Rolling Stone: Trump's Bigotry Is a Drug to Texas Republicans

[Miles Archer]

Trump's Bigotry Is a Drug to Texas Republicans

Trump's legacy in places like the Lone Star State could be the potent form of nativism he's peddling to conservatives
By Christopher Hooks June 21, 2016



When Donald Trump's stumbling campaign blew into Texas for a three-city tour last week, its literature described its second and last rally in the state as an event in Houston, one of the most diverse cities in the United States. But it wasn't. Trump's rally was held in The Woodlands, a too-clean and vaguely menacing compound of glass, steel and well-manicured lawns some 35 miles north of Houston's downtown.

Instead of a city council, The Woodlands, founded by George Mitchell, the pioneer of shale fracking, has an executive board. Residents of The Woodlands are more than 92 percent white. It's easy to see why Trump went there: The few protesters who drove in from out-of-town were easily kept in check by the horse cops providing picket defense for oil company headquarters and chain restaurants.

Trump's rallies and fundraisers in the state were chock-a-block with the color we've come to expect. He didn't make a lot of sense. He said some provocative things. He swore, and acted out. At a fundraiser in San Antonio, he was cornered by some donors who wanted him to walk back his trash-talking of NAFTA, and he told them, in essence, to shove it.

But the comical theatricality of Trump's visit obscured something more sinister. Texas used to be a slightly more welcoming place for immigrants, even undocumented ones. But anti-immigrant rhetoric, weaponized over the course of successive elections, has been ratcheting up. Nativism is a drug, and Trump and his greasy surrogates are offering right-wing Texas voters something closer to the uncut kind than anything they've had before. Now that the state's Republicans are embracing Trump, the risk is that even after he flops in November, they'll have to peddle it too.

[gordianot]

1. 9-10% lead in the polls could disappear in a twinkle.

What is obvious to you may not be obvious to Trump supporters. Trump gutting is not hard to do in the minds of those who despise him but remember how fickle public opinion changes from say one party convention to the next.
In the eyes of their core consistencies both Hillary and Trump can do no wrong and among other people some who believe they can do nothing right.
Trump is obviously cocaine to bigots and racist.

[BlackLivesMatter]

4. I'm not an expert in convention bounces, but +1 to this

Trump could get a major convention boost in 2 to 3 weeks, which may not be reversed come the DNC convention or the debates.

Now, why do some candidates get larger bounces than others, I don't know and I don't think anybody knows - including Nate Silver.

[L. Coyote]

2. This is why he is below 40% in the polls, he appeals to one minority only, redneck whites.

And he is dropping like a lead balloon this week.

[mountain grammy]

3. When my first husband, two sons, and I

moved to Texas in 1978, the Woodlands was "the place" to be. I refused to live there, much to my husband's dismay, and we moved to the Clear Lake City area. It was still pretty white, but more diverse and less conservative than the Woodlands. Yes, I can imagine Trump would be popular with the "Stepford" families of the Woodlands.

[KatyMan]

5. The Woodlands AKA the Whitelands...! n/t

[Gothmog]

6. Hopefully, Trump will do to Texas what Pete Wilson did to California