Donald Trump has made a career erecting phallic monuments to his own ego, and yet his is still not the most vulgar presence in the 2016 campaign so far.
That “honor” goes to the makers of a new anti-Trump ad that shows three Hispanic children yelling about Trump’s controversial remarks about Hispanic Americans and Hispanic immigrants. They say Trump is trying to tear up the Bill of Rights, so they tear up a copy. Oh, and they curse — a lot.
The exploitation of children for political attacks is one of the foulest aspects of our political culture. Having little girls in tutus shout profanities is not striking a blow for feminism, and having Hispanic children call Donald Trump a “motherf*****” doesn’t promote racial sensitivity.
What these videos do is reinforce the idea that the way to handle political disagreement is . . . by shouting and swearing. One crude attack deserves an even cruder attack; an ounce of stupidity merits a pound.
I’m as tired of Trump as the next guy. But I’m far more tired of the legions of people — the Al Sharptons and La Razas and the rest — who have spent decades decrying racism while actively promoting the pathologies of victimhood and hatred that encourage it. Their poisonous work has reached a new nadir in Ta-Nehisi Coates, whose acclaimed book is nothing more than a reminder to his teenage son that he has always been, and will always be, a victim of America; that he is trapped, with no recourse except to burn with rage. A vicious vision of politics follows: as a life-or-death struggle of Us-versus-Them.
To raise a child this way is nothing less than to abuse their spirit, to leave them crabbed and shriveled. “Ricardo” and his friends in the video are victims, yes, but not of Donald Trump.