Conservatives were delighted when President Trump invited Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar to return to their places of origin. The president was finally reminding Americans, both foreign- and native-born, that if they are dissatisfied with the American way of life, there are plenty of places where this way of life has not been tried. Trump has never attacked the Americanness of politicians who believe in the American way of life, regardless of their skin color – and regardless of their antagonism towards this administration. White nationalists and liberals reacted differently. They did not grasp the substance of the President‘s words. Instead they chose to read them crudely. The owner of the white nationalist Stormfront celebrated the tweet because it attacked dark-skinned politicians. The mainstream media went berserk for the same reason. In other words, white nationalists and liberals chose to see the same thing in the President‘s tweet. Of course, there are other possible reasons to be happy or upset about Trump‘s words. One could get worked up that President Trump singled out women or young politicians for his attack. A productive debate on gender and age in American politics could have ensued. The media chose to make it all about race. Yet this tweet is not about race. If anything, because Trump has never attacked the Americanness of politicians who believe in the American way of life, regardless of their skin color – and regardless of their antagonism towards this administration. That is the reason the President considers the Canadian-born Hispanic senator Ted Cruz completely American, despite their bitter political feud. This is not the first time liberals agree with white nationalists. Both camps are obsessed with race. Liberals just disagree with white nationalists on whether whites are the bane or the blessing of America. This agreement is sorely evident in academia and the media, where sociologists and journalists outdo each other to convince us that the problems faced by minorities all derive from racism. Likewise, the White House‘s proposals for immigration reform are scrutinized for their racial impact by both white nationalists and liberal pundits. Liberals will be aghast at being compared to white nationalists. They will argue that centering every discussion in America on how policies affect racial minorities is the most anti-racist attitude possible. These liberals should remember that racism does not emerge in a vacuum. It emerges in an atmosphere where every problem is viewed through the prism of race. That is the reason the obsession with ethnicity and race in American universities today is eerily reminiscent of academia in Nazi Germany. Both fuel an intellectual climate that poisons race relations. The media's reaction to the President‘s tweet is another wasted opportunity to discuss what really matters: How to strengthen the American way of life and how to attract immigrants devoted to the American way of life. All else is cheap politics – and racism.
