Former New York City mayor and current Trump surrogate Rudy Giuliani sounded the dog whistle while appearing on Jake Tapper’s CNN show, State of the Union. Can they go even a day without making racist claims?
‘Dead People … Vote For Democrats’
Giuliani was on CNN to backup Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s claims of a “rigged” elections and widespread voter fraud. He also dragged out the old “dead people voting” line.
As someone who grew up with Republican parents in the Chicagoland area, I have heard the “dead people voting” trope since childhood. It is the stuff of legend around these parts, in particular, and something that seems to come up in every election.
Giuliani beat this dead horse in his interview on CNN, saying:
“I’m sorry, dead people generally vote for Democrats rather than Republicans.”
It should be a spot on an election-themed BINGO card.
Giuliani also tried to pull out this one:
“When I ran for mayor of New York City the first time, some people voted eight and 10 times.”
That claim, however, doesn’t stand up to even the tiniest bit of scrutiny. Giuliani first ran for mayor in 1989, and there is zero evidence of voter fraud in that election. In 1993, though (emphasis mine):
“… Republican party officials coordinated an antielection [sic] fraud campaign concomitant with Rudolph Giuliani’s rematch against David Dinkins, the incumbent Democrat [sic] mayor who had narrowly defeated him in 1989. The GOP pressured the New York City Board of Elections to step up security measures to safeguard the ballot by highlighting procedures that might open the door to individuals registering and voting multiple times. Republicans also argued that the liberalization of election practices (such as through motor voter programs) had increased opportunities for vote fraud. In response the city board of elections instituted greater scrutiny of voter registration forms and purged tens of thousands of eligible voters from the rolls.“
So, rather than there being voter fraud, it looks like the Republicans strong-armed the elections board to purge ELIGIBLE voters who were more likely to vote for Giuliani’s opponent.
Of course, this hearkens back to the conservative political activist, Paul Weyrich:
Giuliani Pivots To The Racist Dog Whistle
As if that wasn’t enough, the Trump surrogate then moved to the old racial code word: inner cities.
He told Tapper:
“I’ve found very few situations where Republicans cheat. They don’t control the inner cities the way Democrats do. Maybe if Republicans controlled the inner cities, they’d do as much cheating as Democrats do.”
Translation: Black people vote for Democrats, and they cheat.
In his book Dog Whistle Politics: How Coded Racial Appeals Have Reinvented Racism and Wrecked the Middle Class, author Ian Haney López discusses that term, writing:
“You can’t publicly say black people don’t like to work, but you can say there’s an inner-city culture in which generations of people don’t value work.”
Remember that line every single time you hear a politician using the term “inner cities.” When they use that term, it’s a code word for black people.
And notice which party uses it.
Watch Giuliani’s full interview with Jake Tapper here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fIozOHTXqw
Featured Image via screenshot from YouTube video
