BBO Discussion Forums: Has U.S. Democracy Been Trumped? - BBO Discussion Forums

Forrest Day has been a holiday in Tennessee since 1921 and a special day of observation since 1969. You want a Republican governor to end the hate? People in hell want ice water.

I recognize that I live under a rock for the most part, but I've lived in TN since 1993 with a 10-year hiatus in Texas after college and half a year in California recently. I consider myself a Tennessean, as I think most would.

I've never heard of this Forrest guy.

I recognize that I live under a rock for the most part, but I've lived in TN since 1993 with a 10-year hiatus in Texas after college and half a year in California recently. I consider myself a Tennessean, as I think most would.

I've never heard of this Forrest guy.

“These are people that hate our country,” said Trump during a Made in America event on manufacturing at the White House. “They hate our country. They hate it, I think, with a passion.”

Famous confederate during the Civil War.
Widely considered as one of the best cavalry commanders ever.

Better know as a founder of the KKK and as the perpetrator of the Fort Pillow Massacre

Having a background of living in T-states like Tennessee and Texas, you probably couldn't see the Forrest for the Ts.

So interesting to see “Progressive” Democrat Congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world (if they even have a functioning government at all), now loudly and viciously telling the people of the United States, the greatest and most powerful Nation on earth, how our government is to be run. Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came. Then come back and show us how it is done. These places need your help badly, you can’t leave fast enough. I’m sure that Nancy Pelosi would be very happy to quickly work out free travel arrangements!

His real estate company tried to avoid renting apartments to African-American tenants. He described “laziness” as “a trait in blacks.” He called for five black and Latino teenagers to be executed — and then insisted on their guilt even after DNA evidence proved their innocence.

He rose to prominence in the Republican Party by questioning the citizenship of the first black president. He launched his presidential campaign by saying Mexican immigrants were “rapists.” His political organization created a television advertisement that Fox News pulled for being too racist.

He frequently criticizes prominent African-Americans for being unpatriotic, ungrateful, disrespectful or unintelligent. He mocks Native Americans and uses anti-Semitic stereotypes. He retweets white nationalists. He said that a violent white supremacist march included some “very fine people.” He regularly appoints people with a history of racist comments.

And over the weekend, he told four nonwhite members of Congress — all citizens, of course, and three of them born in the United States — to “go back” to where they came from.

President Trump doesn’t just make racist comments. He is a racist. He’s proven it again and again, over virtually his entire time as a public figure. His bigotry is a core part of his worldview, and it’s been central to his political rise.

Anyone who claims otherwise — like Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin; Senator Steve Daines of Montana; Marc Short, the vice president’s chief of staff; and his fanboys in the BBO WC — is simply enabling his hate. (Mnuchin now has a pattern of defending racism, as a way of pleasing his boss.)

For a list of Trump’s racist statements — first compiled in 2018 and updated this week — go here. If you think we missed any, email me at leonhardt@nytimes.com.

Seven years ago I wrote a piece for Democracy about where political trends would take us by 2024. Here’s one bit:

Quote

That’s all I said in that particular piece, but in other posts where I had more space I still mostly failed to grapple with the obvious conclusion of my own reasoning. I figured there was a limit to what Republicans could do. They could pack-and-crack congressional districts. They could squeeze a little more turnout out of evangelicals and older whites. Fox News could run its endless “scary black folks” segments. State legislatures could pass photo ID laws designed to suppress black voter turnout.

But they were running out of options. The last item in that list is a good example of what influenced my thinking. The truth is that photo ID laws have only a tiny influence on presidential elections. It turns out that most people who lack photo IDs aren’t likely to vote in the first place, and loud pushback from liberals offset some of the losses anyway. What’s more, photo ID laws were passed only in states with total Republican control, and by definition those are states that are mostly safe Republican havens to start with. The fact that Republicans put so much energy into this project only showed how desperate they were. There just wasn’t much left for them to do in the face of demographic changes that were reducing the size of their white base by a point or two every election cycle.

For what it’s worth, this was mostly the conclusion of Republicans themselves, too. The famous post-election autopsy written by the Republican National Committee after Mitt Romney’s 2012 loss, said this:

In 1980, exit polls tell us that the electorate was 88 percent white. In 2012, it was 72 percent white….According to the Pew Hispanic Center, in 2050, whites will be 47 percent of the country….The Republican Party must be committed to building a lasting relationship within the African American community year-round, based on mutual respect and with a spirit of caring.

But there was always a glaring problem with this strategy, one that everybody was keenly aware of: reaching out to black voters would only work if Republicans also ceased their tolerance of white bigotry. In other words, they’d almost certainly lose votes on a net basis at first, which would mean handing over the presidency—and maybe much more—to Democrats for upwards of a decade or so. That’s just too big a sacrifice for any political party to make.

So instead they took another route: they went after the white vote even harder. In Donald Trump they found a candidate who wasn’t afraid to appeal to racist sentiment loudly and bluntly, something that simply hadn’t occurred to other Republicans. They never thought they could get away with something like this in the 21st century, and normally they would have been right: it would have lost them as many votes among educated whites as it won them among working-class whites. But after eight years of a black president in the White House, racial tensions were ratcheted up just enough that Trump could get away with it. Only by a hair, and only with plenty of other help, but he did get away with it, losing 10 points of support among college-educated whites but gaining 14 points among working-class whites.

The entire Republican Party is now all-in on this strategy. They mostly stay quiet themselves and let Trump himself do the dirty work, but that’s enough. Nobody talks anymore about reaching out to the black community with a spirit of caring or any other spirit. Nor is there anything the rest of us can do about this. Republicans believe that wrecking the fabric of the country is their only hope of staying in power, and they’re right. If working-class whites abandon them even a little bit, they’re toast.

So all we can do is try to crush them. What other options are there? Reactionary American whites, as always, won’t give up their power unless it’s taken from them by either a literal or figurative war. Liberals need to be as Lincolnesque as possible in this endeavor—we don’t have to win the votes of unrepentent bigots, just the fretful fence-sitters—but we also need to be Lincolnesque in our commitment to winning America’s latest race war.

I hope all of the conservatives that post on BBF will take the time and effort to castigate this. It should quite frankly be unacceptable to all Americans.

Colbert thought since Trump enjoys complaining so much, he might benefit from taking his own advice. “If someone's leaving the country, it should be you,” said Colbert, adding, “And if you're looking for a new home, might I suggest you go to hell.”

It is right to point out that 3 of the 4 Congresswomen alluded to in this tweet were born in the USA. It is surely not about immigrant families generally given that his wife was not born in the USA and his grandfather in Germany, so it is absolutely clear that this is open racism. I hope all of the conservatives that post on BBF will take the time and effort to castigate this. It should quite frankly be unacceptable to all Americans.

I've fact-checked every word Trump has uttered since his inauguration. I can tell you that if this President relays an anecdote in which he has someone referring to him as "sir," then some major component of the anecdote is very likely to be wrong.

187-4. That's the margin by which House Republicans voted against the House resolution condemning Trump's racist remarks.
It's all out in the open now - the fight to keep America white. And I don't know what can save this country.

I think these latest racist outbursts by the president are actually working against him. He looks and sounds like a raving lunatic and that only appeals to the hardcore right.

‘We will never be a Socialist or Communist Country. IF YOU ARE NOT HAPPY HERE, YOU CAN LEAVE! It is your choice, and your choice alone. This is about love for America. Certain people HATE our Country…They are anti-Israel, pro Al-Qaeda, and comment on the 9/11 attack, “some people did something.” Radical Left Democrats want Open Borders, which means drugs, crime, human trafficking, and much more. Our Country is Free, Beautiful and Very Successful. If you hate our Country, or if you are not happy here, you can leave!’

I keep hoping Boeing will donate two 737 Max airplanes to be used immediately as Air Force 1 and Air Force 2.

If you don’t like what’s happening in America, here’s where you can go: to the ballot box. And commit to register a new voter everyday to go w/ you!

Arend, you are in Edinburgh Scotland. Please tell us how your government has dealt with the massive influx of Central Americans into your country. We welcome your insight.