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Alexandra Shields

Professor Patrick Imburgia

ENC 2135-0172

29 March 2019

Can you hear it?

Evaluating the history and change of the political tactic known as Dog Whistling

Introduction:

When running for a political position, politicians must reach out to their supporters and

motive them to go vote. In order to motive their target demographic, politicians need to

come up with a strategy that will reach their voter emotionally. Dog Whistling has been one

of best tactics for politicians to suddenly create pathos for a marginal group of voters, by

feeding into people’s fear of change based on racial and social issues. Ian Haney López,

professor of Public Law and one the nation’s leading thinkers on how racism has evolved in

the United States defines Dog whistling as, “Coded racial appeals that carefully manipulate

hostility toward nonwhites. Examples of dog whistling include repeated blasts about

criminals, and welfare cheats, illegal aliens, and sharia law in the heartland” (ix). For years,

these “code words” have been used by politicians to reach their goal of being elected solely

on fear and bias. But this last presidential election, there seems to be a split between a

politician and their party’s use of this tactic. Republican President Donald Trump has thrown

away the whistle and now the silent majority feel least afraid to speak their mind. This group

of voters still seem give in to fear-mongering. By analyzing the history of dog whistling and

evaluating the sympathy of white middle class Americans, we can see that Trump truly has

no whistle.
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The Birth of the Dog Whistling and the end (1968-2016):

To best understand this change, the history of dog whistling can be explored where it was

first significantly used to feed off voters’ emotions. With racial tension high--increasing with the

passing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and desegregations of schools--a marginal group of

white Americans felt threatened by this new wave of change. When the 1968 election

encroached and political correctness began to emerge, Nixon saw an opportunity to reach this

group without being obviously racist. Beginning with the civils rights movement, politicians

began to be called out for using racist language. Lee Atwater, one of Reagan’s advisors

described this political callout stating that, “You start out in 1954 by saying, ‘Nigger, nigger,

nigger.’ By 1968 you can’t say ‘nigger’—that hurts you, backfires” (Perlstein). In the late 60s,

middle class Americans started to feel weary with all the civil rights and antiwar protests

ongoing. Knowing the current climate, Nixon used this to his advantage. He utilized pathos in his

speeches to continue to feed into peoples’ doubts and emotions: “Nixon campaigned on a

platform designed to reach the ‘silent majority’ of middle class and working-class

Americans. He promised to ‘bring us together again,’ and many Americans, weary after

years of antiwar and civil rights protests, were happy to hear of peace returning to their

streets” (Richard Nixon elected president). Before developing the southern strategy that

would ultimately create the dog whistle tactic, Nixon talked to the “silent majority” who felt

misplaced in the late 60s. In order to reach this majority, he talked about bringing the hammer

down on crime with law and order. H.R. Haldeman, Nixon’s close adviser and who was also

involved with the Watergate scandal said “The key is to devise a system that recognizes this

while not appearing to. Rather than refer directly to blacks, Nixon promised ‘law and order’ and
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respect for ‘states’ rights” (Engler). President Nixon’s use of dog whistling and code words like

“law and order” are still rampant today.

However, unlike President Nixon and other predecessors before him, President Trump

address the “silent majority” differently. Dr. Luiza-Maria Filimon who holds a PhD in Political

Science and has received awards by the National University of Political Science and Public

Administration for her research, conducted another study that examined Trump’s electoral

success during the primary elections. Dr. Filmon described President Trump’s approach, saying;

His politics were defined in opposition to the strategic racism so readily available to the

Republican operatives and politicians and thus, had been preemptively voided of the

usual code words and dog whistles. Instead, Trump served his supporters an unfiltered,

unpolished, anti-political correctness, and anti-diplomatic rhetoric, centered in nativism

and aimed in particular against Mexican immigrants. (26)

Unlike Nixon, who carefully calculated and planned secret meanings for certain words and

phrases, President Trump seems to have no form of filter. One great example of President

Trump’s lack of self-control and prejudice views is when he made fun of a disabled reporter.

Journalist Serge Kovaleski, who works for the New York Times and suffers from a joint

condition that affects his movement. Trump during his campaign quoted Kovaleski saying that

Muslims celebrated the attack that happen on 9/11.Kovaleski denied ever saying that, but at an

rally Trump responded to Kovaleski denial by using mocking gestures to make fun of his

physical disability and even verbal taunted him (Hall et.al 86). Certainly, a bold and ultimately

campaign ending move which no over politicians would dare try because of backlash from the

news and public.

Speeches and Code Words:

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There is no lie that most dog whistling words are racially charged. While a majority of

politicians would try reach the silent majority with these codes words without drawing attention,

Trump is not afraid to be the megaphone for his party. While Reagan and his followers were

subtle with their racial bias, Trump and his supporters scream their views. A great example of

Reagan’s subtle bigotry took place in 1980. But before that, you most understand a terrible event

that perfectly illustrates their racists agenda. In 1964, Andrew Goodman and his fellow activists

Michael Schwerner and James Chaney traveled to Neshoba County, Mississippi, in order to help

register African Americans to vote. Unfortunately, after being arrested and then released, the

three boys were abducted. Their bodies wouldn’t be found until August of that year. All had been

murdered; they were shot to death. The men who were found guilty of the murdered young

college-age boys only served between three to ten years of jail time. Two of the college boys

were African American and one was white. In 1980, Reagan chose Neshoba County, Mississippi

as the first stop in his general election campaign. The campaign debuted at the Neshoba County

Fair in front of a white and, at times, raucous crowd of perhaps 10,000, chanting: “We want

Reagan! We want Reagan!” Reagan was the first presidential candidate ever to appear at the fair;

he then told that crowd, “I believe in states’ rights” (Ripoka 90). This coded message goes back

to the incident that took place in 1964, whose main objective was to help assist more registered

black voters in that area.

Reagan would continue on his campaign trail using coded racial appeals like; railing

against “welfare queens” and criminal “predators” and condemning “big government.” Lee

Atwater, one of Reagan’s advisors, talked about President Reagan’s use of dog whistling in an

interview. He described how Republicans are able to win the vote of racists without sounding

racist, stating
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By 1968 you can’t say ‘nigger’—that hurts you, backfires. So you say stuff like, uh,

forced busing, states’ rights, and all that stuff, and you’re getting so abstract. Now, you’re

talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic

things and a byproduct of them is, blacks get hurt worse than whites.… ‘We want to cut

this,’ is much more abstract than even the busing thing, uh, and a hell of a lot more

abstract than ‘Nigger, nigger.’ (Perlstein)

It clear that the way they reach their audience was by almost making fun of minorities and also

promising to hurt minorities by taking way welfare and government benefits, without directly

saying it.

When you look at Reagan and when he delivers a speech, he was very selective of what

he said. When he said his “code words” he intentionally targeted poor working-class white

voters. Like when he was in Neshoba County and he said, “I believe in state’s rights.” It’s clear

there is still a lot of hate in America even today. I found a small clip from when Alexandra Pelosi

(the daughter of Nancy Pelosi), went to Mississippi, one of the poorest and most conservative

states. She then asked different white people what they thought about President Obama and the

government. Alexandra asked one man if he would ever like Obama. He said “no, never.” When

asked why he said that, he stated “One thing his name is Obama.” When he was complaining

about how he hates Obama, Alexandra asked if this was because he was black, and he responded

with “No because he’s a half-breed” (Graham). It’s clear that Mississippi’s prejudice hasn’t

really changed that much. But that’s exactly what both Reagan and Trump play off. But the

difference between the two is their delivery and who they address. Reagan carefully plans and

calculates what he going to say based on where and whom he is addressing, while President

Trump doesn’t seem to care what he says or who hears him. Justin Quam and Marianna Ryshina-
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Pankova who are both professors of Language and teach at Georgetown University, analyzed

campaign speeches from the 2016 election. They described the trademark of Trump’s campaign

was his rally speech,

Rather than devote his time to meeting individual constituents and interest groups, Trump

addressed large crowds with off-the-cuff, tangential speeches, during which he discussed

topic after topic in meandering fashion. These addresses departed from the well-

established pat- terns of the political speech in terms of both rhetorical style and content.

During the primary, Trump often made statements that went well outside the political

mainstream yet seemed to increase his support. (Quam and Pankova 140-141)

Trump has no problem tweeting or saying anything that comes to his mind. While reflect on

presidents before him, it clear that Trump has no clear rhetorical choices.

Another big code word that has been used since the 60s was getting “tough on crime.”

Even democratic president Bill Clinton and other candidates have been known to use these types

of “code words.” President Bill Clinton continued to follow the “tough on crime” and “law and

order policy.” When Bill Clinton was running for office in 1992, he wanted to prove he was

strict like his republican counterparts on crime. Just weeks before the critical New Hampshire

primary, Clinton flew back to Arkansas to oversee the execution of Ricky Ray Rector. Rickey

was a mentally impaired black man who had so little conception of what his future held. He even

asked for his last meal dessert to be saved for later. After the execution, Clinton remarked, “I can

be nicked a lot, but no one can say I’m soft on crime” (Bright 484). Bill Clinton wanted to prove

himself to poor and working-class white Americans by signaling to them that he was willing to

be tough on black communities, compared to the Republican presidents before him.

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President Trump, on the other hand, is tough on immigration. President Trump’s first

campaign promise was to build a wall on the Mexican border in order to keep out Mexican

immigrates. Trump has referred to them as saying; “They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing

crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people…”(“Donald Trump double

down on calling Mexicans ‘rapists’”). Trump has flat out blamed black and Hispanics for

the crime rates in America. Here is tweet he wrote in 2013 (@realDonaldTrump):

You can find a myriad of claims and tweets blaming immigrates and minorities for crime. But

yet anytime his white supporters or any white person commits a crime, he flat out ignores it or

supports it. In August of 2017, there was a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville Virginia. In

response to the rally, a group of marchers were protesting against the white supremacist groups.

James Alex Fields Jr., who attended the white nationalist rally, drove his car into the crowd of

anti-racists protesters. Brennan Gilmore, who was an eye witness to the attack, described the

assault to NBS as "It was very clearly intentional. From the far end of the street it accelerated,

slowed down right before the crowd and then slammed on the gas through the crowd sending

bodies flying. And then it reversed back into the street dragging bodies and clothes

"(McCausland et.al). This incident lead to a woman dying and several people ending up in the
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hospital. When President Trump was asked about the Charlottesville rallies and attack he said, “I

think there is blame on both sides. You had a group on one side that was bad. You had a group

on the other side that was also very violent. Nobody wants to say that. I’ll say it right now”

(Shear and Haberman).Yes, one side protesting against hate and racism and the other side made

up of white nationalists, obviously they are very similar. President Trump almost justifies James

Alex Fields Jr actions by saying that both sides were violent. He ignores the fact that a supporter

of his killed a woman who was exercising her first amendment right to protest against hate.

President Trump blatantly ignores the crime committed by one of his supporters, but yet will

blame all crime on minorities. Bill was subtle by using his “tough on crime” policy to justify

why he should be elected and how the execution of Ricky was necessary. Trump seems to want

rile people up with hate against racial minorities by outright blaming them for crime. When

asked about crime committed by his supporters, Trump almost agrees and supports their hate.

Silent Majority gets a Megaphone:

Over the years, politicians have mastered the art of dog whistling and targeting certain

demographics of voters with these code words. This silent majority always listened but never

really spoke, unless you consider their vote a “voice.” But now the years of silent training has

been thrown away with the megaphone known has Trump. Trump is not afraid of political

correctness. His rhetoric, combined with his support of a candidate who freely employed

racialized language, may become a watershed moment for the Republican Party. But these

actions are exactly why Trump won. Michèle Lamont who is a professor of Sociology at

Harvard, and her students Bo Yun Park and Elena Ayala-Hurtado who are doctoral students of

Sociology say that, “Workers repeatedly praised Trump for voicing ideas or making statements
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that many middle -class people perceive as illegitimate or not politically correct” (S-165).

Trump’s success had nothing to do with his money, his speech, or qualifications. No, his success

was due to the fact that the silent majority is tired of the politically correct (PC) culture and tired

of dog whistling. The silent majority no longer wants to be silent.

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Works Cited

Bright, Stephen. “The Politics of Crime and the Death Penalty: Not ‘Soft on Crime,’ But hard on

the Bill of Rights.” Saint Louis University Law Journal, vol. 39 no. 2, 1995, pp.479-504.

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Engler, Mark. “Dog-Whistle Politics: Talking About Race Without Talking About Race.”

Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility, 2016, https://

www.morningsidecenter.org/teachable-moment/lessons/dog-whistle-politics-

talkingaboutrace-without-talking-about-race.

Filimon, Maria-Luiza. “From the Dog Whistle to the Dog Scream: The Republican Party’s (Ab)

use of discriminatory speech in electoral campaigns and party politics.” Romanian

Journal of Society and Politics vol. 2, no. n.p., 2016, pp. 25-48. https://www.ceeol

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Graham, David. “Video of the Day: Why is Mississippi so Conservative?” The Atlantic, 13

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why-is-mississippi-so-conservative/254424/.

Hall, Kira, Donna Goldstein, and Matthew Ingram. “The hands of Donald Trump.” Hau: Journal

of Ethnographic Theory, vol. 6, no. 2, 2016, pp. 71-100. https://www.journals.uchicago.

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Haney-López, Ian. Dog Whistle Politics. Oxford University Press, 2013.

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Lamont, Michèle, Bo Yun Park, and Elena Ayla-Hurtado. “Trump’s electoral speeches and his

appeal to the white working class.” The British Journal of Sociology, vol. 68, no. S1,

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McCausland,Phil, Emmanuelle Saliba, and Moria Donohue. “Charlottesville Rally Turns

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“Donald Trump double down on calling Mexicans ‘rapists’”. YouTube, uploaded by CNN, 25

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7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor.