Dog Whistling
Dog whistling is a political ploy used to communicate something insidiously to a target audience that is bent to react to your comment. When a political campaign uses the dog whistle strategy it is often without any basis of fact and is used only to get a visceral reaction to garner support.
Chris Christie accused Trump this weekend using the dog whistle when he used Hitleresque comments regarding immigrants. (more on that later). Christie’s comments were accompanied by his own dog whistling when he said the border is broken and the economy is failing. Both of these comments are blatantly untrue and were only meant to gather his own support for his failing campaign. He won’t talk about his own failures or his actions with Bridgegate that cost millions of dollars because he effectively shut down the George Washinton Bridge or when he shut down a local beach so he can enjoy it with his family. He has no foreign policy experience and had not revealed a platform for his potential presidency.
Living in the Adirondacks and a stone throw away from the Vermont border, our local television stations come from Vermont and are also broadcast in nearby New Hampshire. Because of this we have been inundated with political ads from Niki Haley this week. Her dog whistling this week reeks with ageism and outright falsehoods. She claims our cities and college campuses are in chaos, she outright said “Biden is too old and alludes to the fact that younger candidates should be elected. She even states in her ads that she wants competency tests without saying for who. Does she mean only elected officials based on age, or the public in general? How do you measure competency? Whose definition of competency is she willing to use? She too claims the economy is in shambles.
We should talk about her competency as our Ambassador to the United Nations during the Trump administration. She pushed Trump’s agenda that alienated our allies, almost destroyed NATO, abandoned our Kurdish allies and effectively handing them over to Putin controlled Assad’s Syrian forces. Not to mention abandoning Ukraine, while threatening the world to take down names that did not support Trump’s agenda.
Trump’s dog whistling this weekend mirrors Hitleresque propaganda that ran rampant in the 1930’s. Not only in Germany, but in this country as well. The Nazi Party tried to establish themselves here with many fascist loving individuals forming groups with names such as the “Silver Shirts” promoting antisemitism. Back then they often pointed towards individuals of means as the “Jewish enemy”. Much like Trump does today when he mentions George Soros.
When he mentions that immigrants are poisoning the blood of our nation, this dog whistle is clearly a message to those who thrive on hatred, another Hitleresque move. They forget that most of us have the immigrant blood in our veins from our own ancestors.
2024 will become a turning point for our nation. Do we fall for the dog whistle and run towards this hatred with our tails wagging and saliva dripping or do we as a nation ignore it and focus on what makes our nation the envy of the world. Do we move forward or do we retreat to the 1930’s? Don’t answer the call of the dog whistle!
Opine I will 
That so many Americans are “hearing” these dog whistles is terrifying. I truly fear for the future.