KRUGMAN: US politics over past 4 decades - Wealthy elites weaponized racism to gain political power

[kpete]

Trump Takes Us to the Brink
Will weaponized racism destroy America?
By Paul Krugman


I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that America as we know it is on the brink.

How did we get here? The core story of U.S. politics over the past four decades is that wealthy elites weaponized white racism to gain political power, which they used to pursue policies that enriched the already wealthy at workers’ expense.

Until Trump’s rise it was possible — barely — for people to deny this reality with a straight face. At this point, however, it requires willful blindness not to see what’s going on.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/01/opinion/trump-george-floyd-police-brutality.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

[wcast]

1. Excellent article.

My favorite three lines.

“ So what has Trump really offered to the white working class that makes up most of his base? Basically, he has provided affirmation and cover for racial hostility. And nowhere is this clearer than in his relationship with the police.”

[2naSalit]

5. +1

[dalton99a]

2. "The months ahead are likely to be very, very ugly"

Republicans have, as I said, spent decades exploiting racial hostility to win elections despite a policy agenda that hurts workers. But Trump is now pushing that cynical strategy toward a kind of apotheosis.

On one side, he’s effectively inciting violence by his supporters. On the other, he’s very close to calling for a military response to social protest. And at this point, nobody expects any significant pushback from other Republicans.

Now, I don’t think Trump will actually succeed in provoking a race war in the near future, even though he’s clearly itching for an excuse to use force. But the months ahead are still likely to be very, very ugly.

After all, if Trump is encouraging violence and talking about military solutions to overwhelmingly peaceful protests, what will he and his supporters do if he looks likely to lose November’s election?

[Dustlawyer]

3. +1!!! Until we cut off the wealthy's access to OUR politicians through their huge donations

our politicians will continue to only represent Donors.

Until we require Truth in news reporting we will continue to have much of our populace believing in the Plutocrat’s propaganda.

These are the root causes of the problems we have now. It is why we cannot fix these problems!

[2naSalit]

4. K&R

[DeminPennswoods]

6. The headline says it all

It has been this way since George Wallace and Nixon's "southern strategy".

[SideStep]

7. Good read.

I do think the time-frame he mentions is a bit questionable. The wealthy elite have been weaponizing racism and bigotry as a means to gain power, and have been systemically doing so, for far longer than four decades. That said, previous incarnations were often based more in class warfare.