Larry Elder: ‘White Male Privilege,’ R.I.P.

By larry Elder, Sep. 04, 2018

What's the last remaining group in America that can be slandered, smeared, maligned and accused of racism, sexism and homophobia with no proof required? White men.

On election night 2016, CNN's Van Jones attributed Donald Trump's victory to "whitelash." That is, racist whites rose up in fear and anger over a country governed for eight years by a black President and in which whites will soon become a demographic minority.

Never mind that Trump actually got a smaller percentage of the white vote than the presumably less racist Mitt Romney in 2012. Trump also got a larger percentage of black, Hispanic and Asian voters than did Romney. He almost bettered Romney's showing with young voters. Of the nearly 700 counties that voted for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, more than 200 voted for Trump. Apparently, racism in those counties must have slipped into remission during the eight Obama years, only to bounce back in full force to vote for Trump.

Look at the pummeling "white males" endure by cable TV hosts and pundits commenting on Judge Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearings. How many comments veer into a blanket attack against all white men — an attack that would be called racist if leveled at any other racial group?

Many pundits fretted about the "bad optics" of "a group of all white men" questioning Kavanaugh's accuser. This line of attack so spooked the Republicans they brought in a female sex crimes prosecutor to question Dr. Christine Blasey Ford. Of course, even that move, designed to show sensitivity to sex assault survivors, did not escape criticism. One female host called it condescending to "pedal in a girl" to handle the proceedings.

Rep. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., said: "It seems like the 11 Republican men are not going in with a desire for any sort of a fair process. If they wanted a fair process ... the Republican 11 would say, 'We want that FBI investigation.' We even did that with Anita Hill back there in 1991. Well, here we are, a generation into the future, and we have a more extreme version of Republican men saying they don't even want any form of fairness in this process."

If Republican white men are, by definition, insensitive to women, why do Democratic men get a pass?

Anita Dunn, former White House communications director for President Obama, said, "Clearly there is a culture Kavanaugh is trying to deny." This would be the same Dunn who was interviewed for the book "Confidence Men" by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Ron Suskind. Dunn is quoted as calling Obama's White House a "hostile workplace." At the time, Dunn was not particularly happy with Democratic men. She said — on tape — that "it actually fit all of the classic legal requirements for a genuinely hostile workplace to women." That bombshell is the equivalent of former Trump Communications Director Hope Hicks calling her ex-boss' administration "hostile to women," but the Obama-loving media mostly ignored Dunn's comments.

When white men are not being vilified for their alleged inherent sexism, they are being vilified for their alleged inherent racism. CNN's white male chief legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin, attributed Hurricane Maria's death total to Trump's pro-white racism: "Isn't the story that these people who died, apparently thousands of them in Puerto Rico — 3,000 as you point out — they're not white people. And they don't count to Donald Trump as much as the deaths of white people. I mean, you hate to say that about someone, but look at his record. Isn't that indicative of who he is and what he stands for?"

Meanwhile, at ABC, white George Stephanopoulos, the former Bill Clinton aide who help malign then-President Clinton's accusers, has clearly recovered from any lingering guilt. Discussing the Kavanaugh accusations with Stephanopoulos, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said that "a number of other Democrats should have the same type of scrutiny." Incredibly, given his own history under Clinton, Stephanopoulos responded, "Every single time, the President has taken the side of the man against the women accusers." Sanders demonstrated remarkable restraint in not bringing up Stephanopoulos' astonishing hypocrisy.

White men, you know, are not all bad. Here's a short list: the white Founding Fathers; the white men who fought and died in the war that ended slavery; the white men who fought and died in WWI, WWII, Vietnam, Korea, Afghanistan, Iraq; and the all-white male Supreme Court justices who unanimously decided Brown v. Board of Education.

Many of the Democrats who talk about the racism and sexism of "old white men" are, themselves, old white men. How ironic that white men of the '60s youth movement that pushed for civil rights and racial equality are now considered "racist, sexist, homophobic old white men." That '60s hippie generation insisted, "Never trust anyone over 30." Looks like the lesson was learned only too well.

Lefties of today despise "old white men." But they love their taxes.

Larry Elder is a best-selling author and nationally syndicated radio talk-show host. To find out more about Larry Elder, or become an "Elderado," visit www.LarryElder.com. Follow Larry on Twitter @larryelder. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.
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