WASHINGTON – President Trump promised Wednesday to protect suburbanites from low-income housing being built in their neighborhoods, appealing to white suburban voters as they seek to raise racist fears about affordable housing and people living. there.
In a tweet and later in comments during a visit to Texas, Trump painted a false image of the suburbs as embattled and ravaged by crime, using language of fear that has become something of a rhetorical flourish in his general election campaign. against the alleged Democratic candidate, Joseph R. Biden Jr.
Mr. Trump said on Twitter that “people living their suburban lifestyle dream” would no longer be financially upset or hurt by building low-income housing in their neighborhood. “The president was referring to the administration’s decision. Last week of reversing an Obama-era program aimed at combating racial segregation in suburban housing, the program expanded the provisions of the Fair Housing Act to encourage diversification and “foster inclusive communities.”
“Your home prices will go up according to the market, and crime will go down,” he wrote, even though there was no evidence that the program led to an increase in crime.
The tweet, sent from Air Force One when Trump traveled to Texas, was the latest example of the president fueling the racial divide in his bid to win over voters in his bid for reelection. White suburban voters, particularly women, were key to his 2016 victory, but they are running away from him.
The comments also came only days after aides convinced the president that his best re-election strategy was to demonstrate that he was focused on a comprehensive response to the growing coronavirus pandemic. In recent weeks, when the president’s poll numbers have dropped, some of his aides have told Mr. Trump to try to convince a skeptical nation that it has been effective in managing the virus crisis and that it is he is taking it seriously.
Last week, Trump resurrected the pandemic-focused White House briefings, keeping them shorter and more focused than the ones he held in March, when he often rambled on in his remarks, argued with the media, and engaged in whimsical speculation. Including injecting disinfectant into the human body could help defend against the virus.
He also changed his stance on facial masks, calling him “patriotic” wearing one, and even appearing in public with a set. On Monday, Trump promoted what he said was rapid progress on a vaccine during a trip to North Carolina to visit a plant that works at one.
But since taking office, Trump’s presidency has spanned two tracks: the script, which he sticks with for hours or sometimes days at a time, and guided by his own instincts. , often revealed on Twitter. Trump has been more eager to talk about culture wars and draw attention to images of riots on city streets led by Democratic politicians than to stay focused on the virus.
And his Tweet on Wednesday was further proof that he inevitably returns to his instinct to play at his base when campaigning under pressure.
During his remarks in West Texas later Wednesday, Trump once again bragged that he had ended a government program trying to reduce segregation in suburban areas.
“People fight their whole lives to get to the suburbs and have a beautiful home,” he said. “There will be no more low-income housing forced into the suburbs.”
“It has been hell for the suburbs,” he added, before telling the audience to “enjoy your life, ladies and gentlemen.”
Trump has also invoked the suburbs to try to increase apprehension about Biden. Last week, he provocatively tweeted directly to “Suburban Housewives of America,” warning: “Biden will destroy his neighborhood and his American dream.”
Andrew Bates, a spokesman for Biden, the former vice president, accused Trump of trying to further divide the country.
“Instead of finally leading, Donald Trump is again trying to distract himself from his catastrophic and failed response to the pandemic by trying to divide our nation,” said Bates. “Getting Americans to face each other with outright lies is unacceptable to a commander-in-chief at any time, but it is especially appalling to do so at a time of worsening crisis.”
Biden’s campaign said that as president, Mr. Biden would reinstate the program by expanding the provisions of the Fair Housing Act.
Mr. Trump and his father, Fred Trump, were sued by the Justice Department in the 1970s for their company’s practice of discriminating against black tenants.
Trump’s point of view on the composition of the American suburbs also seems to be frozen in time. In 2018, the support of suburban voters helped Democrats retake the House of Representatives. The following year, they helped Democrats win governorates in trustworthy red states like Kentucky and Louisiana.
Trump’s support among women and among independent voters has suffered as he has made repeated divisive pleas based on race or retweeted incendiary Twitter posts. His mismanagement of the coronavirus pandemic has also contributed to his downfall in polls.
Earlier this year, the Trump campaign invested tens of millions of dollars in television commercials highlighting the administration’s focus on criminal justice reform, which was so much an attempt to convince white suburban voters that the president It was not racist as to expand Mr. Trump appeal among voters of color.
Since then, however, Trump’s own rhetoric and his administration’s actions appear to have nullified any progress that those announcements may have made. He has demonized protesters after the murder of George Floyd, a black man, in the custody of white police. Vice President Mike Pence has declined to say “Black Lives Matter,” insisting in an interview that “all things in life, born and unborn.”
Trump has said that the Black Lives Matter is a “symbol of hatred,” despite the fact that most voters support the protests that have taken place nationally.
The president has also openly defended the Confederate flag, scolding NASCAR when he banned it from their careers, and has tried to combine peaceful protesters with a smaller group that has tried to tear down statues of Confederate generals more aggressively.
Jef Pollock, a Democratic pollster, said Trump is recycling a political playbook from an era that has passed.
“Trump has been playing old New York politics since the 1990s,” said Pollock. “The reality is that more and more suburban voters have embraced diversity as a positive for their community. They support the Black Lives Matter movement and, from an aspirational perspective, they want their children to grow up in a more tolerant and less divided country. What scares them is the constant division and intolerance that Trump is enacting. “
