As President-elect Joe Biden assembles his cabinet and Donald Trump fights kicking and screaming trying not to exit the stage, the next fight is already being joined. If Trump is the backlash for the first Black president, what do you think the backlash is going to be for the President who selected the first Black, female, Asian-American Vice President and a female-dominated cabinet?
Strike One
Biden announced very early on that his running mate was going to be a woman. I\’m sure the hair stood up on the back of the neck of a large population of men – Black and white. The idea of a female so close to becoming president does not sit well with some. Coupled with that, the low-income, non-college-educated white male Trump supporter feels even more pushed down. Unemployed Black man, already feeling marginalized by the rise in highly-educated females, mutter obscenities under their breath. The fact that he would ultimately choose a Black female stirs up any number of stereotypes and deep-seated animosities. Does Guess Who\’s Coming to Dinner come to mind?!
Biden\’s political calculus paid off. The selection of Kamala Harris became the rallying cry for a number of women. That became the accelerant that an already fired-up female electorate needed. Black women carried the day. They rallied the voting public, marched, and brought it home for Biden. They have made sure to remind him every step of the way the role Black women played in his successful run for the presidency. The only voting block that can say it did more was the Black South Carolina primary voters. Had it not been for the dramatic swing fueled by Congressman James Clyburn the outcome would have been dramatically different.
Strike Two
Then he had the audacity to state what no other white politician has ever acknowledged publicly – indebtedness to Black voters. When he proclaimed that Black voters had his back and he\’ll have theirs – shivers went through Proud Boys\’ land. I\’d hate to even try to string together the racist epithets that probably rang out. The pendulum had swung from an outgoing president who plays race and division like a fiddle to someone promising to correct prior wrongs. We all can wrap our heads around the Black voter turnout in and around cities like Detroit, Philadelphia, and Atlanta. But did anybody put Milwaukee in that equation? Who knew the Black vote in Milwaukee would help carry Wisconsin!
Coupled with this was the Latino turnout in Arizona. Max Gorden of azfamily.com reported that \”The Latinx vote made all the difference in the 2020 election,\” said María Teresa Kumar of Voto Latino, a nonprofit focused on Latino voter participation. \”In fact, the Latinx vote and specifically the Latinx youth vote was what helped Biden secure a victory by winning the margins in key states.\”
Strike Three
And then came the cabinet selections. The icing on the cake. Let\’s start with an all-female communication team. A communications team with no shortage of racial diversity. Several of them are mothers of school-age children. A far cry from the housewives Trump was courting during his re-election campaign. Working mothers who deal with the daily struggle of managing work-life balance and raising young children.
Biden continued to round out his cabinet nominees with a number of women in key budgetary and intelligence roles. As a matter of fact, several of his nominees are either firsts for women, women of color, or both. The first woman to head the Treasury Department. The first woman of color to lead the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). And the first woman nominated to lead the U.S. intelligence community (Director of National Intelligence).
He\’s not guaranteed that all of his nominees will be confirmed. However, that might say more about a white, aging, male-dominated, Republican senate than anything else.
The Second Backlash
Well, as if that wasn\’t enough, toss in the fact that Biden was Obama\’s Vice President. If you think the white supremacist, misogynistic, and isolationist underbelly of the United States is going to overlook these changes – think again. They are going to return in some form or fashion more determined than ever to wreak havoc.
Not only that, they are 70 million strong. They will come armed with stolen election rhetoric, resentment towards women dominating the political landscape, and the further erosion of white entitlement. Trump exposed a chink in the armor of the \”rule of law\” and Constitutional norms. Someone else is going to find a way to exploit them even further. History teaches us that the pendulum swings after each election. The only difference going forward is that the swings will be more violent.
There\’s no going back to the way it used to be. There might be a short respite. The bully pulpit will be a little quieter. But don\’t let the quiet mask the discontent of the marginalized who will continue to distrust the government. Another torchbearer will emerge from the rubble. Probably more politically savvy than Trump. So, if you think the Obama presidency created a backlash…
Biden\’s all-female White House communications team proves the old boys\’ club has to go