The Republican Party has not been taken over by racists and fascists

John Doe · Jul 1, 2018

I've seen the sentiment come up that Trump and his ilk have taken over the Republican Party and corrupted it.

People are starting to miss George W Bush and "moderate" Republicans like Reagan.

The Republican Party has ALWAYS been like this. Trump isn't doing anything new, he's just more brazen about it.

Let's look at the past few Republican Presidents

George W Bush

Poor response to Hurricane Katrina:

While all this was going on, the president of the United States remained aloof from the disaster. Day after day, George W. Bush continued a long-planned vacation at his 1,600-acre Prairie Chapel Ranch in Crawford, Texas, and his staff didn't want to burden him with detailed information about the situation on the Gulf Coast. When Katrina made landfall, Bush had been on holiday at his ranch for 27 days, according to a tabulation kept by CBS News

https://www.usnews.com/news/the-rep...as-the-beginning-of-the-end-for-george-w-bush

"George Bush does not care about black people."

George Bush Sr.

Vetoed the Civil Rights Act of 1990

The Civil Rights Act of 1990 was a bill that, had it been signed into law, would have made it easier for litigants in race or sex discrimination cases to win

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act_of_1990

He passed a watered down version of it a year later

Ronald Reagan

From his statements about welfare queens to the law he passed during his time as governor of California to prevent Black Panthers from owning firearms, Reagan was no friend to the black community.

Not to mention his War on Drugs initiative, which did nothing to reduce the drug epidemic but filled up the prisons and ruined communities for generations. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_the_War_on_Drugs

I say all of this to say that I'm afraid that once Trump is removed from office, it will be back to business as usual. A Democrat will be in power for 8 years, then a more "moderate" Republican will take back the white house and continue the same policies that disadvantage minorities that his party has employed since time immemorial.

Trump is an enemy but the Republican Party ha always been the enemy. When I see people long for the days of Reagan and Bush, I wonder if they care about minority issues at all.

GrooveCommand · Jul 1, 2018

How anyone can still call themselves a Republican and still feel okay with that is beyond me. If you're a Republican, you support Trump in all his forms. End of story.

Volimar · Jul 1, 2018

Still crazy to me that the man who said that Bush doesn't care about black people is chummy with the man whose ignoring of an island nation in its time of greatest need led to thousands of deaths.

GrooveCommand said:
How anyone can still call themselves a Republican and still feel okay with that is beyond me. If you're a Republican, you support Trump in all his forms. End of story.

Even if you're not actively racist, you're just as complicit if you empower racists. Fiscal conservatives are the epitome of "fuck you, got mine".

shnurgleton · Jul 1, 2018

Weird way to say that the GOP has always been racist and fascist, but agreed

These past couple years Ive really been coming around to reexamining the past decades of the GOP and the politics I abandoned during the Obama administration, and it's pretty remarkable how thin the veneer of respectability is on the Republican party

JehutyRunner · Jul 1, 2018

You're right.

Its been taken over by Nazis instead.

MrRob · Jul 1, 2018

No argument from me.

It's just out in the open now and that makes some members of the party uncomfortable.

Prophaniti · Jul 1, 2018

Yeah it really hasn't changed

JehutyRunner said:
You're right.

Its been taken over by Nazis instead.

Didn't you read the brochure? It clearly has 14 letters and 88 comas. Seems pretty clear to me.

JetmanJay · Jul 1, 2018

If I bring this up around certain friends, they just point to Abraham Lincoln as a Republican and say I'm wrong.

While this thread is here, I've been in a protracted argument with a "friend" on Facebook about when the 'switch' occured and the republicans adopted the more racist tones of the South and the Democrats became more humanitarian and supportive of equal rights for minorities. Does anyone have a good informative link here describing this?

I've always thought the turn happened around the Civil Rights movement under JFK, with Bobby Kennedy as AG (and even afterwards as a senator) meeting and talking with Ceaser Chavez, MLK, and others. And the turn was almost cemented into place when Nixon tried making it even harder for African Anericans to participate in elections.

Is that right?

iksenpets · Jul 1, 2018

This is all true, but I think there was serious value in the fact that the GOP had to feign adherence to democratic principles and at least be sly about it's racism. The current GOP is doing the same stuff, just more openly and more extremely, but that seems to have given huge chunks of the population the signal that it's ok to be absolute shitheads in day-to-day life. We at least used to keep some of that bottled up with the norm that conservatives had to at least pretend to not be racist.

Advance.Wars.Sgt. · Jul 1, 2018

The people who say that are simply longing for the days when their racist strategies were more covert.

There's nothing that racists and fence-sitters who lean right love more than plausible deniability.

Mass Effect · Jul 1, 2018

It's been like this since at least the 60s. Racism was always common with both parties, but Nixon codified it as a main pillar of the Republican party with the Southern Strategy.

What we're seeing now is the natural progression of that.

Deleted member 1635 · Jul 1, 2018

GrooveCommand said:
How anyone can still call themselves a Republican and still feel okay with that is beyond me. If you're a Republican, you support Trump in all his forms. End of story.

I've felt that way ever since I was cognizant of politics and the state of the world and I only feel stronger about it with each passing year.

VectorPrime · Jul 1, 2018

The Southern Strategy was pure evil from the start and we are seeing the logical results from it.

Deleted member 4367 · Jul 1, 2018

I dunno, it feels like the Tea Party did drive things even further downhill.

TyrantGuardian · Jul 1, 2018

Well, I think a better way to put it is that Trump being elected has caused the nazi scum within the party to dare step up to the plate, expecting that mainstream society is ready to accept their ideas. They're in for a rude awakening.

Squarehard · Jul 1, 2018

They've always been there, but now they feel empowered to say something about their trash views.

Elegant Weapon · Jul 1, 2018

JetmanJay said:
If I bring this up around certain friends, they just point to Abraham Lincoln as a Republican and say I'm wrong.

While this thread is here, I've been in a protracted argument with a "friend" on Facebook about when the 'switch' occured and the republicans adopted the more racist tones of the South and the Democrats became more humanitarian and supportive of equal rights for minorities. Does anyone have a good informative link here describing this?

I've always thought the turn happened around the Civil Rights movement under JFK, with Bobby Kennedy as AG (and even afterwards as a senator) meeting and talking with Ceaser Chavez, MLK, and others. And the turn was almost cemented into place when Nixon tried making it even harder for African Anericans to participate in elections.

Is that right?

Yeah, the "southern strategy"

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_strategy

Fun fact: Jackie Robinson was a republican for as long as he could until Nixon refused to help MLK Jr out of being a political prisoner and JFK suddenly did even after having a poor record on civil rights issues. Jackie could no longer court the Republican Party after that and the way the parties operated from then on was set

https://www.google.com/amp/s/theundefeated.com/features/jackie-robinson-jfk-on-civil-rights/amp/

Deleted member 8257 · Jul 1, 2018

That LBJ quote about telling poor white americans that they're better than the best black man will never become irrelevant when describing the craven politics of Republican party.

Dragon Puncher · Jul 1, 2018

While Trump didn't cause Republicans to be racist, warmongers and the party of "Fuck you, got mine", he did put all those things into overdrive.

Words matter and when the president is openly racist and filled with hatred towards anyone that doesn't agree with him, that empowers all the assholes in the country to do the same.

M. Wallace · Jul 1, 2018

We live under a Nazi regime now.

Deleted member 2620 · Jul 1, 2018

https://m.soundcloud.com/citationsn...media-uses-trump-to-launder-our-criminal-past

A good Citations Needed on this from January.

JetmanJay · Jul 1, 2018

Elegant Weapon said:
Yeah, the "southern strategy"

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_strategy

Fun fact: Jackie Robinson was a republican for as long as he could until Nixon refused to help MLK Jr out of being a political prisoner and JFK suddenly did even after having a poor record on civil rights issues. Jackie could no longer court the Republican Party after that and the way the parties operated from then on was set

https://www.google.com/amp/s/theundefeated.com/features/jackie-robinson-jfk-on-civil-rights/amp/

Southern Strategy! I always forget what it's called. Thanks

Microsoft SM Hunert Smoke · Jul 1, 2018

To be fair you can make a more damaging list with Democrats.

Im not a both sides guy but when the last time we had a President that actually benefitted everyone and didn't at multiple points screw people over for agenda person's, especially blacks?

Eisenhower is the closest I can think of and he still was messed up.

Mammoth Jones · Jul 1, 2018

John Doe said:
The Republican Party has ALWAYS been like this.

No it hasn't. Conservatism has always been like this. Even in countries without a republican party conservatives tend to be the political safe space for interolance and bigotry.

asmith906 · Jul 1, 2018

I will never understand why people treat Trump as something different than the normal Republican party. Dude was literally the leader of the birther conspiracy that the last president wasn't an American citizen. Do we not remember that batshut thing the tea party said? What really is all that different about Trump's rhetoric.

Nokterian · Jul 1, 2018

Conciliator · Jul 1, 2018

I think the influence of the Reagan "welfare queen" strategy is almost impossible to overstate. I'm in prime Reagan land and that narrative still holds very strong. And obviously when people say "welfare queen" we all know the color of the person they are imagining in their head. To put it in a disturbing perspective, I think Welfare Queen is one of the most effective dog whistles of all time.

Страна Мечты · Jul 1, 2018

You're right OP it's not taken over, they consist of racists and fascists from the beginning.

Marvie · Jul 1, 2018

Yeah the Republicans being racist shitbags isnt a new thing.

Mobius 1 · Jul 1, 2018

Then why isn't Trump and his clearly corrupt administration not under bipartisan pressure? Because the GOP approves of it, tacitly or openly. So yes, you were taken over. You're accountable for it.

Kappa · Jul 1, 2018

Yep, to be Republican is to be racist and un-christian

thefit · Jul 1, 2018

Mobius 1 said:
Then why isn't Trump and his clearly corrupt administration not under bipartisan pressure? Because the GOP approves of it, tacitly or openly. So yes, you were taken over. You're accountable for it.

Read past the headline. He's agreeing that its always been a racist party.

Astronut325 · Jul 1, 2018

I agree with the OP. It's the same people. Just the dog whistle is gone.

Boiled Goose · Jul 1, 2018

It's worse now.

Now it's authoritarian fascism.

Malverde · Jul 1, 2018

Deleted member 7130 · Jul 1, 2018

Remember: Every time a republican has talked about cutting welfare programs and getting "tough on crime", they've said it with a wink and a nod that it'll fuck over the latinos blacks most.

Demolition_Human · Jul 1, 2018

Southern Strategy.

Fulminator · Jul 1, 2018

Reagan is probably the worst president in modern history (well, before Trump).

Bush was a fuckwit too...

I agree that this has always been the Republican party. Now they are just not ashamed to say what they really mean.

Pbae · Jul 1, 2018

Yeah man, and it's always been the party of scum. Not saying there aren't good republicans, but the only way to rise in ranks is becoming a puppet for their lobbyist and donors.

I can't remember a single thing that they've done to actually help benefit the country or it's citizenry. They're pretty much the only reason why our country is ass backwards. Even policies that are good on paper like No Child Left Behind has only enriched the private sector and gutted our public education system.

And for those arguing both sides, no, not even fucking remotely close. Democratic concession and appeasement have nurtured this perception of both sides but it's such bullshit.

Psamtik · Jul 1, 2018

They weren't flirting with committing genocide twenty years ago, or even ten, so it's shifted a little bit.

Pretendo Switch · Jul 1, 2018

GrooveCommand said:
How anyone can still call themselves a Republican and still feel okay with that is beyond me. If you're a Republican, you support Trump in all his forms. End of story.

But the Russia probe is being headed by Republicans... Comey is a Republican and obviously has it out for Trump. Some blanket statements just aren't true. There are Republicans out there that don't support Trump.

Angelus Errare · Jul 1, 2018

It's better to say "American conservatives/conservativism" so you don't have disingenuous idiots trying to muddy the conversation on some "Republicans freed the slav0rz!!" shit, and the like

Deleted member 6582 · Jul 1, 2018

Fiscal conservatism has always entailed some amount of institutional racism. If you aren't redistributing some wealth then those who started with less are going to suffer more over time. I wouldn't say the viewpoint itself is racist, but you'd be ignorant to think that it doesn't enable them and objectively lead to worse outcomes for many minorities. It's that amount of secondary connection that gives them enough of a buffer to not claim culpability.

gblues · Jul 1, 2018

True.

It's more accurate to say it was abandoned to racists and fascists. And it didn't happen recently, it happened in the aftermath of the civil rights movement.

WedgeX · Jul 1, 2018

Mass Effect said:
It's been like this since at least the 60s. Racism was always common with both parties, but Nixon codified it as a main pillar of the Republican party with the Southern Strategy.

What we're seeing now is the natural progression of that.

Yeah this is more correct. George Romney, who got kicked out of the Nixon administration for trying to address systemic racism, was the last gasp.

entremet · Jul 1, 2018

GrooveCommand said:
How anyone can still call themselves a Republican and still feel okay with that is beyond me. If you're a Republican, you support Trump in all his forms. End of story.

Low taxes. Yes, people are that self interested.

Stinkles · Jul 1, 2018

The wealthy intellectuals you'd hope would drive for moderation have instead embraced the reality that left to its own devices, the GOP was doomed to demographic failure, but they see that it can be extended, perhaps indefinitely, through nationalism, racism and extreme court-driven gerrymandering.

entremet said:
Low taxes. Yes, people are that self interested.

But that's a nonsense for the average voter. If only those who genuinely, meaningfully benefitted from republican tax policy voted, they'd lose in the greatest landslide and lop-sided vote in legit political history. The numbers would look like the North Korean election.

saenima · Jul 1, 2018

I hate your title OP.

But you're right. The GOP has been the political arm of the KKK for a long ass time. Among other similar things.

Chaos Legion · Jul 1, 2018

I don't care if you hate his policies. But please do not use a KANYE quote to smear GW, or imply that he is racist.

Terrible response to Katrina by the administration, even daft to be honest. But he actually is a very nice person.

Bandage · Jul 1, 2018

There's no such thing as a good conservative.
They're all monsters that want minorities, women and pretty much everyone but themselves to die.

The Republican Party has not been taken over by racists and fascists

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