1/16Never Underestimate the Power of the “Law and Order” Rhetoric
Trump seems to be on the ropes. June has shown his poll numbers evaporate as growing numbers of Americans question his incompetent response to Covid -19 and perhaps even more, his lack of empathy regarding

2/16 murders of African Americans by police. Mainstream news organizations speculate it is only a matter of time before Republicans in Congress bail on him. Biden supporters salivate at the prospects of an overwhelming Biden electoral win as well as decisive wins in both

3/16 the House and Senate. https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/21/politics/trump-voters-polls-analysis/index.html
But wait!!! Not so fast!!!! How many times have we counted Trump out? And even though his campaign has stumbled badly in the last couple of months, he is now reverting to a tried and true strategy that has worked well for

4/16 Republicans in the past, emphasis on Law and Order.
Never ever underestimate this country’s fear of lawlessness, chaos and anarchy and the destruction of their way of life. While most of us are listening to our democratic leaders and media celebrating an awakening of

5/16 America to issues of systemic racial inequality and injustice, we are ignoring a rising tide, that could if not stemmed put Trump back in the WH.

Fox News and conservative media, GOP leaders and Trump are sounding the alarm bells. Fox News provides a steady diet

6/16 of lawlessness, anarchy, looting, burning, murder permeating our cities while Democratic mayors and governors allegedly cheerlead from the bleachers.
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/tucker-carlson-the-revolution-being-waged-in-the-george-floyd-mob-violence-is-against-the-working-class

7/16 GOP folk heroes are the hard- working middle class who take up arms against the mob as they invade their suburban neighborhoods. https://twitter.com/mattgaetz/status/1277628850130780160
The vandalism and toppling of statues and renaming of our military installations is an assault on our heritage and

8/16 values. It is seen as a first step towards a liberal agenda to destroy America and replace it with Venezuelan and Cuban totalitarianism
https://www.foxnews.com/media/venezuelan-activist-warns-americans-statue-removals
Trump’s rhetoric espouses that he is the only one who can restore Law and Order: He brags how using the

9/16 National Guard restored order in DC and Minneapolis and how they cleared the streets of crime one night like “a knife through butter.” He advocates for the use of the military to clean up the five block “autonomous zone” in Seattle.

10/16 He calls for 10- year prison terms for those defacing statues. He claims Biden and Democrats want to abolish the police. He cleared Lafayette Square of protesters using tear gas and clubbing for a photo op showing him a fighter helping stop the assault on Christian

11/16 institutions and churches. https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/03/trump-campaign-protests-296864

History shows that this strategy has worked before. Nixon would likely not have won in 1968 if he hadn’t defined himself as The Law and Order Candidate. https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2018/11/05/law-order-campaign-that-won-richard-nixon-white-house-years-ago/

12/16 Dukakis was a 17- point favorite over George H. Bush in the summer of 1988, until a heavy- handed Republican campaigning painting Dukakis soft on crime led to an overwhelming defeat in November of 88. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/01/dukakis-documentary-attack-ads/

13/16 Trump is hijacking America’s conversation about racial injustice and turning it into a conversation about decay and crime. That focus on preventing lawlessness historically seems to appeal most to white voters, but clearly minorities also fear lawlessness.

14/16 If Trump could convince voters that he is for Law and Order and also for racial justice, Biden could see his lead erode among both white and minority voters. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/06/03/10-things-we-know-about-race-and-policing-in-the-u-s/

15/16 We need as Democrats to push back on generalities that we want to eliminate the police; and advocate for anarchy and chaos in the streets. The rhetoric is heated these days, but unfortunately the Republicans can take the passion around issues of racial inequality and

16/16 reframe it as calls for violent revolution. We need to show that it’s not the elimination of laws that Democrats are fighting for, it’s the unfair and often murderous enforcement of them.