I have read and re-read since 2016 a particular contribution back then to a WaPo series on the Obama legacy. The author of that article, Peniel Joseph, is a professor of history and director of the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy and the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas. From the wrap of his piece:
What strikes me now is that we did not --maybe even could not-- imagine just four years ago quite the depths to which a subsequent US president, Donald Trump, not only could but would sink in seeking to stir pots of racism, xenophobia and inequality of opportunity, rather than attempt to help us all try together to examine and to overcome the impact of systemic attitudes that undermine us as a nation.
Further, it never occurred to me that any US President would seek to associate his own party publicly and firmly with the extreme views of white supremacists, much less that the Republicans who supported his nomination --some perhaps reluctantly and because their demographic base of support was shrinking-- would eventually not only tolerate but embrace Trump's divisiveness in the name of "so much winning".
And now on the eve of a presidential election four years later, where are the voices of Republican officials beholding these Trump caravans and their intimidating "road rallies"? When does free speech in the USA become incitement to violence?
Shall we ask a newly packed Supreme Court to weigh in on that? Hell no, they're too busy with "emergency" requests by the GOP in assorted counties and states to support dubiously legal attempts to suppress legitimate absentee voting and vote-counting during the time of the coronavirus.
If there was ever a time for Republican members of the House and Senate to distance themselves not only from that white supremacist base but from the Divider in Chief, then this past weekend and the one day remaining before Election Day are in that window of time. But one hears not much of anything from Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy, and only crude tweets of encouragement from Trump himself. This version of the Republican Party deserves a blue tsunami in lieu of a decent burial.
