WAPO OP ED: GOP are Handmaidens of White Supremacy

[lindysalsagal]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/07/06/silent-republican-lawmakers-are-handmaidens-white-supremacy/

pinion by Dana Milbank Columnist July 6, 2020 at 7:04 p.m. EDT

President Trump has gone in the past several weeks from racist dog whistles to an all-out Confederate bugle call with a rebel yell — and yet his Republican enablers in Congress continue determinedly to cover their ears.

So Trump’s enablers are unnerved by his overt racism — not because it’s despicable on its face but because they fear losing power. And the enablers fret, but in private.

The silence, often attributed to cowardice, is really complicity. As I’ve noted, racial resentment has become the primary driver and predictor of support for the Republican Party, a trend that has accelerated under Trump. If Republican lawmakers continue to “fret privately” as Trump bases his reelection on clumsy racist demagoguery, they must be held to account for condoning the redefinition of the GOP as the new home of the white power movement. Their silence isn’t just enabling Trump; it’s also enabling white supremacy to hijack a major American political party.

On Monday, I emailed the campaigns of the 11 Republican senators who face potentially competitive reelections this year: Susan Collins (Maine), Thom Tillis (N.C.), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Kelly Loeffler (Ga.), David Perdue (Ga.), John Cornyn (Texas), Joni Ernst (Iowa), Mitch McConnell (Ky.), Cory Gardner (Colo.), Martha McSally (Ariz.) and Steve Daines (Mont.). (Disclosure: My wife, a Democratic pollster, has clients in the Colorado and Arizona races.)

[Buzz cook]

1. 40 or more years too late

The major news outlets have ignored the inherent racism of the GOP for decades.

[babylonsister]

2. It's never too late to point out racism. nt

[Buzz cook]

4. It is never too early nt.

[Hoyt]

5. I think the major news outlets did fine, some people are just fine with being a racist.

It’s like Bill Maher said years ago: “There are two things Republicans can’t stand — (1) Being called a racist; and (2) . . . . . . . . Black people.

[C Moon]

6. So true!

The media tries to keep the playing field fair, and to do that they have to ignore that the GOP is a party of racists, white collar criminals and now traitors.

The Democratic Party is the party of the people. But, if the media told the truth, the elections would be 90% Democratic wins, and there's no news in that.

[babylonsister]

3. Rec'd. He's right. nt