Sunday, January 31, 2016

The Hate Decathlon

Trump's pandering to the haters knows no bounds.  He has now taken a stance against marriage equality, so that adds another category to his list of targets.  Let's take a look at the completed events in his Hate competition:

Tis no wonder that white supremacists are some of his biggest fans.  Of course, #notallTrumpsupporters are racists, but Trump has been making racism a key part of his campaign.  So, voting for him means that one is at least tolerant of racism, if not an out-and-out racist. 

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is Trump the source or the symptom of racism in America?

There are some who'd maintain that, far from generating this virulent racism, Trump's political speech has merely lifted the lid off a pot that has been simmering for some time.

Anonymous said...

Indeed. This sentiment was always there; the question is why (aside from narcissism) has Trump been so willing to exploit it and risk the consequences.

You can also argue that it was inevitable (a lot of people thought, not wrongly, that it would be Cruz leading the 'insurgency', not Trump). Compare the electoral college map of, say, the 1988 presidential election and 2008. The GOP lost multiple Northern blue/purple states which acted as a moderating force for post-1964 conservatism. Add a military, economic and environmental crisis which undermined Republican ideology, the first African-American in the White House, and an RNC leadership willing to abandon realistic policy discussion for a full-blown emphasis on cultural identity (aiding the Tea Party and associated movements), what's the result? Core GOP voters who are motivated by a single purpose: to embrace the discriminatory attitudes which provided the basis of the US' worst historical moments.

If Trump wins the Iowa caucus, the resulting freakout will be for various reasons, but don't forget this one, Steve - that right-wingers can no longer make excuses as to why minority voters ceased to support them. This FUBAR is of their own making. (And the following link will be a vital document for political scientists for decades to come: http://bit.ly/1RkVHfS)