In 1968, candidate Richard Milhous Nixon, in his second bid for the presidency, came up with two strategies. First, he conceived of the Republican "southern strategy", betting that the Southern states of Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas, to name a few, that were dominated by southern-dixiecrat Senators, would be willing to cross party and vote for a Republican presidential candidate. He also highlighted the Republican "tough on crime" strategy. The two strategies, novel at the time, would send Nixon, Reagan, Bush, Bush, and Trump to the White House and would become the de facto strategies for Republican presidential candidates.
From Nixon's 1968 acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention:
The choice we make in 1968 will determine not only the future of America but the future of peace and freedom in the world for the last third of the Twentieth Century.
And the question that we answer tonight: can America meet this great challenge?
For a few moments, let us look at America, let us listen to America to find the answer to that question.
As we look at America, we see cities enveloped in smoke and flame.
We hear sirens in the night.
We see Americans dying on distant battlefields abroad.
We see Americans hating each other; fighting each other; killing each other at home.
And as we see and hear these things, millions of Americans cry out in anguish.
Did we come all this way for this?
Did American boys die in Normandy, and Korea, and in Valley Forge for this?
Listen to the answer to those questions.
It is another voice. It is the quiet voice in the tumult and the shouting.
It is the voice of the great majority of Americans, the forgotten Americans—the non-shouters; the non-demonstrators.
They are not racists or sick; they are not guilty of the crime that plagues the land.
So when did Republicans turn away from being the party of law and order and start applauding in ecstasy when their indicted presidential candidate calls for defunding the FBI, wants to politicalize the Justice Department, calls a special prosecutor "sick and demented" and now, as reported by the Wall Street Journal here, is facing a second federal criminal indictment?
Why do a majority of Republican voters support a candidate that lies, brags about grabbing women in their private parts, was found civilly liable for sexually assaulting a woman, incited the riot of the Capital- for which he is about to be indicted for, and is currently under indictment for stealing national security top secret documents?
Just what it is about a misogynist. lying loser who never wins anything ( we cannot think of one court case he has won in the last five years), and who constantly fires and belittles the people he hires (after bragging about only hiring the best people), that causes people to say "yeah, this is the best guy I can think of to be president?"
Remember guaranteeing that Mexico would pay for a wall on the border? The US built 42 miles of wall on the border, and we will give anyone one million dollars who can prove to us in public that Mexico paid for the wall.
So can someone explain to us why Americans are supporting a lying loser criminal rapist? Because for the life of us, we cannot understand how the party of Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt. Eisenhower, Nixon, Reagan, Bush and John McCain could support this cretin.
Because so many people are hypocrites - from the religious right who view Trump as an "imperfect Vessel" of G-d's will, to the wealthy millionaires who don't care that he is a racist because he will keep their taxes low to non-existent.
ReplyDeleteAnd you know what? Those people were right - Trump gave the religious right their champions on the Court and across the bench, and he gave the rich even greater benefits. They are content to receive those benefits because that it what matters to them - they are selfish and wish to impose their will on everybody else - good of the Country be damned.
So in the end, it is because many people don't care what kind of shit bag he is as long as they win.
Beyond those who are rich, or uber religious, you have the bigots, ignorant and misinformed (read climate deniers, anti-vaxers, etc.). Basically, the basket of deplorables that Hilary described.
Finally, you have a group - maybe 5% of the GOP, who are fair minded and will cross over, and another group, maybe an additional 10%, who are part of the party because that is the team their parents chose and it is tradition - these 15% can be persuaded to be a rational force for good.
But the real problem is that the super rich dominate conservative news outlets and information sources and together with disinformation from places like Russia (yes, it did happen), they gleefully sow discord online and help push those who are easier to deceive into tribalistic rivalries where their team is good and the other is evil.
Admittedly, the left has similar problems on the far end, but not as pervasive as the GOP.
Because he has good policies, with good results, and is not just a blathering liberal like you.
ReplyDeleteCognitive dissonance is an amazing thing. I left Miami and moved to the proper South. The very same people who will tell you things like "anyone who disrespects the US flag should have their ass kicked" (referring to the likes of Colin Kaepernick) are the ones who fly confederate battle flags and/or defend having statues of Robert E. Lee in town squares. They are completely blind to the irony of their position.
ReplyDeleteThey will tell you with a straight face that we must increase the military budget while also telling you that government spending is out of control - as though the militarily was not part of the government; that they are all about law enforcement while demanding that the FBI be defunded; or that government that governs least governs best while also supporting a wide variety of laws designed to force individuals to conform to their social and religious values.
No one is perfect, and certainly no politician is perfect. But I miss being a Republican and having the chance to vote for good men like John McCain, Mitt Romney, and George H.W. Bush. It really irks me that the lunacy of today's Republicans has forced me into common cause with Democrats. Today's Republicans of good faith, like Ben Sasse, are being censured by their party and driven out of government. It's sad.
Toots and farts. All day.
ReplyDeleteA little history. The so called Southern Strategy was begun after the 1968 election. Remember, of the states you mention, Nixon took only one, Florida. The "strategy" was a response to Kevn Phillips' book The Emerging Republican Majority, which presciently predicted the future Republican dominance of presidential elections by stressing social issues. There were many conservatives who wanted Nixon to abandon his life long comitment to a strong federal presence on civil rights issues and dismantle the Justice Department's oversight of civil rights enforcement in the South. Nixon neve went for that. Remember, he was the last Republican to carry the black vote (1960). The future Republican victories were not becasue of the Southern Strategy but casused by the Kamikaze Democrats who nominated people who appealed to the coastal elites.
ReplyDeleteRUMPOLE … Are you ever DOWN WITH OPP?
ReplyDelete@11:31 - best comment on this blog in months.
ReplyDeleteRumpole, the readers demand to know!
@612 - recall that the "coastal elites" and people who think like them make a majority of this country's voters, but the undemocratic electoral college system presently favors conservatives. Just look at the last 30+ years. In that time, the Republicans have only won the popular vote in a presidential election once compared to seven victories for democrats.
ReplyDelete- 1992: Clinton 44,909,889 v Bush 39,104,550 - D popular vote win
- 1996: Clinton 47,401,185 v. Dole 39,197,469 - D popular vote win
- 2000: Gore 50,999,897 v. Bush 50,456,002 - D popular vote win
- 2004: Bush 62,040,610 v. Kerry 59,028,444 - R popular vote win
- 2008: Obama 69,498,516 v. McCain 59,948,323 - D popular vote win
- 2012: Obama 65,915,795 v. Romney 60,933,504 - D popular vote win
- 2016: Clinton 65,853,514 v. Trump 62,984,828 - D popular vote win
- 2020: Biden 81,285,501 v. Trump 74,223,975 - D popular vote win
And in the last four elections, that margin in favor of democrats in the popular vote has been in the millions of voters each time.
If the presidency were decided on popular vote alone, we'd likely have judges on the bench who'd never have lived through a single republican administration.
9.26 am: How right you are. My family was made up of rock-ribbed Republicans, voting Dem only once, in 1964 when Barry Goldwater scared the tripe out of us (today, he'd be seen as surely a moderate), but all but me returned to the GOP afterwards. GW Bush's grandfather was a Connecticut GOP senator, Prescott Bush; GHW Bush was widely admired (by me, too, though I did not vote for him).
ReplyDeleteWhat I don't understand is the falling-into-line of formerly respectable political figures like Carlos Jimenez, and the gutless failure of many GOP folks who refuse to stand forth courageously to re-position us in the center.