The psychological cover is disappearing in the GOP for the people who were able in the past to convince themselves they weren't really racist, they just like the R policies. They had a black friend, they hired a couple black folks, they liked Motown music, they liked Soul Food......ya know, how could they be racist? Now it is evident tha…
The psychological cover is disappearing in the GOP for the people who were able in the past to convince themselves they weren't really racist, they just like the R policies. They had a black friend, they hired a couple black folks, they liked Motown music, they liked Soul Food......ya know, how could they be racist? Now it is evident that none of that horseshit ever seriously mattered.
The inability in this country do deal with the deadly menace of White Supremacy has and will continue to be the original sin.
The most insidious forms of racism are the ones we cannot see. Sure, your next door neighbor cracks racist jokes, but he's basically just a jerk. The dangerous racists are the ones who hold political power and have the ability to oppress people on a large scale - by gerrymandering, deciding what shouldn't be taught in schools, ending social welfare programs etc. And Trump is a perfect example of a bigot with Black friends and a Jewish son-in-law.
This may sound strange, but I'm not sure Trump has the capacity to truly be racist. I expect it takes a certain amount of consistency and coherence to be an effective racist. Trump is so transactional that any racist tendencies (who knows, perhaps imparted by his father) probably just flit around in his brain along with everything else in his skull. Dogwhistling (or even being explicit about it) to his base works, so he does it. That simple. This view also explains your point about the company he sometimes keeps.
An argument could be made that Trump's extreme pathological narcissism almost guarantees that he's racist. We're talking about a dipshit who appears to actually believe he's a product of superior genetics because his uncle was a physicist of some acclaim at MIT.
Heh, yeah, could be. Maybe he thinks he's the (singular) ubermensch, a rather unique form of racism.
In any event, the whole point here was to try to understand motivations. When I know *why* a politician does what they do, it helps me understand what they are (un)likely to do in the future. And, yep, it's all very speculative. However, there is circumstantial evidence available.
Nonsense. It doesn't take any mental acumen whatsoever to be a racist, which is why one of the best weapons against it is education. What the hell is an "effective racist" anyway? Trump took out full page ads accusing Obama of not being an American citizen, was that not effective enough? He also wanted to ban Muslims from entering the US. I doubt you're remembering even a small amount of Trump's racist history.
I think I see the issue. You're using the term to mean acts that align with what a racist would do. I tend toward the dictionary definition, to describe a person's disposition (including intent). BTW, you'll note I did not suggest acumen was needed.
I do recall most of Trump's awful behavior. My best guess is that he did the things you mentioned because he thought it would wind up his base.
Perhaps you're now thinking 'OK, so what? What's the diff?'. The point is understanding how Trump and other GOP politicians operate. Know thy enemy and so forth.
The psychological cover is disappearing in the GOP for the people who were able in the past to convince themselves they weren't really racist, they just like the R policies. They had a black friend, they hired a couple black folks, they liked Motown music, they liked Soul Food......ya know, how could they be racist? Now it is evident that none of that horseshit ever seriously mattered.
The inability in this country do deal with the deadly menace of White Supremacy has and will continue to be the original sin.
The most insidious forms of racism are the ones we cannot see. Sure, your next door neighbor cracks racist jokes, but he's basically just a jerk. The dangerous racists are the ones who hold political power and have the ability to oppress people on a large scale - by gerrymandering, deciding what shouldn't be taught in schools, ending social welfare programs etc. And Trump is a perfect example of a bigot with Black friends and a Jewish son-in-law.
This may sound strange, but I'm not sure Trump has the capacity to truly be racist. I expect it takes a certain amount of consistency and coherence to be an effective racist. Trump is so transactional that any racist tendencies (who knows, perhaps imparted by his father) probably just flit around in his brain along with everything else in his skull. Dogwhistling (or even being explicit about it) to his base works, so he does it. That simple. This view also explains your point about the company he sometimes keeps.
An argument could be made that Trump's extreme pathological narcissism almost guarantees that he's racist. We're talking about a dipshit who appears to actually believe he's a product of superior genetics because his uncle was a physicist of some acclaim at MIT.
Heh, yeah, could be. Maybe he thinks he's the (singular) ubermensch, a rather unique form of racism.
In any event, the whole point here was to try to understand motivations. When I know *why* a politician does what they do, it helps me understand what they are (un)likely to do in the future. And, yep, it's all very speculative. However, there is circumstantial evidence available.
Nonsense. It doesn't take any mental acumen whatsoever to be a racist, which is why one of the best weapons against it is education. What the hell is an "effective racist" anyway? Trump took out full page ads accusing Obama of not being an American citizen, was that not effective enough? He also wanted to ban Muslims from entering the US. I doubt you're remembering even a small amount of Trump's racist history.
I think I see the issue. You're using the term to mean acts that align with what a racist would do. I tend toward the dictionary definition, to describe a person's disposition (including intent). BTW, you'll note I did not suggest acumen was needed.
I do recall most of Trump's awful behavior. My best guess is that he did the things you mentioned because he thought it would wind up his base.
Perhaps you're now thinking 'OK, so what? What's the diff?'. The point is understanding how Trump and other GOP politicians operate. Know thy enemy and so forth.