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‘I am a victim’: How ‘victimhood’ remains the centerpiece of Trump’s message
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‘I am a victim’: How ‘victimhood’ remains the centerpiece of Trump’s message
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During the pre-MAGA years, countless conservatives and libertarians slammed liberals and conservatives for pushing what they saw as a message of victimhood. The late economist, author and columnist Walter E. Williams, a right-wing libertarian/conservative, used to argue that as a Black man, he was tied of being portrayed as a victim by the left. As Williams saw it, libertarian and conservative ideology offered African-Americans a message of empowerment that they weren’t getting from the left.
Similarly, conservative columnist/author Mona Charen argued that feminism wasn’t empowering women but rather, was doing women a disservice by teaching them to think of themselves as victims. The message of Reagan conservatives of the 1980s and 1990s was: Life is hard, life is tough, life’s a bitch — get over it.
But victimhood has been a core message of Donald Trump’s MAGA movement. And conservative journalist Rich Lowry, in an op-ed published by Politico on November 23, emphasizes that Trump is continuing to push that message with his 2024 presidential campaign.
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“There are many words that presidential candidates commonly seek to apply to themselves — ‘brave,’ ‘principled,’ ‘independent’ and the like — but ‘victim’ is rarely one of them,” explains Lowry, who is editor-in-chief of the National Review as well as a freelancer for Politico. “Donald Trump, though, is unafraid of the word; indeed, he has an affinity for it. ‘I am a victim,’ he said in his speech announcing his presidential run. ‘I will tell you, I’m a victim.’”
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