General
All Politics is Identity Politics
All Politics is Identity Politics
By: Phillip Lede 𝕏 | 08/01/2024
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Identity politics, long bemoaned by Republicans as corrosive to America’s political process, is more evident now than ever before in today’s electoral landscape. With Kamala Harris, the first Indian and, when convenient, Black woman, being nominated as the Democratic candidate for president, the race is no longer a referendum on policy but rather on identity.
Since Biden dropped out just days ago, Kamala Harris is already neck-and-neck with Trump in the polls. In a recent CNN poll, Kamala leads Trump 78-15 among Black voters and 47-45 among Hispanic voters. Against Biden, Trump was up 9 points with Hispanic voters and poised to win more than a fifth of the Black vote. The narrow margin Trump led with Hispanics has been erased, and he is polling even more unfavorably among Blacks.
The GOP needs to face it: whatever support Trump had with non-White voters has evaporated overnight. This may mystify the race-blind Republican voter who believes everyone, like him, casts their ballot based on deliberated policy and principle. However, this is not and has never been the political reality. Kamala’s sudden rise in the polls actually has little to do with her record, accomplishments, or failures, and everything to do with what she looks like. That is to say that underneath the focus-group-tested platitudes and coconut tangents, there is an unsophisticated but no less powerful appeal. Kamala and the Democrats are willing to exploit this cynical appeal, drumming up support with women on abortion rights, fear-mongering to Mexicans about looming mass deportations, and bribing Blacks with reparations.
Democrats have embraced identity politics for years; however, Biden’s biggest problem was that he didn't actually belong to the groups he pandered to. Kamala energizes minorities, young people, and women because she is willing to turn her identity into a political cudgel. She is perceived as kin to these groups, and so they feel represented irrespective of her ideas or policies. On the other hand, Biden and Trump, both aging White men born into wealthy households, appear distant to this demographic of “new Americans.” The DNC could’ve selected a menagerie of more experienced candidates from Newsom to Warren, but their choice shows they don’t need a record to win; they need an empty suit who plays well with key demographics: migrants, minorities, and women broadly. Kamala’s last-minute appointment shows Democrats recognize the reality of tribalism and are willing to wily exploit it for their political benefit.
Republicans, on the other hand, fail to recognize their most loyal voters, rambling on about the lowest Black unemployment in American history and how legal Hispanics are the first to be disenfranchised by illegal immigration. It seems the GOP is afraid to explicitly mention White people beyond meekly urging a return to the 1980s colorblind era or an end to DEI policies. This isn’t good enough; being opposed to anti-White policies does not necessarily make one pro-White. By refusing to adopt the same strategies as the Democrats for fear of being construed as racist, Republicans are kneecapping themselves at the ballot box.
In an increasingly multiracial and tribal America, Republicans must be willing to appeal to their electoral favorites. So-called principled conservative pundits, from Jordan Peterson to Ben Shapiro, have dismissed identity politics as a perversion or deviation from respectable politics. But they could not be more wrong. There is no politics outside of identity politics, and there never will be. People don’t vote for abstract principles or ideas; they vote for what’s good for them, their families, and their perceived in-group. Insofar as the Democratic Party is represented by the likes of Obama and Kamala, it is the party of minorities.
Instead of trying to beat the Democratic Party at its own game, Republicans should appeal to their people: disaffected White Americans. White people, while evidently forgotten by both major parties, are increasingly the sole bulwark against one-party rule by the Democratic Party. The Republican Party has held a double-digit lead with White Americans for over a decade and still constitutes 60% of the electorate.
In 2016, Trump’s implicit appeals to the “forgotten men and women of America” were able to mobilize the greatest share of White voters in the Rust Belt since Reagan. As Trump moderated his rhetoric in 2020, attempting to carve out a multiracial coalition with Black voters on policy issues like criminal justice reform and HBCU funding, his lead with White suburban voters fell to 51-47 from 54-38 in 2016. Ironically, he would only secure 8% of the Black vote, with 92% casting their ballot for Biden. Despite repeated disappointment, it appears Trump and the GOP have not learned their lesson and still entertain fantasies of a ‘Blexit’ from the Democratic Party, yet do so at the cost of alienating White Americans.
The choice is clear: Trump and his GOP cohorts can continue to waste breath in a futile attempt to win over demographics that will never support them, or they can mobilize identity to deliver victory in November. Republicans can embrace the tribal reality of politics and play to their natural favorites, or continue to pander to minorities who have no mind to listen. The GOP must face it: identity politics is not a dirty word; it is a necessity if Republicans are to secure the White House in 2024. With a growing share of foreign-born individuals in battleground states, and Generation Alpha already being the first majority-minority generation, 2020 may be the last chance for Republicans to win a national election and turn back the tide of demographic transformation.
Since Biden dropped out just days ago, Kamala Harris is already neck-and-neck with Trump in the polls. In a recent CNN poll, Kamala leads Trump 78-15 among Black voters and 47-45 among Hispanic voters. Against Biden, Trump was up 9 points with Hispanic voters and poised to win more than a fifth of the Black vote. The narrow margin Trump led with Hispanics has been erased, and he is polling even more unfavorably among Blacks.
The GOP needs to face it: whatever support Trump had with non-White voters has evaporated overnight. This may mystify the race-blind Republican voter who believes everyone, like him, casts their ballot based on deliberated policy and principle. However, this is not and has never been the political reality. Kamala’s sudden rise in the polls actually has little to do with her record, accomplishments, or failures, and everything to do with what she looks like. That is to say that underneath the focus-group-tested platitudes and coconut tangents, there is an unsophisticated but no less powerful appeal. Kamala and the Democrats are willing to exploit this cynical appeal, drumming up support with women on abortion rights, fear-mongering to Mexicans about looming mass deportations, and bribing Blacks with reparations.
Democrats have embraced identity politics for years; however, Biden’s biggest problem was that he didn't actually belong to the groups he pandered to. Kamala energizes minorities, young people, and women because she is willing to turn her identity into a political cudgel. She is perceived as kin to these groups, and so they feel represented irrespective of her ideas or policies. On the other hand, Biden and Trump, both aging White men born into wealthy households, appear distant to this demographic of “new Americans.” The DNC could’ve selected a menagerie of more experienced candidates from Newsom to Warren, but their choice shows they don’t need a record to win; they need an empty suit who plays well with key demographics: migrants, minorities, and women broadly. Kamala’s last-minute appointment shows Democrats recognize the reality of tribalism and are willing to wily exploit it for their political benefit.
Republicans, on the other hand, fail to recognize their most loyal voters, rambling on about the lowest Black unemployment in American history and how legal Hispanics are the first to be disenfranchised by illegal immigration. It seems the GOP is afraid to explicitly mention White people beyond meekly urging a return to the 1980s colorblind era or an end to DEI policies. This isn’t good enough; being opposed to anti-White policies does not necessarily make one pro-White. By refusing to adopt the same strategies as the Democrats for fear of being construed as racist, Republicans are kneecapping themselves at the ballot box.
In an increasingly multiracial and tribal America, Republicans must be willing to appeal to their electoral favorites. So-called principled conservative pundits, from Jordan Peterson to Ben Shapiro, have dismissed identity politics as a perversion or deviation from respectable politics. But they could not be more wrong. There is no politics outside of identity politics, and there never will be. People don’t vote for abstract principles or ideas; they vote for what’s good for them, their families, and their perceived in-group. Insofar as the Democratic Party is represented by the likes of Obama and Kamala, it is the party of minorities.
Instead of trying to beat the Democratic Party at its own game, Republicans should appeal to their people: disaffected White Americans. White people, while evidently forgotten by both major parties, are increasingly the sole bulwark against one-party rule by the Democratic Party. The Republican Party has held a double-digit lead with White Americans for over a decade and still constitutes 60% of the electorate.
In 2016, Trump’s implicit appeals to the “forgotten men and women of America” were able to mobilize the greatest share of White voters in the Rust Belt since Reagan. As Trump moderated his rhetoric in 2020, attempting to carve out a multiracial coalition with Black voters on policy issues like criminal justice reform and HBCU funding, his lead with White suburban voters fell to 51-47 from 54-38 in 2016. Ironically, he would only secure 8% of the Black vote, with 92% casting their ballot for Biden. Despite repeated disappointment, it appears Trump and the GOP have not learned their lesson and still entertain fantasies of a ‘Blexit’ from the Democratic Party, yet do so at the cost of alienating White Americans.
The choice is clear: Trump and his GOP cohorts can continue to waste breath in a futile attempt to win over demographics that will never support them, or they can mobilize identity to deliver victory in November. Republicans can embrace the tribal reality of politics and play to their natural favorites, or continue to pander to minorities who have no mind to listen. The GOP must face it: identity politics is not a dirty word; it is a necessity if Republicans are to secure the White House in 2024. With a growing share of foreign-born individuals in battleground states, and Generation Alpha already being the first majority-minority generation, 2020 may be the last chance for Republicans to win a national election and turn back the tide of demographic transformation.