Analysis: The racist rhetoric behind accusing largely Black cities of voter fraud
But not all cities. Really just cities such as Detroit, Philadelphia and Milwaukee — cities that either are majority Black or have large Black populations.
“You knew if you lived in Philadelphia. Unless you’re stunod — that’s an Italian expression for stupid — unless you’re stupid, you knew that a lot of people were coming over from Camden to vote,” he said. “They do every year. Happens all the time in Philly. … And it’s allowed to happen because it’s a Democrat (sic), corrupt city, and has been for years. Many, many years. And they carried it out in places where they could get away from it.”
“Biden won because he was able to build on the traditional Democratic strength in the big cities by expanding his support into the suburban areas right outside of them,” Enten wrote. “There wasn’t any grand conspiracy by big city machines. Trump simply got beat because suburban voters were tired of him.”
The contempt for Black voters’ political power is more than rhetoric, though. For the Republican Party, which has grown increasingly allergic to rules and reality, it’s also a driver of strategy.
During a press call last week, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat, offered as sharp an articulation of the Trump campaign’s efforts to steal the election as might be possible.
“Really the themes that we see, that persist, are this: Black people are corrupt, Black people are incompetent and Black people can’t be trusted,” she said. “That’s the narrative that is continually espoused by the Trump campaign and their allies in these lawsuits.”
It might be easier to denounce the above actions in less withering terms. But to do so would be to abet a campaign attempting to do something truly ugly — overturn the votes of millions of Americans — in plain sight.
