U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin: "Democrat is a noun."
Speaking on the floor of the House of Representatives, Raskin turned to the subject of grammar and civility.
I believe that she referred to a 'Democrat solution.' I heard another member talk about a 'Democrat member.' I just wanted to educate our distinguished colleagues that 'Democrat' is the noun. When you use it as an adjective you say the 'Democratic member.' Or the 'Democratic solution.'
He went on to posit tit-for-tat:
As if every time we mentioned the other party, it just came out with a kind of political speech impediment, like 'Oh, the Banana Republican Party' … 'the Banana Republican member' … 'the Banana Republican plan' … 'the Banana Republican conference.'
Newt Gingrich began the practice of saying "Democrat Party." Bob Dole picked it up, using it in reference to "Democrat wars," including World War II. It is now common practice by Republicans. The strategy, Gingrich said, was to deny Democrats the ability to name themselves. It dirties up the brand. It put new emphasis on "RAT," a bad mental image. It would be equivalent to competitors of IBM consistently referring to International Business Machines as "BM." Let a subliminal reminder of "bowel movement" linger in the name.
"Banana Republicans" is timely. The GOP has a majority faction that accepts anti-democratic authoritarianism. A majority of GOP voters tell polls that they have lost faith in elections as a method for determining popular will, at least when a Democrat wins. Election denial persists. Tucker Carlson said this week in his top-rated show:
How did senile hermit Joe Biden get 15 million more votes than his boss, rockstar crowd surfer Barack Obama? Results like that would seem to defy the laws of known physics and qualify instead as a miracle. Was the 2020 election a miracle?
The term "Banana Republic" is complicated. The term imbeds an insult to Latin Americans. Woody Allen's 1971 comedy film, Bananas, makes light of the trope of weak democracies and strong-man dictatorships.
The implication is Central American countries don't know how to govern themselves. Their citizens don't respect elections.Their leaders hang onto power by declaring martial law.Their leaders corrupt election officials.Their leaders defy court orders. The irony is that the imbedded accusation is exactly appropriate for Trump and a GOP that dares not defy him.
Democrats are the party sensitive to punching-down, so I suspect that Democrats are going to avoid using "Banana Republican." The term forgets history. American policy and actions destroyed democracies in banana-exporting countries. The coup d' état that toppled Guatemala's president, Jacobo Árbenz, democratically elected as a reformer, was engineered by the U.S. government at the urging of the United Fruit Company. United Fruit owned huge holdings in Guatemala and Nicaragua. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles had represented the company as a lawyer. His brother, Allen Dulles, was head of the CIA and had been on the United Fruit board. Thomas Dudley Cabot was the former CEO of United Fruit, and he was the director of International Security Affairs for the U.S. State Department.
Unstable governments in Latin America are the victims. The shame should be ours, but that is not how branding works. We damaged those countries and got away with it, so they are "damaged goods."
I am uncomfortable using the phrase "Banana Republicans," but others may not be and usage can change the meaning of both a brand and a sneer. "Banana Republicans" does not imply a GAP clothing line, Banana Republic. It implies unstable democracy. With usage and time the polarity of the insult might change from pathetic-them to guilty-us. Americans might remember a history we prefer to forget. The insult isn't against Latin America. It is against people who would subvert a democracy, right here in the USA: Banana Republicans.
Thank you for mentioning our misdeeds in South America, where we squelched budding democracies in the name of ruthless capitalism, as in Chile and Allende