To the Left, former President Donald Trump is a racist. Not only is Trump a racist, but he is only the latest in a long line of Republican racists.
From MSNBC’s Ali Velshi: “Contrary to what some might think, the former president is not an anomaly in American politics. While he may be unmatched in terms of his narcissism, Trumpism itself is not a novel idea. The movement he ushered is in line with the Republican Party’s Southern strategy, a long-term plan developed in response to the civil rights movement that sought to exploit white Southerners’ racial anxieties. It was a plan that Richard Nixon leaned into for his political campaigns and his presidency. He used the phrase ‘silent majority’ to refer to the white Southerners he was trying to court, and his call for law and order was a dog whistle opposing the protests and marches that were common in the 1960s and early ’70s.”
So, former President Richard Nixon, who employed the Southern strategy, was a racist, right? Yet another big fat liberal lie.
Pat Buchanan was the aide to Nixon and an architect of the so-called Southern strategy. The goal? Woo Southern Democrats and get them to vote Republican. Buchanan wrote: “In 1956, as vice president, Nixon went to Harlem to declare, ‘America can’t afford the cost of segregation.’ The following year, Nixon got a personal letter from Dr. King thanking him for helping to persuade the Senate to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1957. Nixon supported the civil rights acts of 1964, 1965 and 1968.”
Martin Luther King Jr. had a much closer relationship with Sen. Nixon then he did with Sen. John F. Kennedy.
Buchanan, in his book “The Greatest Comeback: How Richard Nixon Rose From Defeat to Create the New Majority,” wrote: “Nixon blasted Dixiecrats ‘seeking to squeeze the last ounces of political juice out of the rotting fruit of racial injustice.’”
Buchanan continued, “During the civil rights struggles of the ’50s and ’60s, Gov. Orval Faubus used the National Guard to keep black students out of Little Rock High. Gov. Ross Barnett refused to let James Meredith into Ole Miss. Gov. George Wallace stood in the door at the University of Alabama, to block two black students from entering. All three governors were Democrats. All acted in accord with the ‘Dixie Manifesto’ (generally known as the Southern Manifesto) of 1956, which was signed by 19 senators, all Democrats, and 80 Democratic congressmen.
“Among the signers of the manifesto, which called for massive resistance to the Brown decision desegregating public schools, was the vice-presidential nominee on Adlai Stevenson’s ticket in 1952, Sen. John Sparkman of Alabama. …
“The Democratic Party was the party of slavery, secession and segregation, of ‘Pitchfork Ben’ Tillman and the KKK. ‘Bull’ Connor, who turned the dogs loose on black demonstrators in Birmingham, was the Democratic National Committeeman from Alabama.”
Then-Rep. Keith Ellison, also former deputy chair of the DNC, thought segregationist Alabama Gov. George Wallace, who ran for president in 1968, was a Republican. Ellison, in attacking Trump in 2016, had the following exchange on a panel hosted by George Stephanopoulos of ABC News. Stephanopoulos, the former top aide to Bill Clinton turned “journalist,” failed to set Ellison straight. Unfortunately for Ellison and Stephanopoulos, there was another panelist, Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.):
Ellison: “At the same time (referring to Trump), we do have the worst Republican nominee since George Wallace.”
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Cole: “Well, first, I want to correct my friend. George Wallace was a proud Democrat and ran for the Democratic nomination.”
The Democrat memory hole also forgets it was the party of slavery, the Confederacy, Jim Crow, Dred Scott, the KKK and the Southern Manifesto.
Under Trump, the strong economy, low inflation, low gas prices, criminal justice reform, opportunity zones, and support for school choice and policies promoting a secure southern border disproportionately benefitted blacks.
This might explain why, according to a USA Today poll, only 64% of blacks support Biden, far from the 87% who voted for him in 2020. But Trump, of course, is racist.
Larry Elder is a bestselling author and nationally syndicated radio talk-show host. To find out more about Larry Elder, or become an “Elderado,” visit www.LarryElder.com. Follow Larry on Twitter @larryelder.