Let's make fun of Trump, bash him, etc. while we can!

[Bob Butler 54]

(10-10-2016, 09:48 PM)taramarie Wrote: Thoughts?

The above video is spot on.  The civil rights and political correctness movements have made it improper to openly express racism.  (It would also seem that sexism isn't far away when racism is present.)  While the racism has been forced undercover, while it hasn't been expressed as openly over the last 40 years, it didn't go away.  

Racism has been a foundation of GOP economics as well.  The Democrat's War on Poverty was perceived of as taxing the many to buy black urban votes...  and not without reason.  The LBJ era Democrats were quite blatant about buying black votes.  The Republican rejection of any sort of entitlement program intended to relive urban problems grew out of the racism talked about in the above video.  It's a significant part of the Southern Strategy.

CBS ran a few polls of their own recently.  78% of the voters in Pennsylvania backing Trump and 75% of the voters in Ohio backing Trump say "ending political correctness" is one reason they are backing him.  "Ending political correctness" is a not so subtle code phrase for returning to the sort of open racism routinely practiced by Trump.  

I'd add that trickle down economics has been a failure under both Bushes, but it has been and will remain a staple of Republican policy.  Supply side is an extension of the idea that rural whites should not be taxed to provide money for urban blacks.  It is obvious that supply side is a failure, but the racist motivations remain and sustain the push to maintain the policy.

I'm not saying that every Republican is working primarily from racist and sexist motivation, and I wouldn't go as far as Hillary's 50% number, but there are a lot of deplorable people in the GOP.

When talking about spirals of violence, I have noted that the active spiral of violence is centered around Black Lives Matter opposing a racist justice system.  Again, not every cop is deplorable, but there are enough deplorable cops to be a significant problem.  If I believed in wishful thinking, I'd want more focus on economics, less on legal equality, but the legal equality questions are life and death, and are thus more the focus of the spiral of violence.

But the economic and policy aspects of racism are tied together at a level that a lot of people don't want to talk about, don't want to think about.

If Trump has done anything positive it's that folks are going to have to talk about it.  When racism, sexism and Southern Strategy were left in the shadows and silence with a wink and a nod, the Republicans could pretend to be a respectable main line party.  I don't know at this point if it can stay in the shadows and silence.  Trump has shown that openly racist and sexist demagogues can win Republican primaries.  It looks like they can't win the presidency, they can't win a national election with both Democrats and Republicans voting, but they can win Republican primaries.  In rural areas, they can then win the general election for congress or state offices.

So, what is the GOP going to be?  Will Trump style overt open racism and / or sexism become the norm?  I doubt open sexism will fly.  Few among the GOP will want to abandon the white female vote.  That's why the Billy Bush - Trump tape was rejected by a lot of Establishment GOP.  While insulting other minorities was perfectly acceptable, it is absolutely key to keep at least some of the women's vote.  Still, I expect a conflict between 'establishment' GOP who keep the Southern Strategy subtle and unspoken, and a more overt Trump style open pursuit of the deplorable vote.