Power Up: Critical race theory advances the GOP’s culture war
3 years ago
Critical Race Theory #CriticalRaceTheory
with Tobi Raji
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Save the date: Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced at the end of last week that he is taking procedural steps to set up a vote on the For the People Act for Tuesday afternoon.
A spokesman for Schumer added that the measure could then “act as the vehicle for the voting rights legislation being discussed” with Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), who outlined potential changes to the voting rights bill last week that was rejected by GOP leaders.
Read Annie Linskey and Mike DeBonis’s dive on Manchin’s rise to power: 28 people close to the West Virginia lawmaker “paint a portrait of a canny pol whose centrist instincts have helped him survive and even thrive as a Democrat while his home state has veered sharply to the right — instincts being put to the test in a hostile climate with few political incentives to deal across party lines.”
The campaign
THE MAKING OF A CULTURE WAR: Critical race theory – at least as Republicans know it – have Christopher Rufo to thank for that.
The documentary filmmaker turned conservative activist caught President Trump’s attention last summer when he showed up on Fox News to decry the perils of the decades-old academic framework that he claimed had “pervaded every institution in the federal government,” our colleagues Laura Meckler and Josh Dawsey report.
Right-wing opposition to critical race theory, which holds that racism is systemic in the U.S., has caught on with the Republican base quickly — and it’s the latest focal point Republicans have seized on to fire up the outrage machine powering the GOP’s culture wars.
Coming to a school board near you: After President Biden signed the Juneteenth legislation, Trump accused the administration of trying to indoctrinate students with “extreme ideas” and “divisive messages” in an op-ed for Real Clear Politics. Trump called on states to implement localized versions of the “1776 Commission” – an executive order created by Trump last year to promote a “pro-American curriculum” to celebrate “the miracle of American history” that was rescinded when Biden took office.
“Trump has told advisers he was surprised at how much traction the issue has gotten on the right and wants to include comments about it in future speeches… Former vice president Mike Pence also recently raised the matter in Hillsborough, N.H., during a speech, drawing applause. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has regularly brought it up with donors and supporters. NBC News counted 165 local and national groups battling against race- and gender-based lessons,” per Laura and Josh.
“The National Republican Senatorial Committee recently polled on the topic and found that it could be a potent issue with voters, said a Republican strategist involved in Senate races,” per Laura and Josh. “This person said the issue ranks below the economy, taxes, government spending and energy policy but that Republicans trying to win the senate will use the issue, along with other cultural ones, to paint Democrats as ‘leftist and extreme.’ The strategist said that some voters did not know precisely what it was — but viewed it as part of a broader cultural shift they feared.”
Voters unaware of precisely what critical race theory is seems to be part of Rufo’s mission: “In March, he wrote on Twitter in March that his goal was to conflate any number of topics into a new bucket called critical race theory,” Laura and Josh write.
Texas is the latest state to target critical race theory: Gov. Greg Abbott (R-Tex.), who is up for reelection next year, signed a bill last week restricting the teaching of critical race theory and vowed to go even further in a forthcoming special legislative session.
“House Bill 3979 is a strong move to abolish critical race theory in Texas, but more must be done,” Abbott said in the statement. “The issue will be added to a special session agenda.”
Russell Vought, the director of Trump’s White House of Management and Budget who drafted and published Trump’s executive order on the “1776 Commission” has been working on the issue since leaving office, per Josh and Laura.
“He now heads a group called the Center for Renewing America and says fighting critical race theory is the group’s top mission. He’s working to help state legislators draft and promote bills on the subject as well as crafting political strategy.”
“If you think you need to avoid these issues because you think they are too risky, then you are not aware of where your people are,” he said. “There’s a good chunk of the Republican Party that wants to avoid issues that are hard to talk about and this one potentially is hard to talk about because you’re dealing with race and you want to be very careful about how you do it.”
On the Hill
BIPARTISAN BILL HITS A DEAD END: “Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Sunday said he wouldn’t support the bipartisan infrastructure bill if it included measures such as raising the gas tax or a fee on electric vehicles,” Politico’s Maria Carrasco reports. “The statement demonstrates that Democrats are at risk of losing progressives’ support in a 50-50 Senate even as they court Republicans to produce a bipartisan bill.”
“What is in the bipartisan bill in terms of spending is, from what I can see, mostly good. It is roads and bridges, and we need to do that,” Sanders said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “If it is regressive taxation — you know, raising the gas tax or a fee on electric vehicles, or the privatization of infrastructure, no I wouldn’t support it.”
The gospel of taxing the rich. “In most years, the notion that Congress could pass a $1.2 trillion plan to fix the nation’s bridges, highways, tunnels and rail lines without raising taxes would be a politician’s dream, a vision of endless ribbon-cuttings with no angry cries of ‘tax and spend,’” the New York Times’s Jonathan Weisman reports.
“But that pitch, by a group of senators negotiating a bipartisan infrastructure deal, is receiving a hostile reception from many Democrats who favor a package five times as large, to be paid for in part with at least $2.5 trillion in new taxes. It is not just a much larger economic package they want; they also see a rare opportunity to harness the political popularity of infrastructure spending to achieve their long-held policy goal of raising taxes on the rich.”
“For liberal Democrats in particular — including newcomers like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.) and more senior members like Sen. Ron Wyden (Ore.) — the tax side of the ledger is not a mere accounting exercise to pay for spending, but a critical policymaking tool unto itself.”
REMEMBER HER? “Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) was holed up in a secure undisclosed location of the Dick Cheney Federal Building, recounting how she got an alarmed phone call from her father on Jan. 6,” the New York Times’ Mark Leibovich writes.
“Cheney recalled that she had been preparing to speak on the House floor in support of certifying Biden’s election as president. Mr. Cheney, the former vice president and his daughter’s closest political adviser, consulted with her on most days, but this time was calling as a worried parent.”
“He had seen Trump on television at a rally that morning vow to get rid of ‘the Liz Cheneys of the world.’ Her floor speech could inflame tensions, he told her, and he feared for her safety. Was she sure she wanted to go ahead?”
“Absolutely,” she told her father. “Nothing could be more important.”
“Minutes later, Trump’s supporters breached the entrance, House members evacuated and the political future of Cheney, who never delivered her speech, was suddenly scrambled. Her promising rise in the House, which friends say the former vice president had been enthusiastically invested in and hoped might culminate in the speaker’s office, had been replaced with a very different mission.”
The policies
THE PRE-PANDEMIC ECONOMY ISN’T COMING BACK: “The U.S. economy is emerging from the coronavirus pandemic with considerable speed but markedly transformed, as businesses and consumers struggle to adapt to a new landscape with higher prices, fewer workers, new innovations and a range of inconveniences,” our colleague Heather Long reports.
“There are obvious changes, like the realization that working from home is possible for a sizable part of the labor force and the widespread adoption of online ordering for daily necessities like groceries. These will remain significant parts of work and commerce going forward.”
“Then there are new dynamics emerging as home prices soar in many parts of the country that are unaccustomed to seeing such extremes. While millions of American homeowners suddenly find themselves ‘house rich,’ the surge in prices is exacerbating the affordability crisis as first-time buyers are getting priced out. Experts fear a rental crisis could be next.”
“Then there is inflation, which hit a 13-year high in May, and is widely viewed as the biggest risk that could sink — or at least stall — the recovery’s progress. Although the Fed predicts this will be a short-lived phenomenon, businesses and consumers are already changing some behaviors. Many companies are shrinking the size of how many paper towels are in a package or how much cat food is in a can and still charging the same amount. Home builders are refusing to guarantee prices in fear that material costs will jump further, and investors are suddenly reviving interest in Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities.”
What about low-wage workers? Well, they’ve “found something unexpected in the economy’s recovery from the pandemic: leverage,” the Wall Street Journal’s Eric Morath and Greg Ip report.
“Ballooning job openings in fields requiring minimal education — including in restaurants, transportation, warehousing and manufacturing — combined with a shrinking labor force are giving low-wage workers perks previously reserved for white-collar employees. That often means bonuses, bigger raises and competing offers.”
“Low-wage workers’ newfound leverage could have staying power — and, in fact, began to emerge before the start of the covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic pushed some Americans into retirement and convinced others they should return to work only for more pay or improved conditions. Raises that increase base pay to attract workers now will be tough to roll back later, employers and economists say.”
“Although that bargaining power may be nearing a peak and begin to ease once pandemic-era benefits expire, many economists expect the labor market to remain tight for the foreseeable future.”
Viral
HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!
In the media
THE WEEK AHEAD:
Monday, June 21
President Biden will meet with financial regulators for an update on the state of the country’s financial system and institutions.
Biden is expected to address the bipartisan infrastructure proposal.
Vice President Harris will travel to Pittsburgh and deliver remarks with Labor Secretary Marty Walsh about child tax credits. They will also hold a roundtable as part of the Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment.
Wednesday, June 23
Biden will deliver remarks on his administration’s crime prevention strategy.
Thursday, June 24
Biden will travel to Raleigh, N.C. to promote vaccination efforts.
Friday, June 25
Biden will deliver remarks to commemorate LGBTQ+ Pride Month.
Biden will meet with Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani and chairman of Afghanistan’s High Council for National Reconciliation Abdullah Abdullah.
