Charlie has already hit this hard. But another example of how a soft, non-conspiratorial version of replacement theory is okay for only one side comes via Greg Sargent, the energetic left-wing writer for the Washington Post. Yesterday, Sargent slammed Elise Stefanik for a Facebook ad saying of Democrats, “Their plan to grant amnesty to 11 MILLION illegal immigrants will overthrow our current electorate and create a permanent liberal majority in Washington.”
This is about as subtle as you’d expect of an ad on Facebook, but it isn’t a call for violence and it accurately represents how many Democrats think about immigation. Notably, Sargent himself welcomed immigration-fueled changes to the American electorate after the 2012 election. He said the election was “all about demographics,” and hailed how “Obama’s team made the right bet on the true nature of the American electorate. Rather than reverting to the older, whiter, more male version Republicans had hoped for, it continues to be defined by what Ron Brownstein has called the ‘coalition of the ascendant.’”
Progressives tend not to talk so frankly in these terms anymore, realizing how it backfired in 2016 and how the Latino vote has gotten more complicated. But it can’t be that the Left gets to welcome the political effects of demographic changes, and the other side is forbidden to notice or push back.
I wrote a column today expanding on this point.