Laura Ingraham Feeds Right-Wing White Panic

Ironically, the description of the YouTube video published to the Fox News YouTube channel reads, "Every once in a while, leftists will slip up and tell us what they really think about America."

It's an ironic description because what happened on Laura Ingraham's Wednesday show was that Ingraham slipped up and told us what she believes her audience really thinks about America. Here's the video:



The segment entitled "The Left's Effort to Remake America" begins with a few outtakes from a podcast interview where Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is discussing her thoughts on the directions the Democratic Party should move. Specifically, Ingraham takes out of context, some snippets where Ocasio-Cortez discusses the eroding middle class. You can see the full video of that interview here but here's a transcript of the relevant parts from about 24 minutes in (my transcript):

So umm, what I honestly think that it is, is that we have not have had a party that has been investing in its own future. So, we have people who are constantly fundraising for their own re-election. The average age of a House Democrat right now is 65 years old. We are at the oldest point in American history. And not only are people just feverishly working on their own re-election for their second or sometimes third decade but there's no investment in future leadership.

Like we're putting all this money in state parties and those state parties aren't working on aggressively investing in young people running in state assembly seats, state house seats, so they can later go on to Congress. That's not happening. It's certainly on the Right but it hasn't been happening on the Left. And so for me, I think that what's happening is that you know a lot of these folks were in the political heyday in third wave 90's politics and they were campaigning and they were really kind of connected most to an electorate when they were fighting for these seats, when got these seats, when they campaigning for those when we had more of an America middle class. And so I think that politically, this like upper-middle class is probably more politically moderate but that upper-middle class doesn't exist anymore in America and thanks to the continued deregulation of Wall Street, thanks to the continued gutting of working and middle class people, we need stronger champions but I don't that they see exactly how rising income inequality has resulted in a very stark political reality and it has changed our political landscape.

But you know their heyday was in like the 90's when like you know kids had Furbies and soccer mom's had like two vans and stuff. That's not America anymore.

The question was really about why the Democratic establishment hasn't been moving toward where she and Bernie Sanders are. Whether or not you agree with what she said, it's certainly not anything radical. She's basically saying that a bunch of older people have been in office for decades and they're using the 90's playbook that got them elected in the first place and not adapting to the changing landscape. She also saying that they're not doing a good job of cultivating future leadership which I agree with completely.

Ingraham of course misrepresented this as Ocasio-Cortez somehow advocating for "remaking America" and made sure to point out that she loves her minivan (I'm sure it's a nice minivan considering she makes millions of dollars a year). You could be forgiven for thinking that Ingraham was about to go on tirade about the evils of socialism but what came next made it readily apparent that she as using Ocasio-Cortez not for her "radical" progressivism but rather as one of two Hispanic bookends for a rant which I can only describe as soft white nationalism. (my transcript again)

Nevertheless she's kinda right in a general sense because in some parts of the country it does seem like the America we know and love doesn’t exist anymore.

Massive demographic changes have been foisted upon the American people. And they’re changes that none of us ever voted for and most of us don’t like.

From Virginia to California we see stark examples, in some ways, the country has changed. Now much of this is related to both illegal, and in some cases, legal immigration that progressives love.

Remember the old Democrats, maybe some of them that was referring to. They used to think that borders mattered. But the new activists believe that enforcing immigration laws is essentially an ongoing human rights violation. Of course they want to abolish ICE and so forth. Well today we were reminded again why our law has to be enforced, borders strengthened and the wall built, loopholes closed and sanctuary city policies ended once and for all. Check out what happened courtesy of Philadelphia's refusal to cooperate with ICE detainers.

She then goes on to detail the story of violent criminal from Honduras and related fear mongering with the chyron "Illegals Ripping Apart Families Across the Country."

You can parse that # anyway you want but it's pretty clear what she is saying: legal and illegal immigration are altering the racial makeup of the United States to the point that the America we know and love doesn't exist anymore.

I don't know Laura Ingraham personally. I know that she has three adopted children: two boys from Russia and a girl from Guatemala. And I know that she once dated Indian-born Dinesh D'Souza. So maybe her overt to the point of hardly qualifying as "dog whistling" statements are just her saying what she thinks her audience wants to hear because she enjoys being rich. Maybe she's got some idea of an ideal racial makeup of America in mind where non-whites are allowable in certain proportions to a large white majority.

I dunno. But the fact remains that what she said was what she said and I assume it reflects what she believes many in her audience feel. Who am I to disagree with the opinion of a right-wing through leader who clearly has her finger on the pulse of American conservatism?

Your Rachel Maddow feeding left wing panic thread is coming up next right?

a reply to: SKEPTEK

So you don't want to address what she said? Probably smart on your part.

a reply to: theantediluvian

I understand where both sides are coming from.

The right perseive the left as wanting to let everyone in with no limits.

The left perceives the right as wanting to stop everyone and make America white again.

The truth is in the middle somewhere.

a reply to: theantediluvian

Ingraham's not wrong, but culture is a lot more at the root of her words than race is. The US has done a piss poor job of shielding our culture. Not "white" culture, but American culture. It existed and was celebrated a few decades ago by Americans of all backgrounds. If you entered America as an immigrant, you strove to become an American, adapt to America, and integrate into America. Now parts of America are mirroring the third world s__tholes their predominant emigrants hailed from and yes, that's not only scary, it's an abomination and it's being allowed to happen entirely in the name of "Oh goodie, more progressive voters!"

originally posted by: SKEPTEK
Your Rachel Maddow feeding left wing panic thread is coming up next right?

I don't think the personal opinion of Ingram or Madcow carry much weight in society.

a reply to: theantediluvian

Demographics is the study of populations. While you spin her words to mean "race", displaying her "white panic", she could very well be speaking of a wide variety of human categories, probably ethnicity. Yes, demographics change when one population is supplanted with another.

You can parse that # anyway you want but it's pretty clear what she is saying: legal and illegal immigration are altering the racial makeup of the United States to the point that the America we know and love doesn't exist anymore.

There are white, black, asian hispanics. When you hear the word "hispanic", do you immediately think "not white" or "brown"? It sounds like you do. That's pretty racist if you ask me. Except that hispanic, at least in the United States, is an ethnicity: ""a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race" .

So umm, what I honestly think that it is, is that we have not have had a party that has been investing in its own future. So, we have people who are constantly fundraising for their own re-election. The average age of a House Democrat right now is 65 years old. We are at the oldest point in American history. And not only are people just feverishly working on their own re-election for their second or sometimes third decade but there's no investment in future leadership.

WHAT did she get wrong?

A bunch of rich old white men and women run the party.

a reply to: CriticalStinker

How many ‘no boarders’ shirts/signs do you see from the left?

Who pays for all of this stuff? That’s the issue ?

a reply to: theantediluvian

You ever wonder if 300 years ago the indians sat around the fire discussing this same crap?

"Hey, Wandering Eagle, those Europeans, I caught them showing that book with the funny horizon line and ground to sky line on it to the village's children. We need to do something quick, our society is going to be overtaken by them and their crap."
"Now, now, Squatting Wolf, don't be a bigot. They're different, sure, but they're just doing their best and trying to make it in a strange new land. We should show them a welcoming hand, not a defensive one."
"Wandering Eagle, you're an idiot. These Europeans will be the death of us all."
"Silence your hatred, Squatting Wolf! We are a melting pot here and that means we need to embrace change!"
Years later...
"Hello, Wandering Eagle, it's me, Squatting Wolf."
"Hello Squatting Wolf, long time, no see."
"Wandering Eagle, how is life on the reservation treating you? Remember years ago when I told you dark times were coming... remember that, back when we were free and considered human beings and masters of our own domain, looks like I was right, ya?"
"Shut up, Squatting Wolf, and just read that Bible passage while you drink your damn tea."

Let's not split hairs here, this country as it currently is was founded on a bloody battlefield of cultural warfare and domination purely through a numbers game. Anyone who doesn't look at a tidal wave of foreigners landing on American soil and remember that the nation's first inhabitants were completely and royally screwed under similar conditions, ignores history. Build the wall, close the borders, demand full and total integration from all nonnatives, or we'll repeat the same mistakes of the indians.

Delightful news video...what's the problem again?

a reply to: neo96

Do you think it's generally best that legislative positions are best inhabited by older members of the community, as has been common practice throughout all of human history?

a reply to: burdman30ott6

Build the wall, close the borders, demand full and total integration from all nonnatives, or we'll repeat the same mistakes of the indians.

Or the Israel,Palestinian conflict.

There's still a lot to be learned from history.

Ingraham is obviously reading from a script, I doubt anything she says on her show are thoughts of her own. Look at the bottom graphic predicting what she's about to say word for word. She doesn't have a single original thought in her head I bet, just following her marching orders and reading her propaganda script.

Oh, this same Laura Ingraham?



When David Duke is singing your praises after you give a speech, you #ed up.

a reply to: DictionaryOfExcuses

No.

Especially jacksnips that make careers out of it.

That practice has seen those most corrupt regimes in that human history.

a reply to: neo96

There's every reason to hold corruption in contempt.

But instances of corruption don't change the fact that older people are generally wiser not as controlled by their emotions as their younger counterparts. This is as true when comparing a 36 year old to a 16 year old as it is comparing a 56 year old to a 36 year old.

It could be that corruption of powerful people is a part of the human condition. How do you solve that?

a reply to: DictionaryOfExcuses

But instances of corruption don't change the fact that older people are generally wiser not as controlled by their emotions as their younger counterparts.

Then how do you explain Reid,Pelosi,Waters,Schumer,Schiff,Feinstein,Boxer and the rest of those idiots?

a reply to: CriticalStinker

When one of the most influential conservatives in the country, speaking from her platform at the largest conservative media outlet, says that legal and illegal immigration have caused massive demographic changes that have resulted in the America "we" all know and love ceasing to exist, I think it makes it harder to argue against this:

The left perceives the right as wanting to stop everyone and make America white again.

I believe that she speaks to a very real and pervasive sentiment at the root of much of right-wing anti-immigration opinion. And it's one that's neither new nor exclusively American. Basically that immigration destroys "traditional" national identity, culture, etc which in the West are now collectively thought of as white and Christian.

a reply to: theantediluvian

And I get that.

There are people on the left who say things against white people, do I think that everyone on the left is anti white? Nope.