I read your post a few days ago. I didn’t respond immediately because I did not have time and, frankly, I wasn’t sure if you really believed what you posted or if you were just repeating the usual progressive demonization of Republicans. I decided to give you the benefit of the doubt that you are indeed sincere and make a response. Note, I am not going to argue the conservative position or go so far as to try to plead for the jury that republicans in power , and I guess, by implication, their credulous or perhaps crooked supporters are not evil. I will have make my last statement and offer you the last word if you want it.
You wrote:
“…the Republicans in power are appallingly racist. It has not always been the case that the GOP has been the more racist party, but it is the case right now. Yes we are all racist to some degree, but it’s way worse on the right, especially Trump and his supporters.”
I am a Trump supporter. Most everyone I know is a Trump supporter. We are not racist. Period. After the election my Facebook feed was posts from shell shocked progressive friends and family members who couldn’t believe that 1/2 of the country were nothing more than racist knuckle draggers. After seeing enough of it, I pointed out to them they they were talking about me. The response I got back was “not you really, just the rest of them. They really are.” Clearly that view is nonsense. If they’re willing to allow some nuance in their view of me they surely owe it to the millions whom they haven’t met. If not, they might as well put me in the same category.
“Trump ran as a white supremacist. By that I mean he believes white people are better, more worthy, more American, smarter, less dangerous, etc. He has been clear about this his whole life.”
I don’t think so. He ran an America first campaign. That in itself is shocking to progressives. Somehow they have a hard time differentiating that from racism.
“-His history of racist statements and business practices is well documented. Do you need to see this evidence at this point?
-He called Mexicans criminals and rapists and wants to keep them out of our country because…why?”
You are no doubt refering to his statement about illegal immigrants from Mexico. Had you said that he was over-emphasizing the risk presented by illegal immigrants, I would agree with you. I am not generally a fan of hyperbole. He did not say anything about Mexicans in general. Nothing that can be applied to Mexicans as a race. His statement in fact, didn’t even paint all immigrants as being dangerous. His statement did in fact imply that there are Mexicans who are “their best”, Mexicans whom we’d want to immigrate if they came through the front door, if they allowed themselves to be vetted. It’s not a stretch to believe that Mexicans who have prospects are not the type who’d elect to live the life of an illegal alien in the United States. It’s not a stretch to believe that the ranks of illegal aliens will be over-represented with people whom we don’t want. Sure most are good people, but they have to come through the front door, at our invitation, and in numbers that we believe we can accomodate. This is not a racist point of view.
-He wants to ban Muslims from the country.
Muslims do not represent a race. The do represent an “ism” that, within its ranks, appears to have a large number who represent both a short and long term threat to our security. Often we hear that they do not represent “true Islam”. A non-adherent is no position to adjudicate between rival definitions of Islam, and frankly, it does not matter. What matters is who are these people, what do they believe, and what does that mean to the short term and long term security of our society. I am committed to religous pluralism. You’ll find few in conservative circles who would welcome a governemt with religous blinders. The fastest way to corrupt a religion is to invest it with governing authority. A lot of people are concerned with how we approach this issue. It’s a tricky question. How does a modern liberal democracty maintain its religious blinders in the face of an ideology which is represented by people who say things like “Democracy is like a streetcar, you ride it until you arrive at your destination and then you step off.”
-He appointed Jeff Sessions, who tried time and again to keep Black people from voting. Republicans confirmed him. Now he wants to bring back the war on drugs, which has been well documented to ravage Black communities disproportionately.
Really? Having heard the wailing about “racists” asking for IDs to vote, I don’t expect to see much here. I’m not a fan of the war on drugs from a libertarian point of view, but from what I hear about the drug war from people like Sessions leads me to believe that they expect it to help people, minority communities in particular. I see no reason to doubt them.
-Trump appointed Steve Bannon, who oversaw Breitbart, which is overtly racist. Republicans confirmed him.
Shortly after the election when people starting shouting “Breitbart is racist.” I tried to find some substance to that charge. I had seen a lot of Breitbart article on social media. It was usually partisan, often hyperbolic, but not racist. Most people who tried to show that Breitbart was racist relied on the “renegade Jew” charge by David Horowitz. Horowitz makes good enough defense of himself on that account. I tried to find a history of racist statements by Bannon himself but all I could find were unspecific charges and a statement from the ADL that there was no such evidence.
-Trump “care” would take away Medicaid from millions of people, the majority of whom are Black.
If you don’t give goodies to someone then you hate that person? That pretty much makes the whole conservative political position illegitimate. Conservatives believe that the market will help more people in the long run than the government. You surely know that is their position. Do you think that they are not sincere? Do you think instead that they’re just racist?
I wish you could step back from your views of Republicans and conservatives. We might be able to get somewhere. But short of that there is no where for this to go. As I promised above, I’ll leave the last word to you.
Repectfully.