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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFear of the "Great Replacement" is now the major driving force in the GOP
Last edited Fri Apr 9, 2021, 11:19 AM - Edit history (1)
How Will the White Supremacy Brand of Todays Republican Party End?So, Marjorie Taylor Greene, who does not much participate in the legislative process other than occasionally trying to stop it, and has lost all her committee assignments, raised over 3 million bucks in the last quarter.
A really good first-quarter haul for a freshman member of Congress whos actually getting things done would be $250,000 to a half million dollars. Greene blew the doors out.
But why?
There was a time in America when conservative meant, In favor of moving toward a better country, but doing it slowly and cautiously.
We use the word conservative, in fact, to generically mean cautiously.
But the last five years have irrefutably shown that when American politicians use the word conservative these days, what they really mean is white supremacist.
White supremacy has become the central brand of todays Republican Party, and, in retrospect, has been at the core of that Partys explicit efforts ever since Richard Nixons 1968 Southern Strategy.
And for movement conservatives it really dates even farther back than that. Consider one of the top founders of todays conservative movement (and of the National Review publication), William F. Buckley. In a 1957 editorial titled Why the South Must Prevail, he laid out explicitly what the foundation of conservatism must be.
Again, let us speak frankly, Buckley wrote. The South does not want to deprive the Negro of a vote for the sake of depriving him of the vote.
No, this wasnt just malice or performance. It was all about power, enforced by the state. And about defining, once and for all, the core animating principle of the newly resurgent conservative movement.
In some parts of the South, Buckley wrote, the White community merely intends to prevail that is all. It means to prevail on any issue on which there is corporate disagreement between Negro and White. The White community will take whatever measures are necessary to make certain that it has its way.
He asked, rhetorically, if the South is entitled to prevail even in rural areas of the country or large cities with majority Black populations?
The sobering answer, Buckley wrote, is Yes the White community is so entitled because, for the time being, it is the advanced race.
So here we are.
Americans would like to believe that the people who sent Marjorie Taylor Greene all that money were concerned about taxes or trade or Americas standing in the world, but its obvious now that they are not.
They want to support a white congresswoman from Georgia because she, like Buckley in his day, is waving all the flags associated with white supremacy.
After she jumped into the Republican primary in the state where I lived for 13 years, she pushed out a series of videos complaining about an Islamic invasion of elected office, presumably referencing Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, and conflated Black and Hispanic men with gangs and dealing drugs.
She started hustling the 2020 version of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion saying that Jewish Billionaire George Soros had something to do with the Nazis and is supernaturally controlling world events. And lets not forget the Jewish space lasers.
This was so offensive that House Minority whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana, who had previously described himself as David Duke without the baggage, endorsed her primary opponent, and Congressman Jody Hice of Georgia withdrew his endorsement of her. She nonetheless won both the primary and the general elections, using Trump as a symbol of and for white supremacy.
But Greene is not the problem; shes merely one of many, and a symptom of how widespread and popular white supremacy and white nationalism are in todays America. These ideologies have become the number one animating force in Republican politics.
The Chicago Project on Security and Threats did a deep dive into which counties had sent people to Washington DC on January 6 to try to overthrow our republic.
The Projects Director, Robert A. Pape, wrote in The Washington Post, [T]he people alleged by authorities to have taken the law into their hands on Jan. 6 typically hail from places were non-White populations are growing fastest.
They also did two independent surveys early this year and found that, One driver overwhelmingly stood out: fear of the Great Replacement.
The Great Replacement is what animated the white mass murderer in Christchurch, New Zealand as well as the white man who slaughtered 20 people at a shopping center in El Paso, Texas. Its why white nationalist Tim McVeigh blew up the Oklahoma City Federal Building.
It refers to the fear some white people have of being replaced by people of color.
Using this hook, the Republican Party has explicitly rebranded itself in the last five years.
Theyve embraced statues of Confederate generals and oppose stripping their names from military bases. They are working as hard as they possibly can to stop Black people from voting, while demonizing cities like Pittsburgh, Detroit and Milwaukee with charges of voter fraud because, one must assume, theyre majority-Black cities.
Make America Great Again really means Make America White Again. And every white supremacist in America knows it, agrees with it, and will enthusiastically send money to any Republican politician who waves Trumps white supremacist flag.
And its not just the GOP that has gone down this road. The White Evangelical movement is right there with them, with the emphasis on White.
This is extraordinarily dangerous stuff.
As Holocaust survivor Sidney Zoltak said, and was reported in yesterdays New York Times, The diabolic plan to annihilate the Jews in Europe was established in small increments. Way before the establishment of the concentration camps, the ghettos, the death camps, the mobile killing units, it started with words.
Words that characterized Jews, gypsies, gay people and socialists as vermin, as invaders, as an infestation. Words like Donald Trump and his followers use regularly.
And the Nazis were in the streets, both in Germany in the 1930s and in America over the past five years, chanting things like, Jews will not replace us.
The first generation of majority non-white Americans is already born and entering school. Theres nothing white people can do to stop this trend.
Thus, white Americans in the GOP (the vast majority of the Party) are facing a stark choice.
They can go down yelling and screaming and take a lot of lives with them, tearing this country apart pursuing their Lost Cause.
Or, they can start working for a country that actually realizes the vision of Americas founding promise, that All men are created equal.
Original post with links to sources at: HartmannReport.com
OneGrassRoot
(22,920 posts)soldierant
(6,857 posts)people of different races are not less able or less competent than people with "white" skin. On some level they already know that. If it weren't so, why would they fear being replaced?
OneGrassRoot
(22,920 posts)At this point, unless people have been living under a rock (which means they aren't on social media, aren't watching/reading news reports or anything else), trying to explain systemic racism and Othering is useless because THEY DON'T WANT TO CHANGE THEIR MINDS AND OPINIONS. They simply don't. It's some sort of warped game most of them play which only serves to exhaust the person explaining in good faith.
I should know. I've tried for 45 years, often privately, one on one. I was raised in a KKK environment and have been estranged from my family for a while now. Not one of them have changed.
Even if someone seems to shift their attitude a bit, as soon as something negative happens to them, they revert to the same racist, bigoted views because they need someone to blame and someone to feel superior to.
If one interacts on social media or in groups, the only reason I see to engage racist bigots is for the benefit of the more timid bystanders who not only could be swayed but may already share our views (the truth with facts) yet need ways to explain it.
soldierant
(6,857 posts)unless you are having the conversation in isolation.
underpants
(182,791 posts)But thats just me.
jmbar2
(4,878 posts)dchill
(38,485 posts)rickyhall
(4,889 posts)PortTack
(32,762 posts)wnylib
(21,447 posts)George Will tries to imitate him.
Wounded Bear
(58,648 posts)is the depth and longevity of the problem. Europe had been cultivating anti-Semitism for centuries. Hitler and his NAZIs merely capitalized on and amplified the hatreds and prejudices that already existed in Germany and throughout Europe since Christianity attained supremacy.
In the US, disrespect and hatred of Blacks "only" has about 400 years of background, but it is ingrained and permeates society and much of religion.
Tough fights ahead.
dugog55
(296 posts)He has become fed up with Washington politics and rich people in general, he gets enlightened, then goes on a binge before this interview.
jmbar2
(4,878 posts)Gotta check it out now. Thanks.
IronLionZion
(45,434 posts)everyone fucking everyone until we're all the same color
Haggard Celine
(16,844 posts)"Just get rid of 'em all."
NoMoreRepugs
(9,418 posts)Glaisne
(515 posts)but
"There was a time in America when conservative meant, In favor of moving toward a better country, but doing it slowly and cautiously.
I think that is largely a myth. Yes maybe some regular folks did, but never the power brokers, the media and business leaders, politicians and party operatives where always fascist and white supremacist. Their goal has always been to make this country into a theocratic, white supremacist, fascist state, more so as time went on until it fully is so today including the majority of their base.
Conservative by definition means a slow move forward. Now, sometimes (often) the label is used to include people who want no change or even reactionary change. Often, in our past, that coincided with white supremacy, but not always as a primary tenet and sometimes it was authoritarian (or even fascistic in a modern sense) but not always. Eisenhower was conservative but he wasn't fascistic. I suspect he was culturally a white supremacist but not as an ideological force.
The current conservative movement (so called) is holding on to, and using, a term because it is comfortable for them and others, but it is now firmly reactionary (MAGA). It certainly has fascistic overtones and runs the risk of being overwhelmed by that. You can see that slide in American republican presidents -- Hoover, Eisenhower, Nixon, (Ford), Reagan, HW, (a bit of a blip in some ways), W, and then Trump. I believe they are believers, but I also think some of this is grift.
Now, why regular Americans are drawn to it -- that's another issue.
calimary
(81,238 posts)Still staunch Hillary supporter here and I did NOT enjoy having a-certain-other-candidate-who-wasnt-Hillary jammed down my throat as relentlessly as I felt Thom Hartmann was trying to do. So I stopped listening to him.
But reading his essays and analysis now is good, and thought-provoking. He makes some very valid points here about the GOP and its dreams of white supremacy.
But then again, thats really about all they have left. The societal mixing, merging, moving and relocation, intermarriage, and everything else that happens in a living, breathing, NON-static environment - all of those dynamics are horrifying to the white community that basically got used to unchallenged dominance and doesnt want to have to share power.
Well, shit! Theres this thing called evolution. Things EVOLVE! NOTHING stays the same. Things CHANGE! And with changing times, you have to be able to adapt. And you have to be WILLING to acknowledge that changing reality. And adapt. And as the dinosaurs found out long ago, its Adapt, or Die.
And seems to me, the problem for the GOP is - they want EVERYTHING and EVERYBODY ELSE to adapt - to THEIR wishes and THEIR idea of the social construct while they stay static and dont have to change or adapt. And they dont seem interested in even acknowledging a need to evolve and adapt.
But theyre on the wrong side of evolution dynamics. And that will inevitably align their future with that of the dinosaurs.
Nature is a hard task-master. And its always in motion, evolving and changing. But the GOP
likes it like they think they remember it. And they dont want to have to change, much less relinquish their perception of their divine right to be dominant. WE like it this way. This is the way it SHOULD be. We dont want to change. And we shouldnt have to. YOU change to suit how WE want it to be.
And that aint the way it works! Nature doesnt follow mankinds dictates. Sorry, GOP. Its the OTHER WAY AROUND.
Adapt or die.
Roc2020
(1,615 posts)Most whites do not want to give up their position. And most blacks and people of color will not bow anymore. This dilemma is what is destroying America,
Initech
(100,068 posts)Which has an almost Nazi-esque tone to it. Scary to think about how this could end.
CaptainTruth
(6,589 posts)Do they think minorities are treated badly or something?
llashram
(6,265 posts)this "replacement fear" of white American 21st-century republiKKKans and others. I see a manifest surge in the killing of POC and liberal/progressive allies of all stripes by all manner of authority used by state agents. IF the power of the reichwing is again achieved in our governmental structure at the national level this solution will become their raison d'etre'. Kill as many POC for whatever reason. Whether Trayvon Martin/Zimmerman, wrong place, wrong time, wrong colour. Michael Brown, jaywalking. 17-year-old Kenosha kid with a deadly weapon(large mag rifle). Sandra Bland, failure to use turn signal and being too uppity with white cops, and the latest in a very long line of executions, hangings and murder/killings of POC. Mr Floyd and Derek Chauvin. The victim and the police executioner/murderer on trial now.
Trump unleashed the very primal tribal/racial animosity that has always bubbled right under the cultural patchwork that is Americans and America. The racist rightwing and their allies will always have their Slavery Era mentality. Always fighting the Civil War of 1860-65.
All patriotic Americans I see have one choice, counter racism as to what it is, undemocratic, unequal and viciously lethal and deadly with any tool available.
BobTheSubgenius
(11,563 posts)That MTG looks like she'll cruise to re-election is nothing short of berserk. The best hope, ATM, is that she views that ridiculous treasure chest of contributions as her personal property, diverts some of it to whatever bizarre use she sees as important, and gets caught.
Given enough years in Congress, I'd bet my bottom dollar she'll do that eventually.
Aviation Pro
(12,165 posts)Meet the new supremacy, same as the old supremacy.
Botany
(70,501 posts)... his Presidential campaign in Nashoba County Mississippi by talking about "state's rights."
Sogo
(4,986 posts)that GOP-led states are secretly spending huge sums on execution drugs....
Think about it....Who is it that is more likely than not to be the ones on death row....POC. Who is it the GOP fears being replaced by....POC.
Biophilic
(3,651 posts)My DNA is so lily white that it's kind of depressing. Nothing but Northern European and British Isle. Sad. I always though wanted to have more pizazz in my heritage. More color, more music, more diversity of thinking. For me, the bottom line is that each of us individuals, whatever our color, will eventually die. But our thoughts, our philosophies, our impact on others and our earth will continue on in some form. Those are the things we should be fighting for; the importance of community and caring, the belief that each of us is created equal and deserve to be treated equally, the knowledge that life is sacred and worth supporting in all forms. Who cares what color the individual is, it's the thoughts that matter. Sigh. I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but I just don't get it.
dalton99a
(81,482 posts)Mr. Scorpio
(73,631 posts)A clear analysis of the problem indeed
LiberalLovinLug
(14,173 posts)CrackityJones75
(2,403 posts)These people are afraid of EVERYTHING that isnt exaclty like them and fear that they will be diminished if anyone else is treated with dignity and respect.
NEOBuckeye
(2,781 posts)White supremacists have bigger worries than being replaced by black, brown and yellow people. Their own genetic inbreeding is making them stupider with each generation.
ancianita
(36,053 posts)today I donated $250 to Sgt. Marcus Flowers. I'll be donating more in the next year.
No doubt Greene's district has die-hards with fears of being replaced.
But Flowers needs a real shot at convincing those people that equality is not zero-sum.
I hope Daryl Davis works with Flowers to allay their fears.
If he can do it for 200 KKK members, perhaps he can do it for enough voters in Greene's district to give Flowers a shot.
https://www.npr.org/2017/08/20/544861933/how-one-man-convinced-200-ku-klux-klan-members-to-give-up-their-robes
FakeNoose
(32,637 posts)Not necessarily a white supremacist, but could very well be that also.
I've learned to never give them the benefit of the doubt. I always assume the worst and let them prove to me that they are better than that. When I do that I'm never disappointed. When it comes to Repukes my low opinion is almost always correct.
peppertree
(21,627 posts)We've seen it in Argentina (Macri), France (Le Pen), Hungary (Orban), Poland (Duda), Spain (Abascal), the U.K. (Farage), and in the U.S. (His Orangeness).
And no matter how clownish, sooner or later they do usually succeed in coming to power - such that they should always be taken seriously.
elleng
(130,895 posts)Theres nothing white people can do to stop this trend.
Thus, white Americans in the GOP (the vast majority of the Party) are facing a stark choice.
They can go down yelling and screaming and take a lot of lives with them, tearing this country apart pursuing their Lost Cause.
Or, they can start working for a country that actually realizes the vision of Americas founding promise, that All men are created equal.'
vercetti2021
(10,156 posts)They'll die trying to kill everyone that doesn't think like them before before accepting reality.
elleng
(130,895 posts)((Hope you're OK.))
vercetti2021
(10,156 posts)Still having pains. But I'll get over it soon. Thank you tor for asking
elleng
(130,895 posts)vercetti2021
(10,156 posts)I really am
Boomerproud
(7,952 posts)Edwcraig
(290 posts)The three pillars of the Republican Party, in order of adoption, are greed, racism and abortion. The word conservative has always been just a mask to deceive.
Submariner
(12,504 posts)since his Nixon days. He would speak of it frequently on the now defunct The McLaughlin report.