magnumt wrote:HarthorneWingo wrote:magnumt wrote:You lived through the 60s/70s. You should know better.
--Mags
This may surprise you, but I was only 11 in '69
so I don't have same insight that I have on it now. But, you're right. Fox
"news", Russ Limpbough, Sean Hannity have been giving them voice for many many years now.
Bush's really lit the modern fire for them.
--Mags
Hmm. Not a fan of the Bush family or Bush 2 at all, but slight disagreement, regarding the racist yahoos.
Surely he was a beneficiary. Surely he and his handlers (Cheney and Rumsfeld etc) were content to ignore abide it while it got stoked by other operatives.
In a HIGHLY simplified analysis:
The democratic party joining with the struggle for civil rights turns off a lot of "common man" southerners, and honestly, lots of blue collar/middle class whites all over the country. But particularly the south. The trend away from the "solid south" begins.
Nixon is the first to use racism as part of a presidential campaign (at least in the modern era), though at least some attempt is made at not being overt. This isn't apologizing for it. His actions and that of the party are disgusting. It's more just a recognition of the tactics.
The party polishes that message and the racism is a bit more dog whistle over the years (not much) and remains a substantive part of the republican platform for years - basically ever since. (For anyone on here, I'm not currently debating the Dems actions vis-a-vis race in this right now. Their record isn't clean either - far from it.)
Reagan's a reactionary in a lot of ways for conservatism and he absolutely leverages the racist themes like any other politician. I'm positing that even by this point it's sort of codified and done in a somewhat lowkey and slick way (unless you're a minority on the receiving end of this BS, of course)
It all goes well enough until Bill Clinton steals some of their racist thunder with "Tough on crime, 3 strikes your out and Hilary's 'super predator'" - all designed to capture the fearful, racist, southern and blue collar vote enough to gain power. Works like a charm.
Because of? Or just because, talk radio and rise of Newt Gingrich (the politician) really lays the groundwork for the more overt propagandizing of the GOP party masses and is every bit the massive contributor to divisiveness that right wingers say that the various social liberalism things of the 60's and 70's were/are
(I realize I'm going over a vast number of years and skipping some significant things)
Bush 2 gets elected and "benefits" from a big patriotic war, the racial politics continue as usual, in a mostly dog whistle way. Bush 2 really opens the door of the government for business regarding privatization and contracting and the corruption that was already in play in a big way explodes to unbelievable levels. Nice profiting from a humming economy from the Clinton years through the first 3/4's of the Bush 2 admins blinds most middle class and upper class people to the gigantic screwing most of the poor and the brown have been receiving for a solid 25+ years.
The economy tanks and enough of the above poor (both races) and brown, plus people angry with the general non representative nature of the government look for some "Hope and Change" and vote in Obama for 2 terms.
(without getting into a fight over his record) Obama stabilizes the economy but the recovery is long and slow. He also rules more centrist than a large piece of the activists who helped get him elected so they are disappoint.
Time for the reactionary pendulum to swing once again in 'Merica, like it did after Carter and economic stagnation.
That lead to the election of a conservative, basically reactionary president. For the good, and bad, of Reagan, that's what it was. I was there, of age. I remember it.
For the Republican candidate after Obama, there's an opportunity for a reactionary candidate squared, if the party wants it, or if such a candidate presented him(her)self. The perfect cook up of a long standing dissatisfaction with government corruption and non representation, slow economic recovery, wealth gap, disappointed progressives and racism from having a black president make a toxic political gumbo. All the years leading up to the election, especially the last 10, the GOP is further radicalized and pushed more right within itself by the above, but talk radio, internet echo chambers, and if anyone is honest, the GOP pushing divisive, hard right, racist tinged (at least) messages designed to whip up the base to vote for them.
Enter Trump.
And Trump is a reprehensible human being. Who's a racist. And Corrupt. Etc etc. But he's comfortable being so overt with his racism etc because the ground work to be comfortable about it has been a while in the making. Meaning, he knows, he's absorbed it's a part of the message of at least party of the party he represents. They've been slick and "polite" enough to not be overt. Trump decided to say "F*ck it" and dangerously has decided to just let it all hang out. Because he's an idiot. And racist. Etc.
