As
Mediaite reported, Trump responded by calling the Black commentator a
racist. By the way, this is a typical tactic used by white
detractors when called out on their racism.
Meanwhile,
Trump is the Great White Hope of the Republican Party and white
supremacists who want to “take their country back,” “make America great
again,” and all of those platitudes that act as stand-ins for
maintaining white privilege. As TPM reported,
a white nationalist super PAC (you did not misread that) called
American National Super PAC plans to blanket Iowa and New Hampshire
with robocalls.
“Whether
he is elected or not, his candidacy is a big factor in helping destroy
this middle-of-the-road Republican mindset,” said William Daniel
Johnson, chairman of the American Freedom Party and founder of the
American National Super PAC. The following is the full text of a
robocall sent to Iowa voters:
“The American National Super PAC makes this call to support Donald Trump.
‘My
name is Reverend Ronald Tan, host of the Christian radio talk show
program For God and Country. First Corinthians states: God chose the
foolish things of this world to shame the wise and God chose the weak
things of this world to shame the strong. For the Iowa caucuses, please
support Donald Trump. He is courageous and he speaks his mind. God
Bless.’
‘I’m
Jared Taylor with American Renaissance. I urge you to vote for Donald
Trump because he is the one candidate who points out that we should
accept immigrants who are good for America. We don’t need Muslims. We
need smart, well-educated white people who will assimilate to our
culture. Vote Trump.’
‘I
am William Johnson, a farmer and a white nationalist. Support Donald
Trump. I paid for this through the super PAC. [Telephone] (213)
718-3908. This call is not authorized by Donald Trump.'”
This
comes as the mainstream media treat the businessman and reality show
host-turned-politician like a celebrity, with invitations to appear on
news programs and the late-night talk-show circuit. Donald Trump
means ratings, and the media, at first reacting to him as a curiosity
and a form of entertainment, appears to take him seriously. And
at the current trajectory, he is poised to become the GOP nominee for
president.
Meanwhile,
the Republican Party establishment—having failed with Scott Walker, Jeb
Bush and their other empty-suit, milquetoast, corporate-shill
spokespeople—shake their heads in confusion, asking what they must do
to derail the Trump train. Well, the answer is staring them in
the face, but they won’t like it, because it would force them to
re-examine and reject the “Southern Strategy” that has handed them
electoral victories for 40 years. And as we know, horrible habits
are not easily shed.
After
all, the Republican Party has pursued a policy of attracting angry
white folks for years, harvesting their racial resentment over Black
people and the gains of the civil rights movement, and channeling that
negative energy into hatred of taxes and government programs.
This is how the GOP won over the South from the Democrats.
The only difference was that Republicans tended to seal the deal
through racially coded language and “dog-whistle” politics. Then came
the ascent of the Tea Party and Birther movements, the further exodus
of party moderates, and the more explicit targeting of the “other” in
the form of Obama, depicting him as their foreign, Muslim, Kenyan-born
boogeyman of an enemy. Trump is even more blatant and
confrontational through an unfiltered, direct appeal to poor,
uneducated whites and an express campaign of white-skin solidarity and
racial nationalism.
Trump
accomplishes the GOP endgame, but with a slight variation on the
methods. Winks and nods to racism now become the outright
targeting of Black and Brown people and calls for their marginalization
and expulsion. And yet, for the Republican Party elders to call
the candidate out on his racism is like the hood calling the
sheets white.
