Blog
By Chad Holmes
This past weekend, like many of you, I tried to relax and get away from the work grind by getting in front of a television and watching some football. The Green Bay Packers on Sunday to be specific. However, with less than a month away from the election, it’s impossible to get away completely. Certainly when it comes to Congressman Derrick Van Orden.
Derrick Van Orden is not my congressman. I live in the 7th Congressional District, as does everyone who lives in Marathon County. My congressman (and I use the my very loosely) is Tom Tiffany. Derrick Van Orden represents the 3rd Congressional District. The reason why I have to sit through many Derrick Van Orden political commercials, and his oppenent Rebecca Cooke, is because the 3rd District has Portage and Wood County as part of it. The Stevens Point and Wisconsin Rapids media markets are served by TV stations out of Wausau. To get to voters in Point and Rapids the campaigns need to buy spots from Channels 7, 9, 12 and the FOX channel….what number that is I have no idea. So those of us in Marathon County and other counties not in the 3rd get to learn a lot about Van Orden and Cooke.
It wasn’t a surprise I saw many, many political spots when sitting down to watch the Packers face the Rams Sunday. It was expected. I have seen Derrick Van Orden’s “racial dog whistle” spots many times. Maybe I just saw it one time too many yesterday. Recently Van Order had a spot titled “One of Them.” It featured pics of the “liberal elite” such as President Biden, former Speaker Pelosi, Senate majority leader Schumer and California Governor Newsom. None mentioned by name. Then the spot claimed Cooke was “handpicked” to win back the House and “trusted to elect liberal heroes like Mandela Barnes.” Large photo Barnes. Looks darkened. Then they add another black face in House Minority leader Jeffries on the other side of Cooke to finish the spot with the words “she’s one of them.” Disgusting.
The latest Van Orden ad drops the white faces and focuses on linking Cooke strictly to Mandela Barnes. That’s the spot I kept seeing yesterday. It’s more “Us vs. Them”. The kind of stuff we saw over and over again in the 2022 Senate race between Barnes and Senator Ron Johnson. The biggest difference is in 2022 Johnson had the “sense” to let his 3rd party allies put out the most racist and disgusting of the ads, including darkening of the then-Lt. Governor’s picture. The Van Orden spots end with the words “I’m Derrick Van Orden and I approve this message.” Standing next to a bunch of old white guys who look like law enforcement. Nice little kicker there Derrick. He is trying to remind everyone he is “us” standing next to the white guys while Cooke is “them” pictured next to Barnes and Jeffries.
Van Orden isn’t the only GOP candidate ramping up the use of racial language. It goes right to the top. It was reported today that Donald Trump told right wing radio host Hugh Hewitt that you can tell whether migrants are predisposed to committing murder by “their genes.” “We got a lot of bad genes in our country right now,” Trump added. This is 2024. That’s the kind of thing said in the years post-Civic War. Pure racism.
We need stop seeing the media using terms like “sharpening attacks” and other passive language to avoid saying the truth: these are racist attacks on millions of our people. This is not a time to “both sides” what we are seeing and hearing everyday. Over and over again. Even when trying to get away from it all with a football game. It’s dangerous. It needs to stop but if it doesn’t stop it needs to be called what it is.
