And they play it well, in public, as as nasty as can be, to push the buttons of their base. So, hat's off to Wilbur Ross, currently the Secretary of Commerce, for letting his xenophobic freak flag fly high.

'Sick and Heartless': Wilbur Ross Says Deadly Coronavirus Could 'Accelerate' Return of Jobs to US

President Donald Trump's Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on Thursday suggested the deadly coronavirus that has sparked fears of a global pandemic could have a bright side, at least for the United States: more jobs.

"Every American's heart has to go out to the victims of the coronavirus, so I don't want to talk about a victory lap over a very unfortunate, very malignant disease," Ross said in an interview with Maria Bartiromo of Fox Business. "But the fact is it does give businesses yet another thing to consider when they go through their review of their supply chain."

"It's another risk factor that people need to take into account," added Ross. "I think it will help to accelerate the return of jobs to North America, some to [the] U.S., probably some to Mexico as well."

By all accounts this new coronavirus is not as deadly as Wilbur thinks it is, so I imagine he'll be disappointed.

AUBREY: When it comes to preventing the spread of the new coronavirus, there's a lot to learn. The situation changes daily. But so far, some experts say this new virus does not appear to be as lethal as some of the other novel coronaviruses that have led to outbreaks, including SARS back in the early 2000s and more recently, MERS. Michael Ison is an infectious disease physician at Northwestern University.

MICHAEL ISON: The mortality for MERS was about 34%. Mortality for SARS was about nine to 10%. And currently, it's somewhere between two and 4% for this novel coronavirus.

AUBREY: That's an estimate, and it could change. But the bottom line for those of us who live in the U.S...

ISON: The risk of catching flu is exponentially higher than catching the novel coronavirus.

I don't mean to downplay the seriousness of any disease, for I'm in the class of people, those with compromised immune systems, that are at the highest risk of death should I be infected with any flu or cold type virus. Still, this is precisely the kind of thing the Trump administration does so well. Manipulate their base using divisive and frankly ugly appeals to nativism. This isn't likely to play well on the liberal pundit circuit, but it does reinforces one of the underlying racist and xenophobic populist appeals that helped get Trump elected. And it's a theme they have repeatedly used to bolster support among their base. It's actually a classic "play the victim card," the identity politics of the right.

To identify yourself as a Trump supporter – that is, to identify with the man himself on some level – helps you to feel like a “winner” when you may unconsciously fear that you’re a “loser” in this complicated world, in danger of being displaced by illegal immigrants and countries whose wily leaders out-negotiate our own at the trade table.

To defeat Trump, running an insipid milquetoast Neoliberal Democrat like Biden or Buttigieg (or Hillary Clinton, should she get her wish and be drafted at a brokered convention) this election cycle will not weaken his appeal to those low information white voters, desperate to believe Trump is doing what he can to protect us from foreigners out to steal our jobs. Running candidates who dismiss them as deplorables and racists may seem noble, or perhaps, in the minds of the DNC consultant class, a brilliant move, but it didn't work when Hillary Clinton took that negative attack style approach in 2016, as I suspect most of you recall, and it won't work this time. Without a positive message and policies designed to appeal to these disaffected voters, the Democrats are unlikely to defeat Trump in the critical swing states Hillary lost in 2016. Simply calling them racists, and pretending they won't turn out for Trump in the general election, isn't going to cut it.