, according to a Monmouth University poll
conducted last month. Six in 10 Americans say Trump's handling of the protests
worsened the situation.
An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research conducted last
month found major increases since 2015 in the number of white Americans who
consider police violence a serious problem. Seven in 10 people back a complete
reshaping or major changes to the criminal justice system, though only a
quarter supports cutting law enforcement funding.
In the 2018 congressional elections, Trump vaulted immigration and
supposedly dangerous "caravans" of Central Americans streaming toward the U.S.
border a major GOP issue. Democrats focused on health care.
AP VoteCast, a nationwide survey of American voters, showed large majorities
bucked Trump and thought immigrants arriving illegally should be given a chance
for citizenship.
Democrats gained 40 House seats and captured control of the chamber that
year.
|
|
