Washington Post columnist: America's problem is that white people back the GOP.

So says Perry Bacon, the lame and hyper-partisan Washington post columnist.

I suppose that is a problem is you favor the radical transformation of America along leftist lines. If you don’t, you might be tempted to say that America’s problem is that black people back the Democrats — which they do to a significantly greater extent than whites back the Republicans.

You probably wouldn’t say this, though — perhaps out of fear of being called a racist by people like Perry Bacon, but mainly because it’s a ridiculous way of describing what ails America.

Depending on one’s perspective our problems might include curtailment of individual liberties, the loosening of time-tested standards, inflation, crime, rampant illegal immigration, income inequality, voter fraud or voter suppression, abortions too readily available or not available enough, racism, etc. To claim that our main problem is white people voting for Republicans isn’t just reductionist — it’s also question-begging. It assumes, without presenting arguments, that the Republican positions on actual issues (such as those listed above) are worse than those of the Democrats.

Bacon complains that the GOP “is organized around defending the status quo in America, which is weighted toward White Americans.” The first part of his statement is only partially true. Traditionally, Republicans tend to favor the status quo, while Democrats want it transformed, many of them radically. That’s how two main parties typically divide in most eras and in most places.

But Trumpism isn’t dedicated to defending the status quo. The ex-president’s movement is founded on a fairly radical critique of existing policies and institutions.

Yet Bacon’s quarrel is with the party of Trump. Indeed, he commends the GOP for its style of politics during the presidency of George W. Bush and Barack Obama’s first term. But it was during this period that the GOP consistently upheld the status quo. Thus, Bacon’s column is incoherent.

It’s also incorrect in stating that the status quo is “weighted toward White Americans.” It isn’t white Americans who receive race-based preferences in college admissions, employment, government contracting, etc. It isn’t White Americans who receive a disproportionately large amount of government transfer payments such as welfare. It isn’t White Americans who pay a disproportionately small amount of income taxes.

It is White Americans who increasingly are denounced because of their race — their “Whiteness,” a term Bacon uses in his screed.

Yet, with one exception, these were not the issues that gave rise to Trumpism. Trump’s main issue was illegal immigration, which harms many whites (and many blacks), especially those in the working class, while helping other whites who benefit from cheap labor.

Trump also made an issue of the growing attacks on “Whiteness.” But since these attacks are a form of racism, there is nothing objectionable about this aspect of Trumpism.

In the end, Bacon’s complaint boils down to a recital of standard-issue Democrat talking points:

Across the country, GOP officials are banning books from public libraries [but who is banning Huckleberry Finn and To Kill a Mockingbird?], making it harder for non-Republicans to vote [not really, and certainly not if one is willing to make any real effort to vote], stripping away Black political power [I guess he means opposing racial gerrymandering to carve out “safe” seats for blacks], aggressively gerrymandering [both parties do this vigorously], censoring teachers and professors [but not students — that’s the left’s job] and, most important, denying the results of legitimate elections [but that’s okay when a black like Dem icon Stacey Abrams does it].

All that’s unique about Bacon’s column is his aggressive invocation of race. He clearly wants readers of the Post — the vast majority of whom subscribe to his laundry list of Dem talking points — to blame “whitey” for what ails this country and to agree that “because White people are likely to be the majority of voters for at least two decades, America is in trouble.”

If one argued the reverse — that it is white voters who are keeping this country out of trouble, or limiting the amount of trouble we’re in, one would be accused of race-baiting. Bacon can fairly be accused of the same thing.