21 votes

The Republican choice: How the GOP chose to spend five decades making itself the white voter's party

Posted by Kuromantis
Tags: politics, republican party, racism, history, richard nixon, george w bush, donald trump, race, 2020 us presidential election, usa, author.clare malone, source.fivethirtyeight, long read
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-republican-choice/

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Title
The Republican Choice
Authors
Clare Malone
Published
Jun 24 2020
Word count
6512 words

9 comments

  1. [8]
    Kuromantis
    (edited )
    Link
    A solid article by 538 about how the GOP chose to endorse racism and has repelled minorities since the southern strategy. Usually they don't write articles like this to act like moderates. The...

    A solid article by 538 about how the GOP chose to endorse racism and has repelled minorities since the southern strategy.

    Usually they don't write articles like this to act like moderates.

    The article has 6 chapters:

    Intro

    1968: The moderates' last stand

    The late 1970s: "The GOP needs black people"

    The 2000s: Double talk

    The 2010s: self reflection

    2020: Crisis

    7 votes
    1. [2]
      stu2b50
      Link Parent
      I wouldn't say it's to act like moderates. 538 generally has the tone of "we analyze politics the game as staticians, not as pundits". So when they do talk about race, it's often in the cold form...

      Usually they don't write articles like this to act like moderates.

      I wouldn't say it's to act like moderates. 538 generally has the tone of "we analyze politics the game as staticians, not as pundits". So when they do talk about race, it's often in the cold form of electoral advantages and disadvantages.

      I wouldn't say that's a problem per say either. There's no lack of political punditry, and 538 has its niche. I don't think there's much value in turning it into something else.

      18 votes
      1. Kuromantis
        Link Parent
        Oh okay. I just looked at "owned by ABC" and genuinely using polling data (not because they're faulty, but because polling access will likely be the most unequal since Jim Crow) and internally...

        Oh okay. I just looked at "owned by ABC" and genuinely using polling data (not because they're faulty, but because polling access will likely be the most unequal since Jim Crow) and internally said "take it all with a grain of salt and assume that they're 'moderates' ".

        1 vote
    2. [4]
      vord
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      I think one of the telling signs of our deteriorating times is that a 'moderate' position is one that isn't calling out racist/sexist bullshit on a daily basis. It's not biased to say truthful...

      Usually they don't write articles like this to act like moderates.

      I think one of the telling signs of our deteriorating times is that a 'moderate' position is one that isn't calling out racist/sexist bullshit on a daily basis.

      It's not biased to say truthful statements, like 'our racist president', even if the bigots don't like being called out as such.

      13 votes
      1. [3]
        NaraVara
        Link Parent
        Reminder: Ruby Bridges is only 65 years old. Claiming the times are "deteriorating" is a bit much.

        deteriorating times is that a 'moderate' position is one that isn't calling out racist/sexist bullshit on a daily basis.

        Reminder: Ruby Bridges is only 65 years old. Claiming the times are "deteriorating" is a bit much.

        3 votes
        1. [2]
          vord
          Link Parent
          Maybe. But then, protests are even larger than ones happening in the civil rights era with little impact. Police are dressed in garb more outlandish than the dystopian movies of the 60s and 70s....

          Maybe. But then, protests are even larger than ones happening in the civil rights era with little impact. Police are dressed in garb more outlandish than the dystopian movies of the 60s and 70s. Police in schools. Incarceration and brutality seem to be going up, not down. Tactics that have been considered war crimes since the 60s are standard operating procedure on our own citizens. Debt is bigger, wages not growing with inflation. Every single aspect of our lives, down to nostalgia being commercialize and redone and resold. No commons, no public domain. Live in a state of perpetual war. Government blatantly lies to do what it wants and the public ignores months or years later when the lie is exposed. Ads blasted at us as hard as they can. Blatant admissions of criminal acts aren't enough evidence to incarcerate a president, or the people who pardon him in light of said evidence. Fucking Nixon had more integrity than most Republicans since.

          I dunno, I don't wish for the 'good old before-I-was born days'. There are bright glimmers of hope periodically. Some positive changes. But our dystopian hellscape does not seem to be on the right overall trajectory.

          I dunno... I'm just a guy who watched militants the US government armed kill a few thousand Americans on our soil, destroying two major symbols of imperialist wealth, to which we responded by enhancing a global surveillance state and killing way more civilians of other, unrelated countries in the name of justice.

          3 votes
          1. NaraVara
            Link Parent
            It's been barely a month. Your meter is off if you're trying to add an update to "We Didn't Start the Fire." But the point of the song remains. It was always burnin' since the world's been...

            But then, protests are even larger than ones happening in the civil rights era with little impact.

            It's been barely a month.

            Police are dressed in garb more outlandish than the dystopian movies of the 60s and 70s. Police in schools. Incarceration and brutality seem to be going up, not down. Tactics that have been considered war crimes since the 60s are standard operating procedure on our own citizens. Debt is bigger, wages not growing with inflation. Every single aspect of our lives, down to nostalgia being commercialize and redone and resold. No commons, no public domain. Live in a state of perpetual war. Government blatantly lies to do what it wants and the public ignores months or years later when the lie is exposed. Ads blasted at us as hard as they can. Blatant admissions of criminal acts aren't enough evidence to incarcerate a president, or the people who pardon him in light of said evidence. Fucking Nixon had more integrity than most Republicans since.

            Your meter is off if you're trying to add an update to "We Didn't Start the Fire." But the point of the song remains. It was always burnin' since the world's been turnin'. No offense, but your whole post seems to be lacking in historical perspective. You can point to any list of bad stuff and decide it's the worst time to be alive. This is just a dark mirror on golden age thinking.

            5 votes
    3. Qis
      Link Parent
      Clare Malone has gestured further in this direction over time, I think her reporting has a pretty different tone than many of the other voices on this site. This is an extremely broad narrative...

      Clare Malone has gestured further in this direction over time, I think her reporting has a pretty different tone than many of the other voices on this site. This is an extremely broad narrative...

      3 votes