Of all the months he had to do it, he picked July.
The month we celebrate our nation’s independence, dress up in red, white and blue, shoot off glorious fireworks, and fly our flags a little higher was the month Beto O’Rourke chose to bash his country in a room full of immigrants and refugees.
The Tennessean reports:
On his second day of events in Nashville, Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke met with immigrants and refugees living in Tennessee on Monday for a roundtable discussion.[…]The Monday roundtable was organized by TIRRC Votes, the political action committee of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition. O’Rourke’s campaignreached out to the organization about holding the meeting, which took place at The Horn Coffee, a shop owned by a family who came to Nashville in 1996 as refugees from Somalia.”Here we are in Nashville,” O’Rourke said as he responded to a question about how, as president, he would combat white supremacy and make the country more welcoming to all people.”I know this from my home state, Texas, places that formed the Confederacy, that this country was founded on white supremacy. And every single institution and structure that we have in this country still reflects the legacy of slavery and segregation and Jim Crow and suppression, even in our democracy.”
Watch video of Beto’s remarks below:
He’s said some pretty dumb things since he officially declared his presidential candidacy back in March, but without question, this takes the cake.
Maybe it’s just me, but one of the key factors I consider when deciding on candidates for higher office is whether or not they believe in American exceptionalism. I want to the candidate to convince me that deep down in their soul he knows without question that America, even with its faults, is the greatest country on earth.
That candidate should be able to acknowledge the flaws of the Founding Fathers in such a way that does not take away from nor disparage the fact that they brilliantly crafted a unique framework based on the principles of freedom and liberty that still guide us to this day.
Heritage Foundation president Kay Coles James talked about the Founding Fathers and how far America has come in a recent piece that should be required reading for anyone considering running for office, especially the presidency:
The unfortunate reality is that we had to grow into our principles. The Founders knew what we aspired to be, but the country wasn’t there yet and even today, we still have a ways to go. In fact, every Founder admitted in his writings that slavery contradicted the equality principle of the Declaration of Independence. They knew that it would be a journey for us to fully realize our ideals, but they set a course for achieving them, and every generation since has been working to advance them. That’s what has made America the unique and wonderful nation that it is.I love America not only because we’ve grown to rectify many of our wrongs, but also because we’ve been an incredibly positive force for good. We’ve built a free and prosperous nation where anyone has the opportunity to thrive and live out their dreams. We’ve also shared that gift with the world, helping others to achieve the same.Despite that success, we continue to hear from the “America is irreparably flawed” crowd that our freedom and free market system only bring opportunity to the wealthy and well connected. They claim that the system just makes the rich richer and the poor poorer.The reality is exactly the opposite: Capitalism has done more to lift people out of poverty than any other economic system in history. Plain and simple, over the last 25 years, it has been free markets that have cut the global poverty rate by two thirds. In the United States, every segment of the population — including women, minorities, and even the lowest income earners — have seen their incomes rise and their opportunities grow.
What’s become increasingly popular over the years in elite Democratic circles is the notion that to be considered sufficiently woke, you must believe that America and its foundations are fundamentally flawed. You also must have the unwavering desire to change them fundamentally.
The key to that message being successful for Democrats is in framing it in such a way as to make voters believe that big government’s encroachment into their lives and wallets is the way things should have always been from the start. This is one reason why Barack Obama was elected.
Beto has tried all that, with big money ideas like his flip flop on reparations, his $5 trillion plan to fight climate change, and a call for a $500 billion education fund, and to forgive student loan debt for all public school teachers.
Nothing has worked. Beto is still polling below 3%.
He knows he needs to move the needle and fast. So he’s moving even further to the left on issues like illegal immigration, where he has blamed Trump directly for the deaths of migrants at the border. He also sided with anthem kneeler Colin Kaepernick on Nike’s Betsy Ross flag-themed shoe controversy, and now he’s telling refugees and immigrants that the country they migrated to is foundationally and institutionally not that much better than the one they fled.
Will his social justice warrior-like shift to the more extreme left help much? It’s doubtful. For starters, the fawning praise the press used to lavish upon him is all but gone. He’s not drawing huge crowds anymore and is no longer a novelty for the mainstream media to ogle.
Secondly, he can’t compete for the socialist vote because Bernie and Warren have that all but locked down. He can’t vie for the middle ground vote because 1) he’s not even close to middle ground anymore and 2) also if he was, he’d have to contend with Joe Biden, who is walking the tight rope between being seen as the “electable” alternative and the guy whose strings can be easily pulled and manipulated.
O’Rourke will also have a hard time winning over black and female voters because between Biden and Harris has already torn them. He maybe has a chance at making more inroads with Hispanic voters, but Julian Castro would have something to say about that.
Worst of all Democrat movers and shakers view Beto as a privileged candidate with not much to offer in such a diverse field: He’s a young white man, he married into money, he’s successful, and from all appearances leads a pretty charmed life.
Beto O’Rourke is no longer politically relevant, and that is unlikely to change in the coming months. As the DC Examiner’s T. Becket Adams asked in his analysis of Beto’s decline:
Who except for the extremely online crowd is going to be energized by a candidate claiming “this country was founded on white supremacy”? Good luck taking that message to the general election.
At this point, I’d be surprised if Beto even made it as far as the first round of primaries, let alone the general election. The uphill climb for him at this point is too steep.
— Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via Twitter. —
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