Keeping Democracy Alive with Burt Cohen
Reagan’s Dog Whistles Worked; Trump Missed That Lesson
In 1980, candidate Ronald Reagan had the advisors and discipline to be subtle enough about racist messages. Southern white fundamentalists and the NAACP’s Ralph Abernathy all endorsed him for president. As our guest author Rick Perlstein says, Trump turned a dog whistle into a train whistle, and it is not working.While Reagan used code words like “government over reach” and “welfare queen” he was less comfortable saying “states rights,” which he quietly said to a Mississippi State Fair. Reagan skillfully convinced his white audience they were innocent of racism, but not Trump. Perlstein bets it will not help Trump win.