theguardian--2020-07-31--'A failed experiment': the racist legacy of California governor Pete Wilson

Former California governor Pete Wilson left the governor ’ s mansion in 1999 , but his legacy lived on in the anti-diversity policies he championed and helped enshrine into California law .
As governor , Wilson used his pulpit to push reforms that were widely viewed as racist – including a ban on affirmative action , a prohibition on bilingual education , and an effort to exclude undocumented immigrants from public services .
But as the state heads toward another election day , and support grows to overturn the ban on affirmative action , one more piece of Wilson ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ late June , state senators voted overwhelmingly to send the proposal to voters , who can repeal the ban at the ballot box in November by voting yes on Proposition 16 .
“ In the 90s we were sold a bill of goods – that the way to solve inequality was to legislate colorblindness .
Twenty-five years later , it ’ s clear it was a failed experiment , ” said California assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez , the chair of the state ’ s Latino legislative caucus and co-author of the bill to repeal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the first of eight states to ban affirmative action .
Previous efforts to undo the ban in California have fallen short , but the conversation is gathering new momentum amid a national reckoning on racial injustice and a pandemic taking the heaviest toll on communities of color .
In the final stretch of Wilson ’ s 1994 bid for re-election , facing a challenge from the Democrat Kathleen Brown , the governor signed on to a controversial measure , Proposition 187 , which sought to exclude undocumented immigrants from public services , including @ @ @ @ @ @ @ during the re-election campaign includes grainy footage of a group of assumed-to-be migrants running through the port of entry south of San Diego , while a narrator in an ominous tone warns of invasion .
“ They keep coming .
Two million illegal immigrants in California .
The federal government won ’ t stop them , yet requires us to pay billions to take care of them.
” The campaign polarized the state , transforming its politics .
More than 10,000 teenagers across California walked out of school to protest the measure – @ @ @ @ @ @ @ teach-ins and letter writing – drawing some of the largest crowds of protesters in the state since the Vietnam war .
Voters approved Prop 187 by a wide margin .
Though later struck down as unconstitutional , Wilson ’ s legacy would be forever tied to a campaign seen widely as racist .
Wilson did not respond to requests for comment , but he told the Los Angeles Times last year that he believes he ’ s been unfairly maligned .
“ Every time I have ever challenged [ critics ] to find @ @ @ @ @ @ @ racism in the campaign for 187 , they have been unable to do so , ” he said .
But John Pitney , a professor of government at Claremont McKenna College and former staffer for the Republican National Committee , said the message he heard in the 90s was very clear .
“ The rhetoric , the imagery , the people crossing the border – from Wilson ’ s perspective , he was talking about undocumented immigrants .
Others heard ‘ they ’ as referring more broadly to Hispanic people .
One can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s mind , but in politics , what matters is what people hear , and they very clearly heard a racist appeal , ” Pitney said .
John Skrentny , a professor of sociology at the University of California , San Diego and the co-director of the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies , said Republicans at the time were more wary of talking about race explicitly , opting instead for messages with clear racial subtexts or supporting court decisions and ballot measures .
“ Using referenda and the courts to do the racial @ @ @ @ @ @ @ strategy to avoid blame , ” said Skrentny .
“ We ’ re talking about a referendum that the voters themselves passed .
That gives him cover to say , “ See ?
It wasn ’ t me .
The voters decided ’ .
In 1997 , a federal judge struck down Prop 187 as unconstitutional , ending it before it was fully implemented .
Other anti-diversity measures had a much longer run .
Wilson also embraced Proposition 227 , a ballot measure that effectively banned bilingual education in California by mandating classes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ supporters pointed to schools where children struggled for literacy and argued without evidence that “ hundreds of thousands of students ” were languishing in Spanish-only schools .
The law effectively created a two-tiered education system in California .
English-learners were often sent to separate classrooms to focus on language while their peers took college preparatory courses .
Five years after it was adopted , a study commissioned by the state board of education found the ban on bilingual education did not help English-learners catch up to their peers , as supporters argued .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Californians voted to repeal the ban on bilingual education , sending it to the scrapheap of history alongside Prop 187 .
In some ways the conversation that California lawmakers are having over affirmative action tracks with the one had 24 years ago .
In an emotional session on the senate floor on 24 June , lawmakers of color recounted personal experiences of discrimination .
Steven Bradford , a Democrat from Los Angeles who is Black , challenged his white counterparts to count the times they ’ ve entered a room in which they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ I know about discrimination .
I live it every day .
We live it in this building , ” Bradford said , adding , “ Quit lying to yourselves and saying race is not a factor… the bedrock of who we are in this country is based on race.
” “ I patently reject the notion that this state is racist , or that this country is racist , ” responded senator Melissa Melendez , a Republican from Murrieta , where in 2014 protesters blocked buses of unaccompanied immigrant children fleeing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ colorblind policies level opportunities is undercut by a current backdrop of racial unrest and a pandemic that ’ s hit communities of color hardest , said the California assemblywoman Gonzalez .
Latinos in California make up 39 % of the population , but 56 % of coronavirus cases and 46 % of deaths .
Whites , in comparison make up almost 37 % of the population yet 17 % of cases and 30 % of deaths , according to California public health data .
The disparities are much more pronounced in certain pockets @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who is contracting and dying from Covid right now .
It started in affluent areas , but it quickly , quickly , revealed race-based disparities , ” Gonzalez said .
“ It ’ s those in the lowest paying service positions , those living in cramped living quarters , who are getting Covid at the highest rates ” .
While affirmative action remains an emotional issue , Republicans have grown surprisingly quiet on it in recent years , Pitney said .
“ Even if you have a red meat speech that hits on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they don ’ t mention it , ” Pitney said .
“ A lot of Republicans think if they bring it up , they ’ ll lose more than they ’ ll gain by being seen as racist.
” Much of the focus has been on admission to colleges , which have failed to diversify along with the state .
As University of California officials worry they could see a drop in fall enrollment , the UC system has offered admission to a record number of Latino students for the fall semesters , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ve made up the largest ethnic group of admitted students .
Still , a recent analysis from the Urban Institute , a DC thinktank , shows that Black and Latino students have remained underrepresented at nearly all of state ’ s most selective universities .
“ It makes little sense to exclude any consideration of race in admissions when the aim of the University ’ s holistic process is to fully understand and evaluate each applicant through multiple dimensions , ” said Janet Napolitano , the UC president , in a statement of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ diversity of our university and higher education institutions across California , should – and must – represent the rich diversity of our state , ” she added .
Years before she became one of the most powerful and effective women in California politics , Lorena Gonzalez , then a graduate student , watched the campaign for Prop 187 unfold in her home state .
“ It was so clear that we as a community were being used as scapegoats .
It was really personal ” , Gonzalez said .
“ When Prop 187 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and just crying , ‘ how do they all see us as the enemy ’ ?
My mom was a no-nonsense , working class woman , and I remember her saying to me , ‘ Well are you going to sit and cry about it or are you going to do something ?
’ ” Gonzalez went to law school and on to Sacramento , an accomplishment she credits to the former governor .
In recognition of the 25th anniversary of the campaign for Prop 187 , Gonzalez and other members of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , “ Thank you , Pete Wilson ” .
In it , Latino lawmakers attribute their rise to influence to the backlash to a campaign that scapegoated their friends and parents .
In the wake of the campaign , one million Latino immigrants moved through the process of naturalization and voter registration .
The Latino legislative caucus grew to a record 29 members .
They helped create Democratic supermajorities in both houses of the legislature .
“ You woke a sleeping giant , ” said the assemblyman Freddie Rodriguez .
Assemblyman Todd Gloria @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Diego , said Californians now have national “ roadmap on how to fight back against racist , xenophobic policies ” .
UC San Diego professor John Skrentny also ties Wilson and the backlash to his policies to the end of the Republican party ’ s influence in California , though he says it accelerated a demographic and political shift already underway .
Nationally , Trump could hasten a similar pattern , he said .
“ Wilson stands for the decline of Republican party in California .
Those blatantly anti-diversity measures inspired voters and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I do think he caused that.
” Meantime , support for the repeal appears be growing .
This week , the California Charter Schools Association , representing schools that are publicly funded but largely independently operated , announced its support for the proposal by saying it could boost diversity within the teacher ranks – putting the group in rare alignment with the state ’ s largest teachers union .
While experts are split on how voters will likely respond to the ban on affirmative action , Gonzalez sees a win in the conversation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ senate .
“ We had Republicans in each house vote for this .
The success is that people are opening their hearts and minds to the fact that the [ ban on affirmative action ] failed and we have an opportunity to get it right .
It ’ s important to get rid of the vestiges of Pete Wilson .
”

Former California governor Pete Wilson left the governor’s mansion in 1999, but his legacy lived on in the anti-diversity policies he championed and helped enshrine into California law.
As governor, Wilson used his pulpit to push reforms that were widely viewed as racist – including a ban on affirmative action, a prohibition on bilingual education, and an effort to exclude undocumented immigrants from public services.
But as the state heads toward another election day, and support grows to overturn the ban on affirmative action, one more piece of Wilson’s legacy may soon unravel. In late June, state senators voted overwhelmingly to send the proposal to voters, who can repeal the ban at the ballot box in November by voting yes on Proposition 16.
“In the 90s we were sold a bill of goods – that the way to solve inequality was to legislate colorblindness. Twenty-five years later, it’s clear it was a failed experiment,” said the California assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, chair of the state’s Latino legislative caucus and co-author of the bill to repeal the ban.
California in 1996 became the first of eight states to ban affirmative action. Previous efforts to undo the ban in California have fallen short, but the conversation is gathering new momentum amid a national reckoning on racial injustice and a pandemic taking the heaviest toll on communities of color.
Wilson’s legacy tied to Prop 187
In the final stretch of Wilson’s 1994 bid for re-election, facing a challenge from the Democrat Kathleen Brown, the governor signed on to a controversial measure, Proposition 187, which sought to exclude undocumented immigrants from public services, including schools.
A now infamous video aired during the re-election campaign includes grainy footage of a group of assumed-to-be migrants running through the port of entry south of San Diego, while a narrator in an ominous tone warns of invasion.
“They keep coming. Two million illegal immigrants in California. The federal government won’t stop them, yet requires us to pay billions to take care of them.”
The campaign polarized the state, transforming its politics. More than 10,000 teenagers across California walked out of school to protest against the measure – part of a month-long counter-campaign of teach-ins and letter writing – drawing some of the largest crowds of protesters in the state since the Vietnam war.
Voters approved Prop 187 by a wide margin. Though later struck down as unconstitutional, Wilson’s legacy would be forever tied to a campaign seen widely as racist.
Wilson did not respond to requests for comment, but he told the Los Angeles Times last year that he believes he has been unfairly maligned.
“Every time I have ever challenged [critics] to find one word that could be construed as racism in the campaign for 187, they have been unable to do so,” he said.
But John Pitney, a professor of government at Claremont McKenna College and former staffer for the Republican National Committee, said the message he heard in the 90s was very clear.
“The rhetoric, the imagery, the people crossing the border – from Wilson’s perspective, he was talking about undocumented immigrants. Others heard ‘they’ as referring more broadly to Hispanic people. One can debate what was on Pete Wilson’s mind, but in politics, what matters is what people hear, and they very clearly heard a racist appeal,” Pitney said.
One can debate what was on Pete Wilson’s mind, but in politics, what matters is what people hear, and they very clearly heard a racist appeal John Pitney
John Skrentny, a professor of sociology at the University of California, San Diego, said Republicans at the time were more wary of talking about race explicitly, opting instead for messages with clear racial subtexts or supporting court decisions and ballot measures.
“Using referenda and the courts to do the racial dirty work has long been the Republican strategy to avoid blame,” said Skrentny. “We’re talking about a referendum that the voters themselves passed. That gives him cover to say, ‘See? It wasn’t me. The voters decided.’”
In 1997, a federal judge struck down Prop 187 as unconstitutional, ending it before it was fully implemented. Other anti-diversity measures had a much longer run.
Wilson also embraced Proposition 227, a ballot measure that effectively banned bilingual education in California by mandating classes be taught mostly in English.
Its supporters pointed to schools where children struggled for literacy and argued without evidence that “hundreds of thousands of students” were languishing in Spanish-only schools.
The law effectively created a two-tiered education system in California. English-learners were often sent to separate classrooms to focus on language while their peers took college preparatory courses. Five years after it was adopted, a study commissioned by the state board of education found the ban on bilingual education did not help English-learners catch up to their peers, as supporters argued.
In 2016, nearly 75% of Californians voted to repeal the ban on bilingual education, sending it to the scrapheap of history alongside Prop 187.
Affirmative action
In some ways the conversation that California lawmakers are having over affirmative action tracks with the one had 24 years ago.
In an emotional session on the senate floor on 24 June, lawmakers of color recounted personal experiences of discrimination. Steven Bradford, a Democrat from Los Angeles who is Black, challenged his white counterparts to count the times they had entered a room in which they were the only members of their race.
“I know about discrimination. I live it every day. We live it in this building,” Bradford said, adding, “Quit lying to yourselves and saying race is not a factor … the bedrock of who we are in this country is based on race.”
“I patently reject the notion that this state is racist, or that this country is racist,” responded Melissa Melendez, a Republican senator from Murrieta, where in 2014 protesters blocked buses of unaccompanied immigrant children fleeing humanitarian crises.
State senator Steve Bradford raises his fist in celebration as the senate approves a measure to overturn the ban on affirmative action on the November ballot. Photograph: Rich Pedroncelli/AP
But the notion that colorblind policies level opportunities is undercut by a current backdrop of racial unrest and a pandemic that’s hit communities of color hardest, said the California assemblywoman Gonzalez.
Latinos in California make up 39% of the population, but 56% of coronavirus cases and 46% of deaths. Whites, in comparison make up almost 37% of the population yet 17% of cases and 30% of deaths, according to California public health data. The disparities are much more pronounced in certain pockets of the state.
“Look at who is contracting and dying from Covid right now. It started in affluent areas, but it quickly, quickly, revealed race-based disparities,” Gonzalez said. “It’s those in the lowest-paying service positions, those living in cramped living quarters, who are getting Covid at the highest rates.”
While affirmative action remains an emotional issue, Republicans have grown surprisingly quiet on it in recent years, Pitney said.
“Even if you have a red meat speech that hits on all the major conservative talking points, they don’t mention it,” Pitney said. “A lot of Republicans think if they bring it up, they’ll lose more than they’ll gain by being seen as racist.”
Much of the focus has been on admission to colleges, which have failed to diversify along with the state.
As University of California officials worry they could see a drop in fall enrollment, the UC system has offered admission to a record number of Latino students for the fall semesters, marking the first time they have made up the largest ethnic group of admitted students.
Still, a recent analysis from the Urban Institute, a DC thinktank, shows that Black and Latino students have remained underrepresented at nearly all of the state’s most selective universities.
“It makes little sense to exclude any consideration of race in admissions when the aim of the University’s holistic process is to fully understand and evaluate each applicant through multiple dimensions,” said Janet Napolitano, the UC president, in a statement of support for the repeal.
“The diversity of our university and higher education institutions across California, should – and must – represent the rich diversity of our state,” she added.
‘Thank you, Pete Wilson’
Years before she became one of the most powerful and effective women in California politics, Lorena Gonzalez, then a graduate student, watched the campaign for Prop 187 unfold in her home state.
“It was so clear that we as a community were being used as scapegoats. It was really personal”, Gonzalez said.
“When Prop 187 passed, I remember calling my mom and just crying, ‘how do they all see us as the enemy’? My mom was a no-nonsense, working-class woman, and I remember her saying to me, ‘Well are you going to sit and cry about it or are you going to do something?’”
Gonzalez went to law school and on to Sacramento, an accomplishment she credits to the former governor. In recognition of the 25th anniversary of the campaign for Prop 187, Gonzalez and other members of the California Legislative Caucus released a video called, “Thank you, Pete Wilson”.
In it, Latino lawmakers attribute their rise to influence to the backlash to a campaign that scapegoated their friends and parents. In the wake of the campaign, one million Latino immigrants moved through the process of naturalization and voter registration. The Latino legislative caucus grew to a record 29 members. They helped create Democratic supermajorities in both houses of the legislature.
“You woke a sleeping giant,” said the assemblyman Freddie Rodriguez. Assemblyman Todd Gloria, the former interim mayor of San Diego, said Californians now have national “roadmap on how to fight back against racist, xenophobic policies”.
UC San Diego professor John Skrentny also ties Wilson and the backlash to his policies to the end of the Republican party’s influence in California, though he says it accelerated a demographic and political shift already under way. Nationally, Trump could hasten a similar pattern, he said.
“Wilson stands for the decline of Republican party in California. Those blatantly anti-diversity measures inspired voters and reinvigorated the Democratic party. And frankly I do think he caused that.”
Meantime, support for the repeal appears be growing. This week, the California Charter Schools Association, representing schools that are publicly funded but largely independently operated, announced its support for the proposal by saying it could boost diversity within the teacher ranks – putting the group in rare alignment with the state’s largest teachers union.
While experts are split on how voters will likely respond to the ban on affirmative action, Gonzalez sees a win in the conversation that led to its passage from the senate.
“We had Republicans in each house vote for this. The success is that people are opening their hearts and minds to the fact that the [ban on affirmative action] failed and we have an opportunity to get it right. It’s important to get rid of the vestiges of Pete Wilson.”


theguardian--2020-07-31--US Covid testing has been a historic catastrophe. Is Trump’s testing tsar Brett Giroir to blame?

Jesuit high school , an all-boys Catholic school in New Orleans , is proud of its alumni .
In 1978 , its website records , student debaters Moises Arriaga and Brett Giroir “ had a legendary season , winning the City Championship , District Championship , State Championship and the NFL National Championship ” .
Forty-two years later , Giroir ’ s debating skills are facing their ultimate test .
As Donald Trump ’ s coronavirus testing tsar , he is repeatedly grilled by America ’ s top political news hosts about what is seen as an epic disaster .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Giroir ’ s qualifications and track record have come under increasing scrutiny as the US pandemic death toll tops 150,000 .
“ What he does over and over again in his public statements is always put the most positive spin he can on what is clearly just an abysmal failure in terms of the US testing strategy , ” said Jeremy Konyndyk , who led the government response to international disasters at USAid from 2013 to 2017 .
Now 59 years old , Giroir spent his childhood in a small town outside @ @ @ @ @ @ @ oilfield worker and police officer .
“ Growing up , I had significant hearing problems and hearing loss , and there was no ENT physician in my small hometown ; we had to drive 30 miles to the city to see a specialist , ” he told Texas Medical Center News online in 2014 .
“ It just so happened that clinic was near the Jesuit high school , one of the best high schools in the region .
It looked like an interesting place to be , so I set my goal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , to be admitted in the Jesuit high school .
Luckily , I got in , and that was the academic launching point for me.
” Success on the debate team meant touring universities , including Harvard , where he won a place to study biology before gaining a medical doctorate from the University of Texas Southwestern medical center .
Giroir began his career as a pediatrician in Texas and became the head of Children ’ s medical center Dallas .
After a spell at the Pentagon ’ s Defense Advanced Research Projects @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2008 and went on to become the chief executive of Texas A & M University ’ s Health Science Center .
But his ambitions to turn it into a world-leading , billion-dose-per-month vaccine facility were abruptly halted .
In 2015 , Giroir was told that he had 30 minutes to resign rather than being fired , the Washington Post reported , after an annual performance review said he was “ more interested in promoting yourself ” and fared poorly as a “ team player ” .
Giroir has since claimed he was the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you ’ re not familiar with academic politics , it makes politics in Washington look like a minor league scrimmage , ” he told the Post in April this year , adding that he was “ heartbroken ” to be forced out before his work on vaccines was complete .
Others interviewed by the Washington Post told a different story .
Robin Robinson , who as the director of the federal Biological Advanced Research and Development Authority oversaw a major grant for the Texas vaccine project , was quoted as saying that Giroir @ @ @ @ @ @ @ added : “ I always had a good relationship with Brett .
I know he has a temper and he sometimes has a very difficult time controlling it.
” In 2017 , Trump picked Giroir to be the assistant secretary for health at the Department of Health and Human Services , making him the top medical and science adviser to the secretary , Alex Azar .
The nomination was held up for months , as Democrats expressed concerns over his commitment to women ’ s health issues , but eventually confirmed .
Giroir @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Washington .
Stephen Morrison , a senior vice-president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies ( CSIS ) thinktank , and the director of its Global Health Policy Center , recalls talking to him about a Trump administration initiative on domestic HIV/Aids .
“ He came across to me as very authentic in his compassion about populations that are stigmatised , marginalised , highly vulnerable to HIV in the United States .
Some of them were public sessions , many of them were by-invitation private discussions , and so there would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ actively loathed anything the Trump administration did but were struck by his seriousness and his compassion and his genuine desire to make a difference and do something well .
“ I think the general opinion of him was pretty high here in town and people had a lot of respect for him and took him quite seriously.
” Giroir also leads initiatives on physical activity guidelines , sickle cell disease and opioid policy , and has been criticised by Senate Democrats over his failure to acknowledge the role of drug companies in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coronavirus that delivered the defining moment of his career or , perhaps , some would say , a poisoned chalice .
In early March , Trump claimed that “ anybody that wants a test can get a test ” despite a massive shortage of testing kits .
A week later , on 13 March , Giroir was put in charge of overseeing the federal government ’ s testing efforts – a relatively unknown choice for a monumental position .
Since then , critics argue , America ’ s testing has been a historic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rage like a forest fire .
The number of tests performed has surged to more than 50m and last Sunday , on CNN ’ s State of the Union , Giroir claimed that anyone who “ needs ” a test can get one .
But getting test results is a different matter : shortages of chemicals and plastic pipette tips can mean it takes up to two weeks for laboratories to turn them around , rendering them practically useless .
Konyndyk , a senior policy fellow at the Center for Global Development thinktank @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fundamental thing that ’ s gone wrong is the federal government has not taken ownership of the problem and has not taken ownership of fixing it .
Ultimately , that is much more the president ’ s decision than it is Brett Giroir ’ s but Brett Giroir is willingly facilitating and enabling it .
“ It ’ s a failed policy so he owns it .
He ’ s not saying we ’ re failing , he ’ s not saying we need a different approach , he ’ s continuing to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ point you just have to say is manifestly failed .
We ’ re moving backward on testing .
Delays are getting longer.
” Public health officials have had to navigate treacherous waters in Trump ’ s White House .
Anthony Fauci , the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases , has a reputation as a blunt truth-teller and duly found his media appearances curtailed ; until recently , he said , he had not briefed Trump for two months .
By contrast , Deborah Birx , the coronavirus taskforce @ @ @ @ @ @ @ New York Times as “ the chief evangelist for the idea that the threat from the virus was fading ” .
Giroir , who has appeared alongside Trump in the admiral ’ s uniform he is entitled to wear as head of the US Health Service Commissioned Corps , appears to fall more in the Birx camp when it comes to placating the president .
Konyndyk added : “ The responsibility of a scientist in the kind of role that he is in is not to just share the political spin that ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s to give the president and , frankly , give the public an honest , science-based , evidence-based perspective on what ’ s needed , and that ’ s not what Giroir is doing and , frankly , it ’ s not what Birx has been doing .
“ I do fault him for that and I also recognise that in time if he were to do that , I ’ m sure he would not still be in that role .
That ’ s the quandary that any high-profile scientist in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you spin , you maintain your access ; if you tell the truth , you risk being marginalised .
You see one approach to that from Dr Fauci and you see a different approach to that from Drs Birx and Giroir.
” Giroir finds himself working for a president who has claimed that testing is “ overrated ” and boasted at a campaign rally that he has asked for testing to be slowed down because it makes America look bad .
Many experts suggest the biggest failing from the beginning is the lack @ @ @ @ @ @ @ governors to sink or swim on their own .
It will cast a long shadow over Giroir ’ s career .
Zac Petkanas , the coronavirus war room director of Protect Our Care , a healthcare advocacy group , said : “ On Sunday he went out there and had the audacity to say that everybody who needs a test can get a test .
This is just patently baloney .
Sure , a number of people can obtain tests , but then they have to wait 10 to 20 days to get @ @ @ @ @ @ @ worthless.
” Petkanas added : “ Giroir is clearly nothing more than a water carrier for Trump administration policies and Americans are paying the price because he won ’ t stand up to the administration and do the right thing , and that is to say that we need a federal national testing infrastructure that does not pit states against each other and coordinates this response so that all the states can get the materials they need when they need them and people can get tested .
”

Jesuit high school, an all-boys Catholic school in New Orleans, is proud of its alumni. In 1978, its website records, student debaters Moises Arriaga and Brett Giroir “had a legendary season, winning the City Championship, District Championship, State Championship and the NFL National Championship”.
Forty-two years later, Giroir’s debating skills are facing their ultimate test. As Donald Trump’s coronavirus testing tsar, he is repeatedly grilled by America’s top political news hosts about what is seen as an epic disaster. And despite his gilded career at school, Giroir’s qualifications and track record have come under increasing scrutiny as the US pandemic death toll tops 150,000.
“What he does over and over again in his public statements is always put the most positive spin he can on what is clearly just an abysmal failure in terms of the US testing strategy,” said Jeremy Konyndyk, who led the government response to international disasters at USAid from 2013 to 2017.
Now 59 years old, Giroir spent his childhood in a small town outside New Orleans, the son of an oilfield worker and police officer. “Growing up, I had significant hearing problems and hearing loss, and there was no ENT physician in my small hometown; we had to drive 30 miles to the city to see a specialist,” he told Texas Medical Center News online in 2014.
“It just so happened that clinic was near the Jesuit high school, one of the best high schools in the region. It looked like an interesting place to be, so I set my goal, which was astronomical at that time, to be admitted in the Jesuit high school. Luckily, I got in, and that was the academic launching point for me.”
Success on the debate team meant touring universities, including Harvard, where he won a place to study biology before gaining a medical doctorate from the University of Texas Southwestern medical center. Giroir began his career as a pediatrician in Texas and became the head of Children’s medical center Dallas.
Brett Giroir speaks during a press briefing in the Rose Garden of the White House on 11 May 2020. Photograph: Alex Brandon/AP
After a spell at the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Giroir returned to Texas in 2008 and went on to become the chief executive of Texas A&M University’s Health Science Center. But his ambitions to turn it into a world-leading, billion-dose-per-month vaccine facility were abruptly halted.
In 2015, Giroir was told that he had 30 minutes to resign rather than being fired, the Washington Post reported, after an annual performance review said he was “more interested in promoting yourself” and fared poorly as a “team player”.
Giroir has since claimed he was the victim of university politics. “If you’re not familiar with academic politics, it makes politics in Washington look like a minor league scrimmage,” he told the Post in April this year, adding that he was “heartbroken” to be forced out before his work on vaccines was complete.
Others interviewed by the Washington Post told a different story. Robin Robinson, who as the director of the federal Biological Advanced Research and Development Authority oversaw a major grant for the Texas vaccine project, was quoted as saying that Giroir “over-promised and under-delivered”.
He added: “I always had a good relationship with Brett. I know he has a temper and he sometimes has a very difficult time controlling it.”
In 2017, Trump picked Giroir to be the assistant secretary for health at the Department of Health and Human Services, making him the top medical and science adviser to the secretary, Alex Azar. The nomination was held up for months, as Democrats expressed concerns over his commitment to women’s health issues, but eventually confirmed.
Giroir made a positive first impression on some in Washington. Stephen Morrison, a senior vice-president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) thinktank, and the director of its Global Health Policy Center, recalls talking to him about a Trump administration initiative on domestic HIV/Aids.
“He came across to me as very authentic in his compassion about populations that are stigmatised, marginalised, highly vulnerable to HIV in the United States. Some of them were public sessions, many of them were by-invitation private discussions, and so there would inevitably be people in the room who actively loathed anything the Trump administration did but were struck by his seriousness and his compassion and his genuine desire to make a difference and do something well.
“I think the general opinion of him was pretty high here in town and people had a lot of respect for him and took him quite seriously.”
Brett Giroir speaks alongside Seema Verma, Jerome Adams and Donald Trump. Photograph: Evan Vucci/AP
Giroir also leads initiatives on physical activity guidelines, sickle cell disease and opioid policy, and has been criticised by Senate Democrats over his failure to acknowledge the role of drug companies in the opioid epidemic.
But it is the coronavirus that delivered the defining moment of his career or, perhaps, some would say, a poisoned chalice. In early March, Trump claimed that “anybody that wants a test can get a test” despite a massive shortage of testing kits. A week later, on 13 March, Giroir was put in charge of overseeing the federal government’s testing efforts – a relatively unknown choice for a monumental position.
Since then, critics argue, America’s testing has been a historic catastrophe that has allowed the virus to rage like a forest fire. The number of tests performed has surged to more than 50m and last Sunday, on CNN’s State of the Union, Giroir claimed that anyone who “needs” a test can get one. But getting test results is a different matter: shortages of chemicals and plastic pipette tips can mean it takes up to two weeks for laboratories to turn them around, rendering them practically useless.
Konyndyk, a senior policy fellow at the Center for Global Development thinktank in Washington, said: “The fundamental thing that’s gone wrong is the federal government has not taken ownership of the problem and has not taken ownership of fixing it. Ultimately, that is much more the president’s decision than it is Brett Giroir’s but Brett Giroir is willingly facilitating and enabling it.
“It’s a failed policy so he owns it. He’s not saying we’re failing, he’s not saying we need a different approach, he’s continuing to work on an approach that at this point you just have to say is manifestly failed. We’re moving backward on testing. Delays are getting longer.”
Americans are paying the price because [Giroir] won’t stand up to the administration and do the right thing Zac Petkanas
Public health officials have had to navigate treacherous waters in Trump’s White House. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has a reputation as a blunt truth-teller and duly found his media appearances curtailed; until recently, he said, he had not briefed Trump for two months. By contrast, Deborah Birx, the coronavirus taskforce coordinator, was recently described by the New York Times as “the chief evangelist for the idea that the threat from the virus was fading”.
Giroir, who has appeared alongside Trump in the admiral’s uniform he is entitled to wear as head of the US Health Service Commissioned Corps, appears to fall more in the Birx camp when it comes to placating the president.
Konyndyk added: “The responsibility of a scientist in the kind of role that he is in is not to just share the political spin that’s favourable to the president. It’s to give the president and, frankly, give the public an honest, science-based, evidence-based perspective on what’s needed, and that’s not what Giroir is doing and, frankly, it’s not what Birx has been doing.
Dr Deborah Birx and Brett Giroir walk to the Rose Garden to attend a coronavirus briefing with Donald Trump on 27 April 2020. Photograph: Alex Brandon/AP
“I do fault him for that and I also recognise that in time if he were to do that, I’m sure he would not still be in that role. That’s the quandary that any high-profile scientist in the government is caught in: if you spin, you maintain your access; if you tell the truth, you risk being marginalised. You see one approach to that from Dr Fauci and you see a different approach to that from Drs Birx and Giroir.”
Giroir finds himself working for a president who has claimed that testing is “overrated” and boasted at a campaign rally that he has asked for testing to be slowed down because it makes America look bad. Many experts suggest the biggest failing from the beginning is the lack of national testing strategy, leaving state governors to sink or swim on their own. It will cast a long shadow over Giroir’s career.
Zac Petkanas, the coronavirus war room director of Protect Our Care, a healthcare advocacy group, said: “On Sunday he went out there and had the audacity to say that everybody who needs a test can get a test. This is just patently baloney. Sure, a number of people can obtain tests, but then they have to wait 10 to 20 days to get results back, making the tests essentially worthless.”
Petkanas added: “Giroir is clearly nothing more than a water carrier for Trump administration policies and Americans are paying the price because he won’t stand up to the administration and do the right thing, and that is to say that we need a federal national testing infrastructure that does not pit states against each other and coordinates this response so that all the states can get the materials they need when they need them and people can get tested.”


theguardian--2020-07-31--The Fight review – a walk-and-talk with the activists tackling Trump

The title is apt for a documentary about the American Civil Liberties Union ( ACLU ) , who got their always combative existence stepped up a notch with the election of Donald Trump in 2016 .
Now they found themselves fighting with the White House itself .
This film features an Aaron Sorkin-style walk-and-talk tour around the ACLU offices in Brooklyn , New York , with its array of talented lawyers and heroic idealists .
It concentrates on four cases fought by them : the right of a migrant to an abortion , the right of transgender people to serve @ @ @ @ @ @ @ migrants not to be separated from their children , and the right of US residents not to answer a new census question about whether they are US citizens .
This apparently innocuous query was cunningly designed to reduce the ostensible population size ( and federal aid budgets while creating space for tax cuts etc ) as migrants fearfully decline to answer .
It also , insidiously , is intended to start a media row on this very point and crank up a value-for-money Kulturkampf against the alien outsider , a census question costing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It should also be said – and this film could and should have said it – that the grotesque policy of separating migrants from their children was specifically designed to create a spasm of horror in the media ( and the ACLU ) for its deterrent effect , certainly , but mostly , yet again , to provide raw material for the Fox News Theatre of Cruelty .
This film is a lively and watchable account of the full-tilt battle being fought by the ACLU , with its chief lawyer , Lee Gelernt @ @ @ @ @ @ @ addicted to Diet Coke and stress , at one point heading to emotional meltdown as he realises he doesn ’ t know where or how to plug in his smartphone charger .
The film ’ s structural flaw is that it doesn ’ t quite know how to handle the most controversial moment in ACLU history : sticking toughly to the principle of free speech for all , it defended the right of racist Charlottesville protesters to rally in 2017 , an event that led to a fatality .
Maybe the whole film @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Well , the census-question case gives this its rousing finale .
It creates , however , a possibly misleading impression of victory .
• The Fight is available on digital platforms from 31 July .

The title is apt for a documentary about the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), who got their always combative existence stepped up a notch with the election of Donald Trump in 2016. Now they found themselves fighting with the White House itself. This film features an Aaron Sorkin-style walk-and-talk tour around the ACLU offices in Brooklyn, New York, with its array of talented lawyers and heroic idealists.
It concentrates on four cases fought by them: the right of a migrant to an abortion, the right of transgender people to serve in the military, the right of migrants not to be separated from their children, and the right of US residents not to answer a new census question about whether they are US citizens. This apparently innocuous query was cunningly designed to reduce the ostensible population size (and federal aid budgets while creating space for tax cuts etc) as migrants fearfully decline to answer.
It also, insidiously, is intended to start a media row on this very point and crank up a value-for-money Kulturkampf against the alien outsider, a census question costing so much less than a wall. It should also be said – and this film could and should have said it – that the grotesque policy of separating migrants from their children was specifically designed to create a spasm of horror in the media (and the ACLU) for its deterrent effect, certainly, but mostly, yet again, to provide raw material for the Fox News Theatre of Cruelty.
This film is a lively and watchable account of the full-tilt battle being fought by the ACLU, with its chief lawyer, Lee Gelernt, at the helm, a man addicted to Diet Coke and stress, at one point heading to emotional meltdown as he realises he doesn’t know where or how to plug in his smartphone charger. The film’s structural flaw is that it doesn’t quite know how to handle the most controversial moment in ACLU history: sticking toughly to the principle of free speech for all, it defended the right of racist Charlottesville protesters to rally in 2017, an event that led to a fatality. Maybe the whole film should have been about that one case. Well, the census-question case gives this its rousing finale. It creates, however, a possibly misleading impression of victory.


theguardian--2020-07-31--Obama compares segregationist Jim Crow America to Trump's America – as it happened

Trump ’ s election & voting claims : ‘ He ’ s just trying to intimidate people ’ At a White House press briefing on Thursday , Trump denied that he wants the election to be postponed but again questioned mail-in voting , insisting that he he does not “ want to have to wait for three months and then find out that the ballots are all missing and the election doesn ’ t mean anything ” .
He added : “ Do I want to see a date change ?
No .
But I don ’ t want to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will be the most rigged election in history , if that happens.
” Election experts say that all forms of voter fraud are rare .
In 2017 the Brennan Center for Justice ranked the risk of ballot fraud at 0.00004 % to 0.0009 % , based on studies of past elections .
But analysts said the president ’ s chief objective is to sow doubt about the legitimacy of the outcome .
Richard Painter , a former White House chief ethics lawyer , said : “ He ’ s just trying to intimidate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vote as much as he can and so he wants to discourage mail-in and , of course , he wants to complain about the election being rigged if he loses .
“ He pulled this in 2016 , he thought he was going to lose that and he said it was a rigged election .
So this is just the same old Trump playbook but he can not change the date of the election because it ’ s set by statute .
Congress is not going to change the statute.
” Jon Meacham @ @ @ @ @ @ @ told the MSNBC network : “ The delay thing may just be an entry point to an argument , largely emotional but nevertheless immensely disruptive , to setting up a November where he is crying foul and crooked election and fake news and fake president about Joe Biden if Biden wins .
“ The other thing to watch is yes , those senators were saying the right thing today , but what if Trump begins to make the case to the Senate Republican caucus that if the Senate were to flip on November @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in their interest to join him in questioning the legitimacy of an election that puts them out of work ?
”

Lois Beckett, Amanda Holpuch and Martin Belam

31 Jul 2020 01.06 BST No ban on military recruiting on Twitch An update from tech reporter Kari Paul, who has been following Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s attempt to block military recruiting on gaming platforms: it has failed. AOC's amendment to block the military from recruiting on Twitch has failed in the house vote — Rod Breslau (@Slasher) July 30, 2020 Background on AOC’s effort from earlier today: Rep @AOC speaking on House floor today about her proposal to end funding for military recruitment on Twitch and other gaming platforms: pic.twitter.com/R995mkHf9e — Micah Loewinger (@MicahLoewinger) July 30, 2020
30 Jul 2020 00.51 BST Report: DHS compiled "intelligence reports" on journalists covering Portland protest The Department of Homeland Security compiled “intelligence reports” on two journalists who shared leaked internal documents about the department’s response to protests in Portland, Oregon, the Washington Post reported. The move was troubling, current and former officials said, an abuse of a government system “meant to share information about suspected terrorists and violent actors,” the Post reported. The creation of intelligence report on journalists is part of a broader pattern of aggressive tactics by the Department of Homeland Security in Portland. Some current government officials told The Post they worried that the department’s Intelligence and Analysis office, in particular, “is exceeding the boundaries of its authority in an effort to crackdown on ‘antifa’ protesters to please President Trump.” “It’s not the sharing of my tweet that’s disturbing. It’s the construction of it as an intelligence report on a U.S. person that’s disturbing,” Benjamin Wittes, the editor of the Lawfare blog, and one of the two journalists reportedly targeted, told the Post. Wittes tweeted that he was considering his legal options: I will have more to say about this story after considering my legal options. For now, a few points...https://t.co/kgl81lU75t — Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) July 30, 2020
30 Jul 2020 00.05 BST David Smith At a White House press briefing on Thursday, Trump denied that he wants the election to be postponed but again questioned mail-in voting, insisting that he he does not “want to have to wait for three months and then find out that the ballots are all missing and the election doesn’t mean anything”.
He added: “Do I want to see a date change? No. But I don’t want to see a crooked election. This election will be the most rigged election in history, if that happens.”
Election experts say that all forms of voter fraud are rare. In 2017 the Brennan Center for Justice ranked the risk of ballot fraud at 0.00004% to 0.0009%, based on studies of past elections.
But analysts said the president’s chief objective is to sow doubt about the legitimacy of the outcome. Richard Painter, a former White House chief ethics lawyer, said: “He’s just trying to intimidate people. He wants to suppress the vote as much as he can and so he wants to discourage mail-in and, of course, he wants to complain about the election being rigged if he loses.
“He pulled this in 2016, he thought he was going to lose that and he said it was a rigged election. So this is just the same old Trump playbook but he cannot change the date of the election because it’s set by statute. Congress is not going to change the statute.”
Jon Meacham, a presidential biographer and historian, told the MSNBC network: “The delay thing may just be an entry point to an argument, largely emotional but nevertheless immensely disruptive, to setting up a November where he is crying foul and crooked election and fake news and fake president about Joe Biden if Biden wins.
“The other thing to watch is yes, those senators were saying the right thing today, but what if Trump begins to make the case to the Senate Republican caucus that if the Senate were to flip on November 3rd and subsequent days, it becomes in their interest to join him in questioning the legitimacy of an election that puts them out of work?”
30 Jul 2020 23.58 BST No action from Republicans as unemployment benefits expire For millions of Americans who have lost work during the pandemic, one source of basic security has been an additional $600 a week unemployment benefit from the federal government, on top of typical state unemployment benefits. Experts say the extra money has been crucial to helping Americans stay afloat economically during the intense uncertainty of coronavirus-related shutdowns. But that additional benefit program, passed in Congress in late March, expires on Friday and the senate has adjourned for the weekend without any deal to extend unemployment benefits at any level. The White House chief of staff also said today that he was “not optimistic” about getting a comprehensive new relief bill completed even next week. NEWS: The Senate has adjourned until Monday afternoon with no action on coronavirus relief.
Federal unemployment benefits will expire tomorrow. — Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) July 30, 2020 House Democrats passed a bill that would extend the $600 payments through January, but Republicans countered with a plan this week that would offer a much lower payment of $200 extra a week. Trump said in his press conference today that he supported a plan to temporarily extend unemployment benefits while Congress continued to negotiate over the bigger picture bill, arguing that workers deserved support. State lawmakers in California said they might be able to step in to keep the $600 additional payments going out to state residents if Congress does not act, but they’re waiting to hear what federal lawmakers actually decide to do. Meanwhile, the last checks with $600 payments have already gone out, meaning Americans who are out of work are already facing a steep drop in the money they have coming in this week. White House chief of staff Mark Meadows told reporters he is “not very optimistic that we will have any kind of an agreement on a comprehensive bill in the near future."
“I’m not even optimistic about next week.” — Manu Raju (@mkraju) July 30, 2020
30 Jul 2020 23.34 BST Trump on schools reopening: ‘Can you assure anybody of anything?’ After taking a few questions about his coronavirus response, Trump abruptly ended his press conference. He had few answers to offer. Q: "How can you assure people that schools will be safely reopened?"
TRUMP: "So, can you assure anybody of anything?" — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) July 30, 2020 REPORTER: A week ago you said you're in the process of developing a coronavirus strategy that's very powerful. Where is it?
TRUMP: "Well, I think you're seeing it. And I think you still see it." pic.twitter.com/MBW2nY0YlP — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 30, 2020
Updated at 23.38 BST
30 Jul 2020 23.17 BST Trump on mail-in ballots vs. the facts Trump answer to question on whether he wants to delay the election is veering into not wanting to wait for the race to be called. Different point than what he said. — Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) July 30, 2020 Asked about his tweet about delaying the election, Trump pivoted again into talking about a range of concerns about mail-in ballots, and about his frustration that the results of the 2020 election might not be available immediately. My colleague Sam Levine has a comprehensive explainer about Trump’s comments today versus the facts, including what logistical hurdles Americans might anticipate when it comes to a larger number of mail-in ballots during the pandemic.
Updated at 23.18 BST
30 Jul 2020 23.09 BST Federalist Society co-founder calls for Trump's impeachment “Until recently, I had taken as political hyperbole the Democrats’ assertion that President Trump is a fascist,” Steven Calabresi, a law professor and co-founder of the Federalist Society, an influential conservative organization, writes in a new op-ed in the New York Times.
But President Trump’s tweet this morning seeking a postponement of the 2020 election “is fascistic and is itself grounds for the president’s immediate impeachment again by the House of Representatives and his removal from office by the Senate,” Calabresi wrote. “President Trump needs to be told by every Republican in Congress that he cannot postpone the federal election. Doing so would be illegal, unconstitutional and without precedent in American history. Anyone who says otherwise should never be elected to Congress again,” he added. BREAKING: ultra-conservative founder of the Federalist Society Steven Calabresi calls for Trump’s immediate re-impeachment in response to Trump’s tweets about delaying the election.
Full article: https://t.co/JBYLqUT4vq pic.twitter.com/JpcDJmsbaU — Kaivan Shroff (@KaivanShroff) July 30, 2020
30 Jul 2020 23.02 BST Trump supports ‘temporary extension’ of unemployment benefits The president appeared to endorse a last-minute plan by some Republican senators to temporarily extend a $600 a week addition to unemployment benefits funded by the federal government, to give Congress more time to negotiate on a longer-term plan. The $600 a week, on top of state unemployment benefits, has been a crucial lifeline to millions of Americans who have been laid off during the pandemic. Republicans senators including Mitt Romney and Susan Collins are pitching the temporary extension plan, Yahoo News reported. The additional benefits program expires tomorrow, and the final checks under the program hav already gone out. Trump did not discuss specifics but said he did want a temporary extension to the benefits to help American workers. “This wasn’t anybody’s fault,” he said, adding later, “It wasn’t our workers fault.” Trump says he supports a "temporary extension of expanded unemployment benefits," without offering a precise dollar amount. — Andrew Solender (@AndrewSolender) July 30, 2020
30 Jul 2020 22.50 BST Trump presser: condolences and an argument things aren’t so bad Trump opened the press conference with a note of condolence for Herman Cain, a former presidential candidate and “dear friend”, as well as for the 150,000 other Americans who have now died from coronavirus. Trump then shifted to talking about a rise in coronavirus cases in other countries he suggested had done well on coronavirus, and then saw increases in case numbers, including Israel, Japan and Australia, and suggested that coronavirus cases in Latin America are being undercounted. The context for these comments appears to be arguing that the United States, which has the highest number of confirmed coronavirus deaths in the world, is not an outlier in its current struggle to contain the virus after Trump encouraged states to reopen their economies earlier in the spring.
Updated at 23.04 BST
30 Jul 2020 22.20 BST This is Lois Beckett in our California office taking over tonight’s live politics coverage. Donald Trump is expected to speak shortly at a news conference at 5.30 EST. The president’s comments will come after a day in politics that has focused on voting rights, and threats to voting rights. In his eulogy for civil rights hero John Lewis at his funeral today in Atlanta, Barack Obama argued that the best way to honor Lewis’ memory would be to take action to safeguard the voting rights of all Americans, including formerly incarcerated people. Trump, meanwhile, floated the idea of delaying November’s presidential election (which he cannot do) and then claimed he wasn’t serious. My colleagues offered more context on Trump’s ongoing assault on mail-in voting.
Obama calls for making election day a federal holiday, restoring voting rights to the formerly incarcerated, automatic voter registration, and the full enfranchisement of citizens of DC and Puerto Rico -- and says all must be done even if it means ditching the filibuster — Wesley (@WesleyLowery) July 30, 2020
Updated at 22.29 BST


theguardian--2020-07-31--Trump badly miscalculated in Portland – and even he knows it | Cas Mudde

Opponents of Donald Trump often describe him as a “ political genius ” who has a cunning understanding of the anxieties and fears of American society , and is able to create and use crises to his favor .
The current standoff in Portland shows , yet again , that this is not the case .
While his alleged fight against antifa will satisfy some of his far-right supporters , it increasingly risks further alienating the so-called “ moderate ” Republicans – which seems mostly used to describe better-off pocketbook Republican voters – who are already feeling uneasy over his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the pandemic .
An almost ignored aspect of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic is that Trump failed to use it to push through his authoritarian agenda by increasing executive powers , weakening the powers of other institutions , like Congress , and marginalizing dissent , for instance by banning demonstrations .
Almost all other countries implemented a more repressive approach to Covid-19 , including those governed by progressive parties ( like Spain ) , while most far-right governments used it to push through draconian repressive measures ( such as Hungary and India ) .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump initially denied and ignored the dangers of Covid-19 , arguing that “ it ’ s going to work out fine ” and “ the warmer weather ” would take care of it .
This made it difficult for him to later shift to an authoritarian approach .
Difficult , but certainly not impossible .
But clearly Trump never wanted to .
Instead , he kept insisting on an economic approach to re-election , repositioning himself as the savior of the US economy , and aggressively pushing for the “ reopening of America @ @ @ @ @ @ @ through an authoritarian agenda came with the Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of the police murders of Ahmaud Arbery , George Floyd and Breonna Taylor this spring .
Trump ’ s response was as expected , playing to the broader Republican electorate ’ s racialized fears about chaos and rioting .
In the 15 days between Floyd ’ s murder and funeral , Trump tweeted 195 times about unrest , law enforcement and the threat of military use .
But rather than prioritizing the race card , his natural response , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Matter protests as antifa protests .
This redefinition was in line with two longer-term processes within the Trump camp .
First , Trump seems to truly believe that he has a shot at significantly increasing his support among African Americans .
For instance , he has long boasted that his administration “ has done more for the Black Community than any President since Abraham Lincoln ” .
( Needless to say this is not true . )
Second , antifa has become a popular bogeyman within the broader conservative movement , at least @ @ @ @ @ @ @ former ) rightwing darlings like Milo Yiannopoulos in the early days of the Trump presidency .
The altercations between far-right and Antifa activists , blown out of proportion by mainstream media , were happily incorporated into rightwing propaganda , and Antifa became a favorite topic of many of the president ’ s favorite shows on Fox News .
Trump became increasingly obsessed with antifa .
He also spread conspiracy theories about antifa , parroting far-right media – like his new favorite television channel , One America News Network ( OANN ) – as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ He even tweeted his intention to designate “ ANTIFA ” as a terrorist organization , an almost certainly unconstitutional move .
Strengthened by the information from his rightwing bubble , the Portland protests must have looked like a golden opportunity to him .
Portland has long been one of the main symbols of leftwing politics in the US – it ’ s viewed positively by progressives , despite slightly mocking programs like Portlandia , and negatively by the right wing .
But the problem is that the Portland protests play only to one @ @ @ @ @ @ @ authoritarianism .
Given that Portland is the whitest big city in the US , the vast majority of protesters are white , which leaves his biggest asset , racism , largely irrelevant .
Similarly , populism is largely useless , as few people will believe that “ the elite ” live in , or deeply care for , Portland – unlike , for instance , New York .
Portland is not only a bad choice because of the limited appeal to the broader Republican electorate .
It could also seriously backfire .
Police @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , groups of protesters could lead to broader support for the protesters .
This happened , for instance , at the Euromaidan protests in Ukraine in 2013-14 , and it seems to be happening now in Portland too .
As Trump ’ s “ little green men ” are picking up peaceful protesters from the streets , without adequate identification and in unmarked cars , the discussion is moving away from the alleged violence by antifa to the threat to US democracy posed by the Trump administration .
The redefinition of the protests @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the protesters .
No longer are the protesters just young , white “ anarchists ” who can count on little particular sympathy outside of small progressive circles ; now stalwarts of America ’ s conservative society are represented too : mothers and veterans .
And they are arrested , beaten and teargassed too .
In a society as deeply militarized and patriarchal as America , vets and mothers are powerful symbols of the existing order .
Seeing them protest against the government , and particularly a dubious and unnecessarily violent paramilitary unit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump administration .
These are the salt of the earth of the Republican electorate , who will not automatically assume these groups are in the wrong .
Moreover , many Republicans will have much less tolerance for disproportionate repression to white moms and vets than they sadly have towards African Americans and white leftwing youths .
In short , Trump ’ s decision to “ unleash ” authoritarianism in Portland was a poor one .
Having ignoring much better opportunities like Covid-19 and the Black Lives Matter protests , he is caught in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of his base and increasingly worries the broader Republican electorate .
And as the public image of the Portland protester is more and more reflecting some stalwarts of American society , and therefore the Republican electorate , Trump might be increasingly fighting himself .
The fact that the federal police are now being withdrawn from Portland shows that even Trump has realized his mistake .
• None Cas Mudde is the Stanley Wade Shelton UGAF professor of international affairs at the University of Georgia , the author of The Far Right Today ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ new podcast Radikaal

Opponents of Donald Trump often describe him as a “political genius” who has a cunning understanding of the anxieties and fears of American society, and is able to create and use crises to his favor. The current standoff in Portland shows, yet again, that this is not the case. While his alleged fight against antifa will satisfy some of his far-right supporters, it increasingly risks further alienating the so-called “moderate” Republicans – which seems mostly used to describe better-off pocketbook Republican voters – who are already feeling uneasy over his Covid-19 handling and the economic fallout of the pandemic.
An almost ignored aspect of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic is that Trump failed to use it to push through his authoritarian agenda by increasing executive powers, weakening the powers of other institutions, like Congress, and marginalizing dissent, for instance by banning demonstrations. Almost all other countries implemented a more repressive approach to Covid-19, including those governed by progressive parties (like Spain), while most far-right governments used it to push through draconian repressive measures (such as Hungary and India).
Of course, the explanation is that Trump initially denied and ignored the dangers of Covid-19, arguing that “it’s going to work out fine” and “the warmer weather” would take care of it. This made it difficult for him to later shift to an authoritarian approach. Difficult, but certainly not impossible. But clearly Trump never wanted to. Instead, he kept insisting on an economic approach to re-election, repositioning himself as the savior of the US economy, and aggressively pushing for the “reopening of America”.
A second opportunity to push through an authoritarian agenda came with the Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of the killings of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd and Breonna Taylor this spring. Trump’s response was as expected, playing to the broader Republican electorate’s racialized fears about chaos and rioting. In the 15 days between Floyd’s murder and funeral, Trump tweeted 195 times about unrest, law enforcement and the threat of military use.
04:54 Will Trump actually pull federal agents from Portland? – video explainer
But rather than prioritizing the race card, his natural response, Trump quite quickly redefined the Black Lives Matter protests as antifa protests. This redefinition was in line with two longer-term processes within the Trump camp. First, Trump seems to truly believe that he has a shot at significantly increasing his support among African Americans. For instance, he has long boasted that his administration “has done more for the Black Community than any President since Abraham Lincoln”. (Needless to say this is not true.)
Second, antifa has become a popular bogeyman within the broader conservative movement, at least since the provocative campus visits of (former) rightwing darlings like Milo Yiannopoulos in the early days of the Trump presidency. The altercations between far-right and Antifa activists, blown out of proportion by mainstream media, were happily incorporated into rightwing propaganda, and Antifa became a favorite topic of many of the president’s favorite shows on Fox News.
Trump became increasingly obsessed with antifa. He also spread conspiracy theories about antifa, parroting far-right media – like his new favorite television channel, One America News Network (OANN) – as well as far-right social media accounts. He even tweeted his intention to designate “ANTIFA” as a terrorist organization, an almost certainly unconstitutional move.
Strengthened by the information from his rightwing bubble, the Portland protests must have looked like a golden opportunity to him. Portland has long been one of the main symbols of leftwing politics in the US – it’s viewed positively by progressives, despite slightly mocking programs like Portlandia, and negatively by the right wing.
But the problem is that the Portland protests play only to one of Trump’s ideological strongholds: authoritarianism. Given that Portland is the whitest big city in the US, the vast majority of protesters are white, which leaves his biggest asset, racism, largely irrelevant. Similarly, populism is largely useless, as few people will believe that “the elite” live in, or deeply care for, Portland – unlike, for instance, New York.
Portland is not only a bad choice because of the limited appeal to the broader Republican electorate. It could also seriously backfire. Police brutality against small, and even radical, groups of protesters could lead to broader support for the protesters.
This happened, for instance, at the Euromaidan protests in Ukraine in 2013-14, and it seems to be happening now in Portland too. As Trump’s “little green men” are picking up peaceful protesters from the streets, without adequate identification and in unmarked cars, the discussion is moving away from the alleged violence by antifa to the threat to US democracy posed by the Trump administration.
The redefinition of the protests goes hand in hand with the diversification of the protesters. No longer are the protesters just young, white “anarchists” who can count on little particular sympathy outside of small progressive circles; now stalwarts of America’s conservative society are represented too: mothers and veterans. And they are arrested, beaten and teargassed too.
In a society as deeply militarized and patriarchal as America, vets and mothers are powerful symbols of the existing order. Seeing them protest against the government, and particularly a dubious and unnecessarily violent paramilitary unit, is a publicity problem for the Trump administration. These are the salt of the earth of the Republican electorate, who will not automatically assume these groups are in the wrong. Moreover, many Republicans will have much less tolerance for disproportionate repression to white moms and vets than they sadly have towards African Americans and white leftwing youths.
In short, Trump’s decision to “unleash” authoritarianism in Portland was a poor one. Having ignored much better opportunities like Covid-19 and the Black Lives Matter protests, he is caught in a confrontation that enthuses only a part of his base and increasingly worries the broader Republican electorate. And as the public image of the Portland protester is more and more reflecting some stalwarts of American society, and therefore the Republican electorate, Trump might be increasingly fighting himself.
The fact that the federal police are now being withdrawn from Portland shows that even Trump has realized his mistake.