Democrats Who Attack Identity Politics Are Supporting Fascism

This shit has to end.

Michigan Senator Elissa Slotkin is going to give the Democratic response to Trump’s address to Congress. As NPR news analyst Sahil Kapur points out, Slotkin in November was one of the Democrats who jumped on the anti-identity politics bandwagon, sneering at her colleagues for speaking “from the faculty lounge” rather from the assembly line,” and arguing that “identity politics need to go the way of the dodo.”

I too feel like Democrats need to readjust their language. Specifically, I think mealy-mouthed quisling anti-identity politics bullshit needs to die. Right now.

The fascists are currently in control. That means that the fascists have power to define what “identity politics” means and what opposition to identity politics means.

The fascists are doing just that. And they have been very clear: identity politics, for the fascists, means, “advocating for any rights at all for any marginalized person.” And anti-identity politics means, “fighting for the resegregation of government, schools, media, and business.” Oh, and it also means, “forcing LGBT people back into the closet and/or exterminating them outright.”

Now, I’m sure that Elissa Slotkin would, if asked, vociferously deny that she is in favor of segregation. She would say that she does not want to force LGBT people out of public life. She would say that she does not want trans people to be exterminated (or, admittedly, she might just be cowardly enough to try to dodge that question.) She’d probably say that when she opposes identity politics, she is taking a courageous stand against people saying, “Latinx” or that she is fighting the brave lonely fight against defunding the police.

But political conversations do not exist in a vacuum. People also say, “the Confederate flag means heritage, not hate!” But people fought under the Confederate flag in the name of slavery and racism, and you can’t just erase that by insisting on the purity of your own motives. Or you can—and many do. But the Democratic party does not generally these days wave the Confederate flag at its rallies, because the Democratic party is trying in some small way to be accountable to Black constituents, and being accountable to Black constituents means making minimally good faith efforts not to embrace transparent racist hackery.

And yet, a lot of Democratic leaders who understand that the Confederate flag is a racist dogwhistle like to pretend that they can’t hear more up-to-date calls to white solidarity and white supremacy. When Slotkin tells her colleagues not to speak in the language of “identity politics” she’s telling them to speak in the language of white identity politics. Democrats, for Slotkin, should be careful not to associate themselves with any identity but the blanket, smothering identity of whiteness. They should not acknowledge the plight, or the needs, of the people fascists are targeting. They should use only language that resonates with the majority. The majority, of course, being white.

This kind of wishy-washy white supremacy lite was pretty transparent before Trump’s election. But at this point, there is no fig leaf. Trump and Musk are ascendant, and they have made it very clear that for them opposing identity politics is not just rebuking certain language choices or policies. For them, opposing “identity politics” means purging Black people and women from government, and denying that trans people exist.

I don’t know what Slotkin is going to say in response to Trump. But if she gives a speech that fails to acknowledge the gutter racism, sexism, and homophobia at the core of this administration, then she is betraying her constituents and helping the fascists.

Some Democrats—J.B. Pritzker, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez—have taken admirable stances for trans rights. AOC, notably, told invertebrate Chamberlain-wannabes like Slotkin that Democrats can win on LGBT issues if they are willing to “throw a damn punch.”

Slotkin now has an opportunity to redeem herself and throw a damn punch. If she does not, we know what it means; she wants to defeat fascists by appeasing fascists. Worse, she wants to “defeat” fascists by making the Democratic party more fascist. If she once again goes down that path, all of us need to make it very clear to the Democrats that we are capable of speaking very plainly to fascists and their disgusting enablers.