excellent Eugene Robinson op-ed on Trump and racism

[MBS]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/george-wallace-would-have-been-proud-of-trumps-latest-rally/2019/07/18/cc76dc5e-a997-11e9-9214-246e594de5d5_story.html?

When the racist chant began Wednesday night — “Send her back! Send her back!” — President Trump paused to let the white-supremacist anger he had stoked wash over him. George Wallace would have been so proud. That moment at a Trump campaign rally in North Carolina was the most chilling I’ve seen in American politics since the days of Wallace and the other die-hard segregationists. Egged on by the president of the United States, the crowd was calling for a duly elected member of Congress — Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), a black woman born in Somalia — to be banished from the country because Trump disapproves of her views. . . .

The 2018 midterm election, which saw a Democratic blue wave that flipped control of the House, gave a clear sense of what voters think about the Trump presidency. Despite the lies he frequently tells on Twitter about his approval ratings, they have never reached 50 percent.Trump has to know his reelection bid is in trouble, and he is already in what looks like panic mode.He has never made a serious effort to expand his base. Instead, he seeks to inflame it. Trump no longer pretends to be the voice of forgotten working-class Americans. He has become the voice of insecure white Americans, whom he encourages to resent foreigners, immigrants and uppity minorities. His border policy — separating babies from their mothers, putting children in cages — is the fulfillment of an ugly revenge fantasy. Cruelty isn’t an unfortunate byproduct of Trump’s crackdown on asylum seekers. It’s the whole point. . . .

. . .Trump’s message to his aging, white base is clear: This is the future you should fear. These are the people you should hate.The Republican Party goes along meekly as the president struts around like a dime-store Mussolini. As for Democrats and independents, history teaches us that the way to deal with hateful demagoguery is not to ignore it, not to downplay it, not to hope it somehow exhausts itself, but to confront it. .Trump’s fomenting of hate has to be called out. It has to be denounced. It has to be resisted

Democratic presidential candidates need to realize that elaborate policy positions are necessary but not sufficient. Trump is a bully who will push and push and push. The Democratic Party is unlikely — and would be unwise — to nominate someone too timid to push back. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) needs to rethink her strategy, as well. I know she understands how much is at stake. I know she worries that impeachment may be a trap.But if Trump is going to preside over what amount to white-power rallies, the time for measured restraint is past. The next 16 months must be a referendum on Trump’s weaponized racism. The answer must be a resounding no.

[Mc Mike]

1. Dime-store Mussolini, to be sure. Rec, thanks, Nt.

[Marcuse]

2. The Republican playbook.

[MBS]

5. Oh yes, definitely not new.

Just much more flagrant and blatant now. Hopefully, Trump and his enablers represent the end-stage, terminal condition of this 40-50 year old GOP disease. But we’ve still got to fight like hell to make sure that we win the fight over this disease in 2020.

[Timmygoat]

3. Excellent article

I hope we can follow his advice.

[Duppers]

4. Confront it.

"...the way to deal with hateful demagoguery is not to ignore it, not to downplay it, not to hope it somehow exhausts itself, but to confront it..."
=
Impeachment investigations.

[hlthe2b]

6. I love Eugene. I always pause to listen when he is on a panel discussion.

[MBS]

10. Me, too.

Consistently, one of my favorites, both in print and on television.

[Skittles]

11. he is indeed outstanding

[murielm99]

7. Dimestore Mussolini.

Perfect.

[Farmer-Rick]

8. Racism, Sexism and Pedophilia

Those are the 3 pillars of his base.

[secondwind]

9. Hell, yes.