The Orange EmbarrASSment has taken off the hood (so to speak) of the Southern Strategy. For the past half century,the Republican Party “sort of” kept this smoldering pile under wraps (or their robes?).
However, the current occupant of the White House has seen fit to overtly display racism, to the utterly “deplorable” delight of far too many “Americans” who have chafed at this bit for so long.
Let’s take a look back at the more reserved racism of that bygone era (circa 1981), in the immortal (though sanitized) words of GOP strategist Lee Atwater:
You start out in 1954 by saying, “N-, n-, n-.” By 1968 you can’t say “n-”—that hurts you, backfires. So you say stuff like, uh, forced busing, states’ rights, and all that stuff, and you’re getting so abstract. Now, you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is, blacks get hurt worse than whites.… “We want to cut this,” is much more abstract than even the busing thing, uh, and a hell of a lot more abstract than “N-, n-.”
The current occupant of the White House is purveying the updated version of our original sin, to fuel and fester the divisions among us.
This is the water and this is the well. Drink full and descend.
Over some damn fine cherry pie and coffee at Norma’s?