To call this election a subject of controversy is an enormous understatement. Right now, a candidate is running for president who wants to build a border wall, has accused Mexico of pushing people into the United States, wants to deport millions of people out of the United States, and wants Mexico to pay for it. Running against her is Donald Trump.
You heard me right. I'm talking about Democratic presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton.
In 2006, Clinton, then a senator from my home state of New York, openly issued the series of statements above. Of course, she's said different things, going back and forth over the past 15 years or so about whether undocumented Americans should be able to call the United States their home. As recently as seven months ago, however, she was openly bragging about supporting similar policies to Trump's when questioned by Martin O'Malley. On multiple occasions, she has also touted her support for a "physical barrier" to be built on the United States border.
It's genuinely surprising that Clinton is painting her rival as a racist in this campaign cycle, seeing as she has had multiple heated encounters with Black Lives Matter and been endorsed by higher-ups in the Ku Klux Klan. She's been accused of racism and of using predatory terms to describe minorities. Her one trump card (pun not intended) is to play Trump as a bigger racist than she is. If she were to fail, it could mean disaster - not just for her but for the Democratic Party as a whole.
Hillary Clinton touts a major advantage over Trump (and Sanders) among ethnic minorities in the United States. She has low approval ratings among white Americans who make up about two-thirds of the electorate, and when that shift goes to white men, her ratings are abysmal. Her ratings among minorities have also declined in past months, in no small part because of the Sanders campaign. She may still be bolstered by minority support but still falls ten to twenty points below President Obama's, which at this time eight years ago was almost universally supported in these circles. If she were successfully painted as a racist, it could mean a loss of the election. She has nowhere else to turn to. Even women, of whom Hillary has claimed to be a champion, disapprove of Clinton with 53 percent of their demographic.
Trump faces immense unfavorable ratings as well, in some cases worse than Hillary's, but he will not lose his core. If the past year has proven anything, Donald Trump could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and not lose voters. That's verbatim, from his mouth. Frankly, he's right.
Hillary does not enjoy that luxury. Without painting Trump as a racist (or worse, being painted as a racist herself), she could very well lose this election and lose it badly.
