the Republican Party has changed since 2005. It has become the vehicle for white identity politics.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/29/opinion/trump-identity-politics.html
"...the Republican Party has changed since 2005. It has become the vehicle for white identity politics. In 2005 only six percent of Republicans felt that whites faced “a great deal” of discrimination, the same number of Democrats who felt this. By 2016, the percentage of Republicans who felt this had tripled.
Recent surveys suggest that roughly 47 percent of Republicans are what you might call conservative universalists and maybe 40 percent are what you might call conservative white identitarians. White universalists believe in conservative principles and think they apply to all people and their white identity is not particularly salient to them. White identitarians are conservative, but their white identity is quite important to them, sometimes even more important than their conservatism.
.....identity politics on the right is at least as corrosive as identity politics on the left, probably more so. If you reduce the complex array of identities that make up a human being into one crude ethno-political category, you’re going to do violence to yourself and everything around you.
Second, it is wrong to try to make a parallel between Black Lives Matter and White Lives Matter. To pretend that these tendencies are somehow comparable is to ignore American history and current realities.
Third, white identity politics as it plays out in the political arena is completely noxious. Donald Trump is the maestro here. He established his political identity through birtherism, he won the Republican nomination on the Muslim ban, he campaigned on the Mexican wall, he governed by being neutral on Charlottesville and pardoning the racialist Joe Arpaio.
Each individual Republican is now compelled to embrace this garbage or not. The choice is unavoidable, and white resentment is bound to define Republicanism more and more in the months ahead. It’s what Trump cares about. The identity warriors on the left will deface statues or whatever and set up mutually beneficial confrontations with the identity warriors on the right. Things will get uglier.
And this is where the dissolution of the G.O.P. comes in. Conservative universalists are coming to realize their party has become a vehicle for white identity and racial conflict. This faction is prior to and deeper than Trump."
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"white identity politics as it plays out in the political arena is completely noxious. Donald Trump is the maestro here. He established his political identity through birtherism, he won the Republican nomination on the Muslim ban, he campaigned on the Mexican wall, he governed by being neutral on Charlottesville and pardoning the racialist Joe Arpaio."
Good news I guess this means the Republican Party does a better job of representing white people than Democrats.
Each individual Republican is now compelled to embrace this garbage or not.
You guys are libertarian so I guess you don't have any choice.
This is more accurate:
Good news I guess this means the Republican Party does a better job of representing white people supremacists than Democrats. But I almost wonder if you think that that means Clinton's much larger numbers from most of the other non-white voters don't count. Oh, wait, that is the whole lie behind the voter fraud scam that republicans have been pushing even since Obama crushed his opponents.
I thought that was the Dem screed after they got trumped?
I love articles that prove the left are still clueless as to their loss and haven't the slightest clue or inclination of how to pull their heads out of their collective asses. Keep em cummin' sparkly!
The writer is a center-right republican.
David Brooks (born August 11, 1961)[1] is a conservative[2][3] American author as well as political and cultural commentator who writes for The New York Times.[4]
I love article by conservatives that prove that not all conservatives are clueless devotees of the idiot Trump. (I feel sad when I read comments from conservatives who apparently don't have a clue. It makes me wonder where their heads are at?)
Good article John! Do keep 'em coming!
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p.s. The actual title of the article is:
"How Trump Kills The G.O.P."
He endorsed Obama and Clinton.
It's like citing Sheriff Clarke as a liberal Democrat.
But as he and David Frum figured out, there's a long career working for liberal media as the "Republican" who always parrots Democratic talking points and supports Democratic candidates, but still call themselves republicans.
That's one way to look at it I suppose. Or you might consider that some conservatives can still be conservatives and not like the candidates their party picks for them. Like a lot of Democrats who didn't like Hillary, so voted for somebody else or didn't vote at all.
Just because someone is a Conservative does not mean they have to be a Straight Line Republican voter. Particularly true for writers who obviously think for themselves and don't allow others to tell them how to think or how to vote.
Just saying, that before drinking the Kool-Aid the smart person tries to find out what's really in it first.
This passes both the common sense and eye tests.
Spot on.
Silly article. False equivalency is an easy fallacy.
Forgive me but I don't agree with the premise.
For the last 3 or 4 decades, the major motivator for the GOP is enhancing the well being of the top 1/10th of 1% at any cost. The rest is a smokescreen including this "white identity" politics. In truth, the GOP leadership doesn't care about that very much.
I realize the current narrative is that anyone who is a Republican or voted for Trump is a racist. I think we all know some of them are. But I know so many who are not and voted for Trump for other reasons. The biggest reason I saw was fundamental distrust and dislike of Clinton.
I also know lots of liberals I would regard as racist. You can't just say you're not racist you have to live it. Most liberals I know have no associations with people of color at all except for that black friend or co-worker they go through pains to point out. I lived for a number of years in a city with a very integrated neighborhood and we lived there (if we're honest) because it was affordable. Actually we all got along quite well.
So in sum, the narrative that all conservatives are racist and all liberals are not doesn't work for me. At minimum, the world is a lot more complex than that.
And if we want to attack the GOP and we should, it should be by class not by race or any of these other things the GOP is more than happy to get us to fight over to avoid the elephant in the room - widening income and worsening income inequality.
Oh and one more point - if the Democrats actually want to win an election, they should try talking to working class and poor white people to get them onboard for better jobs and a bigger slice of the pie. Instead of treating them with contempt and calling them racists. That would help.
markpup,
For the last 3 or 4 decades, the major motivator for the GOP is enhancing the well being of the top 1/10th of 1% at any cost. The rest is a smokescreen including this "white identity" politics. In truth, the GOP leadership doesn't care about that very much.
Exactly.
GOP leadership needs foot-soldiers -- the Unthinking FaithfulTM -- and must throw them the occasional bone to keep them happy.
Identity politics, and even low-grade support for White supremacists / neo-Nazis / Joe Arpaio / et-cetera... is of no intrinsic interest to Paul Ryan or Mitch McConnell. They work for the Koch brothers and ExxonMobil... and that's all they really care about.
Well, darn, someone has to represent us!